Page 6

It’s rare that I’m too stunned to speak, but Kaelis has succeeded in that. I must have heard him wrong. I—

“ What? ” Ravin steals my question.

“—are you talking about?” I add, snarling under my breath.

“Father has been relentless ever since I turned twenty that it is improper for a man of my age to not have any prospects. I can only bear his griping for so many years. And, should something happen to you and your beloved Leigh—or any offspring you might someday get around to siring—the crown would fall to me.” Even though Kaelis speaks matter-of-factly, a shadow crosses over Ravin at the mention of “something happening” to him and his wife.

“So it’s well past time I do my duty as the second-born prince.

And what better way than to mend old wounds by taking the last surviving member of the clan that I destroyed by my own hand as my bride? ”

“Enough of this game,” Ravin snaps, discarding the parchment.

“It’s not a game,” Kaelis says solemnly. “I have asked her to swear upon the Four of Wands to marry me. She said yes and did so. It is done.” None of that happened, but I keep my mouth shut.

Do I want to be engaged to the prince? Four suits and every Major, no.

But I want to be Marked or sent back to Halazar much less.

So I keep my fingers laced with his and ignore the taste of vomit in the back of my throat.

“The only one playing a game, I think, is you. As you continue to regularly trespass into my academy without my invitation.”

Ravin crosses the room in a few wide strides. Kaelis’s fingers tighten, as if he’s trying to keep me from running away. The elder prince comes to a stop, glaring.

This close, I pick up on differences between the brothers.

They’re nearly the same height—it would be impossible to tell who’s taller without looking at them back-to-back—but Ravin is more muscular.

His lips are slightly fuller, even when pressed into a scowl.

His eyes are a very dark brown, instead of black like Kaelis’s.

And his hair is the shade of a flat black ink.

Kaelis’s is more of a deep midnight purple, like the falcon feathers harvested for pigment—a prismatic shadow of night.

“I know you’re lying,” Ravin growls.

Kaelis merely smirks at his brother’s agitation. “What proof do you have?”

“Abandon this foolishness before I get Father involved.”

“Before you get Father involved,” Kaelis repeats with a mocking sneer.

Then his voice drops to a whisper. “ Do it. Get him involved. Try to prove wrong my claim of her lineage with or without his help. But, while you undertake your investigation, she’s under my control and protection, especially after tonight. ”

Ravin clenches his jaw, and the muscles in his cheek bulge.

His eyes dart to me. For a second, I think he’ll address me directly.

Though I’ve no idea of what he’d say. Ultimately, the firstborn prince lets out a noise of disgust. He leaves without another word, slamming the doors behind him with such force that I nearly feel the ancient foundations of Arcana Academy tremble.

The instant that we don’t have an audience, Kaelis eagerly releases me. At least mutual disgust is one thing we can agree on.

“We need to get you formally enrolled as an initiate as quickly as possible and solidify your new name with the other nobles.” Kaelis takes out a kerchief and wipes his fingers with it, as though he’s trying to expunge my essence from him.

“Before guards or enforcers arrive, orRavin comes up with some idea to meddle in my academy, yet again.”

I lock eyes with the prince. “I can’t say that he’s the one I’m worried about.”

“Now, why would I harm my bride-to-be?” Kaelis flashes me a smile that only puts me more on edge.

“You can’t be serious about any of this,” I say flatly. It’s ludicrous.

“Oh? Would you like to be Marked and sent to a mill?”

“Of course not.” For most, that’s a fate worse than death.

“Do you want to go back to Halazar instead?” He arches his brows, and I purse my lips in response.

“I didn’t think so.” Kaelis shifts to face me.

“I’m the only thing keeping you from going back to the lowest pit of Halazar and rotting away for the rest of what is sure to be a pathetically short life. ”

The “lowest pit” means one thing: the dungeons.

A forsaken place solely in Glavstone’s control.

Somewhere that not even most guards of Halazar know about.

Fear rips through me with a force I can’t stop.

I had to endure the forgotten lower levels of Halazar for only a brief time—after the one instance I ever dared to speak back to Warden Glavstone.

The dungeons quickly taught me the lesson that he was not to be questioned: They are void of all light, warmth, and kindness.

They are the place that the world forgot, where not even screams can escape.

I search Kaelis’s face for the hint of a lie. For some sign that somewhere in those two voids he calls eyes there is a spark of compassion. That maybe, just maybe, he is not as horrible as the stories say.

But there is neither friend nor safety to be found in Prince Kaelis.

His threats against those I love still weigh on me. Kaelis had already maneuvered me into his clutches once, when he captured me the first time. He did it again as I tried to escape. The man is clever, scheming, and dangerous. Arina and the Starcrossed Club are all at risk thanks to me.

“And what do you want in exchange for this… freedom ”—I nearly choke on the word—“you’re offering me?”

“I already told you.” His eyes shine in the firelight with amusement tainted with malice.

“The World,” I finish for him.

He nods.

“And how am I supposed to get that for you?” If I could access that kind of power, I would have a long, long time ago. Arina and I would’ve brought back our mother and ended Oricalis.

“I’ll go over the details, in time. For now we need to focus on getting you to, and through, the Fire Festival. You look like you can barely walk, much less fight your fate in the festival.” Kaelis starts for one of the doors that line the room.

“Well, whose fault is my current state?” Kaelis pretends to ignore my remark. “What comes after?”

He pauses to shoot me a confused look. “Then you will be an initiate in the academy, and you will succeed in your tests and trials to become a student…or you will die.”

“No.” That much was clear to me. “What happens after I get you the World?”

“You think you have a right to know?”

“I do if you want my help.”

“Oh, Clara…” He chuckles darkly. “You’re not in any position to negotiate.

” I know the bastard’s right. “Now, clean up, gather your strength, and make yourself presentable as the long-lost noble you’ll claim to be—and as my one-day bride.

The last thing I want is for you to embarrass me.

” Kaelis departs, and silence rings in my ears.

My gaze drifts out the windows and to Eclipse City beyond.

Where my home is. The only home I’ve ever known.

Where the people I must get back to are.

And now that I’m out of Halazar, there is a chance I can reunite with them.

Arina is in the academy. She knew of a secret passage out of the school that she can show me.

This “engagement” is only temporary. My luck hasn’t left me yet.

Just when I’m about to resume my search for cards—or anything else that might be of use—another door opens and Rewina enters with a bundle of dark fabrics burdening her grasp. “M’lady, his highness has prepared some options for you.”

“Lovely.” I don’t even bother expunging the sarcasm from my tone. “Let’s see what he thinks will suit me.”

The prince has impeccable taste, and I think I hate him even more for it.

Rewina hands me an ink-black leather coat.

Its high collar grazes my chin, nearly reaching the ends of my hair.

Rewina tried to style it, but she could do only so much with that Halazar hack job and me struggling to resist, flinching every time she drew close with the shears.

The coat’s long sleeves skim my arms with perfectly tailored precision after Rewina used the Three of Coins to tighten the seams on the supple leather.

With all the layers of fabric, it’s harder to tell I’m all skin and bones. A tactical choice, I assume.

Rewina attempts to remedy the latter as best she can.

She brings me food that I force myself to eat slowly or else be sick.

It’s simple fare but heartier than anything I’ve eaten in almost a year.

She further fortifies me with the aid of a few cards.

Eventually, she steps back, admiring her handiwork.

I feel like a shattered vase pasted back together.

The cracks are still there, but only if you look closely.

My fingers settle on the broach pinned over my left breast. It’s an intricately detailed silver pin of a fist clasping the handle of a lantern. The symbol of Clan Hermit, the once keepers of the knowledge and histories of the Oricalis Kingdom and beyond.

Every noble clan is a family that controls a small domain under the rule of the crown.

The head lord or lady of the clan oversees the family, lands, and other wards on behalf of Oricalis.

Clan Hermit was one of the ten major clans still standing at the end of the brutal Clan Culling, a war that narrowed the clans down from the original twenty—one clan for each Major Arcana, said to have been founded by the original acolytes of the Fool.

Clan Hermit had survived countless ups and downs throughout the history of Oricalis.

But they couldn’t survive Kaelis.

“The prince, did he really destroy Clan Hermit?” I ask softly.