My brow furrows as Trev and I make our way through the crowd. It’s too loud and discordant for me to decipher what they’re saying. I ask Trev again if he knows what’s going on. He shakes his head, presses me forward. Most of the fae who see the lightning flashing across my face and arms back away, but a few of them don’t. They deliberately brush against me, agitating my edarratae and heating my skin. I grit my teeth and keep moving, trying to look as pissed and determined as possible to keep them from messing with me. And trying to figure out just what the hell everyone’s doing out so early in the morning.
Before we reach the wall, a small, discreet door opens. The portcullis behind it is already lifted, and four armed fae step out. Trev and I reach the guards—who most likely spotted us the second we stepped out of the alley—and enter the Inner City without much trouble.
The guards follow us in, closing the door behind them, then lowering the portcullis.
Trev turns to the nearest fae. “What are they celebrating?”
“The kingkiller has stepped forward.”
Every ounce of blood drains from my face. My mouth goes dry, my chest tightens, and I’m cold. Colder than I was in the In-Between.
“No,” I say. I mentally focus on Kyol, trying to break my way through his mental wall. He pushes back, and I can’t read him. I can’t rant or scream or rage at him.
Not from this distance.
I don’t remember the run through the Inner City. I only vaguely recall Trev shouting my name. My heart thunders against my chest, and the only thing I can focus on is stopping Kyol. I can’t let him do this. King Atroth was his friend. Kyol killed him to save me. He wouldn’t have done it otherwise.
The plaza outside the palace’s main gate is just as packed as the area ringing the silver wall. When I reach the edge of the crowd, I falter for the first time. Yesterday, they were celebrating the burning of the ledgers. Today, they’re celebrating the pending execution of one of the most respected fae in the Realm. The fae are a fickle, violent people. I’ve always known that, but I’ve never before loathed them so much for it.
The crowd parts in front of me. Not out of fear of a lightning-covered human but because I’ve picked up an escort along the way. Trev and half a dozen swordsmen make a path for me. I take it, striding through the mass of fae and reaching an open door just as the sun peaks above the eastern city.
No one says a word once I’m inside. I keep silent as well. I don’t need them to tell me where Kyol is. He might be eclipsing his emotions, but he can’t hide his location. He’s in the northern wing of the palace. In Lena’s apartments, most likely.
Less than ten minutes later, I’m stopped before I enter the queen’s antechamber. I don’t recognize the fae standing between me and the open double doorway, but my guess is they’re fae who are loyal to Hison. The high noble is inside. He’s speaking to Lena. Her back is to me, so I can’t read her expression. She’s rigid, though, and I’m hoping she’s angry and resolute, that she’s refusing to allow Hison to arrest and execute Kyol, who’s somewhere in the room.
I try to push my way past the fae in front of me. One of them, a tall, thick-chested man with a green-and-white name-cord braided into his hair, shoves me back.
I slam into Trev, who steadies me before he takes an aggressive step toward the other fae. All the fae guarding the door must be on edge. They overreact, drawing their weapons and moving to intercept each one of my escorts.
“Kyol!” I yell, but I already feel him moving toward me, shoving aside Hison’s men.
“Don’t do this,” I tell him as he pulls me into his arms.
“Quiet!” he orders.
I dig my fingers into the hard muscles of his forearms. Hison’s ordering his men to arrest Kyol; Lena’s ordering them to stand down. I won’t let them take him away. I have to get through to Kyol, use everything in my arsenal to make him deny his involvement in the king’s death.
“The life-bond—”
“Quiet!” Kyol says again, shaking me. We’re touching. All my emotions jumble with his. I can’t sort them out.
“Please, Kyol.”
“Lord Hison, control your fae,” Lena says. “You’ve taken my sword-master. You cannot have my lord general as well.”
Hison issues an order to his people. They step back.
Kyol’s jaw clenches. His silver eyes are dark and pain-laced as they stare into mine. “I’ll fix this, McKenzie,” he says. “I’ll find a way to fix it.”
“Fix it?” I echo. He never should have admitted to it in the first . . .
You’ve taken my sword-master. Lena’s words ring in my head. The room seems to spin. This whole situation is wrong. If Hison knows Kyol is the garistyn, why is he letting him stand here armed and unshackled?
Realization slides over me.
“No.” I back away. “No, Aren wouldn’t . . .”
Kyol grabs my arm, pulls me close, then lowers his voice. “You must stay silent!”
It feels like a knife has lodged in my heart. My blood roars in my ears, so loud I barely hear Lena order Hison and his fae to leave.
“Where is he?” I ask as soon as the room is clear of everyone but me, Lena, and Kyol.
When Lena doesn’t answer immediately, I face her fully. “Where is he?”
“I don’t know,” she bites out. “Hison doesn’t trust me. His men took him away until the . . .” She presses her lips together, and when she speaks again, her voice is tight. “Until the execution.”
“Why didn’t you stop them?”
Lena grimaces, then turns slightly away from me, staring at the antechamber’s closed doors.
“You didn’t try,” I whisper, interpreting her silence. “You sacrificed him.”
Her shoulders quaver when she draws in a breath. She doesn’t deny my accusations, though. She let them take him.
Horror twists through my gut. How could she do that? Aren fought for the throne for her. He fought for her family for years. He’s the only reason she’s alive, and she’s turned her back on him.
A litany of curses and accusations scream through my mind. The only thing that keeps me from saying them out loud is the expression on her face. It’s a mix of regret and self-loathing, maybe a touch of helplessness.
“Hison came to arrest us,” Kyol says. “It would have crippled Lena. She’d have no hope of becoming queen.”
“She’s never going to become queen!” I yell.
“He told us not to fight.”
“What?”
“He told us not to fight, McKenzie,” Kyol says again.
I lower my voice, make it as hard as steel. “And you both just listened?”
In my peripheral vision, I see Lena’s head lower. She says, very softly in Fae, “I’m sorry.”
The apology infuriates me. I just barely manage not to explode. Instead, I lock eyes with Kyol and say, “We’re freeing him.”
“We don’t know where Hison’s holding him,” he says.
“You can find out.”
He doesn’t respond to that, probably because we both know it’s true. The fae respect him, especially the palace fae. Someone will have seen where Aren was taken. They’ll tell Kyol. All he has to do is ask.
And he will ask.
I’M sitting on a bench in the palace’s sculpture garden, staring at the ground. I hate this, the waiting. The doing nothing. I shouldn’t be here, and Aren shouldn’t be crowding my mind. I should be focused on other things, like the false-blood, the remnants, or the Sight serum. I should be concerned about Lena and her fragile Court. I shouldn’t be worried about members of that Court executing an innocent man.