Breakwater (26 page)

Octo had managed to get us a few weapons—two daggers for me, and a mid-length sword for Ash—and made sure the boat Ayu secured for us was tied up on the western side of the Deep, closest to land. Closest to where we could use the armband again and Travel back to the Rim and safety. I touched the armband for the first time in a long while. That it was still there after all that happened shocked me.

Ayu had slipped away, her shoulders tight and hunched. We knew as she did that there was a very good chance Requiem would wonder why she was checking on the two girls. Even though she was a healer, it wasn’t common practice to certify the health of a prospective bride—or in this case, brides.

Requiem’s voice boomed over everyone else’s, but still, the words were muffled and I couldn’t make out a thing he was saying. The only good thing about hearing his voice was we knew he was busy. Even if he was marrying his own sister and mine. From our high perspective outside Requiem’s personal quarters, I stared across the courtyard at the twinkling lights and people wandering in the throne room that was somehow opened to the sky.

“Do you think Blue was able to stop him?” I glanced at Ash while I hopped in place, my nerves jangling to get moving. We had a long climb ahead of us and I didn’t want to burn out early, but I was jittery. The wall in front of us was easily the height of a redwood from back home, but that wasn’t what was bothering me. No, it was the fact that if we were caught, there would be no cells waiting for us. Requiem would kill us and be done with it.

Ash reached out and got a grip on the wall, pulled himself up, and dug his toes into crevices I couldn’t see. His muscles flexed in his thighs as he clung to the wall. “If Blue had managed to cause even a hitch in his plans, there wouldn’t have been any drums. I’d be surprised if she is still alive.”

Even though I’d already thought the same thing, I had hoped Blue had at least been able to slow Requiem down. Tucking my fingers into a crack in the wall, I pulled myself up and felt around with my toes for a ledge to push from. The tiniest of openings beckoned to my right foot and I jabbed it against the sandstone with maybe more force than I needed. Then again, I didn’t really want to fall.

No matter how strong we were, or how fast we healed, that didn’t mean I wanted to feel the pain of a fall like this and deal with the recovery. Who was I kidding, if I fell, there would be no recovery; Requiem would end my life. Or worse, try to marry me too.

Our backs were to the ocean as we climbed. Was there a door and stairway into Requiem’s personal sanctum? Of course there was. And it was heavily guarded and not worth the bloodshed when we could climb. Bad enough that we had to leave that way. We didn’t want to alert Requiem and his lackeys until we absolutely had to.

My right hand slipped off my next grip and I hung in space from my left hand for a split second before I managed to dig my toes into the wall. Breathing hard, I dared a glance down. We weren’t even halfway up yet and I was struggling. So much rode on us doing this exactly right. Lives hung in the balance, and I did not want to screw this up.

Above me, Ash paused and glanced down. I gave him a nod, knowing how well voices carried over the water.

Fifteen minutes of climbing and my whole body was a tense bag of muscles and tendons. Ash reached the balcony and pulled himself over the railing. He disappeared into the room, the curtains fluttering around him.

“Thanks for the hand,” I breathed out as I reached for the next handhold. The pain that shot through my right foot made me hiss. A shell embedded into the wall stuck out far enough to slice me open, but not far enough to use as a grip. The blood on my foot made using it impossible to grip.

Inside the room came a thump and a gargle of a strangled cry. Adrenaline pumping, I tried to scramble up the wall, which only caused me another cut on the bottom of my foot from the same damn shell.

A second thump and the curtains blew out as if bodies were being tossed around inside. Gritting my teeth, I knew there was only one way I was getting up there fast enough to help.

Gauging the distance between me and the bottom of the balcony there wasn’t much choice. I couldn’t wait for Ash if he was getting his ass handed to him; my muscles were giving up, and one foot down didn’t leave me the control I needed.

I took a deep breath, coiled in on myself and leapt for the bottom of the railing. The air around me seemed to caress my face and arms as I stretched for the rail, every muscle pushed to its limit.

My fingers hooked the edge of the flooring and I hung for a moment, shocked when I realized I’d made it. Pulling myself up, I hooked a leg over the edge, stood and hopped the banister.

The gauzy curtain swirled outward and a figure moved behind it. I crouched, hands going to where the daggers rested at my belt. “Ash?”

A figure moved closer, but didn’t answer. I shifted the two daggers out, one in each hand with the blades flat against my wrists. As the figure parted the curtain, I leapt forward, seeing the blond hair and honey eyes too late. Ash caught me, his hands going to my butt as he stumbled back, trying to gain his balance under our joined momentum.

“What are you doing?” He came to a stop and dropped me to my feet. The skin under his hands burned as if he’d slapped me leaving a trail of tingles all the way down my legs.

“I thought you were hurt,” I whispered, pointing a knife at him. “When someone calls your name, you should answer.”

“Help me drag his body to the balcony,” he said.

I put my daggers away and grabbed one of the intruder’s feet. “One of the guards? Won’t they notice he’s missing?” This rescue mission was going sideways already.

“No, I think he was a thief. See the tools? He was the one who cut those grips in the wall. He came up the same way to rob Requiem while he was at his wedding.”

I stared down at the red hair. “He’s a Salamander.”

“That, he is.”

I frisked the dead thief as the implications raced through my mind. Fiametta must have sent him, whoever he was. A bag of tools was one thing. But it was the paper that he’d taken that caught my eye. The genealogy Requiem was obsessed with. I took it and tucked it into my vest. Ash gave me a look but said nothing. We dragged the thief’s body to the balcony and pushed it to the side.

Fiametta wanted Requiem’s bloodline information? Was it truly that important?

Before I could wonder further, Ash lifted a finger to his lips and pointed to the door. The heavy clunk of multiple footsteps climbing the stairs reached us. We stepped back onto the balcony, moving to either side without even speaking to one another.

The curtain blew out around us as the air pressure in the room shifted.

“Princess, I’m sorry.”

Finley spoke, her voice sharp. “Get out. None of you are worth my favor. Not one.” Requiem wasn’t with her, which was good. Except I didn’t hear Bella. Where in the seven hells was she?

The footsteps retreated and then the door clicked shut. I motioned at Ash to stay as I slipped back into the room.

A cloud of light blue material sat in the middle of the room, dark blue hair piled high on top of it like some sort of living cupcake. “Finley.”

She spun around, her eyes going wide and filling with tears. Stumbling over her poofy skirts, she ran toward me. “Lark, you’re alive! Requiem laughed at the ceremony, he said you would show up there or not at all. But Ayu said you would come for me. I wanted to believe her, but I was so scared. I couldn’t get Olive close enough to Requiem. I wanted to fight, I did!”

I smoothed her hair, plucking out the pins so as to let the monstrosity down. “I almost did come to the ceremony, but that would have been a disaster. My friend, Ash talked me out of it.” He stepped out from behind us and gave a bow to her. “Princess.”

Her eyes widened as she looked him over. “He’s another Ender, like you?”

“Yes. Finley, where did Requiem take Belladonna? We’re going to get her and you and escape. Someone else will have to deal with Requiem.” The words sounded cowardly, even to me, even knowing that Requiem would kill us all without a single qualm.

Finley pointed below us. “She’s still at the party. She doesn’t look well, Lark. She’s been very sick since you’ve been gone.”

Ash let out a hiss. “Poison.”

We had to hurry. We’d been separated less than twelve hours, but I didn’t know how long a poison would take. The only thing I could think was Requiem believed if he married Belladonna, and then killed her, he could take my father’s throne. Icy anger crackled through me.

Requiem was about to find out there was more than one way to flay a shark.

“Finley, how many guards are there between here and the . . . party?” I held her hands tightly and didn’t look away while her eyes grew thoughtful.

“Three in the tower, two at the front gate. That’s all I saw. Lark, we can get to her. We can, I think he put her in a small holding room where she can be sick on her own. I can get you there.” Her eyes were bright with hope. I looked to Ash for guidance.

“We don’t have a choice,” I said.

“I know, that doesn’t mean I like it.” He strode to the door and peeked out. “The stairs are wide enough we can fight side by side. Silent and fast, that’s how we’re doing this.”

I took Finley by the hand. “You stay behind us, understand?”

She bobbed her head. “I knew you would come for us.”

I touched her head and then stood and moved to Ash’s side. “Ready.”

He opened the door and we descended the stairway side by side in a fast crouch. The first guard didn’t even turn around, didn’t even suspect he was about to die. I clamped one hand over his mouth and twisted his neck, spinning his body out so Ash could drive his sword through the guard’s heart.

Guard two and three were equally oblivious to us. At the bottom of the stairs, I jogged back up half a flight to where Finley waited. Her face was pale as she stared at the headless corpse of guard number three. “He was always nice to me, even when Requiem wasn’t.” A tear trickled down her cheek.

“I’m so sorry that we have to do this, Finley.” I reached out and brushed the tear away. She nodded. “I know. That’s why you are so good. You don’t want to hurt people. You want to help them.”

Guilt gnawed at me. That may have been true, but I was about to kill another person to get to Bella. Ash motioned me to him. I gave Finley one last touch on the top of her head, then hurried down the stairs to Ash’s side. He put his mouth right against my ear.

“Two guards. You go left.”

I nodded and adjusted my grip on the two daggers, already seeing the move in my head. Overhand downward strike with my right hand driving the blade into the neck, left-handed dagger would come in hard to the kidney. The doors opened inward, and we yanked them fast, leaping through the space.

True to what Finley remembered, there were only two guards.

But they were both Enders.

My first blow to the neck bounced off the spinning machete that deflected it. My left-handed blow did connect, but not in the kidney. The dagger tore through the muscles in his side, pulling a grunt from the Ender, but nothing more. I let myself unbalance and go to my knees. The Ender, Carp I thought his name was, loomed over me, sneering. “You Terralings are so damn weak.”

I hung my head and didn’t look up as I swung with my right hand again, cutting through his hamstring. He went down with a surprised yowl that made me cringe. At least the music and laughter from the party was loud enough that he might not be heard.

Then there was no thought for how loud or quiet we were. Carp came at me like an enraged walrus, limping but still driving me back with the machete’s longer reach. The snarl on his lips said it all. He was furious. I flipped the right dagger up, spun it, caught the handle, and threw it at him. The blade buried deep into his left cheek. He gagged and yanked it out, slicing his face open in the process.

I didn’t wait for him to catch his breath. Leaping, I body slammed him, driving us both to the ground. Not unlike what I’d planned for Ash when I’d climbed onto the balcony. Except Ash had been ready for me. Carp was not.

I landed on his chest and we hit the pebbled road hard. Several of his ribs cracked underneath our combined weight and landing force, the snap of them loud enough to leave no doubt they were broken clean through. I whipped my second dagger out and swept it toward his heart.

“Please don’t kill me, I don’t stand with Requiem,” he bubbled out past the blood and fear. His eyes pled with me, lips smeared red.

“But you do, or you would not have allowed me to be taken. You would have fought for me if you stood with me,” Finley said behind me. I held the dagger steady, the point at the perfect angle that a quick thrust would send it home.

“Princess,” he whispered. “He threatened to kill us all.”

“Cowards. It has taken two Terralings you said were weak and useless to show me bravery comes not in a certain bloodline. But in the strength of one person’s heart.”

I couldn’t drive the dagger home now, not in front of the princess. Because despite her wise words, she was not even a teenager. Even though she was born to rule, she did not need to see a cold-blooded death. I flipped Carp over and, using his own belt, tied his hands and feet together then rolled him into the tower.

Ash dragged the limp body of the other Ender in behind me. I noted that his opponent still breathed. We shared a look that said it all. There was enough trouble with how things had gone down in the Pit. We didn’t need to double those issues by doing the same thing in the Deep. We stripped them of their weapons and barred the doors from the outside for an added measure, though I doubted the two guards would be going anywhere fast.

Finley pointed at the party. “Requiem is gone, I saw him leave. But he didn’t take Belladonna with him; hurry.” She bolted away, her billowy blue skirts dancing in the wind. I ran after her thinking I would catch up to her before she got to the crowd. She slipped between people and I was forced to shove my way in. Undine’s pulled away from me, their eyes wide and I knew what they saw. An Terraling covered in blood and gore, her hair wild, weapons in her hands. Again.