Page 70

Four Years Ago

“T HERE WAS A FIGHT AT B ARTA . A villager died.”

Briony looked up from her breakfast at Rory who was reading a Journal page. “Barta?” Her brows drew together. Barta was a mountain village on the border of the two realms. “Was it an Eversun or a Bomardi who died?”

“Eversun,” he said.

Briony sat back in her chair. They were in their suite at the Bomardi school, just a few days before the break for summer solstice.

It had been a rough few months since the start of the school year in the spring, as the Bomardi tutors refused to teach mind magic to the Eversun children under penalty of death.

Rory looked at her. “It was a Bomardi who killed him.”

Briony tapped her fingers on the table, thinking hard.

“Do you think this will change things?” Rory asked.

Briony smiled at him. “No. I’m sure Father will send an emissary, and it will all be figured out.

” She glanced at the clock. It was time to head down the stairs to class, and while the year fives were educated on a higher floor than the previous years, it was still quite congested getting down there.

Rory and Briony filed into the classroom with two minutes to spare.

“Your militia is getting sloppy, Your Highness,” Liam Quill said as he sat down. “I heard an Eversun soldier killed a civilian in Bomard today.”

Briony turned around in her chair to face him. “It was an Eversun who died, actually. One of your people killed him.”

“Not likely,” Toven said as he took the seat next to Liam. “You know how unstable mind magic can be, Liam.” His eyes stayed on her. “An Eversun was probably trying to warm their tea and set the village on fire.”

“That’s a gross exaggeration,” Briony said, turning back around.

The tutor entered the room and was just about to start the lesson when a scratching sound came from the windows that overlooked the mountain range.

All eyes turned to see a large hawk scraping its talons at the glass pane, flapping its wings and cawing.

A chair scuffed loudly as Toven stood.

“Is that your father’s familiar?” Larissa asked.

Toven took two steps to the window, and then the mountain shuddered and quaked. The glass shattered as the floor rocked beneath their feet.

Screams filled the room, and Briony’s hand flew up to guard her face against the glass.

People were running. Rory covered Cordelia, diving with her out of the room.

Briony pushed her hands into a protection shield just as rocks began falling from the ceiling—as the year five classroom caved in.

She flattened herself against a wall, her shield keeping the dust and rubble away from her as students screamed in terror and pain. Her heart pounded as she tried to decipher what exactly was happening. Was it something natural, like an earthquake? Or was it more sinister?

She couldn’t stay here. Briony dashed out into the hallway as more of the ceiling fell.

She needed to find Rory. Her father would never forgive her if something happened to him.

She began to move down the hallway but then stopped dead in her tracks. There were men and women in blue Bomardi cloaks engaging in combat. With the students.

A man—Riann Cohle, she thought his name was—grabbed one of the Eversun boys by the throat and portaled out with him.

She stumbled back, horrified, and fell into someone. She spun around to face a man with a crooked nose and thick black brows, smiling gleefully.

“Well, if it isn’t the princess.” His voice was like gravel.

He reached out with his hand to drag her to him, and she blocked him, shoving. He slid back two inches on his feet, then cast a binding spell. Her left arm snapped to her side, but her right arm sliced at him.

He released her and jumped back. There was a cut across his shoulder. He grinned at her. “Oh, I like you.”

She twisted her hand as violently as she could, flipping him backward even as she turned and ran, stumbling over rubble and bodies. Where was Rory?

Briony ran down the hall, dodging several men she recognized as they tried to drag her toward a portal.

Collin Twindle was pulling an Eversun out of a closet by her hair and tossing her to his father.

Liam Quill was on the floor in the corner, rocking and crying. Briony’s brain couldn’t hold it all.

She reached the stairs and headed up, trying to figure out how these portals were opening. Portals couldn’t just open anywhere. You needed the blood of the person who owned the property to open one into private land, like the school.

She tripped up the stairs and caught herself. Of course: The Trow family owned the school property.

Briony stared at the blood on her hands from scraping them. Had all of these Bomardi received drops of Trow blood for this? Was this coordinated?

She remembered Veronika Mallow talking about students as collateral …

She had to find Rory.

On the next landing, she threw herself against a wall as a woman with bright red hair screamed, “That’s the princess!”

Briony shoved and the woman fell back, rolling down the stairs. She tugged on the thread in her mind, shifting her form to invisible. Finola had taught her the basics of things after Mallow assassinated Gin Pulvey, but she knew her magic wouldn’t withstand all these distractions.

Briony ran up to the eighth floor and started opening every door. Students were hiding, Bomardi and Eversun alike. She looked at every face for Rory, Cordelia, Didion, before shutting the door and letting them stay hidden. They couldn’t see her as she opened each door.

She came to the end of the hall as she heard a deep voice singsonging from the base of the stairs. “Oh, Priiincess.”

She stopped. The man with the thick brows was climbing the stairs to her.

Briony ran the other way, then skidded to a halt. Liam Quill’s father was pulling doors off their hinges and separating the Bomardi students from the Eversun.

She darted down another corridor, feeling her hold on the invisibility falter. She could see her shoes as she ran. She had to double back when she found staircases crumbled in after the rattling of the mountain.

What would happen if they found Rory? Would they really kill the heir to Evermore? What were they doing with the other Eversuns they took? Just portaling them away? Where?

Boots ran down the hall toward her. Her eyes were wide; she was trapped. Just before her pursuer turned and found her in the middle of the hall with nowhere to go, a hand shot out of an office door and dragged her inside.

She took a breath to scream before her back was against the door and Toven Hearst was in front of her, his hand clapped over her mouth.

They stared at each other as the boots clomped by. As soon as it was clear, he lifted his hand from her.

“What is happening?” she whispered, voice shaking.

“I don’t know. Is your brother still here?”

Her throat was tight as she echoed him. “I don’t know.”

The mountain shook again, and the school rocked beneath her feet.

Toven grabbed her hand and led her to an arched opening in the wall between this room and the next. They braced themselves, and he built a protective boundary around them.

Briony tried to make a plan. How could they portal out if they didn’t have Trow blood with them?

And where would she go? She needed the king’s approval to get to Evermore when she was in Bomard.

Every person coming to the realm had to portal to a border town and be given permission to physically walk across the border, even Rory and herself.

When the ground stabilized, Briony opened her eyes from where she’d shut them tight. “I have to find my brother and I have to get to a border town. I have to get to Evermore.”

“This seems planned,” Toven said. “They will have guards at every town. Bomard will stop you from going home.”

“You mean, you will have guards at every town,” she hissed. “‘ Bomard will stop me,’” she repeated, “but are you not Bomardi?”

He glared at her. “Do you want to fight with me or do you want to fight with them?” He nodded to the men out in the hall.

She glared back. “Both.”

He was less than amused. “Let’s find your brother and worry about the border town later,” he said, and turned to lead her into the next room.

Briony’s heart felt the “let’s” ringing in her blood. She followed him, just as the door to the study flew off its hinges.

Briony ducked behind the archway, and Toven stepped in front of her, squeezing himself close to her to hide the both of them.

They held their breath, waiting to see if someone would come farther in and find them.

“Toven,” said a firm voice that Briony recognized.

Toven’s brows pulled together, and he stepped to the side, revealing himself to the person in the next room.

“Father?” Toven said. “What’s going on?”

Briony pressed her fingertips to her lips, trying to keep her breath even. Orion Hearst couldn’t find out she was here.

“I sent my hawk for you, but he didn’t get here soon enough,” Orion said. “We have to go.”

Orion’s footsteps sounded in the other room. He seemed relieved to have found his son.

“What has happened?” Toven pressed.

“Mallow attacked Jacquel. He’s been … incapacitated.”

Every muscle in Briony’s body tightened, as though her heart stopped, then started again. Her father. Incapacitated.

Toven was tense, a foot from her, standing in the archway she was hiding behind.

“The others are capturing Eversun children to ransom against Evermore,” Orion continued, but Briony’s ears were full of fluff.

He was saying other things, but she only heard the end.

“… come here for you, but I have to get back to the border.” He paused, and then almost in surprise, he said, “Toven? Come.”

Briony could imagine his hand extended for his son. And his son standing immobile in the doorway.

“Who is with you?” Orion said quietly.

“No one.”

Briony squared her shoulders, focused her mind, and pulled on the thread between her eyes.

She fixated on blond hair swaying down to her hips, a perfect nose, and manicured fingers.

She turned the corner into the archway and stood next to Toven, projecting the image of Larissa Gains to the two Hearsts.

“Mr. Hearst,” she said in Larissa’s voice. “This is terrifying. Have they caught Rory Rosewood yet?”

Orion blinked at her, scanning her from head to toe before leaning back on his heels.

“Larissa. I’m glad you’re unharmed,” he said.

He pursed his lips and looked at Toven, then back to her.

“General Meers was seen leaving with the heir to the Evermore line and the Hardstark girl a little over ten minutes ago.”

Briony’s expression froze on Larissa’s face. They’d left her. They’d gone with General Meers and left her behind. Had Rory tried to argue at least? Did Cordelia even bring up her name?

She nodded at Orion Hearst, swallowing back the stab of pain. She’d been searching for her brother in a castle falling down around her feet, and no one had been searching for her.

“Larissa, you should find your father,” Orion said slowly, intentionally. “He and the others have gathered on the first floor, intending to search every level for Briony Rosewood.” He stared at her unblinking. “They won’t make it up this far for another half hour, most likely.”

Briony stared back at him.

He knew she wasn’t Larissa. And he was giving her a head start.

“Thank you, Mr. Hearst,” she said carefully. “I’ll be sure to go down.”

“Come, Toven,” Orion said, sweeping to the door.

“Shouldn’t Larissa come with us?”

Both Orion and Briony swung to look at Toven.

“Surely it’s not safe in the school. We can bring her back to Hearst Hall—”

“No, Toven,” Orion said, and something passed between them. “Larissa has to stay.”

Briony swallowed. They needed to go, and then she needed to get as far upstairs as possible, hoping that someone— anyone —would think to come back for her. Hoping that someone was thinking of her safety half as much as Toven Hearst was at the moment.

Toven was frozen next to her. And slowly, with one foot in front of the other, he stepped forward, following his father to the door.

Briony released her breath, and Orion escorted Toven out. He paused in the doorway, and she held on to Larissa’s likeness for one more second.

“Miss Gains?” Orion said. Briony lifted her chin to him. “Tell your father that Miss Rosewood might have already left the mountains.” He paused, leveling his gaze on her. “She may have figured out that the borders are open … as Evermore is currently without a king.”

Briony blinked at him. Her soul shivered in her chest.

Incapacitated .

Her father was dead.

Orion Hearst was nothing if not delicate.

He reached into his pocket and tossed her something. It was a small vial with a drop of blood in it. “From Genevieve Trow. In case you can’t find your father, you’ll need it to portal out.”

Briony’s breath caught. He nodded at her and let the door close.

She stood alone in an abandoned study, letting the disguise of Larissa Gains drip off her body.

Her father was dead, and Rory would soon be coronated. She had a handful of minutes before Evermore had a new king and the border boundaries went up again.

She stared at the rubble of the place she was told would be safe, then poured the drop of Trow blood onto her hand. She slit her thumb, reaching out to swirl open a portal to Biltmore with her own blood, if it would let her.

When it opened at her command, that was all she needed to know to affirm that Orion hadn’t been lying to her.

The borders were open. The king was dead.

And she was expendable now, it seemed.

She stepped into the void and disappeared.