Incendiary (Hollow Crown #1)(109)

“Put me on the table,” I plead.

“Leave us,” Méndez tells the guards.

“But, my justice, they outnumber you,” the man says.

“They can’t use their cursed magics on me,” Méndez says, and I wonder if he has the same defense that Prince Castian does.

When the guards leave, I scan the room for an escape. My hands are in manacles, which are infinitely harder to get out of. If only I had—

A blade.

The moment Méndez turns his attention to Sayida on the wooden slab, I reach to the side of my head and pull at one of the skinny pins that still dig into my scalp. Thank you, Leo, I think. I tuck it between my fingertips and angle it into the opening of the lock. I was never as good as Esteban at getting myself out of cuffs. Even now his eyes are wide with frustration, as if he knows he’d be able to do this better. Margo and Esteban struggle harder, shout through their bindings. It is the perfect distraction.

“You’ll get your turn,” Méndez says, pointing another clean knife at Margo. “You’ve made a fool and liar out of me in front of my king, Renata. That wretched brat of a prince has been looking for a chance to ruin me, and you may just have given it to him.”

I remember Castian lying to his face after dancing with me. Reprimanding Méndez at the ball. Proud men bruise easily. That’s a wound I can press.

“Do you know what Prince Castian calls you behind your back? An impotent, ineffective waste nearing the end of his use,” I lie.

Méndez snaps his head in my direction, and I sit still. A crooked smile plays on his features. “I know you better than you know yourself, Renata. The prince would never confide in you.”

“How are you so sure? He’s the one who sought me out. He’s the one who wanted to dance with me. You fear getting replaced? Well, you should fear a lot more than that when Castian is done with you.”

Justice Méndez drags his finger across the table of weapons at his disposal. He selects a long, slender spike and a small mallet that goes along with it. My heart is in my throat, strangling my breath.

“Use the cure on me!” I plead as a last resort. “I know what it does. Use it on me, and let her go.”

“The cure? By the angels, Renata, what do you think I was doing when I left? The cure has to be better protected than by a weak prince and new draft of soldiers not yet old enough to grow beards. But if you’re so eager, I’ll make sure you get to see it firsthand.”

“What?” My heart sinks. I was never going to find the weapon at the palace. But there is hope. There is always hope. Méndez wouldn’t tell me where he went on his trip, but Lady Nuria did. The weapon is in Soledad.

“You’re not the only Moria I’ve broken, Renata. We know how to get through your mountain pass now. Soon, the entire kingdom will be able to witness Memoria fall to its knees.”

Margo’s and Esteban’s heads snap up.

The Whispers are in the mountain. The children, the elders, everyone who is left.

Méndez takes the bind out of Sayida’s mouth and pulls it down. “This is for your own good, my child.”

“You don’t have to do this,” Sayida says, and the sadness in her voice brings me such a deep ache I feel my heart coming undone. “There’s good inside of you. You weren’t always like this.”

Use your power, Sayida, I mentally urge. Unless she already is, and there’s no scrap of kindness left to draw out and play upon. But there has to be. Why else would he have been kind to me? To me . . . but not to other Moria.

Méndez holds the spike over her forearm. The mallet right over its head. “I know you want to think that, but your magics won’t work on me.”

He slams the mallet on the metal spike, and it drives through Sayida’s forearm. Blood splatters across her cheek and on his face. Her scream pierces the deepest recesses of my mind. Sayida, whose smile could convince flowers to bloom. Sayida, whose touch could bring peace to the most troubled soul. The nightingale of the Whispers.

“Stop it! Stop it, please!” I shout. My hands are sweating so much I drop the hairpin. I have to focus. I have to somehow get free before he can hurt her again.

There’s a moment of stillness as Méndez selects a second spike. Sayida has her head turned to the side. Her body shakes with sobs, and she tries her best to stay silent. I wish I could take her pain as my own.

“Now, dear,” Méndez tells Sayida, and I can’t imagine how anyone can be so calm while impaling another. “Who else is in the palace under Illan’s order?”

Sayida shakes her head. “We acted alone.”

“Are you sure about that?” Méndez readies the second spike on Sayida’s other arm, and a single whimper escapes her. “We could save a lot of time if only you’d tell the truth. I want a list of all of Illan’s spies and allies. It seems that you, Renata, were not very honest with me when you arrived here. Every safe house you gave me was a dead end. Empty.”

“We don’t know Illan’s spies!” I shout at him. But my thoughts scream, Nuria Nuria Nuria, because I want him to stop. “He would never tell us. He’d never endanger them! But it doesn’t matter to you, does it? Sayida could shout anyone’s name, she’d shout Castian himself to get you to stop!”