It was only once the grey, gloomy building on the outskirts of the courtyard came into view that Kestrel finally pieced it together.
“The dungeon?” Kestrel peered over at Elora, not wanting to allow her heart to hope. “But why?”
“I have a favor to repay,” she said simply, before greeting the guard on duty. “Hello. We’ve come to see a prisoner.”
He bowed, shakily. “P-Princess Elora. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“It is an unexpected visit for me as well. As you may know, my former captor is inside. I wasn’t able to face him the other day, but I am ready now.”
The guard glanced nervously from side to side. “The queen never said anything about you coming to visit him.”
“The queen has had a lot on her mind, as of late. Her niece arrived unexpectedly, she had a bout of illness, and now she’s preparing to venture beyond the castle walls for the first time since the Cursed Night.”
Kestrel noticed that even the guard seemed surprised to hear that the queen was willingly leaving the castle. But he regained his focus swiftly. “I’m sorry, but without royal approval, I can’t let you in.”
“Igive royal approval, as the Ashen Princess. As your future queen.” Power rippled off Elora in waves, making Kestrel’s stomach dance in strange ways. The guard still looked uncertain, and Kestrel was beginning to doubt this was going to work. She appreciated the effort regardless, and was about to tell Elora that it was alright and not worth the trouble, when the princess steeled her voice even more. “Or I can go tell my betrothed that you have chosen to treat me like some common peasant instead of your Royal Highness, and we shall see how much longer you’re permitted to be among his guard then.”
Elora spun on her heels so quickly, Kestrel didn’t know whether to follow. Before she could decide, the guard spluttered, “Please don’t do that. I need this job. It’s how I feed my family.”
Elora spun back around to face him. “Then we have an agreement.”
The guard was already fumbling for his keys. “Make it quick then. Shift change is any minute now, and I’d prefer this to stay between the three of us. Yeah?”
“Of course,” Elora said, and flashing Kestrel a quick, private smirk, gestured for her to enter. “After you.”
Kestrel slipped by, Elora following after her, and then the door closed behind them with a thud.
“If I had known it would be that easy, I would’ve asked you to do that days ago.”
In the darkness, Kestrel couldn’t see Elora’s expression clearly, but she heard the pride in her voice all the same. “There are benefits to having a title. You just have to know how to wield them.”
“Well that’s one trick I wouldn’t mind learning,” admitted Kestrel as she stared into the dimly lit room, her eyes still acclimating. “Where do we go from here?”
Elora stepped around her, motioning her forward. “This way. Follow me.”
The farther into the darkness they descended, the more detail Kestrel was able to discern. None of it surprised her. Stone walls. Stone flooring. Everything was cold and grey—except for a few cells that had bright blue bars that Kestrel recognized immediately as hailstone. Cells, that she realized, were reserved for their magically inclined prisoners.
Her blood hummed as they walked past them.
“Was one of these cells yours?” Kestrel asked, the dread of a new understanding sinking in.
Ahead of her, Kestrel could just make out the back of Elora’s silver-haired head slowly bob once. She didn’t think it would be considerate to ask which one, certain that all of them brought up too painful of memories for the princess to share. Instead, she tried keeping them focused on the task at hand, hoping that maybe that would help prevent Elora from sinking too far into her past harrowing experiences of this place.
“Thom wasn’t here then, but you know where they’re keeping him?”
“I don’t.” When Elora spoke, her voice was cold. Distant. It sounded as if it was taking a tremendous amount of effort for her to bring herself back, but she did it. “But I’m sure you’ll recognize each other when we find him.”
Sure enough, eyeballs peeped from within every cell they passed by, and Kestrel searched them all for Thom’s familiar nightfall gaze. There must’ve been dozens of people down here. Upwards of fifty, maybe more. Kestrel tried not to worry her tender heart about their sentences, their need for justice, their plights. Only Thom’s could matter to her. His she could change, or so she had to believe.
Most of the eyes that watched them were dull, exhausted things. Others, filled with untamable rage. But few shonequite as bright as Thom’s or Elora’s. In fact, Kestrel realized that since leaving Vallonde, she’d seen fewer and fewer people with the same sort of striking hues. She filed the thought away as something to ask Barnabus about during their next study session.
Finally, two black eyes blinked from a cell near the end of the dungeon. They would’ve blended in with the darkness, if not for the starlight glow that Kestrel always said reminded her of the midnight sky on a calm night.
Recognition sparked in them. Then fear. Then outrage.
Kestrel flung herself at the cell door, elation bubbling through her at the sight of him, at the same time Thom stormed forward from the other side.
“What are you still doing here?” he chided, his voice gruffer than usual. His obsidian irises flicked to Elora, and some other emotion washed over him. Not quite fear, but something like it that Kestrel couldn’t place.
