Page 10 of The Scarlet Star

“If you’ll excuse me, I have a terrible situation to escape from.” The girl bid him farewell as shefinallychose which direction to go in and began heading that way.

“Wait,” he said.

She stopped, turning back to him one last time as he rose from the bench. Xerxes folded his arms and studied her.

Drag her back to the palace to be punished?

Drag her back to the palace to be executed?

Drag her back to the palace and force her to finish the Heartstealer courtship like he was being forced to?

Have the Folke kill her on the spot? It would be nice to be done with it.

There were too many options. And though he was a young man who often craved the power he’d lost forever, there were times such as this he wished someone would just tell him what to do so he didn’t have to think so hard.

4

RYN

The young landscaper’s face turned silver in a moonbeam, making his features clear and sharp. Ryn wondered if her own features were so obvious. She’d made the mistake of stepping out of the shadows to ask this lazy servant for help, and now he’d seen her. Her best chance was to run, but with the garden being so tall and the paths so twisted, she was sure she’d get lost and sprint right into a Folke.

She meant to leave this servant behind, but the moment she began heading further down the garden path, he spoke.

“Wait.”

It was spoken like a command, and even though a mere landscaper shouldn’t have influenced what she did, the tone made Ryn go still.

When she looked back, she found him standing with his arms folded. It was the second time she noticed his broad shoulders and the muscles in his arms. And though he wore no Folke armour, she wondered if maybe he was a Folke guard off duty since he was built like one. A bead of fear dropped through her at the thought, especially when he walked after her—She staggered back. He stopped a few inches away, demonstrating his height and swallowing her in his shadow. He didn’t try to grab her. Yet.

“You know that if the King discovers this betrayal, you’ll be killed.” He said it like a question. There was a slight tug at the corner of his mouth, almost too subtle to see in the night. It made Ryn’s insides turn.

Ryn swallowed. “I don’t fear death,” she said.

The amusement left his expression. “No?”

“Death is a gateway to the ones we lost before us,” Ryn told him. “I welcome it.”

Several seconds went by of him saying nothing, and Ryn wondered if he wasn’t fully right in his mind. She stole a look at his unkempt garments again, at his messy hair. He was too handsome to be a village idiot, but he also seemed to have trouble keeping himself together—

“The wall is right through these trees,” he said, nodding toward a cluster of tall, bushy lilacs.

Ryn glanced at the bush, calculating the turns of her new path. “Thank you,” she said. She didn’t wait to hear what the landscaper might say next; she’d never see him again anyway. She pushed into the lilacs, the branches scraping across herarms and cheeks. A huff of triumph escaped her when she caught a glimpse of the white stone wall on the other side. She was so close; she could nearly taste the freedom of the Mother City. She could already imagine what she’d say to Kai when she surprised him.

She pressed her hands flat against the cold wall in gratitude when she reached it. The white stone was formed into tightly stacked bricks half her height, leaving almost no ledges to climb on. She ran her fingers along the one and only dent in the stone, chewing on her lip. It wouldn’t be easy, but she could find a way over if—

She nearly yelped when two hands came around her waist. Ryn was hoisted off her feet, her toes leaving the garden, the top of the wall coming closer. She strained to reach it, her fingers curling over the edge. The hands released her waist and she hung there, looking down to find the landscaper taking hold of her ankles next. With one shove, he pushed her up and she climbed onto the wall, straddling the barrier with one leg on either side, a song of victory rising in her heart. From this height, she could see nearly the whole garden below where the landscaper folded his arms again, watching her curiously. She could also see the Navy Road on the other side—her road to escape.

She meant to thank the landscaper once more, but the thrill of her success took over. She turned back to the palace and blew it a sarcastic kiss goodbye instead. “Goodbye, Maidens!” she said in a loud whisper. “Goodbye, Folke!” And last, but not least, “Goodbye, you ugly, heartless King!”

The landscaper’s face changed.

Ryn shot him a smile and waved. She’d never forget his kindness.

With that, she flung her leg out of the garden and toward the Mother City. She would have kicked the dust off her boots on herway out if she was wearing any. She leapt down, landing silently so she wouldn’t alert the Folke guards around the wall, and she scampered down the Navy Road.

The Priesthood Temple was vaster than Ryn expected, reaching the clouds in height and wide enough to host a small village inside. She studied the burn marks up the pale walls, wondering who would attack such a beautiful, sacred temple. Other dark stains like filthy water or animal blood were splattered against it too. Ryn’s heart sank as she imagined Kai being splashed with filth as he stepped out of this temple. She knew he never wore his priestly robe on his walk home for safety reasons, that he’d been careful to not let their neighbours know his occupation, but she hadn’t realized that even the Priesthood Temple of the Adriel God had suffered.

The front entrance was sealed shut, and everything was quiet and dark in the yard. Ryn knocked against the door a few times, eyeing the buildings nearby. No one answered, so she ventured around the cool grass in her bare feet until she spotted a ground-level window. She dropped to a knee and pushed against the glass, but it didn’t budge.

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