Page 34

There wasn’t much of a view from this side of the palace. The exterior wall was littered with more balconies like theirs, but a sheer drop warned against any escape attempts. Hundreds and hundreds of feet below, rich, verdant grass sloped towards a dense forest. Whatever this place was, it had been built in the middle of a grand forestyearsago.

Were they back in the Vassal Empire? Was this the Forest of Skies? Or had they been abducted to another kingdom? To Ark’s knowledge there were at least six forests that sprawled acrossthe continent. They could have been inanyof them. That was the view from the window: endless trees. Not even the sharp fang of a mountain or the sloped back of a hill.

And above the trees, above the palace, was the sky. Tonight it was a blue-black colour, dense with clouds, and every twenty minutes or so tiny, barely-discernible shadows flitted through them. Birds, he’d thought, but they were too far away to be birds. They’d have to be huge. As big as this room almost.

“Ugh, fuck,” Kheir groaned as he startled awake, rolling over in bed and crashing to the carpeted floor.

A corner of Ark’s mouth turned up. “Not very princely language.”

“Yeah, well. Being locked up for days on end doesn’t make me feel very princely,” Kheir grumbled, rubbing his eyes.

Ark’s smirk softened into something fond, similar to the warmth he’d felt for the guards who’d worked under him for years. But this wasn’t a subordinate to guide and command. Kheir was his equal, his friend.

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said, facing the tall window again and searching the midnight clouds for another flash of shadow. “Princes have been kidnapped as leverage since the dawn of time. You’re maintaining a long tradition of princely captivity.”

“It’s too late for this shit,” Kheir mumbled, dragging himself out of bed and slumping into the tiny attached room where a cracked bowl accepted an offering of water they pretended was clear instead of decidedly beige.

“It’s only—actually I have no idea what time it is,” Ark huffed, spotting another slow glide of shadow through the clouds in the distance, a shade darker than the sky. What the fuck was that? Had the saints brought mythical creatures through the broken circle with them?

Ark crossed his arms over his chest, catching the sight of scars on his bare arms where pain had carved swirls and esotericsymbols into his skin in the saints' circle. When he glanced back at the sky that swooping shadow was closer, still in the distance above the forest but close enough that he made out two wings, a sleek body, and a long snout.

“Holy shit,” he breathed.

Kheir rushed out of the bathroom to see what had earned that response. Ark grabbed Kheir’s arm and squeezed. “Look.”

“What am I looking at?” Kheir asked seriously, not dismissing him as a madman for staring at the sky. Ark liked that about the prince; he was genuine and kind with a calm, serious core.

“That shadow there,” Ark said barely above a breath. “Does that look like a drake to you?”

Kheir scanned the night sky and grinned. It was a sharp smile that bared fangs and made the hairs stand up on the back of Ark’s neck as sudden knowledge unfurled through his mind. That was the smile that led soldiers to victories; that had both decimated enemies on the battlefield and politicians in elegantly appointed cabinet rooms.

“Yes, it does,” he agreed, glancing sideways at Ark. “Are you thinking of those drakes from the palace?”

“The ones Maia brought to life,” Ark agreed, his heart beating so hard he felt it in his throat.“Orwe’re both delusional and these are creatures that belong to the dark saints.”

“Delusion is my default state these days,” Kheir sighed, clapping Ark’s shoulder and moving back to the bed. Ark watched as Kheir checked the long pewter needle was still pinned to the shoulder of the rich purple tunic a skittish servant of the saints had brought this morning. He glanced up and caught Ark’s eye. “Tomorrow?” he asked.

“Tomorrow,” Ark agreed.

They had an advantage now, an edge they’d desperately needed to get out of this place. Tomorrow when Vawn arrived, they’d make their escape and find Maia and the others.

Or they’d be discovered and severely punished for the attempt.

“Better get practising,” Ark told Kheir, and returned to watching the sky. He needed to sleep, but not yet. Not yet.

“How?” Kheir asked with a rough expulsion of breath, sinking deeper into bed and running a hand through his dark hair. “I don’t know where to even begin.”

We will show you,a voice echoed all around them, so sudden as it was unexpected.

“What the fuck!” Ark exploded, startling Kheir off the bed.

“What?” the prince demanded, rushing across the carpet to grab Ark’s shoulders.

“You didn’t hear the voice?” Ark demanded, his heart thunderous now, a crawling awareness on the back of his neck. He faced the window and stared at the shadow swooping through distant clouds. Whatever that shadow was, it had spoken to him and only him; the knowledge came to Ark as easily as his next breath.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Kheir said with his voice pitched low. He squeezed Ark’s shoulder hard. “What should I have heard?”

Ark scrubbed a hand over his face, his beard bristly and longer with every day that passed. “The drake,” he whispered. “It spoke to me.”