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“Razak’s chambers, which one belongs to him?” I demanded.
“That’s not your business.”
“It is, as a Prince of… War. Tell me. I’ll explain later.”
“Please.” Noemi appeared, calm and in her Justice blues. “This is important.”
The guard frowned at her, then at me. He didn’t trust me, but any representative of Justice was always trustworthy. “This way.”
This was too slow. How long had it been? What if Lark was already dead and I’d left him there, alone, in his final moments?
We jogged down the corridor, a small flight of steps, and then through a door the guard opened. “Razak and his brother are staying here.”
I swept in, spotted the purple and black clothes strewn from a traveling case flung open on the bed, and dashed over. “Search those,” I told Noemi, pointing at the smaller bags on the floor.
I couldn’t tell if the case was Lark’s or Razak’s. Didn’t matter. No time.
A door between an adjacent room had been wedged open. “The other room,” I snapped at the guard. “We’re looking for a vial of liquid. Search everywhere. Hurry.” He did as I told.
I flipped the case, shook out its contents onto the bed, and tore through the shirts, and gloves, and trousers, and… Mixed in with all the clothes lay a thick leather collar, but Razak had not brought an animal with him. I picked it up. The leather was soft, creased, well-worn. Noemi had mentioned bruises on Lark’s neck, as though he’d been choked. I flung the collar away and stumbled against the bedpost. “By Dallin.” My head spun, the room twirling with it. The collar was Lark’s, Razak forced him to wear it. The thought was so awful I used my hands to squeeze it from my head.
Lark, I had to save him.
But the traveling case was empty. I hadn’t found anything.
The antidote wasn’t here, and even if it was, Razak had likely hidden it. He wouldn’t leave something so vital to his escape where anyone might discover it. We weren’t going to find it.
“Lark’s going to die.”
Noemi reached for me. “No, he’s not.”
“No, the antidote is not here… It was never here.” Grief tried to bubble up my throat and choke me. Just like my dream, Lark had stopped playing, he stood on the cliff’s edge. And all I could do was watch him fall. “Razak has it.” But Razak was gone. And Lark was out of time.
“Then we find him,” Noemi said, her tone turning hard. “We tell the king. Now, Arin, we have to tell Ogden everything.”
“They’ll kill him.”
“If what you’re saying is true, he’s already dead.”
“My Lark… My beautiful lie.” I looked at my hands. Why did everything I touch fall apart? “This is my fault.”
I couldn’t breathe. Dallin, I’d left him, and there was no antidote, and the one thing I’d promised, the one thing I’d vowed to do for him, I’d failed in.
“Arin?”
I clung to the bedpost.
“Arin, you need to act.” Noemi cupped my face. Her hands were soft and warm. “Look at me. You are the Prince of Love. Ogden will listen. It’s not over yet. You must act now. Lark hasn’t given up, and neither can you.”
“Yes…” The shutters came down inside, slamming around my heart. I could do this, I could be that prince again, the cold, hard man I’d made myself into. He was useful now, when feelings weren’t required.
The guard hurried back into the room. “There’s nothing—”
“Alert the king!” I growled, my voice unlike me. “Prince Razak has committed treachery against our court! He must be found. Hurry.”
“Yes, Prince Arin.” The guard ran from the room, and moments later, a drum sounded. The drums of War.
I pushed from the bedpost. “The temple, I have to go to him.”
