Page 45

CHAPTER 44

T HE MOMENT I LEFT the infirmary, I had one thought drumming through my mind: Find Laude .

A line of soldiers in gray attire sat outside the infirmary, some with gaping wounds and others with desolate gazes. It was as if guiterna strings were latched to my chest. Invisible cords connected me to each man and played a bleak song. Ruffled pride. Twisting pain. Confusion. The sheer number of connections left my head spinning. I longed to rip the gift from my body and focus again. I took a deep breath and exhaled.

Blas, Gonzalo, Jaime, and Cosme turned into the main corridor, disappearing around the corner.

Mam á stood, hands clasped in front of her stomach. “Are you well?” Her knuckles grazed my forehead.

“Where would Laude and the other servants hide?” My heart raced, waiting for Mamá’s response.

The corners of Mamá’s lips lifted. “She’s most likely in the servants’ quarters below. If she’s not there, she may have escaped the palace grounds.”

Oh, Ancient One, let her be here and safe. I strode around her, determined.

“Take my shoes.” Mamá removed her leather slippers. “Your feet are much more exposed than mine.”

“But Mamá—”

“Say nothing more.” She shoved the pair into my hands and kissed my forehead. “Your skin glows.”

I flinched, taken aback by her random comment. My skin didn’t radiate like Laude’s or Mamá’s, but it glistened along my markings like water on a sunny day. With all the rush, I hadn’t taken the time to observe the gentle way my skin revealed my gifting.

I stuck my dirty feet into Mamá’s shoes. My toes curled to fit into the small slippers, but this would do. “You’re sure you won’t need them?”

“Go find Laude.” The earnest spark in her brown eyes and the urgent flow of worry washing through my senses let me know she was just as concerned as I.

“Thank you, Mamá.”

Every step past sweaty and bloodied bodies frazzled my nerves. I crossed Gonzalo and Jaime carrying a dead Himzo soldier. Blas helped a healer hold her supplies as she put a radiating bright hand over a man’s chest. Milo, Cosme, and an older man yelled. Milo held a hand full of frizzy curls, pointing at his countrymen. I escaped into a servants’ stairwell before I could make out what they said.

Down, down the stairs I went. Servants raced up, forcing me to move to the side. A metallic odor mixed with sweat grew thicker the farther I descended. I turned a corner into the servants’ quarters. It was a beehive, filled with wounded servants tending to other wounded servants.

Myla appeared in a doorway. She looked around at the chaos before her eyes landed on me. She swept toward me. “What are you doing here? You should get some rest. I’ll walk you to your room.” She dabbed her forehead with a handkerchief.

“No, I came to find Laude. Is she here?” I found my eyes darting glances through each doorway.

My breath stilled at my old maid’s inquisitive stare. I imagined my emotion feeling tentacle reaching out to her but pulled away. How could I use my gifting after seeing what it could do?

Myla sighed. “Laude’s at the far end of the corridor, tending to injured servants.” She pointed to the rooms beyond the kitchen nearest the exit to the beach.

My feet moved of their own accord over the rough stone flooring. The beach door, now missing, yawned open to the outside, which fell in heavy shadow. Sand stuck to the crevices beneath me and gritted against the leather soles of Mamá’s shoes. Servants raced back and forth carrying pots of water and another with soiled linen. I continued to peek in each packed room, every time seeing beds holding bloodied bodies.

Servants pressed their hands to water kettles, heating the metal. Their powers cast light over the edges of the room, reflecting off the sweat and grime coating their bodies. One water summoner fanned herself while slumped against the wall. I seemed to float past the kitchen area in my haste.

Only four more servants’ rooms remained. A moaning man lay in the first room. Blanca prayed on her knees over a lifeless body in the next. Two more. My palms slickened. Should I use my gifting? I hesitated, remembering Lux’s body flung through the window. I tightened my fists and peered into the room on the right. Two women slept in beds. Darkness covered their features since no candles had been lit. I turned to the left, to the last room, half expecting to see just some other ragged maid.

Fiery curls sprang out a rather shabby braid. Laude sat next to an injured man and tipped a cup to his lips. Besides a few bruises on her body, she appeared intact.

All tenseness left my muscles. “I worried about you. What happened?”

Laude whipped her head toward me. Her eyes sparkled. “Princess!” She set the cup down, sprang to her feet, and skipped the three paces between us. Her arms flew around me, and she squeezed so tight my back cracked.

“I’m sorry.” She pulled away. “So sorry, but I didn’t know if you died or if you were stolen or if you’d done something rash again. When I got out of the bath, I saw that you were gone, and I didn’t know what to do. Myla came in through the hidden passages to get you, but she got me. And I worried so much about you, but Myla insisted I go with her down the passages. We did what we could to stop the soldiers, and—”

I hugged Laude to cut off her rambling, and at the same time, loving that she hadn’t lost her joyful spirit. Nothing kept Laude down for long. “Could another tend to this man?”

“Yes, I suppose.”

I dragged Laude by the hand.

“Princess, where are you taking me?” She giggled.

We dodged out of people’s way, almost crashing into the cook.

I grinned at Laude but said nothing. She might not know about Jaime and all the Himzos being heroes. We shuffled up the stairs and into the main atrium.

The space had emptied. Only a dozen or so Giddelian soldiers remained.

My heartbeat quickened. “Come on, Laude, I want you to see one of our heroes.”

We dashed to the infirmary. Many more beds had been filled with bloodied soldiers from the Himzo and Giddelian lines. I steeled myself from any connection to them, already sensing waves of sorrow and pain crashing over me.

Zichri’s sleeping form came into view.

Laude gasped. “What happened? Is …” She trailed off, chin quivering.

“He’s safe, but I don’t know what happened to the others. They were all here.”

Laude bit down on her bottom lip. Her eyebrows pinched together with worry. Even with me attempting to put a barrier over my gifting, a shrill note pierced my soul, and a single word echoed in my mind: Jaime .

How I wanted to see Jaime and Laude reunite. I would not let her out of my sight until then. “Come now, we should figure out what happened to everyone.”