“Right,” Diomedes said as he snorted. “I will give you that.”
Diomedes slammed his fist into the stone edge, shouting out in frustration and pain, “Where is she? Why is this blasted thing empty?”
“Calm down.” Armannii tried to place a hand on Diomedes’s shoulder, but Diomedes shrugged it off and began pacing up and down the aisle of dead.
“If she’s not here, where would she be?” Blanndynne asked, hopping up on the side of the box. She sat there, running her fingers along the rough edge.
“How should I know?” Diomedes spat, throwing his hands up in the air. “This was such a waste of time. First Kylian’s mysterious brother is missing, and now this.” He clenched his hands into fists. The urge to punch something fell over him, but everything around him was made of stone, and his desire to avoid a broken hand overcame the violent urge.
Armannii had made his way around to the opposite side of the box and was examining the discarded lid. He ran his fingers over it, squinting at something. “Maybe this is a good thing,” Armannii said, his voice soft and thoughtful.
“How?”
“I’m with Diomedes. I don’t see how you could give this a positive spin,” Blanndynne said, crossing one leg over the other.
“What if she was never buried here in the first place?” Armannii ignored their skepticism. “What if her missing body means she somehow lost her right to be buried here?”
“Or the magic that was used to kill her didn’t leave any remains.” Blanndynne shrugged when Armannii raised an eyebrow in her direction. “What? It’s possible.”
“Either way, I still don’t see how this is a good thing for us.” Diomedes stopped pacing, crossing into the next aisle where Armannii crouched. “What did you find?”
Armannii stood up, brushing his hands off on his trousers. “Take a look for yourself.” He stepped back as Diomedes crouched down beside the lid.
It was too dark to see anything since the light-runed stone was across the opposite aisle. “I can’t see anything. Pass me the rock,” Diomedes ordered. Blanndynne tossed it to Armannii, who held it so light shone over the underside of the lid.
“This mark . . .” Diomedes’s voice trailed off as Blanndynne moved to stand next to Armannii. “This is the mark of a traitor.” His fingers traced the carved lines that, from far away, appeared to be a sword shattering a shield. “But why would they do this to Raylee’s tombstone? And it still doesn’t explain why her body isn’t here.”
“Think. If King Kylian hated magic enough to start a war, what do you think would happen if his daughter somehow got involved with it?” Armannii asked.
“It’s a theory, and it would make sense with the epitaph on the other side of the lid,” Diomedes said, standing up. He couldn’t keep his eyes from staring at the symbol at his feet. A traitor. Rarely had that symbol been used, and the only reason he recognized it was because of the history lessons—thankfully the half he hadn’t slept through.
“Maybe this is the evidence we need that the war had illegitimate beginnings.” Armannii placed his hands on his hips.
“This would hardly be enough for my father and his council.”
“And you still don’t have the body. Or I guess what’s left of it after, what, one hundred years?” Blanndynne pointed out. “I mean, if you had something that belonged to her, there might be a spell to track down where her real resting place is. But there’s nothing here.”
“You could really do that?” Diomedes asked, curiosity replacing the remaining embers of anger flickering inside him.
“I think so,” Blanndynne said, wrapping her arms around her torso. “It might be good practice for my magic to grow stronger. But if I don’t have an anchor, then I can’t do the spell.”
“Then we need to find an anchor.” Armannii scratched his head, pausing for a second. “How do we do that?”
Diomedes ran his finger along his chin, tapping his jaw. An idea sprouted in his head, and he smirked at the elf. “I think you and I need to return to the scene of the crime.”
“What?” Blanndynne asked, glancing between the two men when Armannii snorted. “What crime?”
“How are you at breaking into vaults, B?” Armannii grinned down at her, chuckling when her eyes widened. “You think there will be something of Raylee’s in the royal vault? It’s been a hundred years, and she clearly wasn’t the favorite child,” he told Diomedes, pointing toward the traitor’s symbol.
The silence was heavy in the air between them as Diomedes considered his friend’s question. “I don’t know where else we’d find anything that belonged to her. It’s at least a starting place.”
“Then I guess we’re breaking into the castle. Again.”
“Again?” Blanndynne asked, her eyebrows still raised to the top of her forehead. “You’ve done it before? Why can’t you just walk in? You’re the prince. Why don’t you just—”
“His Royal Highness Prince Diomedes Maudit and His Royal Majesty King Butch Maudit are not exactly on speaking terms at the moment. At least we assume so,” Armannii answered, standing up taller and sticking his chin out as he announced his friend’s full title.
“Why?”
“The aforementioned break-in and something about speaking treason against his ancestors.” Armannii stuck his hands in his pockets. “But hey, the vault’s where we found your vase too.”
“We didn’t find it. You did. But this time, you’ll be on guard duty, and I’ll go in. That way there won’t be any more distractions.”
“Hey,” Blanndynne said, frowning. “This ‘distraction’ just offered some serious help. Not to mention opened the lid to this grave.”
“Right,” Diomedes said as he snorted. “I will give you that.”
“This tunnel leads to a storage room near the kitchens,” Diomedes said, pausing at an intersection. They had been walking for fifteen minutes.
“And here I was, walking in a side door all these years.” Armannii grinned, shifting his bow to his shoulder. “This castle never ceases to surprise me.”
“None of us can be caught.” Diomedes glanced over his shoulder to make sure they were following him down the tunnel. “Especially not you two.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.” Armannii smirked. “I’ll stay outside the vault with the guards like you said, and you two can go in to see if you can find anything that might have belonged to Raylee. There were plenty of crowns and jewelry pieces. Some of them must’ve belonged to her.”
“They may have, but the problem will be figuring out which ones they are,” Diomedes said. Blanndynne made a noise like a cough behind them, and he turned to look at her. “What?”
“I just—I might be able to help with that too.”
“I knew it was a good idea inviting you along.” Diomedes directed the light from the stone in his hand to shine in her face, then apologized when she covered her eyes with her hand. “What do you need?”
Blanndynne tilted her head to the side, blinking her dark eyes. “Well, you’re from the same family line as Raylee. Lucky for us, that means you share the same blood.”
“Right.” Diomedes smirked. “Fortunately, I’ve got plenty of that.”
“Blood is very powerful when it comes to magic. All types of magic.” Blanndynne glanced at Armannii, who nodded.
“I’m aware. Binding certain runes with blood does make them stronger. What’s your point?” Armannii asked.
“Using your blood, Diomedes, there’s a chance I could make something that might speed up the process of discerning whether a relic belonged to Raylee or not.”
Diomedes glanced at Armannii, who had receded into the shadows. He had his pointed ear pressed to the wall, and his eyes were closed. Diomedes knew they needed to get in and out without being seen. He didn’t want to risk Armannii getting thrown in prison again. “You’re sure it will work?”
“I’m fairly certain, but I’m still adjusting my magic to being free, and—”
“Do it.” Diomedes pulled the knife he’d taken from the mugger off his belt, handing it to her. However, she pushed his knife back toward him, shaking her head.
“I don’t have everything I need yet.”
Diomedes gestured for her to keep explaining, putting his hands on his hips after returning the knife to his belt.
Blanndynne closed her eyelids, and her hands began to glow faintly. When she opened her eyes, the light disappeared. Diomedes focused on her hands, his brow furrowing as he watched the gray light shift around her fair skin. Interwoven amongst the light were wisps of darkness, which swirled and dispersed around the fragments of glowing gray.
He wondered what it would feel like to possess that much power, what kind of invigorating feeling would fill him to be able to shift reality to what he desired it to be. Blanndynne’s response pulled Diomedes from his thoughts.
“I need a powder. Any kind will do. And I also need a piece of paper with Raylee’s full name written out. A bowl would be nice too, and a small sack to put the powder in afterward.”
“Why don’t you just ask for a pony while you’re at it?” Armannii said as he rejoined them. Though his words carried a joke, there was no humor behind them. “There are a lot of people on the floor above us, Didi. This is going to be more difficult than the first time, especially since it sounds like we need to make a few extra stops before the vault.”
“Why can’t you just make the items appear like you did the brush earlier this morning?” Diomedes asked Blanndynne, genuinely curious.
“Wouldn’t that be convenient?” Blanndynne rolled her eyes, tossing her long hair over her shoulder. “I can only manifest things I’ve stored in my depository.”
“What?” Armannii asked, his voice rising as he snorted.
“Consider it a magical storehouse for me to pull from.”
“Where is it?” Diomedes glanced from Blanndynne to Armannii, who was staring at Blanndynne like she had turned bright purple and sprouted five new arms.
Blanndynne waved her hand off to the side. “Doesn’t matter. I didn’t put those things away for later, so I don’t have what I need there. We’ll need to find the ingredients in the castle.”
“All right. I’ll take care of the powder and bowl. Armannii, take her to the lower study for the paper. I don’t know where the best place to find a sack would be though.”
“We’ll figure it out.” Armannii nodded. “Where do you want to meet?”
Diomedes stopped for a second, rubbing his fingers along his jaw. “The second corridor for servant housing. There should be a few empty rooms. We should meet in the third one from the end on the left. It’s closer to the vault and should, in theory, be empty.”
“All right.” Armannii nodded, pulling his knit cap over his pointed ears. “Let’s get started, shall we?”