Chapter 54

Chapter 54

E nlisting the Temple High Priestess had taken longer than she would have liked, and by the time Fey had finished delivering Alice's package to Sana and explaining what she needed from her, the moon was high in the night sky overhead.

She was running out of time, and her next mission would be infinitely harder.

Fey still wasn't sure they could trust Sana, still wasn't sure the Priestess hadn't known, but it was a chance they had to take. There wasn't room for failure, wasn't room for doubt. If this were to work tonight, they needed to trust one another.

Alice had given up on trust, but Fey hadn't. Not yet.

And tonight, staring at the full moon, heavy and ripe in the night sky, Fey prayed to the Goddess her trust wouldn't be misplaced.

She'd asked Alice for just one favor before she'd left. A mask, just like the one she'd left at the palace the night of Willow's murder. Alice hadn't questioned it, hadn't put up any argument. The mask she'd given Fey had been her own once—one she'd kept, all these months, with her old Blade's uniform.

For the last time, Fey attached her mask and donned her cowl. Anonymity was her best disguise for tonight. If this were the night she was destined to die, she would die as she had lived. A Queen's Blade.

Sparing a glance at the full moon hanging lazily over the city, Fey steeled herself and made her way to the palace.

She could have been any Blade in her uniform with her mask on, and none of the guards she passed stopped her when she approached.

Her first stop was the empty wing in Solare. Her old home.

Fey stood in her old room, looking around at it with a heavy heart. When she called Fire to her fingertips, and set the bedding ablaze, she did it reluctantly. The loss of this place felt like a physical pain in her chest.

It was a shame, really, that so much of the building had been abandoned. A shame that the soldiers' quarters had been consolidated in one small section near the training grounds.

If they hadn't, maybe someone would have seen her. Would have stopped her. But Solare was empty, abandoned. And it went up in flames like kindling, all the dust and cobwebs that no one bothered to clean adding extra fuel to the fire.

Fey stayed to make sure the flames caught, setting a few more rooms alight on her way out, trailing her fingers over the walls and furniture and feeling that intense pulse of Fire purring inside her as she set them alight. By the time Fey reached the palace, Solare was an inferno at her back.

It hurt to burn the first place she'd thought of as home. But Fey couldn't take any time to mourn the loss, not tonight.

Tonight, she had to find her sisters. She had to save them.

They were the only thing standing between Alice and the Queen, the only thing that might bring them all down.

As she left Solare for the last time, the building ablaze behind her, she could see the faint curl of smoke starting to rise from Lunairea, on the other side of the palace. Alice's doing. It had to be so perfectly timed—with Alice waiting in the shadows for the generals within Lunairea to react to Solare's burning, for them to begin to wake and gather themselves. For them to leave, rushing for the other building to try and salvage what they could.

Only then did Alice set the other building aflame.

Scattered, splitting their forces between both structures to try and keep the fires contained, the army would be distracted. Every available Witch would be pulled from their post and brought to help.

Leaving the palace woefully under protected.

Leaving it vulnerable to their invasion.

The alarm bells started ringing just after Fey entered the palace, alerting the palace to the fires in the surrounding buildings.

Guards were everywhere, and though Fey tried not to be seen, there was only so much she could do. She held herself straight backed, and walked through the palace with a purpose, with the same haughty air the Queen herself exuded.

"Your Grace!" a guard called after her. "Your Grace, Solare is on fire, get the others! Alert the Blades!"

I intend to , Fey thought, watching him hurrying away.

The palace was waking up around her, people evacuating to the grounds below. Aristocrats and visiting dignitaries from the octants were leaving their plush quarters, arms full of valuables, as they fled outside to safety.

That was good. The fewer people the better.

She prayed to the Goddess that her sisters were still in their quarters. There would be little reason to send the Queen's Blades to fight the fire, especially if they were pulling as many soldiers from the palace as possible. They're job was to protect the Queen, protect the palace. They would remain, the final wall of protection around the Crown. Fey prayed they stayed away from the chaos around her, prayed she could find them before Alice did.

She was near enough to their quarters in the Eastern Wing when the tolling alarm bells faltered and stopped. And a new alarm arose.

Fey cursed under her breath and began to run.

This alarm she knew, had trained for. This was no fire alarm.

This was the invasion alarm. The signal that an enemy had gained access to the palace.

She was too late. Alice and her Shifters had arrived.

She had to find them, had to get her sisters. They had to know what was happening, had to surrender. Alice hadn't told her what would happen if she encountered them, but Fey knew she was singularly focused on her role of getting to the Queen. If anyone tried to stop her—even Lilith. Even Joy…

Fey ran.

Someone was coming down the hallway toward her. Guards.

"Check the rooms. All of them," a voice snapped from the darkness, and Fey skittered to a stop, heart pounding.

Dameon .

Cursing, she ducked into the closest room, just as their footsteps came around the corner, looking frantically around for a place to hide. There was no time to retreat, no time to find a way past him. And he would recognize her, no matter her mask. Dameon would know exactly who she was.

The room was a poor choice for hiding, but beggars couldn't be choosers. It was a nearly bare bedroom, nothing as luxurious as the rooms in the Western Wing, most likely nothing more than a place for the guards to sleep between shifts. There was a bed and an armoire, big enough to hide in, but Fey knew any soldier worth anything would think to search it while sweeping the room. It wouldn't do anything but trap her in here with no escape route.

A noise directly outside in the hallway let Fey know she was out of time and out of options. She flung the armoire door open and ducked inside, closing it behind her, and wincing at the loud click the latch made as it shut.

The armoire was completely empty. Nothing to hide behind, no clothing to put between her and whoever searched the room. No way of fading into the shadows. Fey clenched her teeth together in frustration and froze, listening.

Someone was here.

The door to the hallway creaked as it opened, and someone entered. They moved quietly through the room, but Fey could make out some of their movements. A soft swish of the blankets as they searched beneath the bed. The sound of heavy fabric moving as they opened the curtains. And, finally, the sound of footsteps right outside the armoire.

Let them be an idiot , Fey prayed. Goddess, please, let them be the worst soldier in the history of the Eternal City. Let them leave without checking here .

But it was no use. She heard the click of the handle turn before the door of the armoire opened.

Opened, and revealed a familiar set of soft blue eyes above the black fabric of a Blade's mask.

Joy's eyes widened in shock at finding Fey. For a moment, Fey worried she would shout, would bring the guards outside running.

But when Joy spoke, her voice was calm, completely unfazed.

"Clear," she said loudly to someone in the hallway. She gave Fey a long look and then shut the door.

"Stay here," Joy whispered through the wood, voice barely audible. "Stay here and stay quiet . I'll be back soon, sister."

Fey waited until she heard Joy's footsteps leave. Waited until the guards moved on, down the hallway, before she released the breath she had been holding in one shuddering gasp. Then she settled in to wait.

When Joy returned a few minutes later she was alone. The alarm still blared through the hallways, echoing loudly against the marble of the palace walls.

"Fey?" Joy called softly into the room, but Fey didn't answer. She waited until Joy opened the armoire door again, still not entirely sure if her sister would turn her in or not.

But when Joy opened the door to find Fey still there, her face crumpled, broken by too many emotions.

"Thank the Goddess you're alive," Joy gasped, pulling Fey out of the cramped piece of furniture, and hugging her tightly to her chest.

Fey hugged her back, feeling Joy shudder with barely contained sobs .

"I felt you die," Joy told her. "I felt you die , Fey. And I thought… I thought…"

Fey was crying. She wanted to explain it all, wanted to tell her everything. Wanted to tell Joy how much it had hurt to lose her, how much she'd missed her.

But the words that came out of her mouth were, "Joy, Alice is alive. And she's here."

To Joy's credit, she didn't faint. She didn't scream, didn't cry. But when she stepped back and blinked at Fey, her face draining of all color, she looked fragile enough to break.

"Alice? My Alice?" Joy asked. "She's alive?"

Fey nodded, laughing through her tears.

"And Willow?" Joy asked, her eyes so full of hope. So full of love.

It broke Fey's heart to take that hope from her. But she had to. Shaking her head, Fey only said, "I'm so sorry."

Joy swallowed and nodded.

"Dameon told us you killed her," she whispered, but when Fey opened her mouth to explain, Joy held up her hand to stop her. That fragility was slowly ebbing away, Joy's strength repairing those cracks in her heart that Fey had seen just moments ago. "I could feel you, Fey. I know. We know. You never would have hurt her; you never would have…" She broke off, unable to say the words aloud.

Fey didn't realize how much she'd needed to hear that, how much she'd needed to hear that her sisters hadn't abandoned her. Hadn't thought the worst of her. With a sob, she pulled Joy back into her embrace.

"I have so much to tell you, sister," Fey said, but Joy shook her head, pulling away.

"Not here. The guards will be back. Someone triggered the alarm, but we haven't found anyone in the palace yet, so they'll keep looking and do a few more sweeps before they turn it off. We need to get you back to our rooms before then. We can't let them find you."