The Bound (Ascension #2)(23)

“No,” King Edric said. “I’ll go to Strat myself!”

“What?” Queen Kaliana shrieked.

“Edric!” Consort Daufina chided.

Prince Kael just looked smug.

“Nothing seems to get done around here unless I do it myself. I’m on my way to Strat now to sort this whole thing out!” King Edric said.

“You can’t go into Aurum, Edric,” the Consort said. Her voice was shaking, and she tried to regain control.

“I am the King of Byern. I can do as I please.”

“Your Highness,” a man said off to his left.

The King whirled on who had spoken. “Yes, Merrick?”

Rhea shivered. She detested the King’s new Captain of the Royal Guard. King Edric had chosen him because he was the very best at what he did, but something was off about him. He never smiled, and his features were so severe. It was like he cast a shadow over the court.

“If you entered Aurum, it would not only look like a direct proclamation of war that we could not get your sister, Queen Jesalyn, to fix. It would also look like a dire situation for the country. You are needed here, Your Highness.” Merrick slapped his hand to his chest and bowed after giving his advice.

Consort Daufina glared at him. She didn’t like that Captain Merrick was overstepping his bounds into her advisement territory. And he had done it without blinking an eye in her direction.

“I could go in your stead,” Prince Kael said nonchalantly. He raised an eyebrow at the King, as if awaiting his outburst.

Tension rose in the room, and Rhea felt like she needed to do something to defuse the situation. She couldn’t have the King or the Prince gallivanting through Aurum and bringing war onto her homeland.

By the Creator, Cyrene! Look at what you have done!

“Your Highness,” Rhea said, boldly stepping forward. She curtsied low and waited for him to acknowledge her.

“Ah, yes, Rhea. What is it?” King Edric said.

“I thought I would provide some insight into Cyrene, as you would still need to find her.”

“Go on.”

“If I know anything about Cyrene—and I do since I’ve known her my entire life—she would go after her friends at all cost. I doubt she would cooperate with her kidnapper if her friends had been taken away, and she can be quite convincing under any conditions.”

Rhea looked up into King Edric’s blue-gray eyes and then quickly dropped his gaze. She hoped he hadn’t read too much into her words.

“I am not a military strategist, but there is nowhere else other than Strat to safely cross the Huyek River. I would concentrate your guards at the crossing with the acquired Affiliate and High Order. She will turn up. I would count on it.”





“Are you actually incompetent or just deaf?”

“Why you little…” The Aurumian guard stood, thrusting his chair back against the wall, and towered over Ahlvie, as if meaning to hit him.

Ahlvie blankly stared back.

“You will answer the question!”

He sighed. This was all so very tiresome. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you. I don’t know where Cyrene is. I wasn’t involved in her kidnapping.”

“We’ll see about that,” the man said.

Ahlvie groaned. “How do I always end up in these situations?” he mumbled under his breath.

Ahlvie and Maelia had managed to escape from those murderous beasts through the woods, only to run headfirst into a Byern raiding party on the search for them. The guards had trussed them up like prized turkeys and brought them straight to Strat. The pair had been in the dungeons ever since.

Yet only Ahlvie had been the one under interrogation. Ahlvie knew that it was because of Aurumian beliefs about women. He’d read enough about it back home to understand why it was happening, but he didn’t think it was smart. However, considering Maelia had been raised by two Captains of the Guard, he doubted they would get any information from her either.

At least they weren’t torturing him or anything. Since they were Byern aristocracy, the Aurumians wouldn’t risk too much. They wanted all of the Byern soldiers out of their country enough to leave them buried in the dungeons but not enough to do any real damage. It didn’t make the questions any less annoying.

“I think that’s enough for today,” said a man Ahlvie knew to be General Wingra.

He was a fearsome giant that Ahlvie had no intention of crossing. A few inches taller than Ahlvie with massively wide shoulders, he seemed to take up the small room they’d dragged Ahlvie into a few hours ago.

“Yes, sir.” The man knuckled a salute. “Come on, you.”

Ahlvie lumbered back down the narrow hallway, as if it were the last thing he wanted to do. He really didn’t care either way, but giving the guard a hard time was the only thing he had to look forward to.

The guard shoved him against the metal bars, and Ahlvie grunted. He hated acting pathetic around this man. He could have taken him down and gotten out of this prison in a matter of minutes, if he’d wanted to.

But one, he couldn’t leave Maelia, and the idiot guard didn’t keep the keys on him. So, it would take more strategy than that. And two, Cyrene would come for them. This was the only logical place for them to be taken so this was where he needed to be. He’d plot their exit strategy and wait for her signal.