Realm Breaker by Aveyard Victoria

Author:Aveyard, Victoria
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781409193968
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2021-05-03T16:00:00+00:00

17

FOR THE REALM

Andry

The New Palace had been a home, a sanctuary, a school, a training yard. Now it was a prison, a hunting ground, an executioner’s block.

Andry felt the ax hanging over his head as he led the others into the maze, sprinting as fast as his long legs would carry him. In the barracks, he’d learned to run in armor. It had made him strong in steel, and even faster without it. But he felt bare now, vulnerable. I don’t even have a knife, he thought in frustration. Not that he could blame himself. How could he have expected Erida to turn on them, on him, on the Ward?

But she didn’t turn tonight, he told himself. His body shook all over, unmoored as the realization swept him out to sea. She’s already been against us, for gods know how long.

She’s been with him, Lord Cortael’s twin. That rogue bastard. The curse smarted in his head. Andry Trelland didn’t care for foul language, even running for his life.

Shouts rose all over the palace grounds, and torches flared through the gardens as the Queen’s knights gave chase. But they only existed on the edges of his mind. To Andry, there was only the maze—and his mother.

At Wayfarer’s Port by now, he told himself. It felt like a prayer waiting to be answered. On a ship already, safe with her carers, tucked into her chair. Sails raised, with a captain bound for her home. His heart tore inside him as he pictured Valeri Trelland at the rail of a ship, waiting for her son. I should have gone with her. This is no place for me. The maze pressed in, the rows perfectly manicured, not a leaf out of place. He wanted to burn it all to ashes. I just need to get off this island. That’s all I have to do. Get out of the palace, and get to the docks. He breathed hard, in through his nose, out through his teeth. Get off the island. Get to the docks.

Corayne panted next to him, fighting to keep up. Back in the apartments, she had not seemed so small, but now, with the sword on her back, with the world on her shoulders, Andry thought she might fade into nothing. Only her eyes were unchanged, somehow blacker than the sky above them. She looked back into the maze, trying to see through the hedges as they spiraled. Lord Domacridhan and the Ibalet woman kept up behind them.

A horn blast echoed and Andry flinched. The sound, heavy and proud, sent a shudder through the air.

“What was that?” Corayne asked, breathless. The horn sounded again.

“The palace garrison,” he replied, quickening his pace. His jaw set painfully.

He’d never seen the garrison summoned before, not for battle. As a boy, he’d always wished for them to be called forth in their armored splendor, to defend the Queen and her court. Well, I suppose I’ll get to see it now.

Domacridhan limped, forcing each step, one hand pressed against his ribs.

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