Sara Larson - Defy

“Yes.” I stared at the door that stood between me and possible discovery. Jaerom thought it was hilarious that I’d beaten his huge cousin in the fight to join the guard. Even though Deron had kept the captainship, Jaerom had called me Little Boss ever since. “I’d like to question her alone. Make sure no one comes or goes until I say so.”

“Going to lull her into security and then go for the throat, eh?” Jaerom shot me a wry grin as he flipped through his key chain.

“You know me too well,” I replied, watching as he selected the right key and pushed it into the lock. The dead bolt scraped back with the screech of metal on metal.

“She’s all yours. Enjoy.” Jaerom opened the door with a flourish and I marched past him.

I waited until the door shut behind me and his footsteps receded before I placed the torch in a bracket on the wall and turned to face Tanoori.

She was still tied to a chair, the gag as tight in her mouth as it had been an hour before, but the fight seemed to have gone out of her. She stared up at me, motionless.

“You are going to be tried and found guilty for the attempted murder of our prince.” I walked over to her, my hand resting on the hilt of my sword. “Do you know what the penalty is for would-be assassins?”

She glared up at me.

“Answer me!” I bellowed, pulling out my sword and leveling it at her throat in one swift movement.

She gasped, pulling back instinctively.

“Do you know what the penalty is?” I repeated, enunciating each word slowly.

Finally, Tanoori nodded, and tears filled her eyes. She spoke, but the word was garbled by her gag. I lifted my sword to her face and her eyes widened in terror. But instead of cutting her face or fulfilling her sentence prematurely as she surely feared I was about to do, I used the sharp tip to pull the gag out of her mouth.

“What was that?” I let the sword rest against her cheek.

“Death,” she whispered, visibly trembling.

“Yes, death.”

“What’s happened to you, Ale —”

“Why did you try to kill the prince?” I snarled at her, cutting her off.

“It’s the only way.”

I stared at Tanoori incredulously. How had a girl who was afraid of her own shadow when I’d last seen her found her way into such a position? I hadn’t known her well, but I had not pegged her for the assassin type. “The only way to what? Ensure your own death sentence?”

“I know you recognize me. We all wondered what happened to you after your parents died. Someone said they saw Marcel and another boy being taken by the army. That boy was you, wasn’t it?”

Hearing Marcel’s name felt like the red-hot tip of the farrier’s iron tunneling into my gut. I pressed the edge of my sword into her cheek, not hard enough to cut her, but enough to stop her from talking. “I have no idea what you’re talking about, and if you know what’s best for you, the only words out of your mouth from now on will be a confession and an explanation of why you tried to kill Prince Damian.” The fear in Tanoori’s eyes turned my stomach. Self-loathing filled my throat with acid. But my life depended on silencing her — and as much as I wished I could change things, Tanoori’s life was already forfeit. “Why did you do it?”

“His death would end the war, bring down King Hector. His death would mean a chance at a normal life for the rest of us.” A dark shadow crossed her face as Tanoori lifted her chin, scraping her cheek on the edge of my sword, showing the first bit of backbone that led me to believe she really could be the one who had raced toward the prince with a dagger.

“How could the death of the prince bring down the king? All it would mean is that an inferior relative would inherit the throne and his war.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to understand, since you’re apparently one of the prince’s right-hand men .” Tanoori’s eyes flashed in the dim light, her tone snide.

“What you’re talking about is treason. And for that alone, the punishment is death. Who convinced you that killing the prince would end the war?”

“Why, are you interested in finishing the job?” She grinned at me, growing bolder by the second.

“Silence!” I roared, pressing the sword against her throat again. The hot, rank air pressed in around me, slippery and stifling. The putrid smell of unwashed bodies and unemptied chamber pots was enough to make me gag.

Tanoori leaned forward, as far as her bindings allowed. “I watched you practice with your brother. If pretending to be a boy is what you had to do to save yourself, it obviously worked well.”

My hand trembled on my sword and I glanced wildly over my shoulder, terrified Jaerom could be eavesdropping.

“I won’t reveal your secret, even though you sentenced me to death. I knew the risk I took and you’re only doing your duty. It’s the way of the world. But if you wish to help change the course of events, if you wish to do something meaningful, all you have to do is follow the river. The answer lies in the Heart of the Rivers for those who want to find it.”

“I said, silence !” I yelled again, trying to cover up the unsteady beating of my heart, the pulse of fear and fascination that surged through my blood.

Tanoori sat back in her chair and closed her eyes. I shoved my sword into its scabbard and pulled the gag back up to her mouth. Just before I got it into place, her eyes opened again and she whispered, “Please make it fast.”

My fingers shook as I forced the gag back into place, but then I paused. “You won’t tell anyone who I am?” I breathed into her ear.

She shook her head once and I saw truth in her eyes.

I yanked the gag back out and threw it on the ground. “I’ll do what I can.”

“Thank you, Alexa,” Tanoori said softly.

I turned and grabbed the torch, leaving her in darkness, then rushed out of the cell as fast as I could. I had to get out of there. Away from the heat, the sweat, the smell, the fear that filled my mouth with the bitter taste of copper. The door slammed shut behind me and I shouted for Jaerom.

“All done?” he drawled as he sauntered down the corridor.

“Got what I could out of her.” I twisted my head, making my neck crack. “How do you stand this heat?”

“Get used to it eventually, I guess, just like all the others stuck down here in hell.” The lock ground back into place, sealing Tanoori in to await her fate, and me out to try and erase what she’d said to me.

“Right.” I strode back toward the stairs, desperate to get away, though I tried to look as nonchalant as possible, hoping Jaerom didn’t notice how flushed I was, how my pulse raced against the skin of my neck. I doused the torch in a bucket near his desk and set it back on the pile.

“See you soon, Little Boss.” Jaerom called after me as I rushed back up the stairs, away from the fear of discovery, from the tantalizing thought of finishing what Tanoori started — of finishing this war. How many times had I dreamed of that very thing? But after two years in the army and one in the prince’s guard, I didn’t think anyone had that power anymore.

It was impossible. She was deranged. Killing the prince would only infuriate King Hector even more. He’d already lost his elder son; Prince Damian was his sole direct heir. And Tanoori’s hint made no sense. Follow the river? The key could be found in the Heart of the Rivers? There were rivers all over the place. We lived in a jungle . No, I wouldn’t even consider it. My duty was to my prince, whether I liked him or not. Whether I believed in his father’s war or not.

Finally, I emerged onto the main floor of the palace. A window was open nearby, carrying the scent of the jungle. The smell of green things and flowers and soil and rain. Thick clouds, bruised the color of dark wine, rushed across the sky toward us, carrying lightning and rain. The growl of thunder was a distant threat, menacing but still soft.