Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,60

by the winds that howled outside the palace. It looked like smoke from an unseen fire, undulating back and forth, lifting up into the sky, only to be thrust back down to the ground.

When the door opened once more, I fleetingly thought of the plate I’d hidden under the bed, shoved up in the frame, beneath the straw mattress. I hoped no one would discover it and tell the king.

But when Akio walked back into the room, his mouth set in a grim line, my fears about the plate vanished, my mind going to the demand I’d made last night instead.

“You will follow me.” Akio bent down and unlocked my chain, and then led me from the room. The robed guards fell in to their usual place, each holding one of my arms. The carpet beneath my bare feet was unbelievably soft and thick. As we marched down the hallway to the stairs, and then in the opposite direction of the great hall, we passed sculptures of intertwined figures made of a beautiful, shining black stone, and gold statues of men in armor, wielding curved swords. Paintings bigger than me hung from the walls; landscapes and animals and more.

So much luxury, so much opulence. But the wealth was built on a pyre of blood and suffering. It made me sick.

When Akio opened a door and led me out into the courtyard we’d crossed days ago, sudden hope sprang into my chest. Could he possibly be fulfilling my request — was I being taken to see Rylan and Eljin?

The sand beneath my feet hadn’t grown hot yet. The surface was warming to the sun, but my toes sank past the top layer with each step to the cold that still hid below. The wind whipped the fine grains of grit into our eyes, but when I lifted my hand to block it, the sorcerer at my side jerked my arm back down. I had to squint instead, trying to blink the sand out.

We walked back through the same door we’d exited when I’d been brought to see the king the first time, and within a few minutes, we were descending into the darkness of the dungeons. Desperation pulsed through me as we stepped into the hallway lined with locked doors. At the end, the door we’d come through from the tunnels below faced us, still guarded by two robed men. But rather than heading toward them, we turned down another hallway and then stopped in front of a door that looked like the rest of the doors we’d already passed.

“You are allowed to look in from here and ascertain the health of both men. You will be given one minute to do so with each. Then we will go directly back to The Summoner to begin your sacrifice,” Akio instructed me. “I am to warn you that any attempt at escape or any other indication that you are breaking your word will end in their demise.”

I swallowed past the knot of fear in my throat. “I understand.”

He nodded at the guard who stood next to the door.

Akio said something in Dansiian, and the guard reached for a ring that hung from his waistband and flipped to the correct key, then inserted it into the door.

When it swung open, I stepped forward, my lungs tightening so that I could barely breathe.

“Alexa?” Eljin stood up from the single cot in the room, his scarred mouth twisting into something between a smile and a grimace. “What are you doing here?” He looked me over, his eyes lingering on the shackles on my wrists.

“Are you completely well?” I asked, widening my eyes slightly, conscious that my time was ticking down.

He gave me a piercing look. “I’m not as healthy as I’d like to be, which is to be expected when they slip bloodroot into a sorcerer’s food. But other than that, I am fine, I suppose.”

Bloodroot. They were poisoning him — taking away his ability to use his sorcery. Everything inside of me sank, as though I’d swallowed a stone.

“As you can see, he is in perfect health,” Akio said.

“Not perfect,” I disagreed. “He’s being poisoned.”

“He has no need to use his abilities any longer. In all aspects that matter, he is healthy,” Akio argued, motioning for the guard to pull the door shut. “Your time is up.”

Be ready, I mouthed to him, and Eljin nodded infinitesimally, his eyes flashing with confusion and alarm.

The door shut, and when the lock clicked again, it was as