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The Talons guided us on until we reached a high wall built of polished black stone, stretching far above us to encircle the palace.

Perhaps Mirelle wanted to keep herself isolated from the city and her people, but when we reached large iron gates, flung wide for all to enter, that wasn’t what it seemed at all.

There was a busy market in the stone grounds of the palace, little wooden huts set up with everflames dancing in jars hanging from their roofs. Handcrafted wares, armour, and weapons were among the items on offer, but there was food too. An array of unusual fruits, pastries and colourful treats.

The Talons led us through the centre of the market, passing a large fire that was set into a stone well. Families were gathered around it, toasting fluffy-looking candies in the fire and eating them with chocolate and sweet breads.

My stomach growled hopefully at the sight. I hadn’t been given much on the ship, just a few handfuls of nuts, seeds, and some apples. North and Kaiser were offered all kinds of foods as the traders spotted them, one rushing forward with baskets of that mouthwatering sweet bread.

North took some, biting it savagely without care, crumbs flying everywhere as he waved to a couple of kids who squealed in excitement at seeing him. A little girl tugged her mother’s red skirt, pointing out Kaiser, smiling brightly like he was a ray of fucking sunshine come to lighten her day.

North muttered something in Kaiser’s ear and the Fury turned to the girl, raising a hand to her, though his blank expression didn’t change. She squealed in glee, hugging her mother who laughed and waved as we went by.

An uncomfortable knot grew in my chest as I glanced back at the girl and she waved keenly at me too, clearly not recognising what I was. She was so small, so innocent, and so damn…happy.

Despite the warmth of the city that was radiating from the ground, chills swept over my skin.

I didn’t want to see this. I had grown up with pictures in my mind of what Pyros was like and it wasn’t this.

It was meant to be full of monsters. There was supposed to be blood running in the streets.

Mirelle Brimtheon was said to cut off the heads of any who opposed her among her own people and sit them on spikes outside her palace walls.

But there was no such thing here. It was a haven. A fucking storybook fantasy.

She must have been hiding her sins well. There had to be bodies in her walls. Fae who went missing in the night. I wasn’t going to fall for this veil of lies.

The palace doors were wide open, the obsidian walls reflecting the sunset rising high on either side of them to piercing spires. Up close, I could see balconies and stone animals adorning the building, the glasswork skilfully intricate.

The Talons led us inside and the mood shifted at last as I spotted plenty more armed Flamebringers standing around, though they weren’t positioned like soldiers. They leaned against doors and sat on a stone bench that ringed a roaring fire, looking at ease.

A black staircase rose ahead of us and I peered up it, spying a series of stairs intersecting above me to higher levels of the palace.

Again, North and Kaiser were greeted with enthusiasm, receiving claps on their shoulders, big ass smiles and plenty of bows. I offered cold scowls to anyone who glanced my way.

We ascended the dark steps, following a path of sconces up several flights and along a corridor full of high windows that ended with a single black, wooden door.

The Talons stopped in front of it, bowing and gesturing for Kaiser and North to proceed.

North pushed the door open with confidence, walking into the chamber beyond with swagger and leaving us trailing after him.

My throat thickened as Kaiser’s hand curled around my shoulder and he steered me forward, his fingers digging in hard.

A cherry red wooden floor stretched away ahead of us beneath a sea of gleaming candelabras and swathes of crimson velvet that hung from the ceiling in molten rivers.

Low sofas and large cushions were dotted everywhere, filled with laughing Flamebringers with drinks in hand, all sitting around bubbling waterpipes with everflames dancing inside them.

They took turns puffing on the pipes that released plumes of almond-scented smoke into the air.

It caused a vague haze so the figures in the furthest reaches of the chamber were shrouded, just darkened silhouettes moving through the low-lit corners.

Lively music played, similar to the type I’d heard in the taverns and plenty of Fae were dancing, a sea of writhing bodies barring our path onward. But the crowd parted for us as eyes fell on Kaiser and North, more excitement brimming in the atmosphere as they let them through.

“She’s been waiting for you,” a woman called to them. “She’s in the Cinder Chamber.” She pointed beyond the sea of Flamebringers and my skin prickled as I was led through so many enemies.

Curious eyes fell on me, whispers passed between lips, and Kaiser drew me ever closer.

At the far end of the room, North led us through an archway and there she was, stealing my breath and making me tense. Kaiser’s possession flooded over me, stalling any thoughts of attack which flitted through my head.

The Matriarch lay on a swathe of black velvet cushions between shimmering veils that hung from the low ceiling.

A fire burned behind her in an iron brazier and six women were laying around her, all of them laughing and chatting with each other while a couple of male Talons handed them drinks and platters of food.

The Matriarch was obvious among them from the fierce look of power that highlighted her as a queen. Her skin was richly dark and her black hair hung in sleek braids over her shoulders, adorned with golden clasps that matched the bright flecks in her tawny brown eyes.

She wore a silken bronze dress that split up both legs, revealing a knife strapped to her thigh with a magpie emblazoned on the sheath.

Glancing our way, she rose on bare feet, sweeping toward us and my heart thundered with the sense of power she commanded with nothing more than a look.

She was tall and muscular too, proving she was more than capable for physical fights, and from what I’d heard, she was a ruthless opponent whose wrath few survived.

She was a warrior of fire and death who was well used to getting her hands dirty.

I knew the stories that told of the warrior girl who had claimed an entire kingdom for herself the year she had returned from Never Keep.

Now, she had ruled that empire for over twenty years, her name whispered from land to land, painted with fear and wonder.

She had to be over six feet tall because she was almost on eye level with her two sons and it made me feel all the more disarmed to be cast in their shadows. She wrapped Kaiser in a fierce hug, kissing his cheek and grabbing North by the back of the neck to yank him into the fold too.

“I’ve missed you so much,” she exhaled. “The whole of Pyros has missed you.”

“You could have written to me,” North muttered, but hugged her all the same.

“I wrote you both together, love.” She grinned at North, so at ease, so damn sweet and motherly that I wanted to punch her in the face for it.

She was meant to be a raging bitch with a cold heart who treated her orphan children like pawns to be played in war.

In Cascada, they said she shed no tears for her dead children, that she tossed their bones into lava pits and never marked their graves.

But this woman was fawning over her sons, asking of their trials at Never Keep between hugs and more kisses.

North was smiling like a two-year-old with a sugar lump in his mouth and Kaiser, well, Kaiser was an emotionless tree who seemed no more pleased to see Mirelle than he did a blank wall, but still.

He was letting her make a fuss, not knocking her away while she ruffled his hair or commented on how strong he looked.

“Excuse me,” I snapped, my patience cracking.

All eyes turned my way and Mirelle’s eyebrows lifted in surprise like she hadn’t noticed my existence until just now.

“And who’s this?” she asked, looking to her sons, but I’d be damned if they’d speak for me.

“I’m Everest Arcadia of Cascada. Your son Kaiser murdered my mother and I will one day plant my dagger into his heart and end his worthless existence in payment for her death.”

Mirelle’s eyes widened a little and the women on the velvet cushions gasped and cursed my name.

“I see,” Mirelle said, her eyes hardening.

There she was: the brutal creature hiding beneath the veil. She stepped protectively in front of Kaiser, knocking his hand off of my arm and her hand took its place, her nails digging into my skin.

“And what are you doing here in my palace then, Everest Arcadia? Because you would not still be breathing if my son believed there was a threat to bringing you here.”

“She can do nothing unless I allow it,” Kaiser explained. “I made her my Fearsire.”

“Why would you make such a rash choice?” Mirelle cut him a look back over her shoulder, her nails digging into my flesh harder.

“It was the only way. We must speak in private, Mirelle. There is much to tell you,” Kaiser said.

North helped himself to an apple from one of the platters the Talons were holding, taking a savage bite out of it and looking from Kaiser to Mirelle like he was a naughty kid who was about to get in trouble.

Mirelle eyed me closely for a second then released me, whirling away and striding for a door behind one of the Talons. He hurried to open it for her, bowing low and North bounded after her, pulling Kaiser along with him.

“You’re about to get an ass whooping, freyin,” North murmured to Kaiser with a taunting smile.

“We’ll see,” Kaiser replied, forcing me to walk along behind him with a tug of his possession.