The Mirror King (The Orphan Queen, #2)(72)

There were a lot more men in red than in blue.

James grabbed my arm and we tumbled into the snow just as a flaming arrow struck the place I’d been standing.

“Are you all right?” James climbed to his feet and scanned the area for the shooter, but the arrow could have come from anyone. Everyone moved so quickly.

“Fine.” I stood and adjusted my sword at my hip, resolving to keep a better eye on my surroundings. “And thanks.”

“That’s why I’m here.”

“Shall I find the shooter, my queen?” The wraith boy faced me, a shoulder-high wall of snow growing behind him, shielding the three of us. “I can find whoever tried to assassinate you and—”

I held up a hand. “I don’t want anyone on either side to die.”

“Too late for that.” James glanced over his shoulder where bodies had already fallen. “But he’s right. If you go into the fighting, you will get hurt. Maybe killed. And I promised Tobiah I would keep you alive.”

I turned to the wraith boy. “We need to reach Patrick. I need you to help me get there safely.”

A sinister smile spread across the wraith boy’s face. “Oh yes. The mountain lion man. I remember him.”

“Do not kill him—or anyone else, for that matter.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “If we’re attacked?”

“You know my orders, Chrysalis. Don’t try to get around them. Don’t do anything you think I want. If you do, I will take away your name.”

His expression turned blank. “I understand.”

“He could be anywhere,” James said. “He might not even be here.”

“No. He’s here.” I gazed over the distance, the blades and bodies everywhere. The stench of salt and blood filled the air, with a slight edge of wraith coming from Chrysalis.

“Where?”

“Where he can see everything.” I pointed to the immense bridge, where the railroad tracks crossed the water.

Snowhaven Bridge was pre-wraith, all sea-battered steel that shimmered in the frantic light. The cables shone like silk strands, and the towers stabbed into the water, going farther than I could see. A pair of hulking guard stations stood at each side of the entrance, with an armored passageway stretching through the sky between them.

“That’s where Patrick will be.”





TWENTY-FIVE


JAMES AND THE wraith boy followed my gaze to the bridge that spanned the entire bay. “What if he’s not there?”

“Then we stand in the center and draw his attention.” A dozen flags snapped in the cold wind, and four indigo banners hung from the parapets, emblazoned with House crests. Gas lamps shone down on the battlefield, hot white lights above the flames.

“How will you get there?” James gestured to the fighting masses between us and our destination.

“You will help me reach it safely.”

James heaved out a breath. “All right. Let’s go. But we’re doing this my way. We’re going around the fighting, not through the worst of it.”

“I can fight.”

“It’s not your duty to fight this time. It’s your duty to stay alive.”

Even so, I drew my sword in one hand and a dagger in the other. With the boys flanking me, we slipped around the edge of the battle. It took more time, but when combatants spilled into our path, James or the wraith boy pushed them out of the way. Only twice did I have to remind the wraith boy not to hurt people.

At last, we came to the shore; Tangler Bay surged below a small cliff. My homeland was still too far to see the lights of the city, but the bridge’s towers and cables were lit with gas lamps.

My heart thrummed as James and the wraith boy carved a path to the guard station. The sound of the sea swelled within me. I was so close.

A blue-coated body dropped at my feet. James staggered and breathed a name, but we moved over the soldier and found ourselves at the main door. The guards wore indigo, but they were engaged with Aecorian rebels, and no one noticed us as James heaved open the door and ushered me into an antechamber, its walls covered with yet more indigo flags and signs.

With my dagger hand, I grabbed the metal-reinforced door handle to the main chamber and my shoulder almost came out of place as I heaved the unmoving door.

“What’s wrong?” James asked.

“Locked. I can pick it.” There was always magic, but considering how dizzy just animating notebooks made me, I shouldn’t. Not now, when I needed to face Patrick.

“Let me.” The wraith boy took the handle and gave it a sharp tug, and the entire door came off its hinges with a deafening crack. He staggered back against the size, but held the door’s weight without a problem. “What should I do with it?”

“Just put it against the wall.” I stepped clear of the door and into the main chamber filled with desks and bookcases. Hallways branched off, and a series of doors ran along the back wall. “Who was that outside, James?”

The body, I meant, but I didn’t want to say it out loud.

“Someone I knew from school. A friend.” His face was hard as he scanned the room and pointed his sword toward one of the hallways on the far side of the room. “There.”

I flexed my fingers around the hilts of my weapons as we walked.