Defy (16 page)

I was a girl. Even though Borracio somehow already knew as well.

But when I followed Rylan out of the room into an equally damp

and dark tunnel, no one was there.

“He told me the exit was just through here.” Rylan gestured

to a tunnel that broke off from ours, heading to our left. He

unhooked a second scabbard from around his waist and gave it to

me. I recognized it as my own, the one that hadn’t been by the

river yesterday. My bow and arrows were still gone, but I was glad

to get my sword back at least.

“Thank you,” I said, strapping it on.

He nodded and I followed him down the left tunnel. I glanced

over my shoulder once, hoping to see someone — anyone — but

the path behind us was empty. I shivered and hurried after Rylan.



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We walked out into the sunlight, even closer to the spot where

we’d originally been hit with the darts than where I’d come out

the first time.

“There must be a city’s worth of caves and tunnels around

here,” I remarked.

Rylan nodded, but didn’t say anything else. He took the lead

this time, and I was happy to follow, although I kept checking over

my shoulder, my heart beating unevenly in my chest. An uncom-

fortable silence weighed on the air around us, heavier even than

the oppressive humidity, which coated my skin so that I was already

damp with sweat. Rylan’s words rang through my mind again:
I

cared too much about you to risk that.
What did he mean? I felt off balance around him now, more vulnerable than I felt since the day

my parents died and I was taken into the army. I couldn’t believe

he’d always known I was a girl. It embarrassed me for some reason.

“Rylan, I’m —” I stumbled over a tree root and my cheeks

f lamed. I didn’t trip. I didn’t stumble or blush or let someone else take the lead. I couldn’t let the fact that he knew I was a girl

change me. And yet, I already had. He’d never treated me any dif-

ferently; I hadn’t had a clue. But now I was acting like an idiot.

“Can we stop for a second?”

He immediately turned around. “Are you okay? Are you in

pain?” There was nothing but sincere concern in his eyes, and it

made me feel even worse.

“No. I mean, yes, I’m okay. I’m not in pain. But I needed to

tell you . . . I don’t know. I’m sorry, I guess.”

“What do you have to be sorry for?”

I couldn’t meet his gaze and looked past his shoulder to the

crowded trees and vines, the sudden, startling splash of rich purple

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bougainvillea. “I’m sorry I’ve been angry about . . . you know

what. I should probably be thanking you.”

He was silent and I hazarded a glance back at his face. The

intensity of his gaze made my cheeks grow hot again. The f lecks of

gold in his irises were prominent in the bright sunlight. “And what

is it you’d like to thank me for?” he asked finally.

I cleared my throat, telling myself to calm down. He probably

wasn’t looking at me in any special way. The heat, the humidity,

the strange and overwhelming last few days were all getting to me.

That plus the fact I had no idea how to even act like a girl anymore

anyway, even if I’d wanted to. “Thank you for keeping my secret.”

I made my voice gruff and folded my arms across my chest.

“Of course,” he replied, his expression growing more guarded.

“Not even Jude knows?”

“No.”

I nodded, then glanced up at the sky. The sun was almost

directly overhead. “Let’s get going and hope we still have posi-

tions in the guard when we get back.” I brushed past him and took

off down the path, making my strides as long as possible, eating up

the distance between me and the palace. I didn’t look back to see

if Rylan had followed, but I could feel his presence behind me.

We didn’t speak or stop the rest of the way except for when I

spotted some bloodroot growing in a small patch at the base of a

large banyan tree. Rylan watched as I gathered a bunch, but didn’t

ask why and I didn’t volunteer an answer.

Finally, hours later, the palace walls rose in front of us. Beyond

that, the city of Tubatse was visible, sprawled across the valley below the palace. Pressed up close to the outskirts of the buildings and

huts of Tubatse was a whole other city of tents — the temporary

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stopping place for different battalions of the army on their way out

to or back from fighting the Blevonese. Smoke curled up from the

funeral pyres that lined the southern edge of the tent city — sol-

diers who had died of infection, injuries, disease, or a combination

of all three, brought back from the battle field only to die in the

shadow of the palace.

We hadn’t even made it to the side gate before it was thrown

wide open and Jude came running out to us.

“You’re alive!” he exclaimed right before grabbing his brother

into a tight embrace. I watched silently.

They broke apart and Jude turned to face me. “We were sure

you’d gotten lost or been killed. Prince Damian has been throw-

ing a tantrum all day. You’d better get up there before he breaks

something.”

Jude headed back toward the palace gate, but Rylan paused,

giving me a long, searching look first. I lifted my chin, my teeth

tightly clamped together against any display of emotion or weak-

ness. Finally, he turned and followed his brother.

Stomach churning, I stepped back into the protective wings of

the palace walls, leaving the jungle and all that had happened

behind me, but heading toward a different type of danger awaiting

me: the fury of my prince.

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 eighteen 

W
hen we walked into Prince Damian’s room, he didn’t

even turn around to acknowledge me.

“Your Highness, Alex and Rylan have returned from the mis-

sion you sent them on,” Nolen said from behind where we stood

in the doorway of his room.

Very slowly, the prince turned to face us, one eyebrow lifted, a

sneer on his handsome face. “I believe I asked you to return before

nightfall.
Yesterday.
”

I pressed my fist to my chest and bowed. “I apologize, Your

Highness. We were unavoidably detained.”

“Did you at least accomplish what I asked?”

“Yes, my lord.”

The drapes were pulled back in his room, letting the sun pour

in through the large windows. Damian’s piercing blue eyes met

mine from across the room and then he nodded curtly. “Fine.

That is all. I will expect a full report later, but you must be hungry after your overly long journey.”

I bowed again and turned to walk out, with Rylan and Nolen

on my heels. I didn’t know what I expected when I saw Prince

Damian again, but a return to his haughty, condescending persona

wasn’t it. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised. As he’d told

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me, he was playing a part. But he was extremely convincing —

almost
too
convincing.

“Why didn’t you tell him about the jaguar attack?” Rylan

asked quietly as we exited the outer chamber to head down to the

kitchens.

“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I wasn’t sure if I should.

Especially since I was healed by a sorcerer.”

Rylan nodded. We both knew how King Hector felt about

sorcerers or sorcery. If he found out that I’d been miraculously

healed by a sorceress, he might have me burned at the stake just for

having come into contact with one.

I stopped suddenly, making Rylan halt and turn to me

questioningly.

“I have to find Deron.” With everything that had happened,

I’d forgotten about Eljin until that moment.

“Right now?”

“Yes. Immediately.” I spun around and rushed back toward

the prince’s rooms. The first person I saw was Jerrod, standing

guard at the door to Prince Damian’s outer chamber.

“Jerrod, where is Deron?”

He glanced at me, irritation written plainly on his face. “He

spent the night standing guard outside the prince’s room since you

disappeared. I think he went to his room for a couple of hours to

get some rest before tonight. We assumed you’d died and that he’d

have to fill your position until you were replaced.”

“I’m sure you were devastated by my supposed death, weren’t

you, Jerrod?” I couldn’t resist goading him before turning and

heading toward Deron’s room, back the way I’d come.

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He said something under his breath that sounded suspiciously

like he was telling me to go somewhere unsavory, but I ignored

him. Rylan stood a little bit farther down the hallway, silently

watching our exchange. I ignored him, too, and pounded on the

door to Deron’s room.

Within moments, it f lew open, revealing our captain wearing

only pants and an untucked tunic. His hair was matted to one side

of his head and his dark skin was even darker beneath his eyes.

When he saw it was me, his eyes opened wide and he grabbed me

to him in a gruff hug. “Alex! We’d thought you’d died,” he said as

he released me and glanced past me to Rylan. “I can’t tell you how

relieved I am that you’re both okay.”

“Me, too,” I said. “But I need to talk to you immediately.”

“Of course, what is it?”

“In private.”

Deron’s eyebrows lifted but he stepped back and gestured for

me to enter his room. Once the door was shut, I told him what had

happened at the tryouts with Eljin and my suspicions. His expres-

sion grew progressively grimmer as I spoke.

“You haven’t heard, have you?” he asked when I finished.

“Heard? Heard what?”

“The girl that was supposed to hang yesterday didn’t die.”

My heart skipped a beat. “What happened?”

“Just before the hangman sent her swinging, she was rescued.

By a sorcerer.”

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 nineteen 

I
stood outside Prince Damian’s door with my hand on the

heel of my sword, trying to stay alert. Deron had apparently

forced himself to stay awake the entire night in fear that the sorcerer would come back for Prince Damian, but nothing had happened.

Now it fell to my shoulders. But the strain of the last few days

was wearing on me. Even though I’d been healed — completely,

miraculously — I was still exhausted and my scars ached. Perhaps

my body wasn’t quite sure how to handle having been mortally

wounded and healed all within the space of a few hours.

I couldn’t believe Tanoori was still alive, that a sorcerer had

saved her. Had it been Eljin? I wondered if I should tell Prince

Damian about Eljin as well. But when I tried to deliver the blood-

root to him, he was already in bed, asleep peacefully. I placed the

bloodroot on the table next to him and left without waking him.

Part of me expected him to come out like he had before, to ask

what had happened, to prove to me again that he was more than

he seemed, even though he hadn’t acted so today. But his door

remained firmly shut. Silent. He was sleeping soundly while I

stood guard.

A streak of lightning suddenly illuminated the dark room

from the skylight above me, moments before a crash of thunder

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boomed overhead. Within a minute, rain began to pound on the

roof, growing louder and louder as the full fury of an incoming

storm rolled toward the palace. Another f lash of lightning momen-

tarily blinded me. In the heartbeat of tension-filled silence before

the thunder exploded through the air, the door to the prince’s

outer chamber f lew open, blown completely off its hinges. Through

the lingering spots in my vision from the lightning, I saw Kai lying

on the ground, unconscious or dead.

I pulled out my sword and crouched down, ready to fight, my

heartbeat erratic beneath the cage of my ribs. Dread coiled in

my stomach when the man I’d fought in the ring — the one who

could have beat me but didn’t — stepped over Kai’s body and

entered the room.

Eljin. The sorcerer.

He still wore his mask, hiding his face. I waited for him to

move first, terror and adrenaline pumping through my body. In a

normal fight, I was confident, unshakeable. But I had little chance

of stopping Eljin. If he used the same fire against me that killed my parents, I had no hope of surviving. All I could do was try and

hold him off long enough for the prince to escape. Maybe there

were more secret passages I wasn’t aware of nearby — that was the

only way Damian would get out of this alive.

I didn’t have time to think about anything other than fight-

ing, though, as Eljin finally jumped toward me, his sword arcing

down in a vicious jab. Our blades hit with a resounding crash, and

we began to fight in earnest. This time, he didn’t hold back, and I

had to use every bit of training and skill I had to hold him off. He

hadn’t struck me — but I hadn’t managed to hit him, either. And

he hadn’t even used magic yet.

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I was doomed.

Then two more men rushed into the room, wielding wicked-

looking scythes.

“Attack!” I yelled desperately, hoping someone nearby was

still alive to help me. I hadn’t had time to blow on my whistle to

alert the other guards.