Sefina Hale wants one thing and one thing only - to save her parents' dying sugar plantation. She doesn't care about her friend Elia's plight to win the king's heart, she doesn't care about the healing tensions of the war between Mavacuria and its n...
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She awoke on a train.
She shouldn't have been surprised – Bring her to the train, Elia had ordered her guards – but her stomach still jolted when she saw the narrow transport car her unconscious body had been shoved into.
Like her palace dungeon cell, metal bars locked her in place, bolted into the ceiling and floor. Wooden crates of all sizes surrounded her cage. A thin window ran along the length of the car, flooding white light over the tops of the crates and into her eyes. The sunlight stung her vision after nearly a week of sitting in the dungeons' gloom. She blinked through the brightness and dust, searching for something to free her.
But Elia had chosen her prison well. The train car was empty except for cargo and nets, everything designed to keep something in, to keep someone contained. Still, Sefina had to try. Every minute she spent in this train meant a mile forced between her and the palace – another mile she would have to trudge through to save everyone from Elia's murderous deceit.
Her body trembled from hunger and the lingering sedative in her system. Wrapping a hand around the nearest bar, Sefina hauled herself upright and leaned against the cell's gate, waiting for the car to stop spinning before she moved any more.
Eventually, her vertigo narrowed down to the repetitive swaying motion of the train. Releasing a low breath, Sefina double-checked she was alone in the car before flicking a hairpin from her dark braid. Taehyung had taught her how to pick a lock when she was fourteen. She usually had cursed his mischievous streak, but today, she was grateful it would save more than just her life.
It would save all of Mavacuria.
She bent her wrist awkwardly to rotate the pin towards the gate's lock, and within seconds, her forearm screamed. Gritting her teeth, Sefina twisted her arm more to insert the hairpin. It slid in, but needed another push to undo the locking mechanism. She wasn't sure her arm or hand had any more flexibility to give.
It's your arm or Jimin's life. Take your pick.
It was an easy choice.
The lock clicked open at the same time her wrist fractured. Hot pain lanced up her arm, and Sefina staggered forward – straight through the cell door.
Cradling her hand against her chest, Sefina tentatively crept between the crates. Even though the gate's hinges had creaked upon opening, no guards had entered the train car. She inched to the opposite wall unobstructed, greeted with nothing but that blinding whiteness beyond the window's pane.
A red emergency lever beckoned to Sefina besides the window. Throwing her body weight into it, the lever switched. The pressure in the entire cabin decreased as the outline of a door appeared along the wall.
Her excitement at her freedom was short-lived. Sliding the door open, a blizzard swept over her with biting, cold wind and an impenetrable onslaught of snowflakes. Clutching the door for balance, Sefina leaned forward to view a sixty-foot drop below her – the train was barreling through a valley in the middle of a mountain range.
