I returned to the little palace with Fredyor and a few other Grisha rather uneventfuly.

I had gone against what I said to my father and gave into naming my horse as it seemed we were inseparable. With the help of Fredyor, the name I settled on was 'Sumerki' Twilight, the time between, night and day, a perfect mix of the two.

We had just arrived back and I had offered to help Fredyor untack the horses while the other Grisha went and rested.

I was brushing down Sumerki and talking to Fredyor when guards came bustling into the stables, wepons drawn. They surrounded us while we looked on in confusion.

"What is the meaning of this?" Fredyor demanded as two guards advanced on me, grabbing my arms and forcing them into Grisha cuffs.

"Shut your mouth, bloodletter," one of the guards growled.

They pushed me forwards roughly causing me to stubble, Fredyor started forward, "It's fine Fredyor," I reassured him before he did anything he might regret, "It's probably just some mistake. Could you take care of Sumerki for me?"

He didn't seem happy about it but hesitantly he nodded and picked up the brush I had dropped while the guards led me towards the grand palace, offering no explanation.

As we entered the grand palace everyone averted my gaze, making me wonder what I had done, I was nothing but kind to all the servants, I always said please and thank you. The only time I had met any nobles was the king and queen and even then I was told I did everything correctly, so I couldn't have offended them in any way. Yes I did give a slightly sarcastic comment to the prince, but I'm sure he would have killed me already if it had really gone that deep.

The guards pushed me through the palace until we came to a stop infront of said prince, he looked me over with distaste and sneered when he saw me in cuffs.

"Put her in the dungeons with the other traitor," he ordered, "The king will question her in the morning."

"Moi tsarevich," I said with as much forced politeness as I could muster before they could drag me away, "Would you mind me asking why on earth I'm being arrested."

He gave me a foul look, "You, are in no position to ask anything, witch."

And before I knew it I was dragged down to the dungeons and thrown into a cell.

I groaned as I struggled to sit up against the wall, "Rena?" I heard someone squeak from the other side of the cell.

I looked up, staring into the dark, "Who's there?" I asked.

Genya walked out of the shadows and crouched down beside me, "I can't believe it, they wouldn't punish you for this," she mumbled to herself.

"What's going on?" I asked her, a slight waver to my voice, "That prince, Vasily, he called me a witch, I thought, I thought Grisha were welcome here."

Genya looked back at me, "We were, but, the king seems to have suddenly, changed his mind."

"But they didn't arrest Fredyor? They hardly spared him a second glance, why did they just go after me?" I asked, she raised a brow at me, "Right," I said realisation settling on my shoulders. I was the daughter to the general, of course they would go after me. "But why did they arrest you?" I questioned, curiosity spiking in me.

"Well because-" she stopped, "Now's not the time, we have to get out of here."

I rolled my eyes, no one ever told me anything, "Goodluck with that, I don't think we're going to get very far in these," I held up my cuffed hands and clinked them against her ones.

She mannaged to pick out a pin from her hair and picked her cuffs lock, "You were saying?" She wiggled her brows at me.

I almost laughed, she was an absolute genius. But a thought sprang to my mind, "Wouldn't it just be better to answer their questions? I mean we didn't do anything."

She narrowed her eyes at me, "Let me guess Vasily told you it was a questioning?" I nodded, "Rena, their going to execute us.

My eyes widened, "What?" I gasped, "But where will we go?"

She gave me that mischievous grin again, "If they arrested you that only means they couldn't find the Darkling. I have some friends, and a fair idea of where he is," she told me proudly.

"What friends?" I asked.

My question was answered by the time I had asked it, the cell door creaked open, a Materialki woman crouched beside it, a squaller had his hands raised and the cell door dropped to the ground without a sound.

"This is too well planned," I wondered aloud. Genya just rolled her eyes, unlocking my cuffs and helping me up.

"Is the way out clear?" Genya asked them.

The squaller man shook his head, "Too many guards, we're bound to be seen," he huffed.

"I can help with that," I piped up, they all looked down at me. Suddenly I felt very small, "I've never done it with four people before, but I can do it. Would you be able to do that trick with the sound again, mabey muffle our footsteps?" I asked the man.

He nodded, "Alright," I sighed, "Just one second," I closed my eyes, bringing my hands together and concentrated, I visualized the light bending away from us, making us invisible.

I heard the Materialki woman squeak beside me, "Did it work?" I asked, no one answered, I opened my eyes and everyone was gone, I couldn't even see my own hands, "I did it, I actually did it," I whispered to myself.

"Okayyy, you know what I'm not going to question this," I heard Genya say somewhere to my right, "Everyone grab a hand or shoulder or something, don't loose each other. Ready?" She asked, no one answered, "Alright, let's go."

My ears popped as the squaller presumably raised his hands, someone placed a hand on my shoulder, and I led the way. My heart was hammering in my chest as we passed guards and nobles, no one gave any indication that they saw or heard us, then we ran into our first problem. The main door was closed.

It was flanked by guards so if we opened it they would notice and be on guard, "What do we do?" I whispered, the little bubble like thing the squaller kept around us stopped all sound from escaping but I still felt the need to whisper.

"Just be ready to run through when it opens, there's people coming up the path," I heard the Materialki woman say behind me, she was the one holding my shoulder, I also noticed it was the first time she had spoken.

"Everyone grab hands, tight," Genya explained "When it opens run, stay together, we don't know how long this light trick will work, head for the stables."

"My hands are kind of preoccupied," I voiced.

"Then grab wrists," I could almost hear her eye roll. At that I felt someone grab my one of my wrists. The door opened and we made a dash for it.

Someone must have bumped into the noble that was coming, he stumbled, one of the guards caught him, holding him steady. The guard looked around suspiciously.

The noble laughed to himself, "Don't fret young fellow," he clapped him on the back, "The kvas was free," he winked.

I let out a sigh of relief and we continued running towards the little palace stables.

We entered the stables, our footsteps still muffled and still invisible.

I tensed when I heard voices, "What do you mean, poisoned?" I heard the voice of Fredyor ask.

We inched round the corner, and I caught my breath, Zina, Luka and Koldan were standing infront of Fredyor, arguing or trying to convince him of something.

"What do you think, poisoned, assassination, do you want me to say it in Suli?" Koldan snapped, obviously irritated. He sat down on a pile of hay while Luka paced back and forth.

We inched past them, careful not to knock anything over as we passed. I saw Koldan's head look over to us slightly but whatever he was thinking he dismissed it with a shake of his head.

Zina started to say something but Koldan stopped her, "Do you feel that?" He asked Fredyor, clasping his hands together.

Fredyor looked up and copied the gesture with his hands, "Heartbeats," he confirmed, "We're not alone, come," he said, "We'll discuss this with the others."

They walked out of the stables and went back to the little palace, when I was sure we were alone I let go, leaving the light bounce back onto us.

I rubbed the temples of my head pacing back and forth, trying to make sense of the little amount of information I had, "What's going on," I demanded.

"Keep your voice down," Genya scolded, "We know what you know, saddle up," she gestured to Sumerki who was still tied up waiting to be groomed, "We'll go find other horses," she left with the others to go to the back of the stables to find horses.

I sighed and started to tack up Sumerki, I heard boots on gravel and turned, but not before hands enveloped my torso.

"Oh my Saints, Ren, I knew it was you," I heard Koldan mutter into my kefta.

I stiffened, I was an awkward person yes, but he'd never hugged me before.

He pulled back, "How did you get out?" He questioned.

"Well I- it's a long story but I can, do this thing..." I twisted my hand and I disappeared from his vision, and then came back into focus.

"Woah," he gasped, "That's amazing."

"Are you going to turn me in?" I asked my gaze on the ground.

"What? No, of course not," he assured me, "I only came back cause I forgot something."

I looked up meeting his eyes, "What did you-" I didn't finish my sentence, he took an awkward step forward and kissed me. It couldn't have been for more than a single second but it felt like an eternity, and it felt right.

"I forgot to say goodbye to you Ren," he answered my question, "I have to get back or they'll know somethings up, but Ren I never wanted to spy on you. I only gave him the smallest details, nothing he could use, not our conversations, our jokes, none of that. Zina and Luka didn't either, and I know what I just did now was probably stupid but I had to, I might never get another chance but just know that you're the best friend I never imagined I would have, and mabey when we're older and all this is over it could be something more." He confessed, "Goodbye Rena, I'll see you soon, I'm sure of it," and with that he turned and ran back up to the little palace, leaving me standing in the same position, shocked.

I heard someone give a swit-swoo whistle and Genya, the squaller and the Materialki rounded the corner. "That was some speech," the squaller chuckled.

"Shut up," I mumbled as I finished tacking up Sumerki.

"Well it was certainly interesting, a bit long and mumbled, but interesting," Genya mocked.

I rolled my eyes as I led my horse towards them, "Don't you dare tell my father about this," I narrowed my eyes.

"We'll see," she responded, "Could you do that trick with the light again?" She asked as we all mounted our horses.

"I guess we'll find out," I mumbled.

We tied our horses in a train like style, and used back roads, it was long and slow but eventually we got out of Os Atlas and I let the light bounce back onto us, not that it was of much use, it was already starting to get dark.

"Where are we going?" I asked as we untied the horses from each other.

"Not too far," the Materialki woman said, "Just to Kribirsk, the Darkling has a skiff waiting there apparently."

And with that we rode in silence until we reached Kribirsk, not daring to stop incase we were being followed.