Seven flights down. Three long tunnels. Only the light from torches led the way. Griffin gave Raleigh plenty of space. He glanced into the cells that were full of sleeping servants, those who worked in the castle.
Griffin heard a latch clank, and knew Raleigh was at Maggie’s cell. His heart pounding, Griffin needed to act fast. He lifted the dagger Esmera gave him out.
“Griffin, you cannot think to sneak up on the man who taught you to fight,” Raleigh called.
Griffin cursed. He hid the knife and turned the corner, padding down a ramp, descending into the deepest part of the dungeon. The walls felt like they were closing in. He walked with purpose. In the glow of the torchlight, he could see Raleigh and two other guards near the last two cells before the tunnel ended.
As he got closer, he saw both cells were occupied. On his right, Maggie was barely visible, curled up in a ball against the back wall. On his left, Bradyn. Both looked like they were breathing, but it was difficult to tell. His mind raced. Did Jori mean to do away with them too? “What the hell is going on here?” he yelled at Raleigh.
Bradyn crawled to the bars. “He killed my father, Griffin. He threw him down the hole after the king.”
“How’d he get that gag off?” one of the guards asked. He moved to open the cell door, but Griffin kept him from getting to it.
“The prince wanted Maggie to kill the king and when she wouldn’t, he said he would kill me. He was going to drop me.” Bradyn’s voice cracked. He started crying. “My father did it for me. He . . . he did it for me. And then . . . and then . . . Raleigh killed him.”
Griffin shoved one guard into the other, then punched Raleigh as hard as he could. His mentor stumbled into the two guards.
“Let them out!” Griffin demanded.
Raleigh rubbed his swelling jaw. He pulled his sword. “You have a match tomorrow. You really want to do this?” He lunged.
Griffin spun out, bouncing off the wall, reaching for his knife, but Raleigh shouldered him, throwing him up against the bars of Bradyn’s cell. Griffin felt the knife lift from the back of his trousers. Griffin ducked Raleigh’s strike, shoving him into the bars, and Bradyn’s outstretched hand. The knife punctured Raleigh’s side, a fatal blow to the kidney.
Raleigh dropped to his knees, using the bar for support. Bradyn ripped the dagger out. The knife struck Raleigh’s throat next.
It was over.
Bradyn’s hands trembled. “He killed my father. He killed my father.” He repeated that over and over again.
The guards looked back, hesitating at first. Griffin seized one in a headlock at the same time he found the guard’s knife in his belt, getting it against his chest. That guard dropped his sword. The other wasn’t as bright.
He thrust.
Griffin used the guard in his arms as a shield. The blade cut into the man’s chest. Griffin threw the dying guard at his killer, then made use of the knife. His throw never wavered, striking the guard between the eyes.
It was over in less than a minute.
Raleigh’s empty gaze was upturned, staring at the ceiling. Griffin’s boots waded through blood from the dead guards. Like Bradyn’s, his hands wouldn’t stop shaking. He had killed many draignochs, but not people. Not ones who had once cared for him. Not like this.
“Sir Griffin?” Bradyn whined, breaking Griffin out of his trance.
Griffin searched Raleigh, finding the keys, opening Bradyn’s cell first.
“Bradyn, you need to get out of the castle, and to your mother. Use the passageways but move slowly. Jori knows we’ve been using them.”
Griffin handed the knife to Bradyn.
“What about you and Maggie?” he asked.
“Go . . . ,” Maggie uttered.
Griffin pushed him. “I’ve got her.”
Griffin didn’t watch him leave. He pulled the guards’ and Raleigh’s lifeless bodies into the far corner of the empty cell, and locked it. Then he opened Maggie’s cell. He padded over to her slowly, kneeling beside her.
“Maggie?”
She rolled over. He started at the gaunt look in her eyes. The blue in her irises faded to near white. Her skin graying, her mouth cracked and dry.
She tried to speak, but when she couldn’t, she put that strength into her arm. Griffin caught her wrist before the rock in her hand hit him in the head.
He could tell the lies Jori told her racked her with anger, but he didn’t care. He was so happy to see her. He kissed her forehead. Then her eyes. Her cheeks. He lifted her up, cradling her in his arms. “You’ll have a much better chance of pummeling me after you see your moon.”
Maggie stirred as soon as they reached the top of the spiral staircase. He set her down beneath the first window he came to, pushing it open. The moon didn’t hesitate. Strands of finely spun silk shot down. Her eyes flew open. Blistering cold, his outstretched arms numbing, Griffin stumbled away from her. Her normally blue eyes gone. They were solidly white, and glowing. She gasped, her mouth falling open. With every inhale, the light faded, but Griffin never saw it leave her.
She stirred, trying to stand. He tentatively touched her. Her skin cool, but much more temperate, he settled an arm around her back, holding her up. “Can you walk?”
She tested her legs. “I think so.” Then she started to walk away.
Griffin pulled her back. “Where are you going?”
“Away from you! Before I kill you where you stand.”
She turned to leave but he grabbed her hand. “Maggie, let me explain.”
“Explain how you tricked me! Training me to become some kind of weapon for the prince? Or should I say wife!” She drew a glistening beam of light as long as a sword, dropping it until it was only an inch from his neck.
“I did none of those things.” Griffin let her go and raised his hands. The light so bright, his vision spotted.
“How am I supposed to believe you, Griffin? You take me to see Rendicryss. You help me grow my powers. You give me everything I ask for, except my freedom.”
“Because the only one who can give you freedom is you.” He paused, letting that sink in. “We’re all trapped. Rendicryss is your only hope. She will have to fly you out of the city. You will have to free her in the arena as we planned. It is the only way. It has always been the only way.”
She stared at Griffin, incredulous. The internal argument played out in sneers, head shakes, and grimaces.
“I love you, Maggie. Jori knows that. It made it easy for him. I was too busy paying attention to you to notice that he betrayed me too.”
The light faded. Darkness fell. “He wants you by his side, Griffin. You’re not tempted?”
Griffin stared at the blood on his hands. “No . . .” For the first time since his parents had died, he wanted to cry. “I never thought he was capable of this. I’m not sure I really know who he is, or who his father was. I only saw the prize. Being prized. But I don’t want it anymore.”
Maggie threaded her fingers through his. “What do we do now?”
Nineteen
Maggie
My sleep was restless, filled with nightmares. In one I remembered well, Rendicryss couldn’t fly. Her wings broken, hanging at odd angles, she ran around the ring, moving slower than a turtle. Jori took great pleasure ordering Griffin to cut them off. The sun burst through the windows in the queen’s quarters, waking me before I heard Griffin’s answer. I wanted to trust him, but some part of me still doubted his allegiance.