“Help!” Mae cried again, just as Hanne reached her.
“Stay still. I’ll get him off you.” Hanne knelt and pushed the guard, rolling him slowly off Mae’s legs. The man didn’t react to being moved, and Hanne didn’t check to see if he was even alive.
Mae scrambled back from the body. “You came for me!”
Hanne started to say no, she’d come to ensure Mae lived to finish the machine, but movement on the far side of the courtyard stopped her. Someone was emerging from the building that held the laboratory tower.
Abagail.
If the Ivaslander queen caught her now, this would all be for nothing.
“I have to go.” Hanne lurched to her feet. “I have to get out of here before she finds me.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Across the way, Abagail Althelney looked up and her eyes locked on Hanne’s. Rage, hatred, and horror filled the queen’s glare as she shouted at the guards with her and pointed straight at Hanne. “Arrest her!” The words weren’t audible over the rush of fire and drone of rain, but Hanne read them well enough on the woman’s lips.
Mae followed Hanne’s gaze. “No, go. I’ll buy you time.”
Hanne had no choice but to trust the malicist now.
Improvising, Hanne gave a ragged yell and made a show of pushing Mae toward the growing fire. The other girl took the hint and threw herself dramatically to the ground; while everyone’s focus was on Mae, Hanne seized the opportunity and ran.
She ducked and wove through the flames until she reached the rear of one of the university buildings. Peeking back into the courtyard, she saw the guards had swooped in to help Mae to her feet again. The malicist was safe—not that Hanne cared. Instead of caring, she hiked her bag higher on her shoulder and watched as Mae sobbed false tears in Abagail’s arms.
This whole plan had been messy and ill-conceived, and if Hanne could have done it all over again—well, she’d have been smarter about it, certainly. But she’d been given limited options and no time to prepare.
Besides, Ivasland had done this to itself. She’d merely been a spark to the kindling Abagail and Baldric had laid out. Those stars had been in windows even before Hanne arrived.
Mae pulled back from the queen and pointed away from where Hanne had run. When the guards broke off to pursue Hanne, they ran in the wrong direction.
Hanne smiled, and then she bolted.
* * *
Sweat and rain had soaked Hanne by the time she finally reached the chicken coop and recovered her bundle of obsidian. Then she hurried on to the stables where she’d left the sad, nameless nag she’d taken on her way out of Caberwill.
Someone had combed him, fed him, and even slathered some kind of paste over his legs. Quickly, Hanne searched out his tack and saddled him.
Through the drenching rain and stink of smoke, Hanne hurried toward the outskirts of Athelney. But there was someone in her path, a cloaked figure standing in the dark, their hood pulled low.
Hanne stopped and slipped her dagger free of its sheath, but before she could decide whether to attack or try to ride past (and risk this person telling Abagail they’d seen her), the hood fell back to reveal Mae’s face.
“I thought I would find you coming this way.” Mae motioned for Hanne to follow her into an alley. “The queen sent her guards to go find you, and in all the confusion, I got lost on my way to the dormitory.”
“There was a lot of smoke and fire,” Hanne agreed as she drew her horse into the narrow alley. An overhang sheltered them from the worst of the rain, which drummed louder than ever.
Mae produced a small light globe and shook it, making it glow. Her clothes were torn, and smoke had smudged onto her face, but otherwise she seemed well.
“You came looking for me?” Hanne asked. “Why?”
“I just”—Mae shrugged a little—”wanted to say goodbye. Before you left.”
Oh. Hanne tamped down a smile. “Nice of you to see me off.”
“I don’t suppose you’d tell me where you’re going.” It wasn’t a question; Mae already knew the answer, so Hanne didn’t bother voicing it.
“Be careful of Abagail,” Hanne warned instead. “She’s not what you think.”
Mae didn’t argue. She knew. Of course she knew. She had been directed to break the Winterfast Accords. “Who are you really?” Mae asked instead. “Are you even from Ivasland?”
Hanne bit her lip. It would be foolish to tell this malicist anything about who she actually was. In spite of Mae’s reservations about the project, she still worked directly for the king and queen of Ivasland—the very people who wanted Hanne dead. This girl would fulfill her duty to her monarchs, as surely as Hanne had satisfied her agreement with the rancor. (Well, not so much an agreement as a ransom, which she’d had to pay herself.)
Before all of this, Hanne had always thought that people who allowed themselves to be compelled into service to those more powerful simply lacked the inner strength to say no. But now, she understood a little better. The rancor was capable of hurting her in new and terrifying ways if she resisted.
And Mae…She was in a similar position, Hanne thought. Not with a horrifying, laws-of-nature-defying monster from the Dark Shard, but close enough. Abagail and Baldric did have quite a bit of malice (and people willing to use it) at their disposal.
“Hildy?” A hesitant note entered Mae’s voice. “Is that even your real name?”
“I can’t tell you.” In another world, it might have been romantic that Hanne was a secret princess from an enemy kingdom, here against her will and nearly killed for what she knew. But romance had never been part of Hanne’s story.
Even so, she touched Mae’s hand. Just to see. Gazing down at Mae’s light-brown skin against her pale fingers, Hanne searched her heart for some sort of feeling. There was a small thrill at the contact, an attraction, and a willingness to do more than hold hands, should the opportunity arise. But no uncontrollable softness or warmth, like she felt with Nadine. (Not that she was interested in Nadine like that, but she knew what she felt for her cousin was love.) Feelings—or possible feelings—for anyone else were lined up against the strength of that bond, but they always fell short and were summarily disregarded.
“All right,” Mae said. “Well, then, I suppose I should go. We both have things to do.”
Kingdoms to conquer.
“Yes,” Hanne agreed.
“I’m glad the mal-device is nearly finished,” Mae said conversationally. “After we visit the ever-burning forest, I’ll be able to—not rest, I suppose, but go back to work I enjoy.”