Page 56 of Exquisite Monster

Belleo tucked the last of my hair into the knot. “There. Done.”

“Thank you.” I pulled my bag closer and looked over toward the fire. “Varí?”

He flew over, his scales a shimmering white that reminded me of Endre’s true color. “Will you get me theniodaes? Carefully?”

His tail wiggled back and forth like he was ready to pounce, and he dove into the depths of the bag before coming back with a sealed bottle. I took it away from the others and uncorked it before retrieving a single dart and dipping it into the liquid as far as I could without touching it, and laid it on the ground.

“Niodaes?” Mesene asked. “The poison?”

“Yes. Be careful. When it dries it can be touched.”

“I’d heard of it, but I do not know the mixture.”

I laughed under my breath. “Gleym has more texts than you would expect for someone hidden below the surface of the earth. Isn’t that right, Idroal?”

They raised an eyebrow. “How would I know?”

“No reason.” I shrugged. “It just occurred to me that with your gift and the proximity to thesheyten, you might have spoken before now.”

Their mouth quirked, but they said nothing, and didn’t reprimand me for teasing them or pressing for more information.

Mesene sat nearby, carefully leaning forward and inhaling over the dart. “I don’t believe it’s lost knowledge, but the library in Skalisméra does not have it. Is it something you can share?”

“I don’t see why not. Gleym didn’t say otherwise, and she refused to teach me the one thing she did not want passed on. Plus, it would be wise for someone who is not mortal to know it.”

All the heads turned toward me save Idroal’s.

Sotai frowned. “Your bond. You’re not…?”

“I am not immortal.”

“But—”

“This is not something I can talk about right now,” I snapped.Then I closed my eyes. “I am sorry. This is already hard enough. I can’t think about it.”

Sotai bowed their head in acknowledgement.

Three more darts dipped in the poison was enough. The dress Sotai stole had no pockets, so I tucked my darts—both poisoned and not—into the sleeves.

Shadows fell over the valley, the temperature dropping almost immediately as the light and heat disappeared. Karadi jumped down from a ledge above, landing lightly on his feet. “Everyone ready?”

“As I can be.”

Idroal gestured us closer to the fire, where they’d drawn a layout of Caelora from above, using the dust on the ground. We weren’t fully going into the city. The main palace was on the outskirts near the walls, with people passing through the outer palace itself to enter the city. The place where the Heirs were being held was outside the city walls, circled with walls of its own.

“One more time,” Idroal said. “One more time and a prayer. Then we will be ready.” They looked up. “Erryn. Begin.”

Varícurled up on my shoulder, taking one last cuddle before they would remain with Idroal. And we listened. We were ready.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

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ZOVAI

Zovai.

The voice rang in my head. Familiar, but impossible.