Deciet

Serafina Pov.

Mira’s eyes darted to the door behind her, the whole place silent.

She counted to three.

One…

Two…

Three…

I was beginning to get nervous.

Then she leaned in so close I could feel her breath hot against my ears.

“The debt”. She whispered.

“What about it?”. I asked anxiously.

“It wasn’t random, Sera.”

My heart dropped

My face is still. “What do you mean?”

“Eli didn’t just borrow from the Crown.” She pulled back just enough to look me in the face. “Someone handed him the gold. Someone who knew exactly what clause it would trigger.”

The atmosphere changed.

I refused to believe.

The shock was written all over me.

I blinked more than once.

“Who?”

“Lord Cassian.”

I sat still covering my mouth in shock. The name landed in my chest like a cold stone dropped into still water.

“Mira”. My voice was barely above a whisper.

“Sera, please gather yourself together”. Her eyes were darting back to the door and me.

“Thus must be some dumb joke”. I chuckled.

“I wish it were sera. I wish it were.”

"You're not kidding?” The realization hit me like a slap, her face did not break into a smile.

She hesitated, her fingers twisting the hem of her grey uniform. “I work the east corridor. Cassian’s chambers are at the end of it. Three weeks ago I heard him talking. He said your name, Sera. He said “She’ll come back for the boy. She always does.”Then he laughed hysterically.”

My stomach twisted.

“Mira.”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything,” she swore before me.

I stood up. The cot creaked beneath me and I paced the length of the small room once. Twice. The stone wall came up to meet me and I pressed my palm flat against it.

“She’ll come back for the boy”.

He sounded so sure.

The dots are beginning to connect slowly.

He knew. Cassian had known before the escort even arrived at my door in Calwen. He had planned it. Arranged it. Packaged my brother’s stupidity into a debt with my name already written on the front cover.

My body is cold.

“Does Daxton know?” I asked without turning around.

“I don’t know.”

“Mira please don't lie to me.”

“I swear I don’t know. He accepted the transfer without a blink, Sera, you were there, you saw how he looked at you. Either he knows and it serves him or he doesn’t know and Cassian is acting in his own orders.

This is bad.

I turned around slowly. “Is Eli here? In Ironveil?Or he's being held hostage too?”

“They brought him in three days ago. He’s in the holding ward on the lower floor close to the basement.”

“Why are they still keeping him? I turned myself in.” I held my turn gown in frustration, stretching my hand out so she could see the red mark on my wrist

“I don't know Sera. But please tread carefully. Don't act like you know anything. You’re a bound servant now, your movements are being monitored”

“I didn't commit the crime.” My voice, sharp.

Mira pressed her lips together. She didn’t argue.

She never argued when I used that voice. She knew it meant I was getting frustrated.

“Sera.” she held my hand. “Please just stay low away from trouble for as long as possible. Don't give them a reason to suspect anything”.

“They already have a reason, Mira. They had it all coming. Eli is such a fool.” I sat back down on the cot. “Go before someone notices you’re here.”

She stood at the door for a moment, her eyes filled with compassion. I looked away.

“I’ll bring you food in the morning,” she said finally, I nodded.

Then she was gone.

The lock didn’t click. They hadn’t bothered. I was in the middle of a wolf kingdom with no escort back and chain marks still red on my wrists. Where exactly was I going to run?

If I took a step further from where I sat, the guards would hunt me down.

I lay back on the cot and stared at the ceiling.

Three weeks ago Cassian had been saying my name in the dark corridors of this palace.

Three weeks ago I had been wrapping dried yarrow root in Roth’s workroom in Calwen with no thought of Ironveil, no thought of chains, no thought of crowns or thrones or the boy I had left behind at nineteen.

“She’ll come back for the boy”. The words buried in my tongue

Like a prophecy, it came to pass.

Now I am here.

Tears gathered in my eyes.

He had read me correctly, used the one thing I couldn’t walk away from, knowing I would come running back to the one place I was running away from. Now I'm here. Back on my knees before the same man who broke me.

I pressed my thumb hard into my wrist again.

The red mark stung.

Good.

Pain was useful. Pain made the realization hit different that I wasn't in some kind of weird dream.

I thought about Daxton’s face on the throne. The way his jaw had shifted, just barely, when the escort called my name aloud. The way his eyes had stayed on me the entire time I walked that marble floor and knelt before him.

I thought about what Mira had said.

“He’s not who you remember”.

She was right about that too.

The boy I remembered used to fall asleep on my shoulder during the night watches. He used to laugh at the silky jokes and apologize badly when he didn't laugh enough, planting soft kisses all over me. He used to look at me like I was a problem he was happy to have.

That boy was dead.

The man on that throne had outlived him.

I closed my eyes.

Trying to escape from my reality by dozing off.

I was almost dozing off when the door opened again.

It wasn't Mira.

The footsteps are heavy.

I sat up.

A palace guard stood in the doorway with a folded piece of parchment. He held it out without a word.

I crossed the room and took it.

The writing was filled with ink, and I could barely read through but still I held it close to my eyes.

“Your presence is required in the King’s study at dawn. Come alone”.

I staggered backwards.

The guard shut the door the next minute.

Gone.