Promising Light (48 page)

“He’s searching Haltar with the
other Protectors,” Kyler said, shaking his head. “And, like the
prince said, he’s really not happy.”

“What if you were to tell him I
wanted to help?” Grace asked.

“He’d think they were brainwashing
you,” Kyler said. “He really hates them. I think an Avialie killed
his brother before we were even born.”

“That’s not the only reason your
father is a Protector,” William interjected. “It’s not about
revenge.”

“What is it about, then?” Grace
asked, rolling her eyes.

“At the moment, it’s about keeping
you safe,” William said. He leaned forward and touched her knee.
She looked down at his clean hand and royal ring on the dress she’d
been wearing since they left for Vashti. She suddenly wondered how
she looked to them with her hair down and her peasant
dress.

Kyler said quietly, “We’re only
worried about you, Grace.”

“Bringing me back to the
Protectors is just as unsafe as leaving me with the Avialies,”
Grace told him. She tried to ignore William, but it was hard with
his gaze steady on her. “If they don’t kill me, they’ll tear apart
my life making sure I don’t run away again.”

“They’re not going to kill you,”
Kyler said as he ran a hand through his hair again. She wondered if
he really believed that, or if he was trying to convince
himself.

“Then they’ll kill Dar! They’ll
force me to marry him—” Grace motioned to William.

“Being the queen would be so
horrible?” William asked, withdrawing his hand from her
knee.

“Unless I chose it, yes.” Grace
swallowed, looking at William. “William, perhaps, if you would have
me, I would marry you willingly. If you weren’t involved with the
Protectors. They’re killing innocent people because of a few
Jolenian Avialies. They shouldn’t be attacking the entire
bloodline!”

William clenched one of his hands
into a fist. “They tried the patience of the Protectors,
and—”

“And so they attack every
Avialie?” Grace wiggled her wrists around, but the rope only
chaffed her skin, refusing to loosen. “You don’t know what truly
happened then, just as I don’t. You’ve only heard about it from the
Protectors, and I from the Avialies.”

William’s jaw tightened. “I trust
the judgment of my father.” He leaned back, but his body was still
tense. “You should not interrupt me.”

“Please let me go. You both know
this isn’t right. Just because the Protectors have more power, they
deserve to say how everyone lives? They deserve to keep people from
making children?”

William rubbed his eyes. “Please be
quiet.”

Grace glared at him, then turned to
stare out the window. She recognized the buildings they passed;
they were in the middle of the city. “I won’t forgive either of you
if they kill Dar or Matilda,” she said quietly.

“Yes, that makes sense, even
though you’re the one who put them in this situation.” William
glared at her. “Dar was ready to leave, wasn’t he? He made that
deal to never see you again—”

“And yet Tisha and Kilar were
still talking about killing him!” Grace said, raising her voice.
She had never yelled at him before, but the desperation of the
situation was getting to her, and she could imagine herself kicking
him right in the stomach before running off to help Dar and the
others.

“He never should have touched you
in the first place!” William yelled. He leaned forward, grabbing
Grace’s dress. He pulled her toward him by his grip on
her.

Kyler sat up, his eyes wide. “What
are you doing?”

“Did you ever sleep with him? Tell
me the truth!”

“Of course I didn’t,” Grace said
through clenched teeth.

“Not even over the last week,
while you were traipsing across Haltar with him?”

“Let go of her,” Kyler said, his
voice firm. “Adrian told us they weren’t sleeping
together.”

William ignored him, staring at
Grace. “For once, don’t lie to me.”

“I didn’t.” Grace wrenched away
from him. “But what makes you think I’d tell you if I
did?”

William clenched and unclenched his
hands into fists. “I suppose some sense of respect. We were
courting for a short while. Technically, we still are.”

Grace laughed, and William glared
at her. “You know what I think?” she said. “I think the only reason
you hate the Avialies is because they have the one thing you can’t
have.”

William’s top lip curled in
disgust, and he sat back slowly, staring at her.

Suddenly, the carriage stopped.
William groaned in anger and stepped out of the
carriage.

“Kyler, please let me go,” Grace
said, watching William’s back retreat from them. “I want to help. I
know it’s dangerous, but I think we could actually lift the
curse.”

Kyler leaned out of the door, his
gaze toward the front of the royal party. He paused, meeting her
eyes. “Grace… I can’t do that.”

“I want to help the Avialies,” she
repeated, “and I… I can’t let the Protectors control my life when I
go back. They talked about giving me love potions and they’re going
to kill Dar.” At the last phrase, she allowed the desperation to
reach her voice. “I do care about him, I do. I don’t want anything
to happen to him.”

“But if I let you go and you join
them again, then the Protectors will chase you. They will have a
reason to kill you.” He stared at her with worried brown eyes. “At
least if you come, you’ll be alive.”

“I can’t live like that,” Grace
said, fighting with her ropes. “Please, you know Ellengreens. We’re
stubborn and independent, and I can’t live in fear.”

Kyler paused, wringing his hands
together. “Okay. Okay.” He looked out of the carriage again. “Wait,
they’re—oh, god, something’s going on up there.”

“What?” she asked, getting to her
feet. She stumbled and fell into him. “For goodness’ sake, Kyler,
untie me!”

“Turn around.”

She did so, and he untied the rope.
He turned her around and grabbed her shoulders. “Promise me you’ll
be careful.”

“I promise.”

He stared at her, opening his
mouth, then closing it. He hugged her tightly, then jumped onto the
ground and drew his sword. “Stay here.” He winked at her and ran
toward the front of the party.

* * *

Chapter
Twenty-Eight

Grace looked outside of the
carriages. Shouts came from the front, where Kyler had gone. She
glanced around, then jumped out of the carriage. They were on the
outskirts of town already. Near the tavern where they talked to the
Boren who yelled at Dar.

There were four carriages, and
Grace recognized the one they’d dragged Dar and Matilda into. She
ran to the carriage, but found it empty.

Someone grabbed her from behind.
She let out a shriek, spinning around. It was William. He held his
sword in one hand. “How did you get out?” he demanded.

She jutted her chin out.
“Magic.”

His eyes darkened, and he stepped
closer. She tried to step away, but backed into the carriage. She
swallowed, fighting back memories of Adrian shoving her onto the
bed, hitting her across the face, trying to force her skirt
up.

“You said you would marry me if I
wasn’t involved with the Protectors,” William said quietly. “I
don’t think that’s necessary. I can protect you from
them.”

“I thought you said you didn’t
have much control over them.” Grace thought back to the
conversation they had when Dar first brought her back to
William.

“My father is the king, and I will
be king someday.” He lowered his voice. “I could hurt them if I had
to.”

“Why are you telling me this?” She
looked to the front of the carriages, where she saw a flurry of
people fighting. She thought she heard Sierra’s voice. She tried to
wiggle her arm away from WIlliam, but his fingers dug into her arm
painfully.

“The Protectors aren’t going to
lose their fear or hatred of the Avialies. If you lift the curse,
it will only make them angrier. You could live the rest of your
life hiding with them—” He motioned to the front with disdain. “—or
you can live in safety and security with me. I’d make sure the
Protectors left you alone.”

Grace didn’t say anything in
response. She was afraid, of course, of what would happen after
they lifted the curse, if they ever would. But could she go back to
William after everything that had happened between them? After
everything that had happened between her and Dar?

“I’ve been interested in you for
months,” William said. His grip loosened on her arm. “I don’t want
you only because I can’t have you.”

“I didn’t say that,” she said
quietly. “I said you hated the Avialies because they had me and you
didn’t.”

“I still could.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Is that a
threat?”

William winced. “No. I meant if you
wanted me.”

She stared at him, shaking her
head. She opened her mouth to speak, but someone suddenly grabbed
William from behind. His eyes widened, and he fought violently as
two men pinned him to the ground. He began to yell, but one of the
men covered his mouth.

Grace knew this was her chance to
escape, but she stared in horror. “What are you doing?”

Sierra came out from behind the men
and unscrewed a flask of potion.

The man lifted his hand off of his
mouth and she poured the potion down his throat. William tried to
spit it out, but they covered his mouth again. He thrashed against
them, choking.

“What is that?” Grace demanded.
“What did you give him?”

His eyes rolled back in his head,
and his actions slowed. He finally fell still.

“What did you do?” she asked, her
voice hitching.

“Don’t worry, it’s just a sleep
syrup!” Sierra said. “Let’s get out of here!”

One of the men took Grace’s arm,
and she shied away from him.

“Grace, it’s me, Dar.” He lowered
his voice. “You had a chocolate bar at the masquerade ball. You
thought they gave us aphrodisiacs in Belisha?” He tugged on her
arm, leading her toward the town.

She glanced down at William’s still
form, but her feet were already moving to follow Dar to the
buildings on the side of the road. They’d lost Sierra and the other
man, but Dar led her through the streets. There were shouts behind
them. Grace glanced over her shoulder, but they were far away
enough that she couldn’t see the carriages anymore.

“Where are we going?” she
asked.

“I’m not sure.” He stopped and
spun around. “I think I’m lost. Wait! That’s the tavern where that
drunk bastard—come on, I think I know the way from
here.”

“Are we going back to
Di’s?”

“No, we’re meeting at
George’s.”

“What? Why?”

Dar pulled her into an alley. He
looked out at the street for a moment, then pulled her deeper into
the alley. A few rats fled from the garbage, making her shriek. She
grabbed Dar’s arm. He chuckled.

Her grip tightened on his arm. “Was
it really just a sleep syrup?”

His smile faded, and he studied her
face. “Yes, it was.”

She swallowed. “Okay. Why are we
going to George’s?”

“Sierra and Evan said to meet
there if we got split up.”

“And you’re sure it was
them?”

He nodded. “I’m sure.” He pulled
her along. “Come on, we should hurry.”

As they grew closer to the middle
of town, Dar tore a shirt off of a clothesline and pulled her into
another alley. He held the shirt up. “Can you make a scarf out of
this to cover your hair?”

It wasn’t easy, but she managed to
tie her hair back. “Does it look stupid?”

“No, it looks fine.”

“If someone’s going to notice
it—”

Shouts rose up in the street next
to them. Grace recognized Arlan’s voice. Her heart slammed against
her chest. Dar pulled her to the other side of the alley. They
broke out running on the new street, their hands clasped. They ran
through the city silently. When they reached George’s house, things
were quiet, the same as it looked when they were here the day
before.

Dar pulled her into a cluster of
trees and bushes fifty feet away. They crouched between a tree and
a rose bush, branches tearing at her dress. They could see a
glimpse of George’s cottage from where they sat with their backs
against the tree. Dar changed into his true form as she tried to
catch her breath.

“Who broke you out of your
carriage?” she asked.

“Sierra. She and Evan brought Aron
police, but something happened. I’m not sure what, but they started
arguing. Matilda and Lee went to get our things, and the rest of us
went to find you.” He wiped sweat from his brow and met her eyes.
“It looked like he was going to hurt you.”

She swallowed, glancing away from
him. “He wasn’t.”