PROLOGUE
CALLYN
This was supposed to be a peaceful protest.
It’s the only reason we came. Da kept insisting, “You owe it to your mother, Callyn. The queen should know the will of her people.”
Maybe I do owe it to her. Maybe Mother would want me and Nora to be here. I reach up and rub the pendant that hangs over my heart the way I do anytime I think of her.
This was only supposed to be a gathering of like-minded people who opposed the king’s magic. Safe. Small. Da wanted Nora and me to come because he said it was important to make a good showing so the queen would listen. He even tried to convince Master Ellis to come, along with his son Jax, my best friend. Their blacksmith forge was too busy to leave, though—and travel is difficult for Jax on his crutches. But now that we’re all packed along the cobblestone roadway leading to the Crystal Palace, I don’t know if any of us needed to come at all. There are hundreds of people here. Maybe thousands.
Most are armed.
All are shouting.
Nora squeezes my hand. “Those people have swords,” she says, and her voice is nearly lost under the cacophony.
I follow her gaze. Alotof people have swords. And axes, and arrows, and hammers. I see bricks in a few hands. Anything you could reasonably consider a weapon. Guards stand in front of the gate, trying to talk people down, but there are only a dozen of them and a huge press of people straining at the steel bars. Behind the guards is a short stretch of shining cobblestones that end at the base of the steps leading up to the palace. The summer sun fills the air with heat, and the smell of so many sweating bodies pressed together is oppressive. It’s doing nothing good for anyone’s temper.
A shouting man tries to push through the crowd, and Nora stumbles into me, squealing when he stomps on her foot. He’s got a dagger in his hand, and it comes dangerously close to my sister’s eye. I jerk her out of the way.
“She’s just a child!” I snap at him.
He gives me a rude gesture over his shoulder.
So peaceful. I scowl. Nora is only twelve. She shouldn’t be here. I’m not entirely sure thatIshould be. I set my shoulders. “Da.”
He’s not even paying attention. He’s chanting with the crowd.Bring us the queen! Bring us the queen!
“Da!” I shout over the noise. “Da, we need to get Nora out of here.”
He doesn’t look at me. “Queen Lia Mara will have to listen, Callyn. There are so many of us here. The queen must know: we’re doing this forher.”
Nora clutches my arm. This is her first time seeing the Crystal Palace, and on any other day she’d be staring up at the massive glistening structure with her mouth hanging open. She’d be asking if I thought we had a chance to see the queen, or if the street vendors in the Crystal City make better meat pies than what we sell in the bakery.
Right now she’s burrowing into my side, edging away from a man who has a hand on the trigger of a crossbow.
“Da,” I say again. “Da, please—”
My voice is swallowed by sudden noise. A massive cheer goes up among the people, and at first, I’m not sure what’s happened. I think perhaps the shouting reallyhasmade a difference, and I stare up at that gleaming staircase, wondering if the queen will appear at the top.
No. The crowd has broken through the gates. I see a guard lift a sword—and just as quickly, he disappears under the sudden crush of the crowd. Without warning, we’re jostled forward, and Nora and I have no choice but to move or be trampled ourselves.
I keep hold of my sister’s hand, and she clings to mine. I lose sight of Da almost immediately, and I cry out. “Da! Da!”
“Move, girl!” shouts a man to my left, and I take an elbow to the ribs. I stumble into Nora and we nearly fall. Luckily the crowd is so dense that we all but bounce off another woman. We’re carried forward with the mob. Weapons glint in the sunlight. I hear a few screams in the crowd as others must be pulled under, but it’s a quick burst of sound, and then it’s gone.
My heart is pounding so hard that I can’t breathe. My hand has gone slick, but I keep a tight grip on Nora’s hand. I can’t lose my sister. Ican’t.
I don’t feel the steps, but we’re moving upward. I can’t see anything but the bright sunlight overhead, the mountains beyond the palace cutting a line through the sky. Glass shatters, and it seems to keep shattering. More screams ring out. The massive doors to the palace have been destroyed, leaving a gaping hole for everyone to stream through.
Bring us the queen! Bring us the queen!
The shouts are so loud, and they seem to come from every direction. My feet crunch on broken glass, and I realize we’re about to be swept inside the palace.
No. My heart stutters and rebels. I don’t want this. I’m not here to be a part of an attack on the royal family.
For an instant, I don’t know what to do. Nora is crying now. Something must have hit her in the face, because blood is streaming from her nose.
