“For what?”
“My ancestors were half the reason for the war that sent your people into hiding, Tovian. The Myseci were the ones who didn’t want to share the Moon Goddess Temple with the Auralians.”
“It’s five hundred years in the past, Sunshine.” He brought my hand to his lips and kissed it. “If this war reunites all the tribes, then we must keep fighting.”
My heart swells. I love this man. I should probably tell him that. It never feels like the right moment. Either we’re so in tune that it seems superfluous, or we’re fighting for our lives.
He twists to look over the wall again. We’re half a kilometer from the broken stone rim that separates the castle from the fields to the south. When we tried to get closer, a Sentinel’s shot chased us away.
“There’s no sign of life, is there?”
Tovian, still squinting through the binoculars, points at a pockmarked tower. “Is that a light flickering?”
“Can’t be. The hydroelectric system was damaged.” But when he hands me the binocs, I see what he means. My pulse quickens. “Maybe?”
“Half the pane is broken. You can see a light on in the interior. It doesn’t flicker like a candle would.”
Anxious excitement surges through me.
“Someone is alive inside that wreck. It has to be Zosia.” Queasiness in my stomach, a sickening mix of hope and fear. “Who else could it be? But if…if she and Rohan are stuck inside the castle, why don’t they call? They had phones. There’s electricity. The royal guards would have braved the rapids or tried to climb the cliff…”
I trail off when Tovian gestures at the sheer rock wall rising behind the castle, protecting the rear.
“Perhaps they tried. The Sentinels have been shooting at the cliffs, too.”
He’s right. The stark stone wall shows evidence of Sentinel blasts.
“But there’s the river…I know there were boats stored in the dock.”
“Look at the river. It’s almost as high as where the drawbridge used to be.”
Again, he’s right. Thanks to the rains that finally helped douse the fires in the Grasslands district, and the broken hydraulic system that channeled the waterfall’s force, the once-calm moat is a raging rapid.
“They’re in there,” I say with conviction that has no basis in reality. “I know it. We just have to find a way past those damned machines. She’s alive. She has to be.”
It’s the question on everyone’s lips. Every farmer clinging to a homestead, every orphan who’s lost their family, every man debating whether to leave his wife and children to fight for the Auralian resistance—all of them are looking for a sign of hope. A sign that we can win.
Without Zosia, we can’t.
As long as the Goddess Auralia’s line sits on the throne, Her country will thrive. If the royal line falls, so does the nation. This island and Auralian matriarchy are inextricably entwined. Without her, we have no future to fight for. Shehasto be in there.
Now, I can tell them she’s safe. She’s in hiding at the castle. She’ll come out when Lorcan wakes up and her personal guard is able to rescue her. Herlegendaryknight.
I grabbed Tovian’s shoulders.
“Tovi! It’s going to be okay! Zosia is in there, she has to be, we’re going to get her back!”
A wide grin splits his face. I jump up and down, then tackle him in a tight hug. He lifts me off the ground. I tuck one strand of hair behind my ear. Our lips meet. A joyous kiss.
My phone blurts out an ill-timedbeep beep beep.
“It’s probably my father,” I grumble. Tovian releases me. At least I can give my father good news for once. Someone is in the castle.
Tovian gathers our belongings, giving me privacy.
“It’s not him.” I stare at the name on the cracked screen of my sat phone. “It’s Sas.”
I press the device to my ear.
