Beneath the Citadel by Destiny Soria

Author:Destiny Soria
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Abrams
Published: 2018-10-22T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-NINE

CASSA

Cassa and Vesper crept through the lowest floor of the Central Keep, listening for the telltale footfalls and creaking weaponry of citadel guards. Everything was quiet for now. Cassa allowed herself to hope that it could stay that way. There was no reason anyone would think to follow them here. Why would an escaped prisoner run straight to the dungeons?

“Cassa, I wish you would just trust me,” Vesper said, keeping her voice low. “I know you hate my uncle, but you can’t help Solan.”

Of course she’d seen everything in Cassa’s memories. Their entire plan. Cassa couldn’t stand the thought of so much being laid bare, but it was too late now. Her only solace was that if all went well, Solan would be free before the chancellor could stop them. She tightened her grip on the lantern they had stolen along the way. She wasn’t sure how much oil was left in it. Hopefully enough.

“This may surprise you, but there are precious few people I trust,” Cassa said. Three to be exact. Three people in the world. She told herself the tightness in her chest was exhaustion, but she had a feeling it was closer to despair. “And you’re not one of them. Not anymore.”

She wouldn’t let herself think about what it meant that Vesper was here helping her when by all rights she should be running to Chancellor Dane with everything she knew. Vesper was quiet for almost a minute. When she spoke again, her tone was low and rippling with hurt.

“Would you have even listened to me if I’d told you the truth that night on the bridge?”

Cassa paused to peer around a corner. The next corridor was empty, its gaslights on a low burn. Faded portraits of long-dead councilors stared down in silent disapproval. They were nearing the stairwell to the dungeons. She wanted to keep walking, to ignore the conviction in Vesper’s question, but she couldn’t. She turned around.

“I don’t know,” Cassa said, “but you should have told me anyway.”

Something flickered in Vesper’s gaze.

“If I had told you, and you had gone through with your plan anyway, the sentients would have seen everything,” she said. “All of us would have been executed—my uncle too.”

Cassa wondered if Solan would have still helped them from afar had the chancellor been sent to his execution alongside them. Would it have been worth it to die, knowing that Dane died with her?

“You’ve seen everything, all my memories from our escape until today on the Merchants’ Bridge.” Cassa’s throat burned with the threat of tears, but she refused to yield. “And you know how much I’ve lost. Can you honestly tell me you wouldn’t do the same thing if you were in my place and had the same chance?”

Vesper opened her mouth as if to reply, then pursed her lips together. Her gaze dropped to her feet. She shook her head.

“I don’t know,” she said. “But I do know that there’s nothing you can do that will bring your parents back.”

“I know that.

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