A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(59)
Mari looked relieved. “I’m all ears.”
I told Mari the entire saga. How maybe, despite my realizing it, I had developed a slight crush on the king. How much I had appreciated his wartime forum, and the respect I felt for his egalitarian process. How I was just starting to find my footing here, and with him, when Halden was captured. How much I despised him now, more than I ever had before. How Kane had agreed to spare his life for the time being. How I knew I had to help Halden escape before he changed his mind.
“There’s no other way. He’ll die here if I don’t help him get out somehow.”
Mari chewed her food slowly, processing. “The king hasn’t been seen with any women in weeks. It’s all over the castle. I wonder if that’s because of you.”
“Yeah, right,” I chided. “I haven’t heard any such thing.”
“Yeah, because you don’t talk to anyone but me. I’m telling you: there is no shortage of beautiful women around here who would love to be the Queen of Onyx. Or just to sleep with him. They have been throwing themselves at him ever since he arrived at the keep. His reputation was well known, and they are very disappointed.”
I tried with every cell in my body to feel nothing at all.
“Well, that’s not the point, Mar. Forget Kane. What about Halden?”
Mari rolled her eyes. “Didn’t I say the king’s wartime tactics weren’t foolproof? Now his own subject,” she pointed at herself with theatrical flair. “Is going to help commit treason to save a boy’s life. We’ll get him out, don’t worry about it.”
I raised a brow. “Please, do share.”
She gave me a classic Mari look, equal parts coolly self-assured and itching with excitement. “I was actually dying to tell you this all day, but you were in a funk. I was waiting until I could get the full range of Arwen excitement. The night before the eclipse, King Eryx of Peridot is coming here with his daughter. King Ravenwood is throwing a banquet for their arrival. There will be food, wine, liquor—everyone will be caught up in the revelry, if not completely smashed!”
I must have been missing something. Mari watched me eagerly waiting for my ‘full range of excitement’ to kick in. When it didn’t, she continued impatiently. “Everyone, including most of the dungeon guards! We never have festivals or celebrations out here in the middle of the woods. They will be preoccupied and Halden can make his escape.”
I shot her a stern glance and looked around to make sure nobody in the great hall had heard us, but the rowdy dinner crowd kept the long tables nearby at a high decibel.
“Whoops,” she said sheepishly.
“Now I just have to figure out how to tell Halden.”
“I think I can help with that too.”
“Mari, you’re a lifesaver.”
“Quite literally, huh?” she laughed, but I didn’t have high enough hopes yet to join her.
SIXTEEN
The entire castle had felt on edge lately—servants rushing and whispering, soldiers even more brutish and poised for a fight than before. I had hoped it was only due to the pressure to prepare for the upcoming festivities. I tried not to worry that something more foreboding was afoot.
It wasn’t like I could ask Kane what was going on—I had decided, with Mari’s encouragement, to let go of all my complicated feelings for the king. He was a charming, powerful man, with a good sense of humor and a killer crooked grin, but also a hot head, a manipulator, and a liar with no sense of morality or compassion. Not a fair trade in my book.
But my heart hadn’t quite agreed to the new arrangement yet, so I was avoiding him—to the point of ducking behind columns whenever he stalked through the halls. Not the most mature way to carry myself, but I had bigger issues to deal with.
All that mattered was helping Halden.
I didn’t think I could fake my way into the dungeons a second time, especially with Kane’s eyes all over the castle, as he had said, so weeks went by with no clue as to how Halden was doing. Still, I was determined to help him escape; I couldn’t sit around and wait for Kane to use him as a bargaining chip with King Gareth or kill him in another bout of jealous rage. Hopefully neither of which had happened already.
Mari had promised me she had a plan, but that she just needed a bit longer for it to work.
To take my mind off it all, I trained with my sword in the mornings, healed soldiers in the afternoons, and spent most evenings with Mari in the library. Summer had fully arrived, and with it I experienced my first real seasonal shift. Onyx’s spring hadn’t been too dissimilar from Amber’s year-round chill, but summer here was like a bath of light and heat. With the soft, blustery winds and days that never seemed to grow dark came an abundance of bluebells and violets, which I had taken to stealing and keeping in glass vases in my bedroom. When they wilted, I was so unable to part with the spectacular blooms, I’d press them in my books until they were delicate, thin memories of the blossoms they once were. It wasn’t too far off from how I was feeling about myself recently, as I wandered from apothecary to bed each day in a daze.
I was in desperate need of positive Arwen. Where had she gone?
As I folded bandages in the apothecary, the dim light of afternoon slipping behind the pine trees outside, I tried to play rose and thorn, as if my mother was here with me.