Page 57 of Obsidian Throne
The next few days alternated between questions and comfortable silences, and other decidedly appealing ways to pass the time.
It was almost enough to forget what awaited us on the other side of this journey.
But not quite.
* * *
The final morning of our journey dawned windy and rainy, but it was nothing that delayed us. Unfortunately.
“Have you ever been to the palace?” I asked him once we were well underway.
He arched his brow, turning to face me from where he had been staring out the window.
“Once,” he offered. “Though, I don’t remember it. My father claims that he brought me there as an infant to be blessed by the king and queen.”
I nodded, wondering how strange this must feel for him--for all of Socair, really. To go without a monarch for two decades, only to have it seemingly resurrected overnight.
Would it be in shambles? Decayed from years of disuse? Knowing what I did about Iiro, I could hardly imagine that he would live in squalor for any amount of time. More likely that was the first thing he did.
“Nearly there, My Lord.” Pavel’s voice carried into the carriage, and I leaned away from Evander to peer out the window.
In the distance, imposing midnight spires stretched high into the air. It was different from the estate at Bear, though. The palace itself looked as if it was made from the same obsidian crystals that were in the hilt of Evander’s swords.
The sunlight reflecting off of the stones cast an array of colors onto the ground and in the air around it. Brilliant shades of purple and green and blue cascaded in rippling, shining patterns onto the trees and manicured grasses that framed the courtyard and even to the large stone and iron gates that surrounded the entire thing.
This was the palace that half of Socair wanted left abandoned, and the other half was desperate to conquer.
“We need to keep on our guard,” Evander said, his eyes fixated on the looming castle ahead of us. “Iiro is endlessly conniving.”
He didn’t have to add that having Aleksander with us would be another challenge all together. We both knew how ugly things could get if and when he lost his lucidity… Or hell, even when he retained it.
“Do you think this is about more than the food taxes?” I asked after a moment.
It wouldn’t have surprised me that this was mostly for him to flex his newfound power over the dukes, just because he could.
Evander’s expression was thoughtful, his brow furrowing before he answered. “I don’t know yet.”
It was several beats later that I asked the question I’d truly been concerned about.
“Do you think he knows what you’ve been planning?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper.
Evander stiffened beside me, his eyes going distant as he considered it.
“Storms help us if he does,” was all he replied
I slid my hand into his, intertwining our fingers and giving his a quick squeeze. He lifted our joined hands to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss to my knuckles just as the carriage came to a stop.
The loud groan of castle gates rang out all around us, easing open for us to pass. Within minutes, we were moving again, and that same feeling of dread sat low in my belly.
Were we walking into a trap? A war?
I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were like sheep being herded for slaughter, especially when the castle gates slammed shut with a thundering roar, effectively locking us in at Iiro’s mercy.
CHAPTER THIRTY
ROWAN
We were met at the castle doors with an excess of fanfare.