Actual, blessed daylight spills in from under a door, and Kael cautiously pushes it open. We step into a small stone antechamber—one I vaguely recognise from earlier—and creep to the outer doorway that’ll take us outside.
Kael places a hand on the handle, halts. “Stay behind me.”
He eases the door open a sliver. A shaft of sunlight slips through, and he leans forwards, peering through the gap. His breath catches.
I shove closer, careful not to make a sound. And when I finally see what he’s seeing, my stomach bottoms out.
There are people. A lot of people. Locals, soldiers. Royal guards, their armour glinting with the telltale flashes of orange, swords sheathed but visible, posture coiled like vipers ready to strike.
Kael pulls back, letting the door close softly.
“Well?” I whisper.
His expression is grave. “We can’t go out there.”
I don’t argue. “They’ll recognise you.”
He nods once. “I trained half of them.”
“Cool, cool. So walking out means instant recognition. Maybe arrest. Maybe death.” I run a hand through my hair. “Love this for us.”
Kael steps back, pacing a short line. “They’ll assume I’ve betrayed my post. That I’ve abandoned the prince.”
I want to argue that anyone with eyes could see how loyal he is, but I also know how Terrafearan politics work—not well. Plus, there’s the whole thing of the prince being AWOL.
“So, what do we do?”I ask again, louder this time. Sharper.
He looks at me. I feel the flicker of his thoughts before he speaks.“We summon the Hendroy.”
My mouth opens. “You want to call Henny?”
Kael gives me a dry look.“Do you have a better plan?”
“Yeah,”I deadpan.“Run screaming and hope I get mistaken for a street performer.”
He doesn’t laugh. Neither do I.
“But what about Varek?”I ask after a beat, glancing back towards the depth of the citadel.“What if he’s not out yet?”
Kael hesitates. “I don’t think he’s here.”
I can’t argue with him. If they weren’t waiting for us where we left them, it’s unlikely they were hiding elsewhere. Which means Varek felt the need to leave. He wouldn’t abandon us… me without cause.
“I think they made it out of here,” Kael adds. “They’ve likely gone to the warehouse where we found Pax. The guards out there aren’t on high alert. They would be if Varek had been found.”
I nod slowly, throat tight. “Then we call in Henny and hope he’s in a good mood.”
He reaches for the rune mark still glowing faintly on my arm. “You remember how?”
“I say his name and try not to shit myself?”
Kael’s lips twitch. “Something like that.”
I step back into the shadows of the room, take a breath, and press two fingers to the rune. It warms under my touch. And then, loud and clear, I whisper, “Hendroy.”
The air thickens, and then it rips. A plume of smoke and shadow swirls into existence in the centre of the chamber. The temperature drops. My skin prickles. I barely have time to breathe before he appears.
The Hendroy.
