She groaned.“You know what I mean.I’d never violate the dominion, truly.”
Whatever thisdominionwas,Iwas going to break it, violate it, and uproot it the fuck up from where it didn’t belong.
“I only acquiesced to accompanying you to the palace.I never said I’d let you arrest and imprison me.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing I wasn’t asking.”She added ahmphfor good measure.
No lumoons bordered the long, ascending path to the palace.Only the moon cast its pale glow across the cobblestones, gilding them in silver, limning the sparse trees on either side of the approach.Just enough for visual appeal, none so much that our enemies could use them for concealment.
This,finally, was exactly as it should be.
More or less as it had been since my father the king’s ancestors had moved their seat of rule to the coast so they could overlook the StarRay Ocean, which appeared to stretch without end, all the way into the Etherlands.
While Cosette brooded, probably plotting my imminent arrest, a plan she would have abandoned had she realized who I was, the unease that skittered along and beneath my skin as if it were my very life essence mingled with something new: an excited anticipation.
Every plodding step delivered me closer to the palace, toward whatever answers awaited, and whether or not I’d find Teo where he belonged instead of in some unexplained exile.
Tohome.
There I’d find Alonso and Rafaela.My adoptive parents, the king and queen of Zaraga, would explain everything.If Teo wasn’t there with them, they’d point me to him.They would know with complete certainty whether or not their son was alive.
They’d also know how long I’d been gone, and why.
The palace’s battlements were already in view when Cosette broke the silence.
“I’ve been thinking…”
“Congratulations.”
Shetsked, a sound akin to the clicking pincers of an insect.“How did you drink the blood of your victims when there were no puncture wounds anywhere on their bodies?”
When I didn’t answer, she said, “We’ve established that you are indeed a sänglure.”
I pursed my lips.I shouldn’t have offered even that much.Rafaela would eat me alive if my guard wasn’t properly up before we arrived.
“And sänglures pierce the Majora vein in their victim’s necks to drink.”
“Not always the Majora.And not usually victims either.”Worried they too might have ceased to exist, I commented as casually as I could: “Feeding dens are voluntary.”
For several beats she didn’t speak.“True.”
I released a long, quiet exhale.
“That doesn’t change that you didn’t feed from them the usual way.”
Usualand I had never tangled all that much.
“They were very obviously drained of blood,” Cosette continued.“So how’d you do it?It was definitely you.”
Clop, clop, clop, the dragort climbed steadily if slowly.
“Come on.I can be a friend to you.I can help you out.You scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.”
Her back was no wider than any one of my fingers.Scratchingwasn’t happening.
Still, “When we get to the palace, if you fetch the king or queen for me, I’ll tell you how I did it.”
Her wings fluttered in a rapidbuzzing burst before quieting just as quickly.She did it when something threw her off balance, something I’d done many times already, highlighting her tell.
