“This little stone,” Salus said, holding the stone up to the sunlight and sending purple rays racing across the grass, “is what stands between us and freedom.”

I cocked my head, unable to draw the connection. The gemstone was an ayri, and although it was certainly expensive, that was just about the only thing it had in common with the King. They weren’t even extraordinarily rare – Aulus had one just like it.

Aulus sighed, “I don’t get it.”

And now Salus smiled, that sort of real sincere smile that escapes when you know you’ve figured it out, you know you’re about to make the winning move, and so I lean in and listen closely.

“The King has been hiding this secret for a long time. But think about it. A dozen assassination attempts and yet, he always seems to escape unscathed.”

“He’s got good bodyguards,” Aulus suggested.

“But there have been times where the bodyguards don’t make it,” I added.

“Exactly,” Salus grinned, “We know the King can fight. And yet have you seen the man draw a sword?”

I tried to think back to a time when I witnessed the man confidently hold any weapon, much less use one effectively. I glanced towards Aulus to see if he had any better ideas, but he seemed to draw a blank, too. I leaned back and shoved my palms into the cool grass.

I put two and two together slowly. “You think he’s got an ayri, then? You think he’s a mage himself?”

Salus nodded.

“So, if he is a mage, what type? And why keep it hidden?”

“Well,” Salus continued a bit darkly, now looking over to Aulus, “with all due respect to Aulus, we know that mages aren’t exactly the most popular for positions of power. If I was royalty and discovered my heir was a mage, I wouldn’t be trying to make the situation any worse than it is. And, as for the type… we know that it’s one that kills. That narrows it down.”

Aulus stared at Salus coldly, but I didn’t have a clue what was going on in his head. Aulus was a sonusmage, and like most mages, he hid it well. He wasn’t particularly deadly – he could just change the direction of and amplify sound. It meant he could whisper in your ear from across the room and eavesdrop better than most. A party trick at best. The only sign he held this power was the small ayri that was held in a necklace that he always wore, carefully tucked beneath layers of clothing.

“So that’s the plan?” Aulus asked quietly. “We gain entrance into the party, cut the power, then steal the King’s ayri? Remove the power from the man and hope he removes himself from power?”

“That’s it.”

–

“Ten minutes ‘till,” Aulus’ voice whispered in my ear. I wasn’t sure where he was at the moment, but we planned on him being somewhere high where he could watch our back in case something went wrong.

Around me, the party was finally going in full swing. People in ballroom dresses and heinously luxurious suits paraded around the castle, pretending to enjoy each other’s company. It was the only day of the year that commoners had the opportunity to enter the castle. Not to be mistaken – the party was still strictly invite only, but forging an invite was easy compared to the alternative of grappling-hooking our way over the castle walls or bribing a guard to look the other way.

Quickly, I found myself mingling with the right group of people – they’d become my alibi.

–

I watched Aulus from behind the corner, studying him as he looked out over the moonlit city. As we grew closer to the heist, he seemed to spend more time out here on the balcony, preferring to spend his evenings alone in the humid night instead of feasting on slabs of expensive meat and champagne alongside the group.

I briefly wondered what he spent all his time thinking about out here, but I didn’t allow myself to think too heavily about it. Something about it felt invasive, thinking so sincerely about a man who I rarely spoke to.

–

“Eight minutes,” Aulus voiced again.

“— and that’s how I ended up as supervisor of North Cascadia pomegranates,” I laughed to the group around me. Everyone except the unusually tall, looming man in the center of the group burst out laughing. He was the only one powerful enough to know that he didn’t have to make a good impression on me, and the only one with the tenacity to not even pretend to care. And so, he merely took a long sip of his drink and scanned the room for a more palatable group.

I felt a cold bead of sweat run down my side, and I hoped none of the people around me could sense my growing discomfort.

There were 519 people invited to this party, and my group had memorized each one by name, face, and personality, lest anyone get in the way of us and the King. I think this is what made the tall man so particularly unnerving, for I had never seen his face nor heard his name, and yet he carried himself in a way that implied he was of far too much importance to forget.

–

“Aulus,” I said quietly. Around us, the night buzzed with life.

He took a sharp breath in and pulled his gaze away from the shimmering city. “Agnes? What’s wrong? Are you nervous about the heist?”

“Nothing’s wrong. I was wondering if I could join you.”

He contemplated this for a few tense seconds, and then nodded, sliding over on the bench. I sat beside him, looking out over the darkness and into the yellow lights.

“The heist will go fine,” he said, trying to calm me anyways. Maybe he said it to try and convince himself.

–

“Six minutes.”

The room is plunged into darkness; the music falters; the humming of the air conditioning spins to a stop; people freeze in place. The party falls into a silence that is not so much a silence as much as an absence of all sound.

Salus was right on time.

–

“Aulus, I’ve worked twelve weeks alongside you, yet I feel like I know you no better than a stranger.”

He eyes me wearily from his place on the bench, then sighs, looking out into the void of a mountain range that lined the horizon.

“That’s by design. If there’s a problem with the heist, our group is better off as strangers.”

“Ever the professional,” I sighed.

Now, he turned and looked at me. I couldn’t help but think that the darkness seemed to make his features go soft, and seemed to peel back the hard-earned sternness that typically flooded his gaze.

“Why are you really out here, Agnes?”

–

“Get ready to run,” Aulus whispered.

The silence lasts for about all of four seconds before there’s a pop of gunfire.

Screaming fills the castle’s walls, and now people are running everywhere, and the windows allow enough light in that I catch a glimpse of Aulus rushing towards the King. It’s go time.

I had two minutes and thirty-two seconds before the generator kicked in, two minutes and thirty-two seconds to make it to the King and then back to my allotted group of people.

–

Why was I out here? I blinked at Aulus.

“I don’t know. You fight alongside someone; you want to get to know them a bit. If you passed, I’m not even sure who’d I tell or where’d I send your body off to.”

He paused for a moment. “Well, you know that I am a mage. Mages get sent up north.”

I laughed, “Up north? That’s horribly vague.”

–

I nearly crash into Aulus when I’m rushing towards the King. He’s busy mimicking the King’s voice to make it sound as if the King is elsewhere, and I watch as confusion spreads throughout his group of bodyguards. Between the screaming and the echoing voice, I realize that this is my chance.

The King is standing around stupidly, but Salus shoots me a weary look through the darkness, and I know better than to underestimate him.

I lunge towards the King, diving towards his ayri. I can hear my heartbeat in my ears when I shove my hand beneath the endless layers of fancy clothes, ripping the necklace from his neck. He lets out a desperate scream as I shove the necklace into my palms. The gemstone physically burns my fingertips, but I grit my teeth and feel grateful for the confirmation that this is the real thing.

–

Aulus gives me a soft smile, and I’m pretty sure it’s the most human emotion I’ve seen from him.

I continued, “I’m out here because, well, if things go south, I don’t want to die alongside a stranger.” The thought had been weighing on me for some time, and now the heist was tomorrow, it’s all I could think about.

“None of us are going to die, Agnes.”

But he said it in such a way that I wasn’t even sure if he was convinced.

–

The lights go on; I trip on someone’s dress. Commotion is coming from behind me, but I can’t tell who or what’s coming. Suddenly, hands are all over me. No, this can’t be it. I see a flash of Salus, a flash of Aulus being dragged away.

The ayri – where had I placed the ayri?

Rough hands pull me up and now people are yelling.

Please, I think, please someone grab the stupid stone and get out of here. Make it all worth it.

The world goes dark.

–

“Either way,” he breathed, “It’ll all be alright.”