Chapter 117 -Avianna-

Chapter 117 -Avianna-
\-Avianna-

By midday, I have discovered that there are few things more irritating than voluntarily confining yourself to your own bedroom.

Being ordered to remain here would have been one thing. I could have argued with an order. I could have pointed out that I am perfectly capable of walking through my own palace without spontaneously dying, and then ignored whichever unfortunate person had been foolish enough to disagree with me.

Unfortunately, Caylix hadn't ordered me to do anything.

He'd asked.

Then he'd stood there with his hands on either side of my face, worry written across every line of his expression, and made me promise that until he returned from Veylan, I would stay within the protected areas of the palace.

I had promised.

Which was why I was currently standing at my bedroom window for what had to be the hundredth time, glaring down at the city as though the view itself were responsible for my imprisonment.

I'm still here, I send through the tether.

Warm amusement immediately brushes against me.

I didn't ask.

You were thinking about it.

I was thinking that you've been suspiciously quiet.

I smile to myself.

Perhaps I've matured.

His answering laugh rolls through the tether.

Now I'm worried.

I am still smiling when movement near the outer training grounds catches my attention. My smile disappears. Someone is standing beyond the far wall.

A man.

Dark hair. Broad shoulders. Even from this distance, something about him is familiar enough that my stomach tightens. I lean closer, as if the few inches will make a difference in my vision. 

The man turns.

…It’s Rhydon.

My heart slams once against my ribs. Then a group of soldiers crosses between us. By the time they pass, he is gone.

I remain frozen at the window. That is the third time today.

The first had been shortly after lunch, when I'd caught what I could have sworn was Elise's face among the people moving through the lower courtyard. The second had been Rhydon near the eastern gates. Both times, guards had searched and both times, they'd found nothing.

And now this.

Perhaps Elise did more damage inside my mind than I realized. The possibility unsettles me more than I care to admit. I know what I saw in the vision wasn't real. I know Caylix remembers me. I can feel him through the tether even now, a quiet presence beneath everything else.

But knowing something isn't real and convincing your mind to stop looking for it are apparently two very different things.

I reach for the bell beside my door.

Then stop.

I've already sent guards searching twice.

If I tell Captain Hale I have seen Rhydon lurking near the training fields again, he will undoubtedly dispatch another twenty men, and I am beginning to suspect the entire palace thinks I've lost my mind.

Not that any of them have said so, they're far too respectful for that. Still, perhaps I should find Charlotte. If anyone can spend an hour discussing absolutely nothing until my mind stops inventing witches and traitorous princes outside my window, it is my sister.

I leave my chambers and head down the corridor. I am still inside the palace, the promise remains intact.

Mostly.

Charlotte's chambers are two floors below mine, and when I reach them, the guard outside immediately straightens.

"Your Highness."

"Is my sister inside?"

His hesitation answers before he does.

"I believe so."

"You believe so?"

"Lady Charlotte asked not to be disturbed."

That sounds like Charlotte. I knock.

"Charlotte?"

Nothing so I knock again.

"If you're sleeping, I'm coming in anyway."

Still nothing. I open the door.

"Charlotte?"

Her room is empty.

At first, nothing seems particularly unusual. The curtains are open, sunlight spilling across the rug. Several dresses have been abandoned across the bed, which is less evidence of a hurried departure and more evidence that Charlotte has existed in the room at some point today.

Then I notice the wardrobe.

Open.

And the empty hook beside it. Her crimson cloak is gone. A prickle of unease moves along the back of my neck. I step farther inside.

"Charlotte?"

Ridiculous. I can see the entire room. I cross toward her dressing table, and that's when I see the folded piece of parchment sitting directly in front of the mirror, with Charlotte’s name written across the top. 

I recognize the handwriting and my stomach drops.

"No."

I snatch it from the table and unfold it.

Charlotte,

Everything has changed.

I am King of Veylan now, and for the first time, I am free to choose what happens next.

I close my eyes.

"Oh, Charlotte."

I already know where this is going but I keep reading.

I know what I said to you. I know how we left things between us. There were things happening then that you did not understand, and things I could not explain.

Of course. Naturally. Nothing seduces a woman quite like I behaved terribly, but only because of mysterious circumstances I couldn't possibly tell you about. Apparently becoming King had not made Rhydon any less insufferable.

I need a Queen beside me and I want it to be you.

I stare at the words. There was a time when Charlotte would have traded half her wardrobe and possibly one of my kidneys to receive this letter. Unfortunately, Rhydon had waited until after becoming a murderous, treasonous, witch-assisted villain to discover romance. Surely, Charlotte cannot fall for this.

I read the final lines.

Meet me at the eastern watchtower at sunset and come alone.

Rhydon.

My gaze snaps toward the window. The eastern watchtower, outside the palace walls, outside the protections Agameus and the High Priestess strengthened after Elise and Rhydon first escaped.

And Charlotte's cloak is missing.

"You absolute idiot."

I am moving before I finish the sentence. Not toward the watchtower, but toward my father's study.

I barely make it halfway down the corridor before I feel Caylix's attention sharpen through the tether.

Avi.

I keep walking.

Everything is fine.

Silence. Then…

You only say that when everything is very much not fine.

Fair.

I push open the doors to Father's study without knocking. Alexander, Erik and Agameus are gathered around the table. All three look up.

Father takes one look at my face and rises.

"What happened?"

I place the letter on the table.

"Rhydon and I think Elise are definitely here."

Erik reaches it first. Father moves beside him while Agameus looks at me.

"I thought I was imagining it. I've caught glimpses of them all day, but every time we searched, there was nothing there."

I gesture toward the letter.

"I wasn't imagining it."

Father reads quickly and his expression hardens.

"Where is Charlotte?"

"Gone."

"How long?"

"I don't know."

Erik finishes reading.

"This is a trap."

Father looks at me.

"You aren't going."

"I know it's a trap."

"Then we agree."

"I didn't say I wasn't going."

His expression becomes the one he usually reserves for particularly irritating council members.

"Avianna."

"Father, they're already in Caelthar."

"Which is precisely why you are staying inside this palace."