Defy (14 page)

was nothing I could do to stop it, and I couldn’t bear to watch

her die.

“And don’t worry about Captain D’agnen,” Damian added. “I

will speak to him after you go.”

I nodded and rose as well, so that we faced each other. Damian

lifted his hand, holding it in the air between us. I hesitated to put my hand in his, strangely nervous to touch him when my emotions

were in such an upheaval. But when he silently lifted an eyebrow at

me in question, I quickly reached up to shake it firmly. A wave of

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warmth f lowed up my arm and into my belly from the feel of his

strong hand clasped around mine. I cleared my throat and tight-

ened my grip.
Act like a boy, act like a boy.

“Good night, Alex. I hope you can get some rest.” He let go

and stepped back.

“Thank you. Good night . . . Damian.”

He smiled at me, a brief, sad smile, and then turned and went

back into his room, shutting the door silently.

I stared after him for a long while, my heart beating unevenly

in my chest. He’d proven my theory wrong. His interior might be

more in line with his exterior than I thought. I almost wished I

could go back to when I’d thought he was a blindingly attractive

man with a rotten heart. Then I’d done my duty out of necessity,

because I’d worked hard to get where I was, and my safety, virtue,

and even life depended on it.

Yesterday, I had been in danger of actually letting myself care

about him, but tonight, I was in danger of far worse.

104

 fourteen 

T
he jungle seethed with life — the whisper of leaves

moving in the breeze, the buzz of insects, the call of birds

singing and chatting above us in the trees. I suppressed a shudder.

Though I’d lived my whole life near the rain forest, I didn’t trust

it. The dense foliage hid too many dangers. My bow and arrows

were strapped to my back, my sword secured around my waist, but

I still felt vulnerable. I knew there were creatures hidden in the

heart of the jungle that were too sly and too fast for me to have any hope of stopping should one decide to stalk us and turn us into

dinner.

The screech of a monkey overhead made me jump, knocking

into Rylan, who was walking next to me.

“You’re on edge,” he commented, glancing up at the trees

above us. My hands were slick with sweat as we moved forward,

pushing ferns and vines out of our way, consulting the map and

compass Damian had provided for me.

“I’d rather not talk about it,” I said.

Rylan gave me a look but didn’t comment any further.

“We should be there soon. According to the map, there will be

a river up ahead, and if we follow that for about a mile, we should

reach the Heart of the Rivers.”

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Rylan nodded and we lapsed back into silence. The sun had

risen hours ago, and I’d spent most of the morning trying not to

think about Tanoori and the hanging I’d missed. Yet another per-

son I hadn’t been able to help — another failure to add to my list.

Would they burn her body or just throw it outside the wall for

scavenging animals to drag off and desecrate?

“I know I’m not supposed to ask questions, but don’t you find

it odd that Prince Damian sent us to do this?”

“You know the prince,” I said, forcing myself to stop thinking

about Tanoori. “He’s always coming up with some sort of crazy

demand.”

“Yes, but this is taking it to a whole new level. Making us wan-

der through the jungle to try and find a secret group to deliver a

message?” Rylan glanced sideways at me and I shrugged, keeping

my face impassive.

“You’re right, this is beyond crazy, even for him.” Even though

I knew more about our job than Rylan, I still agreed with him. I

didn’t understand what Prince Damian expected to accomplish

by having us deliver a message from him. These people wanted

him dead. What made him think they’d listen to anything he

had to say? I only hoped that they didn’t believe in killing the

messenger.

To our right, the sound of rushing water became audible and

steadily grew louder. Soon, we broke through the trees to stand on

the bank of a river. Our arrival startled some small creature that

had been getting a drink. All I saw was a long tail rushing beneath

the cover of a bush before it disappeared entirely.

“I hate the jungle,” I muttered.

“Why do you hate it so much?” Rylan asked.

106

I shrugged, not realizing I’d spoken loud enough for him to

hear. “Do you remember that first march to Tubatse?”

“Of course.”

The banks of the river sucked at our boots as we walked along,

skirting the edge of the trees, staying close to the water, looking

for the landmarks that would guide us to the Heart of the Rivers.

“Growing up, I’d always thought the jungles of Antion were beau-

tiful, but after that march, I came to
hate
the jungle.”

“I don’t remember anything that bad happening,” Rylan said.

“Well, that’s because Marcel was kind and didn’t tell anyone.

Let’s just say I had a run-in with a snake and without Marcel’s

help, it would not have ended well.”

Rylan laughed. “So you
do
have a weakness after all! I have to admit, I’d never have guessed it would be snakes.”

I shoved him hard enough that he had to check his balance so

he didn’t topple into the river. “If you tell anyone, I will shoot you in the mouth without hesitation.”

“Whoa.” He held up his hands in mock surrender. “You

have my word. I’ll never mention your mortal fear of snakes to

anyone.”

“Good.”

The river grew as we walked, spreading its liquid arms wider

and wider, and soon we could see a large body of water ahead of us

through the trees.

“I miss him, too,” Rylan spoke hesitantly. “I know you don’t

want to talk about it, but you have both been my closest friends

since we first joined the army.”

“But you still have
your
brother,” I snapped and picked up my pace, leaving him behind me. When I glanced back to make sure

107

he hadn’t stopped entirely, he was right behind me, his expression

clouded. Guilt gnawed at my belly. He was right; of course he

missed Marcel. And he was my only friend now. Then I thought of

the strange conversation with Prince Damian in the middle of the

night. It almost didn’t seem real that he’d truly sat beside me on

my cot, telling me of his own grief. Even after that — even though

it seemed like Damian
wanted
me to — I couldn’t count him as a friend. He was my prince. I could never let myself forget it.

With a sigh, I stopped and turned, ready to apologize to Rylan,

but no one was there. My heart leaped into my throat, and I

whipped out my sword. Too late, I felt the sting of something

pricking my neck. Cursing my inattention, I tried to fight the spi-

raling darkness, but my knees buckled of their own accord, and as

I fell toward the ground, everything went black.

108

 fifteen 

T
he first thing I noticed was the sound of water. It was

everywhere, echoing, a dull roar humming through my

head. I tried to open my eyes, but they were so
heavy
, I felt as though I had been drugged. Clenching my teeth, I forced my lids

to open. I was lying on my back in a cavern of some sort. The ceil-

ing looked damp and the air I breathed was fetid with the smell of

soil and water and humans.

“He’s up,” someone remarked from nearby.

“That was fast.”

I turned to see two men standing over me, swords pointed at my

throat and belly. The world spun when I laboriously sat up, unable

to use my hands to aid me, since they were tied behind my back.

“I wouldn’t try that yet, if I were you.”

Ignoring them, I fought the spinning in my head and remained

sitting.

“Okay, have it your way.” The first man, holding the sword

now pressed against my clavicle, shouted over his shoulder, “He’s

ready to talk!”

“First, tell me where my companion is.” My voice came out

wrong, like I’d been drinking and couldn’t form my consonants

and vowels sharply enough.

109

“He’s alive. That’s all you need to know.”

A third man walked over to me, a woman trailing him. He was

short, shorter than me, but his arms were thickly muscled. The

woman in his wake was taller than he was, and painfully thin,

almost birdlike with a hooked nose and narrow-set eyes. “If you

want to live, you’ll answer all of my questions truthfully. When

your partner wakes, we’ll ask him the same questions and see

if your stories match,” the man said without preamble. “First of

all, tell me where you got that map.”

“I’m second-in-command in the prince’s personal guard. We

were sent here by order of Prince Damian. He gave me the map

and asked me to deliver a message to your leader.”

The man’s eyes widened, and the woman behind him stiffened.

“You ask me to believe that the prince would dare communicate

with us?”

“It would seem so.”

The pair shared a glance, then he held out his hand. “Let me

see this message.”

“First, you’ll have to ask your henchmen to untie my hands.”

He nodded and the closer of the two guards knelt behind me

and, using his sword, cut the ties from around my wrists. “One

wrong move, and we’ll dart you again. I have three men out of

sight, waiting for my signal. If they all hit you at once, you won’t

wake up until Friday. If you wake up at all.”

I lifted an eyebrow at him and, without responding, reached

into my vest and pulled out the vellum parchment containing the

message held shut by the prince’s personal wax seal. He snatched it

from my hand and moved to tear it open.

110

“Stop! Borracio will want to see the seal himself. He’ll know

if it’s authentic.” The woman reached out and grabbed the letter. I

watched as the pair turned and walked away, apparently forgetting

about me for the moment. The effects of the drug they’d put on

their dart were wearing off quickly, and I could have easily dis-

armed the two men standing guard over me. But I didn’t move,

choosing to wait and see what happened.

While I waited, I surreptitiously took account of my surround-

ings. We were definitely in some sort of network of caves. There

were tunnels heading off in three different directions. Where was

Rylan? How big was this place? How large was this group of

would-be assassins?

Minutes passed in silence, with no sign of either the man or

woman. I wondered what time it was, how long I’d been out.

Prince Damian expected me back tonight — and so did Deron.

What would they do if we didn’t return?

Finally, just as my back had begun to ache from sitting on

the hard ground for so long, another man strode out of one of the

tunnels, heading straight for me. He was olive skinned, with dark

hair and eyes, and he moved with an animal-like grace. I recog-

nized a fighter in him immediately.

“You are the one who brought me the letter from Prince

Damian?” His voice was accented; it sounded like he was from

Blevon.

“Yes.” I kept my face and voice impassive. “Are you Borracio?”

He ignored me. “Were you aware of its contents?”

“Unfortunately not. We are not at liberty to ask the prince any

questions when he gives us orders.”

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He stared into my face, his eyes like f lint, hard and cold. There

was a strange feeling around him, something . . . unnatural. As he

continued to hold my gaze, my stomach tightened into knots. His

expression changed suddenly, and he lifted one eyebrow. “This . . .

guard . . . speaks the truth.” The way he slid over the word
guard
put me on edge. And how could he know if I had spoken the truth

so definitively?

“You may give your prince a message. Tell him we are not to

be trif led with and expect him to stay true to his word.” He

stepped closer to me and bent down, until his mouth was next to

my ear. I stiffened. “I know your secret,” he whispered in my ear.

An icy tremor of shock skittered down my spine.

He straightened, his eyes piercing when they met mine. I lifted

my chin, refusing to let him see how scared I really was. Who was

this man and how did he know my secret? I clenched my fists in

my lap to keep my hands from shaking. Then he nodded at the two

men standing over me. “You may escort both of the
men
out. I

have nothing further to discuss with them. Make sure to take

them the back way.”

He turned on his heel and strode away as the man on my right

reached down and yanked me up. I pulled out of his grasp and

barely suppressed the urge to knock him out cold. “I’m perfectly

capable of moving on my own.” My voice was like ice and the man

shrugged. He was obviously someone who underestimated my

ability to fight based on my stature. How I would have loved to

wipe the smug expression from his face.

But I held my temper in check as the other henchman took a

lit torch from a sconce and headed across the cavern. It was more