"Hold still."

Felix nodded numbly, already clenching his jaw so hard that it began to ache. Aiko's touch was gentle and warm as she grabbed hold of the crossbow bolt protruding from his shoulder. Although she tried to make it as painless as possible, there was no way to successfully accomplish that. She held her breath as she took his knife and began to saw off the tip from the wooden shaft. The movement jerked the bolt in the wound, and Felix forced himself to bite back a groan as a fresh wave of pain washed over him.

As soon as the pointed tip broke off, she shifted to the fledging side sticking out from his back. Over and over, she muttered an apology as she slowly began to pull the bolt free. It was agony, and Felix found himself biting down on the inside of his cheek until the metallic taste of blood flooded his mouth.

Finally, the bolt came free. Felix doubled over with a gasp, immediately pressing his hand against the gaping wound. A shudder tore through him but, despite the burning beneath his palm and the sickening nausea that settled over him, he couldn't help the sense of relief that crawled through the back of his mind. If Nova's bolts had been poisoned, he would have been dead long ago.

Although collapsing from exhaustion and slurring his way through instructions for removing the bolt wasn't a particularly great alternative. It was a blur in his memories, drowned in the abyss of pain, but he could faintly recall the sharp cry of his name on Aiko's lips when he finally collapsed. He half expected her to leave him, but she never did. Even now, she was still at his side.

Aiko tossed the broken shaft aside as if it had burned her. "I'm sorry," she said again as she sank to the ground beside him. Taking the knife in one hand, she tore off shreds of fabric from her skirt. "This isn't ideal at all, but hopefully it will at least stop the bleeding until we can make it to the guard post."

Again, he nodded as she took the strips of shimmering satin and began to bandage his wound. The red cloth bound the wad of gray from his tunic—which she had also shredded in an attempt to pry it free and examine the wound—against his shoulder. Her touch was warm as it grazed his bare skin. Though the air was cold, heavy with the scent of oncoming rain, Aiko's fingers gave off a constant heat—it was significantly warmer in the hand that wasn't bound by the gold cuff. Perhaps it was a lingering effect of the fire she had summoned to escape, or maybe it had always been that way and he had never noticed.

He turned his head slightly, glancing back the way they had come. They left the inner wall behind a long time ago, headed toward the watchtower on the outer wall. Aiko said it would be their best bet. From there, they could alert the guards, wait out the chaos, and return.

Or escape if worst comes to worst, he told himself bitterly, remembering the gold sash. It could have easily been a disguise that the assassin had stolen from one of the real guards, but he couldn't shake the unease that settled heavily in the pit of his stomach.

"Is this your dominant hand?" Aiko asked softly as she pulled the makeshift wad of bandages tight against the wound.

The moonlight cast a soft glow across her dark skin, though the light was muddled by the canopy of trees overhead. A cut traced across her cheekbone on one side, marked by a streak of dried blood. Her hair was falling out of her bun—the gold ribbon that had been perched underneath was lost somewhere along the way. Somehow, even despite her torn and dirtied ballgown and the concern welling in her hazel eyes, she looked similar to the girl he met in the forest a mere two weeks ago.

Similar, but not the same. Now, darkness clung to her, and there was a haunted look in her gaze. Her hands trembled as she withdrew them from his shoulder, blood clinging to her fingertips. Neither of them brought it up, but he had no doubt they were both aware of it.

She had killed a man by channeling magic.

No human channeled magic—that in and of itself was enough to shake him—but she had used it to take someone's life. It was a fate he would never wish on anyone; especially not her.

"Felix?"

"No," he murmured as he flicked his gaze to the grass. His fingers trailed through it absentmindedly, relieving some of the pressure of his thoughts. "I'm quite skilled with both hands, but my right has always been more precise."

Though the wound stained his left side, it was still a hindrance. Every movement seemed to upset it, sending a sharp stab lacing down to his chest. It was almost like it had been made just to spite him; knowing Nova, it might have been. However, he was grateful. It could have been much worse than it was.

"I see." Aiko shifted in the grass. Seconds later, she wrapped his cloak around his shoulders and pinned the clasp shut. Midnight blue enveloped him, soft and familiar, though it now bore a hole right through the left shoulder. "This will do for now," she murmured and sank back into her seat. "I don't want to aggravate your wound until we can get it properly looked at."

Felix tugged the edges of his cloak shut over his bare chest, concealing the scars he had worked so hard to hide from prying eyes for so long. "We should go if we want to make it to the watchtower by morning."

At that, Aiko stiffened. "Are you sure? I don't want you to push yourself."

"It's fine." Carefully, he edged himself to his feet, leaning against the tree behind him for support. The bark bit into his palm; he hesitated against it for a moment while he waited for his vision to settle and for the ringing in his ears to die down. When it did, he swung away from the trunk to face the distant wall. In the dark, it was nothing more than a shadow at the edge of the horizon, hidden behind the maze of the forest ahead of them.

The silence between them was stifling. Wind rustled through the canopy of leaves, stirring up a forlorn song as if the whole forest could feel the effects of their failure. It drove a thorn deep into Felix's heart.

They had escaped, but they sacrificed Mae to do so. On top of that, they had left the city in Nova's hands. Though Aiko wasn't dead, it was essentially a win for Dinah.

Was this the freedom he wanted, or was he only kidding himself?

"Why did you go so far?" Aiko asked, voicing the same thing as the murmur of his own thoughts. He turned to find her standing behind him, her eyes narrowed and her lips pursed. Her dress was torn, leaving her bare feet exposed beneath the jagged edges of crimson satin. She wiped a hand across the gash in her cheek. "If I'm dead, I can't hold you prisoner anyway. Wouldn't it have worked out better for you if you had just left? And don't say Mae put you up to it. You and I both know you're perfectly capable of ignoring that cat. You didn't have to help me; you didn't have to protect me."

He studied her calmly, holding his blank firmly in place as his heart fluttered in his chest. Frustration and anger seeped into her voice, and her glare was sharpened by pointed confusion. Rather than be threatened by the brilliant flame in her hazel eyes, he looked away, his gaze landing on her bracelet still clamped around his wrist. Unconsciously, he brushed his fingers across it, feeling the faint patterned imprints beneath them. With a sigh, he began to fiddle with the clasp until it finally clicked free, sliding easily from his wrist. He held it out to her, his expression as flat and emotionless as ever.

"I could ask the same of you. You could have left me with Nova and her gang. You could have left me when I collapsed from my wound. Why do you cling to me, Aiko?" he said. "Aren't I just a game to you?"

It was difficult to tell in the dark, but he was almost certain her face flushed as she looked between his face and the bracelet. "I haven't won this game yet," she said in a matter-of-fact tone. Her fingers brushed his as she reached for the cuff, and the touch sent a shiver down his spine. From the quirk of her lips, she had done it on purpose, though the look was half-hearted and empty. "I guess we're stuck a little longer until we start telling the truth to one another, hm? For example, you still haven't told me who sent you and why you came."

He narrowed his eyes as he caught her hand in his, pulling her forward to clamp the bracelet around her bare wrist. It fell in place with a soft click and, almost immediately, a little of the heat in her hands died down.

"Excuse me," he murmured, releasing her hand and dipping his head to her. "It seems the pain from my wound has made it quite difficult for me to think. We will have to carry out this conversation another time. Shall we go?"

"If the pain is making it difficult to think, why are you insisting on walking?" she muttered dejectedly behind him. When he shot a glance at her, he caught sight of the faint blush that darkened her cheeks. She quickly looked away and made a show of clearing her throat. "Whatever. If you drop dead, you can blame yourself."

"I will, thank you."

The rest of the walk was silent. Felix kept his head high despite the constant ache in his shoulder and the way his steps occasionally dragged. Night loomed on and rain eventually began to fall. It was slow at first before it turned into a furious thunderstorm, threatening to tear them apart with wind and frigid droplets of water. Soaked through, the cold clung to his skin. Felix shivered and pulled Aiko against his side, wrapping her in his cloak. Her lips parted in protest, but it died in her throat as a bolt of lightning lit up the whole sky. The roll of thunder that followed seemed to seal away whatever hesitancy she held, as she pressed slightly closer to him and tugged the cloak over her head. Stumbling awkwardly along, they crossed the remaining distance to the wall.

Aiko pushed away from him as soon as they reached its base, freeing herself from his cloak. She craned her neck to meet the sight of the watchtower, a tall structure built out and above the rest of the wall. It overlooked both sides, and Felix could see the light from a torch burning at the top. The flame was dim, flickering faintly, but it spoke of life still clinging to the tower.

She grabbed his wrist and pulled him forward with a sharp yank. Biting his tongue, he stumbled after her. Before he could remark on her harsh treatment of him, she was already waving her bracelet in front of the stone. The cracks between the slate gray bricks answered with a brief flash of warm light—amber, like the flame in her eyes. A ladder materialized against the wall, leading all the way up to the top of the guard post.

Felix's lip twitched. Slowly, he reached up to touch his shoulder beneath his cloak. "What, no stairs?" Dry, humorless sarcasm pulled his tone down, dipping into bitterness at the end.

"Not this time." The teasing had faded completely from her voice, as if the rain washed it away. She turned away from him, gripping the ladder in one hand. "I'll head up first. I don't think you'd be welcome here without my express permission and I really don't fancy watching you get stabbed again."

For once, Felix didn't argue. Aiko accepted his silence and started climbing the ladder. With a sigh, he looked away, fiddling with his arm. Though the wound didn't burn at the moment, it still ached with the reminder that it existed. Climbing the ladder with only one arm was certainly not going to be an easy task, and he would much rather Aiko wait for him at the top than watch him struggle his way up.

When he looked up again, she had already disappeared into the tower. A second later, her head poked out over the ladder, her face drenched in shadows. He took that as his signal and grabbed hold of the rung with his good arm, gritting his teeth against the urge to put both hands against it as he stepped up. The wounded arm hung limp at his side, though his fingers twitched each time he hauled himself up a step. Rain made the steps slick and he couldn't help but imagine slipping and tumbling to the ground below. That thought stirred a flicker of helplessness within him, but it was quickly quelled by frustration.

If he couldn't even climb a ladder, how did he expect to protect Aiko from falling into Dinah's hands? No, more than that. How could he earn that freedom he was so desperate for?

After several painstakingly long seconds, he reached the top. Aiko's fingers curled around the back of his cloak as she pulled him over the wall. Once inside, he collapsed against it to catch his breath, shivering as he huddled into his sopping wet cloak. The muscles in his arm stiffened in protest and his palm stung from gripping the ladder so tightly.

"I think I prefer the stairs," he muttered, leaning his head back.

"I'm sorry," Aiko said again. He was rapidly losing count of the number of times she had said that same phrase, and it made his chest painfully tight with worry.

He quickly shook that thought away.

The top of the tower was small—an open-faced post with a clear view of the city of Crocea and the palace in the distance behind them. Solid stone walls rose up to Felix's waist around them, and no roof covered their heads. The light he had seen from the ground blazed inside a covered lantern seated on the floor at the opposite side of the tower. Beside it, nearly hidden in the torrential downpour, there was a trapdoor that led down into the structure.

A sense of wrongness pooled in Felix's gut. Swallowing hard, he eased himself to his feet. "Where are the guards?"

Aiko's gaze shifted to the trapdoor and her shoulders tensed. "They must have gone below to escape the rain."

"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of their job to, you know, guard?"

"Yes," she murmured as she shuffled toward the door. "I have a sneaking suspicion that I know what faction they come from."

Felix furrowed his brow as confusion tugged sharply at his thoughts. "Faction?"

"The golden guards versus the red guards. Those who bear the red sashes support my rule. However, the golden guards..." Her sentence trailed off, the ending snatched away by the rumbling of thunder overhead.

The trapdoor burst open at the same moment. Aiko scrambled back with a gasp; Felix wasted no time in leaping to her side, feeling for the knife sheathed at his side. Two guards climbed out from below, their weapons drawn and pointed down at them. At the sight of Aiko, however, their expressions immediately slackened. One sheathed his sword, but the other—the taller of the two—kept his hand at his side. Though he lowered the point, there was still an inkling of hostility in his stance.

Felix's fingers curled tighter around Aiko's shoulder, his gaze flicking from the silver sheen of the sword to the face of its wielder. Both were older men, though their features were difficult to make out in the wild, flickering light of the lantern at their feet. The only distinctive symbol he caught sight of was the golden sash they wore across their chests. The very same one several of the assassins had been wearing.

"Your Majesty," the shorter of the two greeted her with a tremor in his voice. His gaze flicked between her and Felix. "W-we weren't expecting you so late at night—on the day of your coronation, no less." He paused, then went on with a glance at his companion, "In this... storm."
The other guard didn't seem as pleasant. He narrowed his eyes down at Felix, shifting the point of his blade so that it was directed at him. "Isn't this the man who was arrested in the castle just a few days ago? Your Majesty, please step away from him. I will—"

"He's with me," Aiko cut in. She slipped out from under Felix's protection and rose to her feet, holding her head high. "There's been a change. The castle is under attack by a gang of mercenaries from Furvus. This man helped me escape—moreover, he's wounded and needs to be properly treated."

Inwardly, Felix cringed at the admission of his injury. Shame warmed the back of his neck, mingling with the nagging feeling of mistrust that squirmed in his gut. It was one thing for Aiko to know, but it was another for that information to be shared with someone who looked down on him as if he was their prey. Though the guards tried to hide it beneath the obedient dip of their heads to Aiko, there was malice in the way they looked at Felix.

"Of course, Your Majesty," the shorter guard spoke again in his soft, companionable voice. "Shall we head inside? You can explain the details to us after you've had a chance to dry off."

Aiko's frown deepened as the guards opened the trapdoor and ushered them both inside. The fire sparked in her eyes, but she kept her tongue sealed behind her clenched teeth. When she shot Felix a look, he knew her thoughts were the same as his.

The news hadn't fazed either guard at all. In fact, they brushed it off quite easily. If it weren't for the simmering look of hatred he could see behind their eyes, he might have accepted it as calm, collected concern for their queen, prioritizing her health and safety over the castle for the moment. He had seen it before, time and time again. It was a look he knew well, for everyone in Furvus favored it over all others.

Both guards were liars. 

Hello and welcome back to your regularly scheduled shenanigans. As I'm writing this, I have just finished my first year of college and I decided to celebrate by writing this chapter, but then I ended up splitting it into two chapters because it would have been forever long otherwise. So um... take this awkward cliffhanger cause finals killed my brain.

Anyway, I'm so excited to delve into the second half of the story! I know it's been a pretty wild ride to get here, but I still have lots in store for you all :D

See you next time!