Havenfall (Havenfall #1)(85)

Part of me never fully believed that Nate was dead. And Mom knew! She knew this whole time. That he was adopted. A Solarian. And that he didn’t die that night, but was kidnapped. That he might be alive.

I don’t get the chance to put any of this into words, though, because a voice floats down the hall behind us.

“Innkeeper,” one of the guards calls. “Are you all right?”

Footsteps accompany it, not yet around the bend.

Brekken lets go of me to reach for a sword that isn’t there. He swears under his breath. Taya has gone still as I leap to my feet.

“I’m all right!” I call loudly, hoping I sound casual.

I turn back to the other two, wild hope and fear playing a game of tug-of-war with my heart. Nate might be alive. Alive!

But before we look for him, I have to free Brekken and Taya. I need to deal with the Silver Prince, after playing right into his hands for so long. Even knowing, now, that he’s willing to kill.

“I’ll get help,” I tell Brekken and Taya in a whisper. “I’ll come back for you—”

“Don’t worry about us.” Taya surprises me with the intensity in her voice. “We’ll be fine.”

She reaches out again and squeezes my hand once before getting up and returning to her cell, pulling the unlocked door closed. The hope in my chest burbles a few notes of birdsong.

“You still have allies here, Maddie,” Brekken says. “I’ve heard what the delegates say about the Silver Prince for years now, even the Byrnisians. They’re frightened of him. They’ll stand by you if you take back control.”

“Either that, or they’ll side with him because they’re scared.” There’s a tremble in my voice, and I struggle to say the next words. “But I’ll try.”

Because there’s no other choice.

I don’t say that last part, but we all know it’s true. It hangs in the air between us as Brekken turns and walks back to his cell.

“The guards haven’t come back here yet,” Taya says. “They have to eventually, unless they plan to starve us, I guess.”

“Taya.” My voice comes out soft and anguished. “I … I’m sorry.”

She is my friend. And a Solarian. A week ago, the idea would have sounded insane. And I can still feel the place in my gut where the hatred for Solarians used to live, a hot, bitter engine driving me. But now it’s hollowed out, dried up. All I can think about is fixing this so we can find Nate.

I’ve failed both of them so badly, but at least Brekken made his own choices that led him into an underground cell. Taya had no idea what she was walking into. Yet somehow she’s still smiling at me through the bars, and suddenly all I want to do in the world is pull her out and take her somewhere safe and far away.

“Stay here for now,” I whisper instead. “I’ll try to draw the guards away, and then you and Brekken can escape.”

Another question is lined up on the tip of my tongue, but I don’t want to ask it, not now when she still looks so vulnerable. But I know I need to.

“The change,” I whisper hesitantly. “Do you think you could control it, now that you know the truth?” The beast’s claws and strength might come in handy once they have to run.

Something shutters behind her eyes. She shakes her head. “It comes out when I’m angry or scared. I’m not in the driver’s seat here.”

I think of the montage scene in every superhero movie I’ve ever seen, where her powers switch on once the hero accepts herself. I think of Dad’s advice, why give the scary thoughts so much room? But I know it’s not that easy. I know you can’t always get away from the dark things. I know how they follow you, invade every thought.

“It’s okay to be angry,” I whisper. “You’re right to be angry.”



I double back and unlock Brekken’s cell, then return to the juncture, hoping to sweet-talk the guards into skipping away for five minutes. I try for a neutral look, hoping they don’t notice my change of outfit or the missing keys, and then I realize someone else is standing in the passageway to the main part of the inn. My stomach drops.

It’s the Silver Prince.

Now that I know what he’s capable of, it’s hard to imagine a time and then I wasn’t afraid of him. My whole body reacts, skin tightening, muscles go rigid, heart kicks up into a drumroll.

The guards move to flank him as I enter the juncture. He stands tall, filling almost the whole tunnel. His pale eyes are trained on me.

“Maddie,” he says, pleasant enough, but there’s an undertone of ice in the word that shoots mirroring cold through my bones. “I see you’ve found our prisoners. And my guard’s missing keys.”

The keys are closed in my fist. My arm goes leaden. I don’t remember what standing naturally feels like, what it should look like.

“What?” I say, scrunching up my face in pretend confusion. “What do you mean?”

I don’t like the Silver Prince’s smile. It says he hears my lie, but doesn’t care, because he has me backed into a corner. Dead end.

“So, what should we do with the prisoner?” he asks.

More goose bumps rip out across my bare shoulders and arms. I walk toward the Prince and his guards—even though my instincts tell me to run the other way. If I can get out of the tunnels into the main inn, in the company of others, I can figure out some way to get the guards out of the juncture. But here there’s nothing but stone and darkness.