will complete the sentence for Halcyon’s crimes.”
The archon furrowed his brow, as if he had to weigh the new arrangement. But Evadne already knew it would be done.
“So be it,” the archon announced. “Halcyon, your younger sister will take five years of your sentence by serving the house of Lord Straton. Both of you will begin your sentences at dawn on the morrow. Halcyon, you will be transported to the common quarry, and Evadne, you will travel to Mithra with Lord Straton and his family.”
The guards unchained Halcyon from the stand to escort her back to her cell. Evadne stared at her sister, hungry to memorize everything about her before she was dragged away into the shadows.
And Halcyon, who Evadne had never seen cry, who had only ever been strong and courageous before her, covered her face with her hands and bitterly wept.
IX
Evadne
Evadne lay on her pallet that night, moonlight pouring in from the open window. The inn was quiet; Gregor and Phaedra had finally escaped into dreams after hours of tossing and turning. Evadne listened to her father’s gentle snores, her mind consumed with thoughts of tomorrow, when she was to join Straton and his household. When her life would change.
What have I done?
She was exhausted, and it made her recklessness feel even greater. She was a fool to believe she was capable of exposing a man as powerful as Straton, to believe she could ease a fraction of Halcyon’s suffering—and all she wanted was to sleep, to forget about the horror of the day.
She heard a rustle of wings.
Evadne glanced to the window, where a small bird was perched on the sill. It looked like a nightingale, its cream and tawny feathers gilded in starlight.
She held her breath as she watched the bird flutter from the window to the foot of her pallet. It chirped, hopping closer to her. Evadne sat forward and extended her hand in wonder as the bird perched on her finger. It softly trilled, as if it was trying to say something to her. But before Evadne could whisper to it, the bird flew back to the sill and waited.
She rose, following the nightingale to the window.
The bird took flight. She watched as it swooped down to the street, to a boy who stood in the moonlight, his hand outstretched. The nightingale rested on his finger, and Evadne felt her heart stir, awed until she recognized him. Straton’s son, Xander’s younger brother. The mage.
He continued to stand in the street, waiting. For her, Evadne knew.
She thought about ignoring him, but her curiosity bloomed. What did he want? Why had he come to her in the dead of night when he was bound to see her in the morning?
Her family’s room was on the second floor of the inn. Evadne leaned out the window to see if it was possible for her to climb her way down. The mage caught her attention, pointing to the front door of the inn.
She found Halcyon’s sheathed kopis and donned her sandals. Her parents continued to slumber, oblivious as she stole across the floor.
The door opened soundlessly. Evadne entered the corridor, edging along the wall to find the stairs. The dining hall was empty, and the main door was unbolted. It was slightly terrifying, she thought as she exited the inn. How effortlessly the mage had charmed a bird and multiple doors. And she could not help but wonder if he was going to harm her.
She stopped on the threshold and stared across the distance at him.
He continued to stand in the middle of the deserted street, the nightingale perched on his hand.
Evadne began to close the space between them. She remembered Macarius’s trickery, that hollow emptiness in her stomach, and she stopped a full arm’s length away from Straton’s son, her wariness evident.
“I intend no harm to you, Evadne,” he said, his voice a deep timbre that made him sound far older than he was. He looked as if he could only be a year or two her senior. “I have come tonight out of honor for Halcyon. I spoke with your sister a few hours ago, and she asked to see you. I can sneak you into her cell, but you will have to trust me.”
Evadne thought she had misheard him. “What?”
The mage whispered to the nightingale, and the bird took flight, vanishing into the shadows.
“We do not have much time,” he said. “I am going to cast an enchantment that will render me unseen. Anything that