Page 2 of Scourged

“We have to find her,” Sebastian said, voice low and thick. “And Andrian. Something has happened. Search the palace—now.”

Mariah’s Armaturesnapped into action at Sebastian’s order. Matheo raced for Ryenne’s wing to alert Kalen and Ryenne’s Armature. The others split into two pairs: Trefor and Quentin were to sweep the palace from the north, Drystan and Feran from the south, and they would meet in the center at the throne room.

Sebastian would meet up with whoever he found first, after he roused the rest of Mariah’s court.

He stood outside an unassuming brown door in the wing neighboring Mariah’s, desperately clawing for control of his racing heart and roiling stomach. With a shaky inhale, he twisted the unlocked handle and rushed inside.

He shot past the small kitchenette and quaint table he knew overflowed with clothes and jewelry, heading straight for the bed at the back of the room. Through the dim light filtering in from the open door, Sebastian could just make out Ciana’s sleeping shape, curly blonde hair strewn about her blush-colored sheets. Lunging to her side, Sebastian gripped her shoulders, gently squeezing and shaking, ignoring her soft skin beneath his calloused palms.

“Ciana,” he croaked, voice hoarse from his panic. He cleared it, trying again. “Ciana, wake up. Something has happened.”

Ciana twitched in his grip. “Go away,” she grumbled, shifting and burying her face deeper into her pillow.

Sebastian swore softly, giving her another shake. “Ciana,” he hissed, his panic leeching into his voice. He released her, reaching for the lamp beside her bed. He flipped the switch, washing the room with light before giving her another shake. “Wake up.”

Finally, she roused herself from sleep, brushing off his hand as she rolled onto her back. When she cracked open her eyes, meeting his stare, she shot up, nearly knocking her forehead against his.

“Sebastian? What in Enfara are you doing here?” Her voice was groggy, but her amber eyes were sharp.

Sebastian stood from her bed, backing away a step. He tried to keep his gaze locked on hers, to not let it drop to the scoop of her low-cut maroon nightdress. As if she could read his thoughts, Ciana reached for her silk sheets, pulling them up around her chin.

“Sebastian?” she repeated, and Sebastian swallowed, trying to control the agony of what still raced through him.

“Something has happened,” he finally whispered. “To Mariah. We can’t find her.”

Ciana froze. Her hands released her sheet, the silk falling back around her hips. Her brow crinkled for a moment as if processing Sebastian’s words while shaking off the clutches of sleep.

Her eyes widened. “Last night, she told me that Andrian was going to bond with her. That he’d finally agreed to it and was planning something special. She was to meet him in one of the courtyards at the starlight hour.”

Sebastian was tired of taking these blows.

Andrian. Agreeing to take the bond. Immediately after a difficult meeting with his father and Lord Shawth. One that had sent him back to the city, leaving Mariah alone and in need of him.

The starlight hour, that last hour just before dawn, had just passed. It was the last chance to catch the moon and stars before they disappeared beneath the light of the sun. A glance out of Ciana’s window, which opened to the Bay of Nria, revealed the first rays of dawn spreading tendrils across the sky.

Sebastian truly worried, at that moment, that he might be sick. His failure coursed through him with each pounding beat of his heart, shredding him apart from the inside out.

“Get dressed,” he told Ciana. “We need to wake Delaynie. And then … we must find that courtyard.”

Ciana didn’t hesitate; she jumped out of bed and sprinted into her bathroom in search of her closet. Sebastian again did his best to avert his stare as she ran past him in that short nightdress, full thighs on display. His eyes lingered on her closed bathroom door for a long moment, savoring the blankness in his mind, when a clatter and a curse on the other side shattered his reprieve. He shook his head, running a hand through his hair, before stepping back into the hall, fingers tracing anxious patterns around the worn leather pommel of his sword.

His whole life, he’d been perfect. The perfect son, the perfect Marked trainee, the perfect soldier. The perfect Armature.

The perfect Armature … who had failed to keep track of his queen.

The perfect Armature who’d let something happen to her as he’d slept peacefully in his bed.

Crippling self-loathing and novel self-hatred reared up like a wave around him.

The door behind him opened just before it could crash down and sweep him away. Ciana stepped into the hall, glancing at him with a tempest in her amber eyes as she stormed across the hall and pounded her fist on the door.

“Delaynie!” she barked. She didn’t wait for a response before bursting through the door, the other girl’s yelp of surprise ringing into the hall.

And once again, Sebastian was left alone with his consuming, debilitating failure.

He closed his eyes, drawing in a deep breath. No. He might’ve failed once, but letting these feelings crush him …it would only be failing again. Failing further. Something he simply couldn’t allow to happen.

Theywouldfind Mariah. There was simply no other option.

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