Page 23 of Joy Guardian
“Just the bracers then?” I feigned innocence, removing the gold from my other arm, too, meanwhile.
“Yes, just the bracers will be sufficient. The tattoo is said to be on the Watchers’ wrists.”
“Left or right?” I bent down, placing the gold on the floor while taking a step back toward the door.
“Um, I’m not sure which one. I will ask you to remove them both, please.”
“As you wish.” I brought my hand to my right bracer, the one that hid the image of the golden scorpion that I got less than two months ago.
The memory of the prickle of the needle was still fresh in my mind, as was the feeling of pride and devotion I felt when marking my body in service of the Joy.
“Guards!” I yelled, leaving the bracer in place.
The Head Councilor jerked her head in alarm. The door swung open, with the guards ready to rush in.
I inhaled deeply and willed my body to disperse into a shadow.
“Get him!” the Head Council shrieked. “Quickly. He’s trying to escape. Go after him to the city wall.”
Getting beyond the city wall would be a wise choice for someone running for his life. At this point, I cared little about my life, however. I had a mission that I couldn’t fail.
Instead of sending my shadow outside of the city limits, I made my body solidify inside the gate of thesarai.
Humans had no place in Alveari. They had to leave here, dead or alive. Since my true identity had been discovered, keeping the Joy Vessels alive was no longer an option. Before I left Kalmena, all humans had to die.
I had used my privilege to access thesarainot just to have nightly conversations. Over the past two weeks, I’d hidden forty-eight vials with explosion potion throughout the humans’ quarters. All I had to do now was say the spell while uncorking the last one of them, and this entire section of the queen’s palace would go up in the magical golden flames, killing everyone.
I ran to the only uncorked vial under a dense hedge behind a flower arch. I had my escape cloak hidden there as well. Enchanted by the Joy Guardians’ magic, it would take me much farther from the city than shadow magic could. If I timed it right and got out just a moment before the explosion, I might even survive this.
I threw the dark cloak over my shoulders. Charged with magic, its material sparkled in the folds and crackled against my skin.
“Hi, Kurai,” sounded the soft, lyrical voice of the woman who’d taught me the meaning of so many human smiles.
Ciana exited from her room on the ground floor.
“You’re back already?” Her face lit up in the way that told me how happy she was to see me.
The metal gates to thesaraiflew open. Guards rushed in—an entire army of them.
“Get him!”
“What’s going on?” Ciana shrank back. Alarm shattered the happiness on her lovely face.
The guards aimed their arrows at my chest.
Jumping behind the hedge, I bent down to uncork the vial. My lips were already forming the first words of the spell. I memorized the words so well, I could say them in my sleep. The spell was short. And once I finished, the flames of magic would kill them all. The guards, the Keepers, and the humans would all be gone.
“Kurai!” Ciana cried in fear.
It had to be done. Our Joy was sacrosanct. It must be saved. Such was my purpose…
Yet I felt Ciana’s gaze on me, and my fingers trembled on the cork of the vial.
“Why are you after him? What did he do?” she yelled at the guards.
I grabbed the ends of my cloak but didn’t run.
Since I couldn’t take her life, I had no reason to keep my own.
