Part 14 (1/2)

”What are you even doing here?” he asked, apparently deciding not to push the point. ”How did you find out about the pits?”

I shook from head to toe. From shock? Perhaps it was simply a release from all the excitement, the near sc.r.a.pe with being dweller food. ”Please. I just want to go back to my chamber now. I am quite weary.”

His hands flexed on my arms, fingers splayed wide as though holding me together was holding him together, too. ”Of course, of course. I understand. I'll escort you.”

”No. You don't have to. Someone else can do that.” I tried shrugging out of his grasp. I didn't want him near me. He might have jumped in the pit to help me, but he was a part of this. He was the one who went out and hunted dwellers and brought them back here for these sick demonstrations-for the t.i.tillation of haughty and overprivileged men. He designed these sick games where people lost their lives.

”Chasan! Come here!” the king called down from his perch. He did not sound happy. I wasn't sure if it was because I was here, because I had almost died, or because Chasan had risked himself to save me.

Chasan sighed heavily. His hands slipped from me, but he stepped closer, his breath fanning my cheek as he whispered, ”We're not finished with this.”

I shook my head swiftly, silently disputing that point. Yes, we were. We were finished. I was finished. With this. With him. This place.

A shrill scream shattered the air. If not for the floodgate of sobs that followed, I would have thought it belonged to another dweller.

Chasan cursed savagely.

”What? What is it?”

”Riana,” he snapped. ”Apparently she was the one who pushed you.”

I swung my gaze toward where his father sat with others, listening to the sounds of Riana being dragged forward. Over her loud wails and pleas, another man's voice rose in supplication. ”Please, Your Majesty! She's just a girl.”

”An a.s.sault on the princess of Relhok is an a.s.sault on Lagonia,” the king boomed over Riana's sobs, his hand slamming down on the arm of his chair. ”I should have expected better from your daughter. You are both from Relhok. You failed to breed any loyalty into your daughter for your home country or Lagonia, which has served as a home to you these many years.”

I jerked and grabbed Chasan's arm. ”What will he do to her?”

A small tremor shook Chasan's body. It was gone as soon as I felt it, and for a moment I wondered if it had happened at all. Ignoring me, he peeled my hand from his arm and turned to address a guard who appeared at my side. ”See her to her chamber. And send for a maid to attend to her. The physician, too, if need be-”

”No, wait! I'm not hurt,” I interjected. My body ached from my fall, and I had no doubt tomorrow I would feel the effects of it all the more strongly, but I was fine. ”You didn't answer me!”

He shoved me at the waiting guards, but I wouldn't relent. I s.n.a.t.c.hed hold of his hand. ”What's happening?” I demanded.

”Does it matter?” he snapped. ”She tried to kill you. My father won't forgive that.” Even as he said it, frustration shook his voice. He didn't relish this.

”It matters,” I whispered, my heart sinking.

”You know what has to happen,” he replied just as I heard the hiss of steel on air. I knew that sound.

”No.” I mouthed more than spoke the word.

”Get her out of here,” Chasan growled at the guard.

”Yes, Your Highness.” The guard started pulling me away just as Riana's sobs reached a fever pitch. Her own father was screaming now.

It was getting hard to breathe. A part of me wanted to flee, but another part of me, a larger part, had to stay.

”Now,” the king commanded, the only calm and steady voice.

A sword whistled on the air. Thunk. I jumped with a gasp. The sound reverberated in the enclosed s.p.a.ce. Something struck the ground with a thud and then rolled over the stone floor. It covered several feet in the sudden silence.

”Oh.” I choked, bile rising in my throat, turning away as if I could see it all. The head severed from her body. The blood, the gore. The satisfied look on the king's face. None of this could I see, and yet I did in my mind.

The guard took my elbow again to escort me back to my chamber. This time I let him lead me. Shaking like the last brittle leaf clinging to a branch, I let him guide me away from the blood and death. Away from Chasan. Away from the pit. Away was all that mattered.

NINETEEN.

Fowler

I LURCHED UPRIGHT in bed, a strangled cry lodged in my throat. I was a chronic light sleeper. My years on the Outside ensured that I never slept too deeply.

Something woke me.

Sweat soaked me and I kicked off my covers. I stretched out my arm, ignoring the dull ache, instinctively reaching for the bow that wasn't beside me anymore. My hand groped air. Finding nothing, my fingers curled into fists.

I swung my legs over the side of the bed, scanning the darkened bedchamber for my weapon, confirming that I was alone. Nothing lurked in the shadows.

And yet something had pulled me from sleep. That wasn't imaginary. My instincts weren't dead. I hadn't forgotten what it was like to be on the Outside. I hadn't dropped my guard. In fact, in here I felt more on edge-an animal caged.

My ears weren't as keen as Luna's, but they were sharp enough. At the thought of Luna, I expelled a breath. It felt like forever since I had last seen her. Maris told me she was busy. I knew she must be. Everyone would want a piece of her. They knew who she was now, and they must be filling her hours with all manner of court life. The king would want her to spend as much time as possible with his son. My hands clenched tighter, the joints cold and aching. They'd never let her go.

I heard it then-the sound that had woken me. A cry cut short almost as suddenly as it started. I knew the sound of a human in distress. A vibration of shock echoed in the sound. I knew about that, too. I'd heard it often enough before I arrived here, but it was different closed up inside these stone walls, where the air was stale and thin.

I moved to the door, determined to investigate. There was no sleep for me now. If someone was being hurt inside this castle, I had to find out what was happening.

The latch turned just as my hand landed on it. I pulled back, bracing myself. Dwellers didn't turn latches, but then that wasn't the only threat.

Lantern light spilled into the room as the door swung open. A flaxen head eased inside. ”Fowler,” a familiar voice whispered.

”Maris?” I lowered my arm, realizing at that moment that I had c.o.c.ked my arm back, ready to strike.

She grinned at me, looking from my knotted fist to my face. ”Did I startle you?”

”You could say that.”

”Oh.” She shrugged, clearly unbothered. The girl didn't understand danger. ”I just wanted to see you and say h.e.l.lo. h.e.l.lo.” She greeted me as though she wasn't standing in her nightgown in my chamber in the middle of the night, her hair loose and flowing all around her.

”What are you doing here?” I demanded. ”You should be in bed.”

She looked me up and down, not missing my rigidity. Those wide eyes of her blinked. ”Would you really have struck me?”

I ignored the question. ”What are you doing here in the middle of the night?” I clarified as though that would help get me an explanation. It wasn't seemly. We'd never been alone. She shouldn't be coming to my chamber without a chaperone.

”Were you already awake or did I wake you?” she asked, breathless, her gaze moving from my face and down, lingering on my bare chest. ”I was hoping to wake you . . . surprise you, actually.”