“Guarding?” Rhien repeated.
“Hazlitt could be in there,” Ava said.
“Perhaps,” I agreed. “But we can’t go out without being seen. There’s nowhere to hide and I don’t know how many are in that open room. Or even how many could be in the guarded room to protect Hazlitt.” I’d have tried to reach out with my magic and feel heartbeats to take a count, but the stone was too thick for me to get a read. I paused and held up my hand so nobody would speak, because I could hear the footsteps of the patrolling soldiers heading our way again. It took a few moments for them to pass by our location.
“I’ve got a potion that might be able to help,” Rhien said once the troops had passed us. “It’ll give us an opening to reach the door.”
“Without alerting the others?” Ava asked.
Rhien gave a side-to-side nod. “If we can get in the room quick enough, it’ll give us enough time to secure ourselves in it.”
“When the patrollers pass,” I instructed, and hearing their footsteps already returning, I motioned toward Rhien’s bag. “Quickly.”
She reached in and pulled out another round vial, raised it near her lips and whispered, “Heftes nauwran.”
There had been a white mist inside of it, but at the words, the mist collected, turning into what looked like vibrating purple sand. Instead of throwing the vial like she’d done last time, Rhien uncorked it and poured the sand into her palm, clutching it tight so none of it would escape. She inched past Ava and me to get at the head. The patrolling soldiers got closer, walked right past our hiding place, and continued on. The moment they’d gone, Rhien leaned out of the stairwell just enough to get a clear view down the right corridor. She opened her hand toward the soldiers at the door, and blew the sand from her grip.
It hit the floor, and wafted down the hall on some invisible wind toward the men until it reached their boots. It crawled upward beneath their trousers, and the moment that I imagined it hit skin, every one of them went stiff. Their arms stuck straight to their sides, their eyes went wide, and their lips pursed together. It was as though an invisible force had bound them, and every one of them tried to fight it. They wriggled in the magic’s grip, but were so stiff from it that they couldn’t balance, and one by one each of the four toppled to the ground.
Rhien tossed a brief look down the left hall, and seeing that the patrollers were still moving away from us, she rushed out. Ava and I were right behind her as she raced toward the squirming soldiers on the ground. I tried the door they were guarding and found it locked, and we immediately set to searching the soldiers’ pockets for the keys. In our haste, it took less than a couple of seconds for Ava to find them, and she unlocked the door and threw it open. There was a shout from the inside as the single occupant came charging at us with a sword, so I spark jumped behind him and reached out.
“Wait, don’t!” Ava hissed in panic, and I don’t know if she was talking to the man or to me, but both of us froze. Even more, the man instantly lowered his weapon and straightened out of his attack pose.
Rhien cleared her throat loudly as she tried to drag a soldier’s body through the door, and seeing as the man had ceased his assault, I rushed past him to help her before the patrollers could come back around. I flicked my wrist and wrapped each of the stiff soldiers in static, dragged them into the room, and left Rhien to close and lock the door. I returned to Ava’s side to finally look at the man. He was young—I couldn’t imagine more than a couple of years older than myself—tall, and very handsome. He had light brown hair and gentle gray eyes, and the kind of sharp jawline on his clean-shaven face to make any man envious.
“Avarona?” he asked, thick eyebrows meeting with complete and utter confusion.
“Destrian…” Ava breathed, sounding just as surprised as he did.
But he recovered from his shock, immediately raising his sword again. “Why are you here?” he demanded. “Are you with your father?”
“We’re not with Hazlitt,” Ava answered. “We’re here to stop him.”
He gave a dry laugh, shaking his sword toward her. “You tricked me once,” he accused. “Exploited my affections so we’d turn a blind eye to your father’s vile ambition.” He glared, gripping his weapon a little tighter. Even without his accusation, it was clear who he was—the prince of Cornwall. The man Ava had been prepared to marry if it would get her away from Guelder, and he clearly wasn’t happy about having been used. “What now?” he asked. “I suppose you’ve come to persuade me of what he couldn’t, to play to your charms.” He shook his head, passing a direct and disdainful look up the length of her body. “It won’t work. No matter what he’s convinced you to offer.”
I took an angry step forward, prepared to put him in his place for making suggestions like that, or for implying that Ava would help Hazlitt win this war when we were here to stop him, but Ava reached out and grabbed my hand. “Don’t,” she told me in a murmur, gently pulling me back to her. “I deserved that.”
The prince’s gaze wandered from Ava to our hands, and I could see the consideration in his eyes as he looked at me.
“Destrian,” Ava prompted, letting me go and stepping toward him, “I am sorry for my deceit last summer. It was wrong, and you never deserved it, but I swear to you that my intention wasn’t malicious. I had no knowledge of Hazlitt’s design.” She took another step forward, carefully brushing aside the point of his sword. “You can stay bitter toward me, but now is not the time to let personal grievances interfere with our common goal.” She turned enough to point at the soldiers I’d dragged in. “We fought our way in here,” she said, as if that would prove we weren’t with Hazlitt, and then offered her hand in reparation. “Help us fight our way to Hazlitt.”
He stared at her for almost a minute while he considered her apology, and then he glanced past her at Rhien and me. After a few more tense seconds, the prince nodded, and he’d just grabbed Ava’s hand to shake with her when there was a shout from the hall.
“They know we’re here,” Rhien said, and as if in response, there was a heavy thud against the door, followed by more shouting. “The door won’t hold forever.”
“What was Hazlitt trying to persuade you of?” I asked the prince urgently, and I pulled my dagger to prepare for a fight.
“Loyalty,” Destrian answered. “Said he’d make me king and spare my mother if I swore allegiance to him.”
“But he’d kill your father?” Ava asked, turning away from the prince to face the door, and there was another heavy thud and more yelling from the other side.
Destrian nodded. “But it wasn’t just my word he wanted. He wanted a blood oath, given with some sort of magic. It’d kill me if I ever betrayed him. That’s why I refused.” Another crack against the door, and the wood strained as it began to break. “He’s taken my parents to the dungeon below the castle, but if I know them at all, they won’t give him what he wants either.” This time, the thud against the door was enough to put a hole near the handle, and the prince gripped his sword in both hands. “I doubt it’ll be long before he kills them both and declares a ruler of his choosing.”
“We’ll go straight there if you lead the way,” I said.
The next thud broke the door from its frame. It swung open, and nine soldiers burst in with their weapons drawn. The first one through the door passed by close to Rhien, and she touched her hand to the man’s head and he dropped unconscious. The rest of them spread out, two of them coming right for me. It was too close in this room to spark jump, so I drew my sword instead, and had it out just in time to counter the first soldier’s swing. I deflected the blow, having to block right away again as he left no chance for a counter.