The Consort Page 12

  “I’m…just…” Rhea shook her head. “I didn’t expect this.”

  “No one did,” Cyrene confirmed. “Least of all, me.”

  “It’s so wonderful. Lady Cauthorn is making her a new gown. Daufina is training her to take over her position. The king is ecstatic with her return. The castle is celebrating!”

  Cyrene and Rhea shot each other meaningful looks. She knew what her friend was thinking without her having to say it. They had much to discuss. That was clear.

  “What is wrong with you two?” Elea asked. “Don’t act as if I don’t know the two of you. I’m missing something. What details am I missing?”

  “Nothing,” Cyrene said at once. “I’m just overwhelmed, being back and immediately being thrust into court life. I’m unaccustomed to it. Out of practice. I just want a minute alone with Rhea, if that’s all right? You could try to catch Lady Cauthorn to fix your dress before she leaves. Then, Mother would never know.”

  Elea straightened slightly, and Cyrene could tell that her request had hurt her sister. She hated doing it, but she wasn’t prepared to tell Elea everything that had occurred in the last year.

  “Fine,” she said, turning on her heel.

  “Elea,” Cyrene called.

  “Just let her go,” Rhea said. “She’s been strutting around the castle with adolescent torment. I love her, but she always was the baby. I think she believes it’s only a matter of time before she falls into line here and can be treated like an adult.”

  Cyrene stared after Elea’s retreating back. There was nothing she could do about it, but having Elea upset with her wouldn’t help with getting her out of the castle.

  “Cyrene, what is going on?” Rhea asked.

  She whirled back around to face her friend. “Everything has gone wrong, Rhea. I wish we had more time. I was brought back from Eleysia before I could complete my training, and Edric has made me consort against my wishes.”

  “So then, you found what you were looking for?” Rhea asked.

  Cyrene nodded. “I did.”

  “That’s incredible.”

  Cyrene opened her mouth to tell her that the price for discovering her powers was not worth it. That she wished it had never happened to her at all. That she wished she still had Elea’s innocence about everything. Finding out that she had been lied to her entire life—that magic existed; Affiliates were sneered at around the rest of the world; and maybe, just maybe, men and women weren’t even as equal as she had thought. So much change, so fast.

  “I need to leave,” Cyrene told Rhea instead.

  “Already?”

  “It’s not safe for me here. I had an assassination attempt on the boat on the way here and another one last night on my way to my room. If I remain, I will die.”

  Rhea bit her lip, and her green eyes widened. “What are you going to do? How can I help?”

  Cyrene shook her head. “I don’t want it connected to you. Daufina has a plan to smuggle me, Ahlvie, and Orden out of the castle.”

  “Daufina? You trust her? Didn’t you take her job?”

  “And wouldn’t it behoove her to see me gone?”

  “True. I worry.”

  “Rhea, come with me,” Cyrene said, taking her hands. “Think about it. I can get you away from here. Out from under the thumb of the Class system and to a place where you can really use your talents.”

  Cyrene had never thought those words would come out of her mouth.

  Byern was set up with three classes. First Class was the ruling class—Affiliates and High Order. They received a higher education and oversaw the other classes. In other places she had ventured, she had found them to be called lords and ladies. The Second Class was the military and all the new royal guard. While Third Class was all mercantile, farming, and service positions. Each person at the age of seventeen was brought before the court, and the class fate was determined. She had always dreaded the thought of joining a lower class, as Rhea had done when she was moved to Second and into Master Barca’s care. Now, she was beginning to believe that these people had more freedom than she ever would…if not, as much opportunity.

  “Cyrene, you know that I cannot,” Rhea said softly.

  “But why not? With what I know now, I know that we could survive on our own.”

  Rhea shook her head. “I’m sorry. I have…work here to do.”

  “What? Slave away for Master Barca and deliver things for the king on his whim? That is no life.”

  “Cyrene, stop. Do not come into my workplace and judge me,” Rhea said defensively. “I love you. I understand why you have to leave. I understand why you left before. I always knew that you were meant for more. Do not ask me to be like you. I am not.”

  Cyrene took a step back and glanced away. Of course. Of course, Rhea would stay. Cyrene had begged the last time, but Rhea had stayed behind. She couldn’t get her best friend back. Just replace the hole in her heart where Maelia had been.

  “Cyrene…”

  “No, you’re right,” Cyrene said. “But…I need your help.”

  “Anything.”

  “I need Elea to come with me.” Cyrene’s eyes landed back on Rhea’s table full of tricks. “And I need one of your explosions for a distraction.”

  The next few days dragged.

  Cyrene didn’t see either of the Dremylon boys in all her time training with Daufina. She tried to think of it as a positive, but she had gotten used to feeling that spark fly between them. It was unnerving, how much she missed it.

  Not that she wanted to run into Edric after what had happened between them. She assumed that he was keeping his distance after her rejection, but it didn’t explain Kael. He’d claimed that he was going to come see her after the attack. However, he never showed up, and she had no idea what he was doing.

  And she hated how that made her feel. That she felt anything at all in his absence.

  Worse…she hated that she could walk back into the Nit Decus castle and fall seamlessly into the fold. She had been gone for months, and after only a few days, it was as if she had never left. In fact, it was even better than before she had been gone. With the queen on bedrest, she wasn’t there to harass Cyrene at every turn.

  The training she was receiving from Daufina was legitimate, too. Even though they were planning to leave the castle, she couldn’t completely ignore their training, or someone would get suspicious. So, sun up to sun down, Cyrene would sit with Daufina and learn the tricks of the trade.

  The more she explained the job, the more exhausted Cyrene got at the prospect. The consort did everything. Daily tasks with her select Affiliates and High Order, managing court, strategy meetings, any and everything the king wished, Presentings, all holiday events, and the list went on. Cyrene couldn’t imagine how Daufina did it all. Where she found the time.

  Cyrene was lounging backward on a chaise as Daufina described a typical day.

  Cyrene groaned. “When do you sleep?”

  Daufina smirked at her. “When the king permits it.”

  “You have all this power, and you’re still subject to a man,” Cyrene muttered.

  “Bite your tongue, girl,” Daufina growled.

  “Just think about it,” Cyrene continued.

  Daufina hadn’t had experience outside of these walls, as Cyrene had. She couldn’t possibly see how absurd the entire notion was.

  “You have the highest position in court that isn’t royal. Yet you, above everyone, are subject to the whim of one man. You work harder and do more to keep this country afloat, and what do you get as thanks? Sleepless nights?”

  “Some consorts enjoy their sleepless nights,” Daufina said with a grin.

  Cyrene wasn’t surprised that she wouldn’t comment on the rest of her statement. “And have you ever enjoyed your sleepless nights?”

  “A lady never kisses and tells,” Daufina said with a coy smile that said yes.

  She and Edric had most certainly been intimate. Though Cyrene suspected they weren’t currently,
or perhaps Edric never would have replaced her.

  “Have there been others?”

  Daufina glanced down and shook her head. “Edric is a loyal and faithful man. Even to his detriment.”

  “And I am his detriment,” Cyrene guessed.

  “You are his weakness, and if I had known then what I know now, I would have listened to Kaliana.”

  Cyrene took it for the slap that it was and sat back hard. It was Daufina who had spoken up in her favor to be made Affiliate. Kaliana had opposed the choice from the beginning. She wondered if his fate would still have been the same if they had moved her to Third Class and gotten rid of her.

  She returned to her rooms with the thought heavy on her mind. She had only just reached her door when the ground rumbled under her feet. With wide eyes, she latched on to the doorframe for support until it passed. Then, she darted out of her corridor and to the rapidly filling hallways beyond.

  Everyone was speaking at once, no one knowing what the noise was. Many people had been pulled out of their beds from an early night, concerned that the castle was under attack. Cyrene blended into the crowd, keeping her head down and hoping that no one looked at her too closely.

  Her heart was hammering in her chest, and her veins were filled with adrenaline as the lust for escape took over. It was finally time. After all of those days, she didn’t have to wait any longer. She usually jumped at every opportunity to put her plans into place as soon as possible, but she had believed Daufina when she said she needed time to do it right. Plus, she hadn’t heard anything more from Lady Cauthorn. And the distance was too great to reach Avoca. Cyrene knew where she was, generally speaking, but she couldn’t call to her. Cyrene was truly on her own.

  She darted down another hall and into the alcove where she had agreed to meet Daufina. But she wasn’t there. Cyrene tensed, wondering if Daufina would betray her. Try to use her to prove her point that Cyrene shouldn’t be consort. It seemed like such a risk for her though. She paced back and forth in the small alcove in frustration until a face appeared.

  She jumped backward with her hand on her heart. “You frightened me,” Cyrene told Daufina, who looked as serene and unconcerned as ever.

  “We must move. Your friend’s distraction will only last a short time.”

  Cyrene nodded and hastened after Daufina down the deserted hallway. Cyrene prayed to the Creator that their luck would hold out.

  They spiraled ever downward as they approached the dungeons. The guard on duty was fast asleep at his post. Cyrene nudged him, but he didn’t waken.

  “What did you do to him?” Cyrene asked with a newfound appreciation for Daufina’s brilliance.

  “Sleeping draught. He’ll be out for a while.”

  Cyrene shuddered. The thought of being knocked out made her physically ill. She would suffer anything to avoid that again.

  Daufina removed the keys from a bag at her waist and hurried down to the last cell on the right. “Oh, dear.”

  “What?” Cyrene asked. She jogged to meet Daufina and stared into the cell where her friends were supposed to be. “It’s empty!”

  “Where could they have possibly gone?” Daufina asked.

  “I…I don’t know. I haven’t been down to see them.”

  “We can’t stay here, Cyrene. Someone will be looking for us soon. If we’re going to get you out of the castle, we have to do it now.”

  “But…I won’t leave without them.”

  “It seems they will leave without you though”

  Cyrene didn’t have a minute to think. She could already hear voices moving about above them. Their distraction had ended. Whatever had helped them get out would soon completely be lost.

  “Show me the way.”

  Daufina nodded once and darted back down the hallway. Cyrene didn’t feel right about this. Yes, she needed to get out of the castle, but at what cost? She didn’t know if Ahlvie and Orden were safe, let alone alive. Who would have taken them out of their cell tonight of all nights? Had they been moved, or had they escaped? What was their fate? What did that mean for my escape? And what would I do to get them back?

  She gritted her teeth and dashed after Daufina. First and foremost, she needed to get away however she could. She would not be consort. Not to Edric. Not to anyone.

  Her future was her own, and she would fight for it tooth and nail.

  Spiraling down through the catacombs of the castle gave Cyrene the distinct feeling of a rat trapped in a cage. The deeper they went, the harder it was for her to breathe. Apparently, having hundreds of tons of rocks over her head made her uncomfortable. Probably a new side effect of being knocked out, drugged, and held in a dark, dank prison cell. Her nerves fluttered about obtrusively, and she pressed her fingers into the rock they passed to try to calm down.

  “Where are we?”

  Daufina had a small candle to guide their way, but anything more could mark their presence. Though Cyrene didn’t know who would venture down below the castle like this.

  “Almost there. Quiet,” Daufina said sharply.

  Cyrene clamped her mouth shut. A gust of wind carried down the stairs behind her, shoving both of the girls at the same time. Cyrene gasped and stumbled a few steps before regaining her composure. Cyrene only knew that Daufina did the same because she cursed under her breath.

  However, the flame that had been their guide guttered out.

  Daufina stepped back up to Cyrene and clasped her hand. “Don’t let go.”

  Cyrene steeled herself for the rest of the way downward and then followed Daufina. They reached a bend, and she maneuvered around the empty corridor and then down another empty corridor. Truly, much of the castle was not in use. Cyrene couldn’t imagine what it must have looked like when it was full of Doma. Then, she sighed and focused on the task ahead. Dwelling on a two-thousand-year-old court of magical people would do no good for her here. Truthfully, they had only brought her trouble.

  They were almost to another set of stairs when Cyrene saw a candle approaching them. Daufina halted in her place, and Cyrene barreled into her.

  “What do we do?” Cyrene gasped.

  Daufina stood frozen, as if she were paralyzed.

  Cyrene could not allow this to happen. Perhaps Daufina couldn’t take control of the situation, but Cyrene was not powerless. She took a deep breath and felt her magic from the tips of her toes to the top of her head. She didn’t listen to any of the months of training that she had acquired from Matilde and Vera. She just reached for that moment in the corridor when the assassin had come for her. She grasped on to the anger and fear and desperation…to the power that flooded her veins.

  Then, she flicked her wrist, and the candle went out.

  Just like that.

  No thought process. No deep concentrating. No agonizingly slow method that exhausted her.

  Power and control.

  Air magic, which she had never touched before a day in her life. And it felt like second nature.

  She pushed her palms out, sending whoever the person was sprawling backward, off their feet.

  Then, Cyrene grabbed on to Daufina and tugged her. “Which way?”

  “What…what did you do?” Daufina asked. Her voice was shaky and her body even more so.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, but we need to move. Now.”

  “You…you’re a witch!”

  “Daufina!” Cyrene snapped. “Do you want to leave or not?”

  “You’ve entrapped me. Edric. All of us,” Daufina said, stumbling back a step in the meager light. “It explains everything. You’ve possessed his mind. That’s why he wants to replace me.”

  “You’re not talking sense! I am not a witch, nor have I done anything of the like.”

  “Why else would you be so desperate to get away? He’s offered you everything. What kind of person turns away from that? You know what you’ve done, and now, you’re trying to escape consequence.”

  “You’re mad. You know why I’m running?
Because I. Don’t. Want. This!” Cyrene shouted at her. “I want my own life. I do not want to be ruled by anyone. Certainly not a man born into this position. Someone who never had to earn anything. Thinking me a witch just eases your mind. It’s not the truth.”

  “Break the curse!” Daufina cried. “Do it now, and get out of here. I want you out of his castle. I want you out of our lives. And I never want to see you again.”

  “Halt! Don’t move!” a voice called, approaching from the corridor she had just thrown the person.

  “Daufina, please, tell me how to get out of here!” Cyrene pleaded.

  “You are on your own. I will expose you for what you are. Mark my words.”

  Cyrene turned to flee, only to find more soldiers at their back. She ran a shaky hand through her hair as light poured into the corridor they were in. A familiar face appeared.

  Cyrene’s mouth fell open. “Eren?”

  She had met High Order Eren on procession to Albion so long ago. He had been investigating the death of his brother, Zorian. Of course, he never did learn that a Braj had murdered Zorian. More death and destruction were on her conscience. Perhaps her ledger would always bleed red.

  “Cyrene,” Eren said with a nod in her direction, “you need to come with me.”

  “Yes, apprehend her at once,” Daufina said.

  “Both of you,” Eren said.

  He tilted his sword at the pair of them, and the guards moved forward and seized them.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Daufina cried.

  Cyrene didn’t even move as her hands were pulled behind her back. She stared Eren down, unable to believe that she was thwarted by one of her own friends.

  “You are under arrest.”

  “Arrest!” Daufina’s shriek could probably be heard by the rest of the castle.

  “Indeed,” Eren said without providing further information. Then, he motioned for them to be brought behind him.

  Daufina didn’t go quietly. She was furious and being most unladylike. Cyrene didn’t see the point. She could probably…maybe take out the group of soldiers. But she didn’t know at what cost. Anytime she had used that much magic in the past, she had passed out and been incapacitated for hours. She couldn’t afford that if she couldn’t get away. It was another moment where she desperately missed her friends.