Treason: Book Two of the Grimoire Saga (a Young Adult Fantasy series) (22 page)

“Thank you for standing up for Braeden. That was brave,” Kara said.

“And foolish, it seems. They think of me as weaker, now, though surviving the Stele’s prison is no small feat. Compassion is so often punished. I simply wish—”

Aislynn peered over to the sparrow on Kara’s shoulder and paused, as if she had forgotten what she was going to say.

The queen continued after a moment. “There’s no need for me to beat around the bush. I know a muse when I see one. She doesn’t need to hide from me.”

When the muse didn’t change form, Kara took it as a cue to play dumb.

“What do you mean?”

“I saw her shift, Kara, so there’s no need for games. But it’s all right. She doesn’t need to change form for me. I just want the muse to know I am grateful that she saved Braeden from the Stele. He told me the true story of how he met you, Kara, and I cannot thank either of you enough for saving him.”

Kara wanted to feel relieved. She wanted to think Adele’s secret was safe. She wanted to laugh it off and have one more powerful ally in this dangerous world, but her gut twisted with dread. The hair on her neck stood on end, and every fiber of her being screamed,
liar!

Aislynn nodded in the silence that settled between them. She left, and the door clicked behind her. No lock slid into place. Kara could leave if she wanted, though she wasn’t sure that was in her best interest.

Flick settled on her shoulder and purred into her ear. A gust of wind blew through her hair again as the muse shifted back to her human form.

“It seems you have yet another ally, Kara. This is good,” Adele said.

“I don’t think we can trust her,” Kara answered.

“Why not?”

“I—I don’t know. I can’t put my finger on it, but something was wrong with that entire conversation.”

“Don’t reject kindness out of fear. You don’t have many friends here, Kara, and Aislynn helped you many times over, has she not? She vouched for Braeden without knowing you would save him. No one could have expected that.”

“Even I didn’t expect that,” Kara admitted.

“Aislynn is an ally. Be careful not to push her away.”

“I still don’t think you should show yourself to her.”

“It’s a bit late for that. They opened the door much too quickly. I was too involved in trying to talk sense into you. I was unprepared.”

“Speaking of which, we need to go—”

“Precisely.”

“—to the Stele.”

“No! You are infuriating.”

Kara caught Adele’s eye. “I’m not leaving Braeden.”

Adele sighed. “Very well. But you are only to help him escape if there is an issue, is that clear? You will not go into the Stele.”

Kara nodded. It was a lie. She knew it and figured the muse had already guessed as much.

Adele shook her head and climbed out the open window. She balanced on the window ledge, only her foot and fingers still inside the room, and shifted into a silver creature with a thin body and four legs. Its wings glistened in the sunlight like a dragonfly’s. As Kara watched, the wings began to flutter until they were nothing but blurs. Adele let go and hovered just outside the window, waiting.

Kara grinned and threw her satchel over her shoulder as she marveled at the beautiful creature—whatever it was. Flick scampered into the bag, apparently guessing what would come next.

She slipped through the window and climbed onto Adele’s back. Scales broke apart the light and reflected it like prisms. Their edges tickled Kara’s palm as she wrapped her arms around Adele’s neck.

Adele pushed off the window and soared into the sky. Kara’s gut twisted from the momentum. A fleeting worry pushed into her mind—guards might try to shoot them down. Kara had, after all, not been formally released. Aislynn had not said she could leave.

Kara shrugged and hugged the muse’s neck a little tighter. It wasn’t as if any yakona alive could stop a muse, anyway.

Braeden led Aurora past the tables in the still-empty Stelian break room and sighed with relief when none of the cabinets creaked open. The guards still hadn’t come to.

He might just make it out of this.

Aurora walked a step behind and followed him into the spare closet that hid the secret exit. Green light shone through the clothes disguising the still-open door. Braeden pushed aside a shirt and gestured for Aurora to wait. He needed to make sure it was safe.

She nodded, and he slipped out into the bushes. The tangled branches cast sunbeams on the ground. Braeden didn’t see the other royals for a moment, but took a calming breath when the prince of Losse walked by, pacing in the stillness beneath the low trees. The Lossian’s steps crunched the leaves, and Braeden flinched when the prince stepped on a twig.

His fists tightened. It was as if they wanted to get caught.

A screeching wail rang through the small grove of trees. Braeden covered his ears. As Daowa and the prince followed suit, Braeden turned to see Aurora with her hand on the now-closed door.

“Oye! You heard it this time, too, yeah?” someone yelled to another soldier on the battlement.

Braeden peered through the gaps in the short trees’ leaves and watched as the guard from earlier leaned over the edge of the wall. He stared at the bush to Braeden’s left, but it was over.

“Get someone down there!” the guard said. He leaned back and disappeared from the edge of the roof.

“What are we going to do?” Daowa asked. She wrung her hands and looked at her son.

Braeden answered instead. “Plan B. Run like all hell is after you because soon, it will be.”

He grabbed Aurora by the wrist and bolted along the tunnel of trees. He ran into the forest, pausing only long enough to glance over his shoulder and confirm that the prince had likewise grabbed his mother and followed.

Shouts rang across the castle walls and some even came from the woods to Braeden’s right. He cursed beneath his breath and turned toward the stables.

Aurora stumbled along behind him, barely able to keep up. The prince and Daowa ran close behind. Guards yelled to each other, their voices muted as they fanned out to search the woods.

Fighting was
not
an option. Not against this many soldiers. Not when his only accomplices were a queen who kept tripping over her dress, a princess who had likely never held a sword in her life, and an exhausted prince. He doubted the Lossian prince would go down without a fight, but he knew they would all be captured again if it came to that.

The stable roof appeared through a gap between two trees. Braeden sighed with relief. Its back entrance faced the woods. Only a ten-foot wide stretch of grass stood between him and a barn full of horses, drowngs, and assorted other mounts. Of course, his only hope was a horse. These drowngs had been trained to only let Stelians ride them and would kill sooner than let any of the royals get close.

Braeden shot a cursory glance over the small field near the stables before he darted in and dragged Aurora with him. Horses pawed in their stalls, but no one stood in the aisle. He glanced back into the woods and waited at the door until the Lossians followed him in.

Clumps of loose hay stuck to the edges along the empty aisle. A set of tall double doors at the other end stood open, tall enough for mounted riders to charge through. Good. That was the closest thing to a plan Braeden had left.

“Grab horses!” he ordered.

Someone gasped. Braeden turned to see a stable hand peeking from one of the adjacent stalls. A fully saddled horse peeked out with him, a comb stuck in its mane.

The groom bolted from the stall and ran out the door.

Braeden rolled his eyes. “We have to leave NOW! Do any of you need a saddled horse?”

“Hardly! The only thing I need is a boost,” Daowa said from a stall. She stood by a bridled horse with a stocky build, her left hand holding the reins and a bit of the horse’s mane as she waited for a lift.

“Mother! This is not a time for pride. Get on the horse!” the Lossian prince shouted.

Braeden looked over to the prince, who stood in the aisle with two white horses wearing black bridles. He offered Braeden the reins to the larger of the creatures. Its shoulder came almost to Braeden’s eye. He didn’t know horses that large even existed.

He nodded to the fully saddled horse in the stall. “I guess that one is yours, Aurora.”

She nodded and pulled herself onto its back, sitting sidesaddle. She hesitated, eyeing her leg for a moment before she slipped it over to the other side. Braeden nodded, grateful she’d done so. She would have fallen off otherwise.

Daowa managed to hop onto her mount without a boost, so Braeden grabbed the reins to his horse and jumped onto the behemoth’s back. Without hesitation, he kicked the horse’s side. It flicked its tail and bolted, running through the aisle more quickly than he’d anticipated. The three royals followed suit and galloped from the stable with him, their escape violating every safety rule Braeden had ever learned.

As he burst into the sunlight, a stream of fire blazed past him and just missed his arm. The heat seeped through his clothes. He looked over his shoulder. His stomach churned.

The ground dipped into a hill, and a horde pooled at the bottom. Most of the Stelian soldiers ran toward him on foot, but a good number of them turned toward the stables, no doubt to grab their own mounts.

Braeden tore through the forest and headed for the grottoes. It seemed like the best idea to leave the same way he’d come in, but how could they get past the feihl if they couldn’t even keep from slamming a rusted door closed?

He didn’t really have a choice at this point. He could go to the grottoes or Carden. There was a chance they would survive the grottoes. But after an escape like this, there would never again be a way out of the Cellar.

The grottoes slid into view as he rounded a bend in the trees. He breathed a sigh of relief. A look over his shoulder confirmed that Daowa and the prince of Losse still ran right behind him, but Aurora trailed slightly behind. The horde grew ever closer in the distance.

An arrow shot from the crowd and landed in the rump of Aurora’s horse. The animal bucked, flinging her onto the ground in one motion. She rolled, the horse’s front hooves missing her head by inches. The princess stumbled to find her feet.

Braeden cursed under his breath.

“Climb to the second level, and wait for me once you’re inside a cave!” he shouted to the Lossians. The prince nodded and kicked his horse to go faster.

Braeden turned his mount around and ran to Aurora. Once he reached her, he positioned the animal between her and the approaching mob now only a hundred feet off. Fire whizzed by his head as he offered the princess a hand.

“Come on!”

She reached up as an arrow pierced his shoulder. Braeden screamed in agony. He ripped it out. His vision blurred. Steam pummeled from the pores on his neck and arms. His uniform stretched without him understanding why.

He opened his eyes as the pain receded. A chorus of Stelians yelled from behind him, but he could see only Aurora. Her eyes widened, and she pulled her hand back.

Braeden glanced down at his arms. Steam leapt from his now-gray skin.

He took a deep breath and shifted back into his Hillsidian form. His body shrank, and his skin lightened once more. He didn’t have time to deal with this.

He reached his hand out to the princess. “I’ll explain everything, but you need me to get out of here, and we’re out of time to waste!”

She reached for his hand without answering, her eyes still wide. He pulled her on behind him and looked over his shoulder to make sure she could balance without a saddle. She wouldn’t look at him. Instead, she watched the grottoes’ entrance. Behind her, the horde ran closer.

Aurora leaned closer. “After what Blood Carden did to me, I will never admit to needing a Stelian.”

Braeden turned in his seat to look at her, but too late. She elbowed him in the neck, the force far stronger than he could have imagined. The blow and the surprise of an attack—from
her
of all living things—sent him onto the ground. She tore off on his horse, leaving him in the dirt.

“Aurora!” he yelled.

He stumbled to his feet to follow, to run, to maybe even hit her, but the horde grabbed him first.

“Welcome back!” one of the soldiers said in his ear.

Braeden punched the guard in the face. Another grabbed his arm, and a third wrapped a rope around his neck. Braeden fought, shirking them as fast as they came.

Someone yelled his name. It was a familiar voice, tense and frightened, and he turned away from the fight despite himself.

A silver creature the size of a small horse but with wings like a dragonfly landed atop the grottoes. It transformed even as he watched, becoming a great, six-legged beast with a long, clubbed tail. A muse—that had to be a muse. The Lossian prince jumped onto the muse’s back and offered his mother a hand. Only then did Braeden see the person who had screamed his name.

Kara.

No, she can’t be here!

A guard’s head blocked his view of her. Braeden punched the Stelian in the gut until the soldier crumpled to the ground.

Aurora grabbed Kara’s arm and pulled her toward the muse. Kara twisted in the princess’s grip, no doubt trying to come help him, but that would have been useless. The Lossian prince finally grabbed Kara by her shoulders and pulled her on the creature.

Wings beat on the air, and the muse took off. A rush of wind scattered Kara’s hair into her face as she struggled against Aurora, who held on even when the prince let go.

At least she’ll be safe,
Braeden thought.

A sharp pain burst through his neck and ran down his spine. He fell to the ground, and all went dark.

“Braeden!”

Kara threw her leg over Adele’s back and tried to jump off when Braeden fell to the ground. Aurora grabbed her arm and pulled her back. Kara twisted in the grip, but couldn’t slip free. She couldn’t believe the princess’s strength.

“Braeden said to go on, Vagabond! Don’t waste his sacrifice!” Aurora yelled.