Chapter 12 Flight Through the Evening
Lyanna
The moment Varyon’s boots shifted toward the tapestry, my breath hitched.
Not now. Not like this.
I dug my fingers into the stone wall behind me, pressing myself deeper into the shadows, every muscle strung tight enough to tear. The room had gone still—too still.
I had seconds—maybe less.
My gaze flicked to my options—fast, desperate.
The window was right behind me. A narrow slit of open air, overlooking the lower gardens. It was a drop—not lethal, but high enough to break something if I landed wrong.
The servants’ corridor was too far. Too exposed. The door was at the other end of the chamber; I would have to cross open marble, right in Varyon’s line of sight.
And the gardens below were shadowed. Dense. A maze of hedges and storm-twisted oaks.
If I reached them, I could vanish.
But reaching them meant movement. Movement meant sound. Sound meant death.
My fingers curled into the tapestry folds.
Varyon’s footsteps drew closer.
I fought the tremor in my knees. Vespera’s voice drifted across the chamber.
“Did you hear something?” she asked.
“Yes,” Varyon murmured.
His shadow lengthened across the marble floor and beneath the tapestry.
Run. Move. Do something—
My pulse hammered in my ears.
Please, goddess, if I have served you right, save us. I squeezed my eyes shut as he stopped right in front of me.
Then—salvation. Cruel, accidental salvation.
A servant near the chamber entrance tripped over a brazier stand.
Metal clanged. Ash scattered.
The man yelped as he hit the ground. Every head snapped toward him.
Varyon turned, annoyance flashing across his face—irritation that something dared interrupt him.
“You,” he said lazily, pointing at the trembling servant. “Come forward.”
“M-my lord, I—I didn’t—”
Two guards seized the servant by the arms before he could protest. His scream tore through the chamber as they dragged him out.
I pressed my fist to my mouth, swallowing the sound clawing up my throat.
Guilt burned—hot, acid, choking.
He would die. Because of me. Because he’d made noise at the wrong time.
“Is this a manor or a nesting pit?” Varyon hissed, still standing right in front of me. “Why are servants crawling everywhere?”
“You know this is the first point of distribution,” Vespera waved him back to the table. “Come and sit. Let us finish our discussion.”
The council resumed as if nothing had happened.
I couldn’t stay. Couldn’t be found here.
The instant the next argument rose, I moved.
With a quick prayer to the moon goddess, I slipped my fingers under the window frame. Shifted. Lifted.
The night air rushed in, cold and sharp against my face.
I swung a leg over the ledge—marble scraping my knee—and slid out.
Below, the gardens yawned open: dark hedges, curling paths, deep shadows thick enough to swallow me whole.
Perfect.
I dropped into the night.
For a breathless second, I hung suspended—between life, death, and the Triune’s plotting—before gravity seized me. I crashed into a hedge. Branches struck my arms, ripping at sleeves and veil, knocking the air from my lungs. Leaves tangled in my hair. Dirt smeared my cheeks. Tiny scratches ran across my forearms.
I didn’t stop.
I tore myself free and ran.
The garden swallowed me instantly—white flowers glowing under lanterns, hedges twisting, statues loomed like judges, shadows like hands reaching for me.
My heart slammed against my ribs. I followed instinct, breath coming in frantic gasps as I fled.
Behind me, distant voices spilt from the open window. Someone shouted an order. Someone else cursed. The commotion grew.
But deeper than footsteps and panic, I felt something else—
A prickle on my spine.
A wrongness.
The sensation of being watched. Hunted.
Something sharp and cold. Like the gaze of a wolf high on a ridge—silent, unmoving, observing the frantic movements of prey below.
I didn’t dare look back. Didn’t dare slow.
Branches whipped my arms. Night-blooming flowers mingled with the metallic tang of my panic. Vision blurred around the edges, but I kept running—every heartbeat unconsciously echoing Rubin, Rubin, Rubin.
He would want me to survive.
I pressed a hand to my lower ribs instinctively.
Just keep moving.
I cleared the nobles’ garden district in a breathless sprint, darting into the network of alleys used by servants and omega escorts. I didn’t stop. Couldn’t. The weight of what I’d overheard thundered through my skull.
“They’re going to kill the king,” I whispered, barely forming the words. “They’re going to take Aeloria. They’re—they’re—”
My lips moved. My voice—soft, broken, hoarse—slipped out.
A mistake. A dangerous, stupid mistake.
But my thoughts spiralled too violently to stop the sound.
“How do I tell them? How do I get home? Would they even believe me? Gods—what am I supposed to—”
My foot caught on stone.
I crashed into something solid.
Hard.
I stumbled back, landing on my palms, pain jarring up my wrists.
A shadow blocked the light above me.
I looked up.
Lord Veras stood over me, tall and dark in his riding coat, the gold of his crest ring catching the sun.
For a moment, I saw nothing else: not polished stone, not the path, not even my shaking hands.
Just him.
And the dawning horror that I had just slammed into a Drakovian alpha.
I scrambled into a bow so fast I almost toppled again.
He didn’t move for a moment, staring at me.
Then he crouched.
I flinched, arms tightening around my stomach.
“Easy,” he said calmly. “Are you hurt? Your arms—” His eyes scanned the scratches, dirt, and leaves tangled in my hair. “And where are you coming from?”
My lungs caught. I had no words.
My gaze lifted—another mistake—and our eyes met through the veil.
Silver to midnight.
He frowned, leaning closer, studying my face, my posture, my trembling hands, my dishevelled state.
“You took quite the fall.” He extended a hand. “Get up.”
A shiver ran through me. His fingers hovered inches away. I didn’t dare take them—
Sera burst out of nowhere, sliding between us like a shield.
I toppled backwards with a small gasp as she planted herself in front of me, spine bent in a desperate bow.
“My lord, I beg your forgiveness!” Sera rushed. “She didn’t see you—she didn’t hear you—”
Elias raised an eyebrow. “She didn’t—hear me?”
Sera nodded vigorously. “She’s mute and deaf, my lord. Completely. She meant no harm, I swear it.”
He didn’t sound convinced.
Had he heard me muttering earlier?
He studied me again—longer, slower. His eyes narrowed a fraction, head tilting—as if trying to match me with a memory.
Did he remember me?
I bit my lip and looked away.
After a moment, he exhaled sharply, dismissing the puzzle.
“She shouldn’t be unaccompanied,” he said, tone clipped. “Not all alphas in this city would wait for an explanation.”
Sera bowed deeper. “You’re right, my lord. Of course. Thank you.”
Elias glanced at her a beat too long.
“You’re a strange one too,” he murmured, neither insult nor praise. “Keep her close.”
Then he turned, boots clicking against stone, cape flaring in the cold wind as he walked toward the inner city.
When he disappeared around the corner, Sera grabbed my wrist and hauled me upright.
“What were you thinking?” she hissed, dragging me down a quiet passage. “We’ve been looking for you everywhere—Bina nearly passed out from worry! If I hadn’t come—if anyone else had found you—”
I blinked hard, still shaking, dirt smudged on my face.
Sera’s voice softened. “Mira… what were you planning to do? Run to the outer walls? March into a noble court? Do you know how lucky you were that it was Lord Veras? Anyone else would have had you dragged away before I got to you.”
I swallowed, throat tight. My body still trembled from panic, from the echo of Varyon’s words promising treason and death to Aeloria.
Sera saw me shaking and sighed, her expression crumpling.
“For your child’s sake,” she whispered, barely audible even to my sharp ears. “Please. Be careful.”
I nodded.
I let Sera guide me back toward the omega quarters—steps heavy, lungs raw, every sound in the city too loud.
As we passed the high stone archway, I glanced back toward the manor where the Triune plotted my kingdom’s ruin.
The windows caught the sun like burning eyes staring.
I gripped my veil.
Someone had to stop them.
But how?
How does one fight an empire when already in its jaws?