Equinox (Book One of the Firebird Chronicles) WATTY AWARD HIDDEN GEM WINNER 2015

Chapter Forty One: Betrayal

I burst into the corridor, wiping damp from my cheeks and taking deep breaths. Emotions unfamiliar roared through my body, and I didn't know how to break them down and make sense of them. Was that guilt? Over a kiss? Anxiety? How would this all end?

No! Now was not the time to break down. Now was the time to get to work, and finish what I'd came here for.

Find Reia, I told myself, if I find her, she'll know what to do. She will know where they are keeping Arianna, if Val's here...

'May I help you, ma'am?' a kindly angel bowed to me. I'd stormed through the closest side doors to the ballroom, and was in a long, thin, red corridor. The servant was obviously here to show guests around-- but was it to keep them in? Or make them feel welcome?

I blinked. The servant was young, and he gave me a sheepish, cute smile that showed the dimples around his youthful face. After only a few months of being out of the stealing game, the ability to manipulate and cheat returned like a rash. I looked confident, the words of my lie coming to me almost naturally.

'I'm looking for the restroom,' I declared. 'Could you show me the way?'

The servant couldn't be more obliged, flaring my guilt once more. He led me down the corridor, and I spied rooms as I passed. To my anger, no room was unfurnished, no decoration spared; compared to the terrible destruction of my city and the slums of Ruby's, the palace was another world. 

'What a beautiful palace,' I said with forced cheeriness, hoping to learn about where Reia might be. Another world, indeed-- and a maze. 

'Indeed, yes, the princess ensures that this place is well run.'

Right on the mark. 'Where is the princess?' I asked curiously, as if I were asking what the weather was like outside. I added, 'I didn't see her in the ballroom.'

The servant nodded understandingly. 'Our princess isn't often in good health, I'm afraid. Her chambers are upstairs, and she is resting in them.'

My heart drummed, distracted from the anxiety of kissing people to excitement. Reia! 

But the servant's words had struck a chord. She isn't often in good health? She's probably battered and tortured, that's why! No wonder she can't make a public appearance...

Anger that had been forced down at the lavish expenses of the King returned in full force when I considered his barbaric behaviour towards his daughter that left her bed bound. My dreams had been right, Reia's ill health was too suspicious. I had to find her. Fast.

I bit my lip, wondering whether I still had Clae's power. I could sense it, buried deep inside, and I prayed that I would be able to use it. When the servant arrived at the washroom and turned back to face me, my eyes glowed electric blue, and I knew her powers were retained.

'Show me to this princess, but tell no-one what we are doing.'

Gone was the servant's cheerfulness; in fact, he looked at me blankly and robotically, changing direction and leading deeper into the palace. At the first set of stairs, we wound up them, until yet another red corridor faced us. I mapped it in my head, should I need to return this way, but everything looked similar. With any luck, Reia would know the way back.

At the end of the second floor, another set of double doors greeted us. These doors were golden, with decorations of the sun around the edges. I thought it very apt for Reia's chambers.

'The Princess is inside,' the servant announced. Yet another pang of guilt flooded me as the blue colouring ebbed away from his irises, and then he walked away again, as if nothing had happened.