Page 98 of The Prince's Mage

She stepped forward, swallowing the thick lump that was forming in her throat. She nodded, unable to speak for fear of crying. He gestured for her wrists, and she held them out.

He grabbed her right one and started to unlock the limiters. When he moved to the left, she bit her lip, waiting to see what he would do the second the limiter was off and the band bearing his name was the only thing left.

But he did not touch it. Instead, he took the limiters and slid them into his pocket instead of letting them hit the floor. She opened her mouth but stopped herself before she spoke. She didn’t want to risk getting another frigid response.

But he still spotted it as he looked up and said, “I will explain later. Now, come.”

She followed him out of the cell, hating the way he wouldn’t look her in the eyes. He turned around, and hesitated for a moment before he used his left hand to grab her right wrist. Then he was pulling her along behind him as he set off down the hall.

As she stumbled after him, the only comfort she had was his cloak still wrapped around her shoulders and the fact that he hadn’t taken his name off her wrist. And hers was still on his.

For now.

* * *

Whatever Marcella needed to do to prove herself, she would. And for right now, she would be a soldier if that’s what he needed from her. She would follow his commands until they were out of the city.

She prayed this wasn’t some dream or hallucination to comfort her in her last moments. If so, it was a terrible one since Gavril seemed like he couldn’t stand the sight of her. This was hardly comforting.

But Gavril’s hand around her wrist felt so real. So she leaned into that.

They wound through the hallways of the palace. Gavril occasionally dropped her wrist to cast an illusion before taking her by the wrist or arm again and ushering her forward wordlessly.

Never looking directly at her.

But even when they weren’t under an illusion, the servants also running around in the middle of the night didn’t see them even as Gavril and Marcella went right past them. Marcella even saw some Inimicus mages rushing about. What were so many people doing up in the middle of the night?

She didn’t ask though. She just focused on keeping up with Gavril as he led her out of the maze of the palace. When they reached the main courtyard, the gates were closed and her breath caught in her throat.

It didn’t seem to faze Gavril, though, as he kept running. Marcella was forced to keep up with him despite the fact that they were running head first into a closed gate.

She opened her mouth to protest, but then just braced herself for impact as Gavril tightened his grip.

But she felt nothing as Gavril lunged right into the bars and pulled her through. She blinked and looked over her shoulder to see they had passed right through the bars.

Gavril kept them moving, muttering, “I taught Aimilia everything she knows about illusions.”

That made sense, why she hadn’t sensed Gavril’s vitae in the illusion. She just hiked up her peplos and hurried after him. They weren’t free yet. She recalled the path Gavril led her down through the city as they ran. It was the one he’d taken her to escape down after getting her off the table. The one she’d planned to take if she’d captured Nikias. She could see people about in the streets despite the late hour, rushing from house to house. The Solitus of the city lighting candles and opening doors in confusion until they heard the news spreading around.

Marcella caught just a little bit of it.

“The king—”

“—collapsed—”

“—isn’t waking—”

“—ten Runai healers—”

“—figured it out—”

And then they were at the edge of the city, at the wall Nikias had once stood at, blocking them from leaving, but this time no one stood in their way.

“What is happening? Where are we going?” she asked when he dropped her arm and rushed up to the wall.

“It is not later yet, soldier.” He still didn’t look at her.

He just found a section on that wall that appeared no different than the rest of it to her, but at his quick rune, vitae shimmered and there was a door. He opened it and ushered her into the dark tunnel before closing it behind them as she cast a light rune. It was a small cramped thing, but Gavril grabbed her free hand and led her to the right.

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