Ivan walked out of the library. He was furious.
'Fuck Gareth,' he thought, his fists clenching at his sides. 'That bastard just wasted my entire day to prove a point.'
He walked down the long, empty palace hallway. The silence felt suffocating. He knew time was running out. Alaric's legion would march in a few days. He needed a plan. He needed an ally who acted instead of talked.
His mind immediately went to the most rebellious and action-oriented member of his family.
Lyra.
'How can I make good use of Lyra?' he thought. He knew words would not work. He had already tried that with his father, with Alaric, with Valerius. They all saw him as a child. He needed to create a situation she could not ignore. A problem only she could solve.
A new, reckless plan formed in his mind.
He headed straight for the royal menagerie.
The menagerie was a lush, green space within the palace walls. It was filled with the sounds of exotic creatures from all corners of the Empire. It was Lyra's personal kingdom.
He found the enclosure for Nyx, her Shadowcat. The creature was a sleek, black predator. Its fur seemed to absorb the light. Its eyes glowed with a faint purple light as it paced back and forth inside its large, open-air cage.
He waited. He hid behind a large, leafy bush and watched the keepers. He waited for the shift change.
As the afternoon keepers arrived, he made his move. He crept to the other side of the menagerie and unlatched a large cage of noisy Sun-Feather parrots.
The birds exploded out of the cage in a riot of red and gold feathers, squawking loudly.
"Hey! The parrots are out!" one keeper yelled.
While the keepers were scrambling to catch the colorful birds, Ivan approached Nyx's enclosure.
He did not break the lock. He simply lifted the heavy iron latch, opened the gate just a crack, and then closed it again, leaving it unlatched. He knew the cat's intelligence and curiosity would do the rest.
He then took a small pouch from his pocket. It was filled with high-quality, smoked river-fish. Nyx's favorite treat. He left a small trail of the fish leading out of the menagerie and toward the palace's northern service gate.
His trap was set.
He walked calmly to the main training grounds.
He found Lyra there. She was sparring with two royal guards at once. She was a blur of motion. She ducked under a sword swing, used the guard's own momentum to throw him off balance, and disarmed the other with a sharp kick to his wrist.
He waited until she was finished. The two guards were breathing heavily, their faces full of respect.
She saw him and frowned. "What do you want, Ivan? I heard you're not allowed to be here."
Ivan put on his most pathetic, nervous expression. He fidgeted with the hem of his sleeve and avoided her gaze.
"Uh, sis..." he stammered. "I... I was bored and... I was visiting the menagerie..."
"Get to the point," she said, wiping sweat from her brow with the back of her hand.
"I kind of... released your Shadowcat," he said, his voice a mumble. "And it ran away."
There was a dead silence. The two guards she was sparring with took a slow, careful step back.
Lyra's face went from annoyed to furious in a split second.
"You what?" she said, her voice dangerously quiet.
"I'm sorry! I just wanted to pet it!" he lied, making his voice sound small and pathetic.
She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, her knuckles white. "If Father finds out Nyx is loose, he'll order it hunted down! Do you have any idea what you've done?"
"I'll help you find it!" he said quickly. "I have to take the blame! It was my fault!"
She shoved him away, hard. "You're damn right you will." She turned and sprinted toward the stables. "Get two horses! Now!"
They raced to the stables. Lyra saddled two fast coursers with practiced efficiency. Ivan grabbed a small tracking kit from the wall, his hands trembling just enough to look convincing.
They used Lyra's authority as the Imperial Huntress to get past the guards at the north gate.
"A beast has escaped," she said, her voice sharp and commanding. "We are in pursuit. Open the gate."
The guards did not argue. They were finally outside the palace walls.
They followed the trail easily at first. Nyx, being a cat, had stopped to eat the fish Ivan had left. Lyra dismounted and found the discarded fish bones in an alleyway.
"It's heading for the city limits," she said, her expression grim as she galloped through the crowded market streets. People scattered to get out of their way. "If it gets into the open plains, we'll never find it before the Imperial Guard does."
They rode hard for nearly an hour, leaving the city behind. The sun was beginning to set.
They found Nyx in a small clearing just off the main northern road. The cat was not running. It was sitting calmly under a tree, washing its face with its paw after finishing its meal.
Nyx saw Lyra and let out a happy, chuffing sound. It trotted over to her as she dismounted. It rubbed against her legs, purring loudly. She scooped it up into her arms, her anger melting away, replaced by relief.
The problem was solved. It was as if it were never a problem at all.
As they stood there, Ivan stopped. He looked down the long, empty road that led north. The road to the Golden Plains.
Lyra, holding her cat, looked at him. "Hurry up, Ivan. We need to go back."
He kept looking at the road. Then he turned and looked at her. His pathetic, nervous expression was gone. His face was blank.
She had a sudden moment of realization. Her eyes narrowed.
"Ivan... it wasn't an accident," she said, her voice dangerously low. "You released my Shadowcat."
He met her gaze. His voice was calm.
"Yes. I did."