Page 24 of A Spell of Bones and Madness
Katrin was fairly certain the lupine girl just liked the thrill and the grandeur of creating such a beast. She was close to agreeing with Chloe too. King Athanas always liked to be fawned over and praised, and if King Edmund was anything like him, the idea would stick. That is—if they could be convincing enough.
Chloe would need to pretend to be an acolyte of Hades, dragging this monstrosity in from an unmarked ship in the harbor. She would be accompanied by the soldiers they’d picked up from the safe house in Xanthia, but it was still dangerous. No one had seen the princess before, but her features were stark and similar to her mother’s. Everything except the hair. That was their best shot. The fact that the priestesses who worshiped the Olympi always had white and silver hair. They could only hope the crystalized blue eyes would not give her away.
“We have to try it. It might be our only opportunity to get everyone into the castle.” Chloe stared Farah down, her pupils dilating in a peculiar manner.
The princess turned her head away, avoiding eye contact with Chloe. “I will not risk…” Farah paused, clenching her jaw. “I will not risk my own life for your idiocy.”
Chloe’s lip twitched up, a low growl reverberating in her throat.
“Down, little wolf,” the southern princess scoffed.
“Alright, I’ve had enough of this.” Leighton pushed back his chair. “Alexander is in a dungeon somewhere and our best options are to build an absurd wooden structure to sneak us all in or just sneak past some guards and hope for the best. I don’t accept either of those. We have to think smarter, these men have strange powers. For the gods’ sake, they could already know we are near.”
The nauarch had been rather snippy lately. He mostly sat alone or bickered with Kristos and Cal. It wasn’t often he joined them for meals anymore. Katrin thought he’d hated her when she first came back aboard the ship. Hated that she was there while his friend—his brother, really—sat locked in some dungeon. Then he’d told her of the unending amount of guilt he felt. He knew Ander would have wanted them safe, but he couldn’t get past the fact that he’d left him behind. The crew never left the people they loved behind. It seemed it was eating away at him again, especially when they were this close to stepping on the shores of Alentus, this close to rescuing Ander, or dying as they tried.
She could only tell Leighton he was not alone in his guilt.
It was there, the beast in her gut.
Ever present.
Ever ruinous.
Descending her toward some maddening spiral. One she could only avoid by focusing on the task at hand. There had to be another way in. One where they could guarantee they snuck past the Sparantis unnoticed, but also distract the kings enough they would not sense them coming—if they could do that.
“Why couldn’t Nikolaos just aervade us?” Leighton asked, tapping his fingers on the table. “He was able to get into the castle before on the day of the Acknowledgement.”
“That was different. My father was being a pretentious ass then, but he wasn’t actually altering a course the Fates created. No Grechi is allowed to.” Chloe slumped in her chair, crossing her arms.
“I always wondered why my parents never came for me,” Katrin whispered. “But Ander, he did. How?”
“He wasn’t of age. And was cursed for it regardless.” Chloe narrowed her eyes. “My brother’s stupidity is unending. Even if it is for the right reasons.”
“Ok, so we can’t aervade. Wearen’thiding inside some wooden creature, and we can’t risk trusting the old passageways are unguarded. Katrin, I think you need to pull rank here and make a decision. We don’t have much time until we reach the shores.”
What would Ander do? What would her father do to rescue her mother? It was true, the large wooden hydra was too dangerous, but a version of the plan? That might work. She hated to ask Ander’s sister to risk herself, to walk into a place more perilous than Aidesian, but there was no other way.
“Chloe, are you sure you are comfortable walking through the gates ofAlentus unarmed?” Katrin asked.
“I am never unarmed.” Chloe’s icy blue eyes dilated, her canines flashing in a toothy grin.
Daunting clouds shifted across the moon, its lunar glow illuminating the gate of Alentus. They had dropped anchor on the southern coast of the isle, where the steep, jagged cliffs were nothing compared to the maze of rocky shore below. It was dangerous to bring a ship that close, but with Katrin’s knowledge of the caves below and Leighton’s navigation in similar water surrounding Skiatha, it was as good a choice as any.
Cal and Kristos would man the ship with a few soldiers. If something were to happen—if any of them were to die—the two men both possessed the skill to sailThe Nostoshome. Someone needed to get back to Nexos to deliver the news, to aid Ember with whatever she found searching in Aidesian.
Chloe entered the gates when the sun peaked, dressed in a flowing black cloak and lace gown of the acolytes of Hades. The men from Skiatha were garbed in the prepared ebony war leathers.
Apparently, Cal had informed the men of his plan long before Katrin had ever agreed to it. A lone ruby hung from Chloe’s neck, dangling from a thick gold choker, much like the one Katrin had seen on Ileana. She was followed by six of the crew, their brands marked by magic on their forearms, easy to display under the robes they wore in kind, although careful each piece of fabric hid the Skiathan tattoo the survivors bore.
They pulled a wooden hydra covered in gold foil atop a wheeled cart. The object Cal had crafted from thin air, defying the laws of the Grechi. The old man was right, these were times of war, consequences would arise no matter if the gods chose to fight.
Now all there was to do was wait. Wait for the flicker of light in the southern tower, where Katrin’s chambers were—the all clear to move up the decaying tunnel that led from the edge of the woods. A tunnel only she knew about. She and Kohl, if he remembered catching her that day. But he wouldn’t expect this. At least, Katrin hoped not. Would she see him? Catch him in the halls or the dungeons? Was he the one that tortured Ander—for what he meant to her, she to him? Would Kohl try to kill them if given the chance? Kill his sister?
Mere months ago, Katrin would have said no. That there was no possible way Kohl would betray her, harm her. But that was before.
Men and women danced in the streets. King Athanas had proved to be as pompous as they assumed. Welcoming the acolyte’s gift—Hades’ gift—to them. A symbol that he and King Edmund were close to raising the fallen god. Close to achieving unending power and grace of one of the most feared Olympi.
As the night wore on, the people of Alentus trickled back to their homes, singing lores of old, kissing one another, feverishly laughing and snoring about until the streets were clear. All citizens of the isle safely tucked in bed. Some of the guards were asleep at their posts, heads knocked against one another. Some snuck out the gates and made their way to the brothels in the port market. How the Spartanis had fallen.
