Page 50 of The Sunbound Princess
I climbed out of bed, wincing as another powerful tug pulled at my chest. “He’s right,” I told Ezabell, who looked ready to bolt out the door. “We should eat.”
She hesitated, then nodded. “Of course. And we’ll take any leftovers with us.”
We ate quickly, the chamber silent except for the sounds of chewing and the scrape of cutlery. Nikolas tidied the table while we dressed, his expression unreadable. But I knew him well enough to see the tension in his shoulders and the tightness around his eyes. He was worried.
Ezabell draped her scarf around her head, arranging the fabric over her ears.
“Ready?” Nikolas asked, his tone neutral.
Ezabell nodded, and the three of us made our way downstairs. The innkeeper watched us pass, her hands stilling on a pile of laundry. Nikolas winked at her as he placed a small stack of coins on the counter. “For the inconvenience,” he murmured.
Outside, dawn broke over the city, staining the buildings orange and pink. Yawning merchants stocked their stalls. A cat trotted across our path with a mouse in its mouth. We passed carts piled with oranges and apples. The city was just waking, but Ezabell marched forward with a sense of purpose, her skirts swishing around her ankles.
“Which way?” Nikolas asked, glancing at her. He pulled an apple from his pocket and shined it on his shirt.
She frowned at it. “Did you—?” She shook her head. “Never mind.” She pointed east, toward the city gates. “We’re going that way.”
The magic yanked me forward—and kept yanking as we moved through the streets. By the time we reached the eastern gate, the sun swelled the horizon. A long line of merchants in carts rolled through the gates. As we left the city, the guards in the watchtowers gave us nothing more than cursory looks. They were more concerned with people entering the city than those leaving it.
About a half mile outside Saldu, the pull in my chest expanded, the tug throbbing so hard I thought my bones might crack. I clenched my jaw and kept moving.
“Does it hurt you?” Ezabell asked, concern in her eyes as she strode at my side.
I took her hand, and magic sparked between us.
She squeezed my fingers.
“I’m fine,” I said, squeezing back.
Nikolas walked on her other side, his half-eaten apple seemingly forgotten in his hand. “We’re moving northeast,” he said, sweeping his gaze over the road.
I heard the worry in his voice. And he was right to worry. Because just one major city lay in the northeast.
Solbarren.
“Does it matter?” Ezabell asked, her attention fixed on the horizon. “As long as we find the stone?—”
“It matters,” Nikolas said sharply. When Ezabell flinched, he softened his voice. “We just need to be cautious about where we venture. Dain and I haven’t always left the best impression on certain places.”
A brilliant flash of light streaked in front of us, bringing us stumbling to a halt. I threw up a hand, shielding my eyes from the brilliance of Helios’s arrival. For a moment, his radiance matched the sun.
“Helios!” Ezabell cried, rushing to him.
Helios dimmed to a tolerable brightness. “Bel!” He took her hands and looked her over like he was checking for injuries. “Thank the gods, I found you.”
“Where have you been?” Ezabell asked, giving him the same inspection. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I stayed in the forest the first night. Then I tracked you from that dirty little human village to Saldu. And, honestly,Saldu? It’s like you’re asking for someone to notice your ears. I don’t know why you insist on—” He snapped his mouth shut, his gaze shifting to me and Nikolas. He narrowed his eyes. “You’re hiding something from me,” he said flatly. “All three of you.”
Ezabell sighed. “I told them who I am.”
The sunsprite’s body flared brighter. “Youwhat?”
“I had to,” she said. “Corvus betrayed me. He’s taken the throne, and I have reason to think he sent hunters across the Covenant to kill me.”
Helios gasped. “That can’t be true. Not unless he was plotting for years.”
“He was,” Ezabell said bitterly. She described the events of the past two nights, covering how she’d read of Corvus’s takeover in the news sheet, followed by our flight from the village when men showed up looking for us. When she finished, Helios buzzed with obvious anger, the flames on top of his head shooting higher.
