Page 38

Chapter 38

Beatriz

“I’ll go first.” Zichri climbed over the ledge, down a rope ladder, and into the rowboat.

My skirts whipped around my ankles and flipped up when I tried to copy Zichri’s smooth departure. I stepped onto the shaky floor of the small boat. Was this the right plan? Could we not come up with something better?

Minerva teleported beside Zichri, almost tipping the small vessel with her sudden appearance.

“We’ll circle around,” called a Pedrozian sailor in his red livery.

With a two-finger salute, Zichri bid the man farewell. Minerva did the same, though she hadn’t a need for the galleon to escape. No, the polished wooden ship tore through the sea so Zichri and I would have some manner of escape should Minerva fall. The thought left me queasy.

“Tell me again,” I turned to Minerva and Zichri, “why aren’t any of them coming with us?”

Zichri took the oars and rowed to shore. “We can’t hide the Magdelena , and we don’t know the terrain. She can’t sail without her crew either.” He sucked in a long breath, shifting forward and back as he rowed. “Minerva has a better chance at getting all of us out alive.”

I chewed on the inside of my cheek, still not convinced.

“Beatriz.” Minerva reached for my arm but stopped herself before touching me. “Whyzer Patro wouldn’t be overrun by these sailors.”

“How do you know?” My words came out harsher than intended, and my gifting dragged in anger from them both. I softened my tone. “I truly do want to understand why only three of us are sneaking onto the grounds.”

The invisible connection between Zichri and me still held its tension, but my words had pacified something that brewed within him. Minerva’s connection almost became invisible, sunken in on itself. I tugged on the line and her chin lifted.

Tears welled in Minerva’s rounded gaze. “This is my fault.”

“You couldn’t have stolen Laude and Jaime. You surely did not turn Aracibel against us. You did not force Prince Hugo to love power more than his family.” I leaned closer to Minerva and gripped her wrist in what I hoped was a comforting gesture. “None of this is your fault.”

“You are too kind, but you have no idea how much of this involves me. I’m supposed to protect the relics, and I’m not sure I’ve done it well.” Her chin fell to her chest. “I brought the relics out of Himzo in the first place.”

“What did you say?” The air in my lungs stilled.

Zichri jumped into the hip deep water and dragged the boat onto the shore.

“I-I—” Her jaw tightened, and she grabbed at her throat.

“You’re still cursed by him.”

The boat shifted as we hit the sand. Zichri offered a hand. “We’ve got to hide the boat before we’re seen.”

Minerva and I hopped onto the hot sand and lifted the front end while Zichri lugged the back. We flipped the boat and placed giant leaves over the white vessel. Without a word, Zichri brushed the sand to hide our steps from view and carved three lines in the tree beside the rowboat.

“Now, we walk.” Zichri had a seriousness on his handsome face that seemed far too tragic for his natural disposition.

Minerva shook her head. “Perhaps we can cut time.”

“How tired are you?” Zichri asked.

“I have a couple more hours in me.” She turned in my direction as if to ask my opinion.

“What are you suggesting?” I asked.

Zichri licked his bottom lip with his gaze shifting across the horizon. “She can teleport us ahead like she did with the Magdelena . It cuts time, but she can burn out quickly. We’ll be stuck on the island if she does. The Ancient One be with us if we must go back on that galleon.”

“How far a walk is it to the castle? If we have a couple hours of walking, she might be more spent than if she sped us along.”

The corner of Minerva’s mouth twitched upward. “My thoughts exactly. With such a far view of the castle from the galleon, I couldn’t safely take you into it, but I can do something to help.”

“Minerva.” His tone contained a playful reprimand in it. “You can tell her what happened last time you burnt out.”

The girl’s eyes widened in a silent plea to Zichri.

I averted my gaze, catching the glint of a sailboat cutting through the shallow waters. One man with binoculars pointed out toward the Magdelena , and a bearded fellow signaled toward us. “We’re spotted.”

Minerva’s fingers wrapped around my wrist and wind swept across my body. I blinked and the three of us were deeper in the forest. I glanced over at Zichri. He met my gaze and scanned the beachfront between the trees. Leaves clapped overhead, and birds chirped in the canopy. For a long beat, we stood in silence.

“I think they’re over here,” a deep voice said.

A force yanked me through space, leaving me in a darker, shadowed portion of the forest. We continued several rounds of teleporting twenty or so arm spans closer to the castle, closer to our adversary.

By the time we could see the fortified structure, we were at the edge of a field. Minerva panted. Sweat glistened on her forehead.

“Let’s stop here.” Zichri broke from her touch and treaded along the edge of the field.

I followed close behind him, in awe of how large a garden was kept here in this remote place. The rows and rows of silvery flowers must have been cultivated by a human hand. Minerva crept behind me, falling into a slower pace. She must have been exhausted from using her gifting all morning.

Zichri stopped. My feet continued to move, and I crashed into him in full motion. I clung to his waist so I wouldn’t fall. Minerva sucked in a quick breath but disappeared and reappeared in front of Zichri.

Footfalls sounded somewhere in the field. Zichri motioned for us to get down, and we dropped so fast, I daresay a rock couldn’t have fallen faster. The aching seconds that followed crawled by. A strange perfume clogged my nose with its poignant scent. Sweat continued to pour like rivers along Minerva’s hairline.

“No one here,” shouted a man from the incline above. He continued over the crest of the hilled garden and disappeared.

Huddled with arms still around Zichri’s waist, I dared not move until he twisted to put his arms around my shoulders, breaking my grip.

He pressed his lips up to my ear. “Are you all right?”

I nodded.

“We can’t let Minerva teleport again.” He paused, his warm exhale tickling my ear. “She will faint if she overexerts herself.”

Both of us turned to Minerva. Her skin had paled, and more sweat trickled to her jawline. Her dazed eyes focused on a plant, and she blinked far too slowly. She plucked a white flower, velvety and small. What was she doing?

Before I could ask, she chewed on the petals and swallowed. My mouth hung open in shock. Zichri’s cheek muscle flexed. Did she know what type of plant this was? I surely had never seen this type of flower before.

She swiped her face with her sleeve, color returning to her skin. She mouthed to Zichri, “Eat one.” A quick point of her lips toward the plant in question prodded us onward. She plucked a couple more flowers and placed them in Zichri’s palm.

Examining the small petals and iridescent pollen that smelled sweet as honey, I plucked one flower from his palm.

Minerva swiped at my hand and shook her head.

I hissed, “What is this?’

She tapped her lips, hushing my next words.

My fists and upper lip curled in frustration at our need for silence and the mystery of the flower.

Zichri’s forehead wrinkled in confusion. She was so insistent in a way I had never seen in her. If we didn’t fear for our lives, I would have demanded why.

I reached for a flower in Zichri’s palm, and she jerked my hand away again. Was she trying to kill Zichri or me? I knew Zichri trusted her and so did Cosme, but this strange behavior made me question why they had so much faith in a girl entangled with so many kingdom loyalties.

Zichri hesitantly brought the flowers to his mouth and chewed them. Minerva glowed with anticipation showing in the upturn of her mouth and the expectation in her gaze. What was supposed to happen? His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. But nothing changed.

He lifted his shoulders and flipped over his palms in question, but Minerva tapped her finger over her mouth again to shush us. She crept along the hedge toward the building with a vigor that hadn’t been there when we’d reached the field.

We continued toward the building and squatted along the wall once we arrived. The door to a servants’ entrance enticed us to peek inside. Nerves bundled in my stomach at the thought of blindly plunging into the enemy’s lair. I released my powers, forming instant connections that strung me to every person in close proximity. Anxiety vibrated from Zichri and Minerva. A third line connected with someone behind the door.

I signaled for Minerva and Zichri to hide, but the door whipped open a second later. A giant man in a rough spun tunic and simple trousers peered down at me with an icy glare. Minerva reached for me, but the man lifted me by my arm, blocking Minerva from whisking me away.

His grip dug into the tender skin of my upper arm. I bit back a grunt. The connection between us grew stronger as information danced like the colloquial quick steps done by commoners.

Pouring fear through my fingertip, I pushed the sentiment like a storm through the three connections to scare away my friends from exposing themselves and to loosen the grip of the bulky man holding me. But the man whistled with one sharp note into the field and toted me into the castle.

The dim corridor swallowed me in one swift gulp. I whipped my head toward the open door.

Ancient One, please let them get away. This was my idea. Truth be told, I had hoped to find Laude and Jaime on La Lavia where we could swipe them from the deck and disappear into the horizon. What was I thinking?

The gap of light in the open doorway shrunk, but the lines connecting me with Zichri and Minerva did not break. Instead, a hand gripped the edge of the door, and a group of guards lugged my friends in behind me. Why wasn’t Zichri fighting? Why wasn’t Minerva whisking us to safety? Part of me already knew we couldn’t waste her energy, and we couldn’t slash our way out without Jaime and Laude.

Through a maze of passages, I tripped over myself and was held up by the arm. A bruise surely would form in the shape of sausage-like fingers.

Windows poured sunshine onto more polished stone and paintings of the flowers we’d seen outside. The lovely white flowers were sprinkled across the canvasses as if they were lead performers in the theater. So many questions clogged my mind and sent my heart into a panicked frenzy. I was supposed to be a tamer, yet I couldn’t even calm my own wild emotions.

The giant lugging me pushed open a polished door into a solarium with walls of windows overlooking the fields of fragrant flowers. Elegant couches and armchairs curled around the edges of the room, and small tables filled the gaps. At the one end, an older man with a slender face and a long black beard streaked with gray stood from his seat with a polished pewter mug in hand.

A blushing Laude sipped tea beside him in a radiant floral gown that made her appear like a porcelain doll with perfect ringlets. This whole trip I’d imagined a person with rope strangling her wrists and a sword at her heels.

Instead, she had the audacity to smile at me, cheeks bubbly and posture impeccable. By the Ancient One, I’d risked my betrothal and life for her.

Did she also betray me like Lux had? Laude mouthed the word sorry which left me even more disoriented.

Whyzer Patro chuckled under his breath, a raspy sound. “I suppose our dear Minerva facilitated an escape?”

Minerva shrunk into herself even as one of her captors held her upright.

“And pray tell me, is this Prince Hugo’s younger, stupid brother?” Whyzer Patro’s voice dripped with pure acid.

“You forgot to add dashing.” The challenge in Zichri’s broad shoulders stole any playfulness from his statement.

I bit the inside of my cheek and allowed my energy to flow. The immense sunlight pouring through the windows hid the glow of my gifting in use along the markings.

“Whyzer Patro?” Laude’s shrill voice drew all our attention. She gulped and avoided making eye contact with me.

The curl of the whyzer’s lips was anything but pleasant. He motioned to the doors, setting the other men in motion. “To the dungeon. Our queen lacks the willpower to face her old companions.”

My fists curled. Blood boiled in my stomach. Most of all, I wanted to scream and then cry. I thought Laude was loyal.