Bone Crier's Moon (Bone Grace, #1)(113)

He shoves past me. I chase after him. Bastien is closest to Ailesse and painstakingly crawls toward her.

Boots pounds and approach the foot of the bridge. “Stop!” I shout at the soldiers. “The bridge is too weak.” The middle section webs with more fissures. “You’ll break it!” I rush toward them to drive them away.

“I’m coming!” Cas yells to Ailesse.

The soldiers don’t halt. I run straight for their pointed swords. Before they skewer me, I hurtle into the air and jump over them with my nighthawk grace. Their eyes widen with shock.

I land, turn, and quickly scan for Ailesse. She’s completely dragged herself up onto the bridge.

She claws toward Bastien. Her bloody leg streaks a path behind her.

The soldiers charge at me. I race several yards down the curving ledge to lead them farther away from the bridge. I allow the fastest man to catch up to me. I swiftly turn and leap over him. I draw strength and viciousness from the golden jackal and punch the man’s back where his kidneys are. He grunts sharply. His sword fumbles from his grip. I dive for it, but another soldier kicks it away.

I scramble backward and check Ailesse again. She never reached Bastien. She’s wrestling against Cas as he lifts her in his arms in a cradle hold.

I jump to my feet as more soldiers come near.

“Bastien!” A girl with straw-blond hair drops from an opening beside the tunnel. I gasp. She’s the same girl I fought at Castelpont.

Bastien’s face is disarmingly pale as he looks at her. Someone else falls through the opening.

Bastien’s other friend. His lantern snuffs out as he tumbles onto the ground.

A burly soldier rushes at me. I grab a torch from the ledge wall. I swing it against the flat of his blade. It flies out of his grip.

Bastien’s friends are on the bridge and running toward him.

Two soldiers fan apart and lunge at me from my left and right. My torch windmills as I spin and kick and bash them away.

Bastien’s friends haul him up into their arms. His arms hang limply. He strains to look back at Ailesse. She desperately mouths his name. Her beating fists slow and stop pummeling Cas. Her eyelids flutter sluggishly. Her leg hasn’t stopped dripping blood. Her head falls onto his shoulder as she passes out.

My torch is knocked from my grip. A pair of rough hands comes around me. I thrash like an animal. Four more hands grab my limbs and force them still.

Jules and Marcel race off the bridge and carry Bastien into the tunnel.

I fight to free myself, but even my graced strength can’t outmatch five men.

The blood from Ailesse’s shattered knee soaks into Cas’s sleeve. He smooths back her hair, walks off the bridge, and looks at me with cold eyes.

My lip is curled. My teeth are bared. My heart pounds wildly. The jackal in me wants to murder him. I thrive on the bloodlust.

“Take off her necklace, too,” Cas commands his lead soldier.

Briand reaches for me. I vainly struggle as he unclasps the shoulder necklace. All my muscles turn to water.

My grace bones are gone.

The other soldiers let go. Briand hefts me up, carrying me as he follows Cas and his troop through the tunnel and up the long flights of stairs.

I’m still stunned by weakness by the time we climb out of the hatch. Briand sets me on my feet, but I struggle to stay upright. He’s about to pick me up again when a flash of feathers streaks across my vision.

The silver owl swoops right in front of us and rasps shrilly.

I release an exasperated sigh. What more do you want from me? I tried my best to save Ailesse.

She wheels around and flies toward my face. Briand whips out a dagger.

“Don’t!” I say.

The owl beats her wings back and dodges his swipe. She screeches once more, then soars away.

My mind clears in a sudden rush. I understand what she was trying to tell me: I haven’t tried my best. And I don’t need my grace bones to do so. My body is only in shock from losing them so suddenly. Even without them around my neck, I know what it is to be salamander-agile, nighthawk-quick, and jackal-strong.

A surge of hope floods my veins. I inhale a deep and sustaining breath.

I’ll find a way to escape. I’ll get back my grace bones, and I’ll come for Ailesse.

I’ll save her.

And this time I won’t fail.





54

Ailesse

A STAB OF SORROW AWAKENS me. My eyes open to radiant light, but I shut them again. I fold my arms over the deep ache in my stomach. I haven’t seen the sun in thirty days—the day of my rite of passage—and now I don’t want to. My mother is gone. Bastien is gone. And I don’t know whether or not he survived.

My hands tighten into fists. I can’t lie here any longer. I need to find him.

I throw my blanket back and sit up. A shock of pain shoots through me. I suck in a harsh breath and hitch up the skirt of the nightdress I’m wearing. My knee has been wrapped in a linen bandage.

Merde. I forgot about my injured leg. Hopefully it can still support my weight.

I press my lips together and slowly slide both legs off my mattress. I search for something to lean on, and take a long look around me.

I’m in a stunningly ornate bedroom. Even my mother’s fur-laden chamber in Chateau Creux can’t compare. The fireplace is a masterpiece of carved stone, the furniture shines dark and glossy, and scarlet tapestries cover the stone walls.