A Dawn of Onyx (The Sacred Stones, #1)(62)

She clutched at the violet amulet. “It’s a simple cloaking spell. I’ll perform it on the guard and, to him, you’ll be invisible for a little while.”

“How long is ‘a little while’?”

Mari stared straight ahead, raising her head high. “I don’t know.”

“What!”

“Shh!” she hissed. “It’s fine! How long could it take for you to get in and out? And I’ll be here waiting for you.”

“Mar,” I tried. “You know it’s all right if you aren’t perfect at this the very first time. We can always try something else.”

She gave me a look that said don’t you dare, so I nodded, but couldn’t stop shifting beside her.

“Stand still, or I’ll be too distracted to get this right.” Mari closed her eyes and brought her hands out in front of her as if she could touch the guard in the distance. She hummed a low tune and whispered words in a primeval language I couldn’t understand. The tall grass at her feet began to rustle in the sudden wind, a wind that smelled of rain and earth, despite the sunny day. A few of her long hairs gradually rose around her, encircling her in red strands that mimicked flames. Her knuckles cracked as she clenched her outstretched fingers.

And then she stopped.

She blinked her eyes open, looking a bit disoriented. She reached a hand out to hold on to me and I grasped her tightly. “Are you all right?”

She stared at me, dazed. “Who are you?”

My heart dropped into my stomach.

A wide smile grew on her face. “Kidding!”

I let out a breath that was almost a laugh. Almost. “You’re the worst.”

“Go on,” she said.

I hurried toward the bearded guard, never succumbing to a run, which might have appeared suspicious to anyone else who could actually see me.

The guard was about my age. Ruddy pink cheeks, scruffy blond beard and brows. When I stood before him, an eerie sensation licked down my neck. He looked into my eyes and yet saw right through me. I waved a tentative hand in his face, but he just rubbed his nose in boredom and continued to stand watch. I wasn’t going to stick around to count my luck.

Sneaking past him, I ran through the dark spiral once more. I had the fleeting thought that if I was truly lucky, this would be the last time I ever had to come down here.

I rapped the bars on Halden’s cell. “Pst! Halden!” He was asleep under the fur that I had brought him, curled up in a dark corner like a wounded animal, his white-blond hair now almost grey with dirt and soot.

“You made it back,” he said, voice coated in sleep. He sounded almost reverent.

“Yes, but I have to be quick.” I passed him some more food I had smuggled. “In one week, the night before the eclipse, there will be a banquet at sundown. That will be the best time for you to attempt your escape.”

Halden nodded, “Who’s the banquet for?”

“King Eryx of Peridot. I’d assume they’re trying to make an alliance.”

He bit at his nail and spit the clipping to the left. It was a nasty habit I somehow used to find attractive.

“Have you met any halflings here at Shadowhold?”

My brow creased. Halden believed in Fae now? And their descendants?

“What? Not that I know of.” Though now that I thought of it, some of the soldiers I had healed or passed by had seemed so powerful and so menacing… But it wasn’t worth sharing that with Halden. “I don’t even know how to tell a halfling from a mortal.”

Halden sighed, sitting back on his heels. “You can’t really. It’s hard to know without researching a person’s ancestry. They say Onyx is filled with them.”

“Why do you ask?”

He gave me a half-grin. “Morbid curiosity, I guess. Has the king said anything to you about something he is looking for? A relic of some kind?”

Unease dipped in my belly. “Halden, why are you grilling me? You know I would tell you anything that could help you escape.”

“Of course. Just another tall tale I was told by some soldiers in my battalion. Too much empty time to think down here is all.”

My mind flashed to the night I had heard Kane talking with Griffin about the seer, about whatever he had been searching for. It felt like a lifetime ago. Could that be the same thing Halden was talking about?

“Since when do you care about Onyx and their secrets? You were more reluctant to serve than anyone else in Abbington.”

I recalled my displeasure, well over a year ago, when he had cared so little about fighting the wicked kingdom in the north. How his apathy had made me feel irritated and alone.

How much things had changed, in so little time.

He shook his head. “I was a child then, Arwen. I’ve learned more about King Gareth since, of what he fights for. There’s just a lot you wouldn’t understand.”

I was so, so sick of men that I was romantically interested in saying that to me. I made a face.

“And what about you? You don’t care about our kingdom anymore?”

“No, of course I do,” I said, my face growing hot. “I care about the people who are dying because of senseless greed for land and coin.”

“I don’t want to argue. The night of the banquet—where will I find you?” Halden asked.