Despite the still-warm night, theair that caresses my skin is a balm to the storm of emotions churning within me as I step outside, escaping the suffocating walls of the Aviary. Instinct carries me on light feet through the shadowed alleyways to the edge of Vinta, the small isle where the order’s headquarters stand. I slip around the last corner of a building, and the royal isle, Santora, comes into view.
Rather than leaving the alley, I crouch down, eyeing the path ahead.
This close to the royal isle, I must be cautious. Despite being the daughter of the king, the Eagle has made it clear I wasn’t to have any contact with my old life while I was still in training, claiming it would compromise my ability as a Songbird. Plus, there’s the tiny detail of everyone believing I’m on the Isle of the Winds.
On the surface, I obeyed his rules, but my brother and I have a shared love for breaking them. We’ve been meeting in secret at midnight every full moon for the past several years.
I glance up as the moon peeks out from behind its shroud of inky clouds, a smile curving my lips as another flash of white catches my eye. I hold up my arm as Kal’s hawk, Cinder, flies toward me like a feathered arrow finally released from a bow. He circles me twice before landing, ruffling his black-spotted feathers and cocking his head to the side, fixing me with one beady eye. His talons dig through the fabric, but rather than making me flinch, a sense of comfort settles inside me.
“Hello, clever boy,” I croon. “Are you here to be my scout?”
He gives a shrill caw in response, and I swear the tone of it says,Obviously.If birds could roll their eyes, Cinder would do it, and often.
At a click of my tongue, he takes flight, gliding over the cobbled street to land on the footbridge arching over the water. He cocks his head from side to side before giving a single squawk.
The coast is clear.
I stand from my hiding place, darting across the street and over the bridge, mercifully empty at this time of night. Cinder swoops past me, taking the lead and scouting ahead.
The moment I set foot on the isle, the changes are obvious. Rows of pristine white villas belonging to the upper society of the Sorrows line the meticulously cobbled streets, and small manicured courtyards bloom with bougainvillea and citrus trees. I dart from row to row, making my way toward the looming palace walls. When the eastern gatehouse comes into view, I crouch behind a potted apricot tree, squinting at the guards stationed on either side.
As I watch, a third joins them—Maxim, my brother’s personal guard. His tall, broad form is clad in the same official garb as the others, but the cerulean himation clasped at his shoulder marks him as one of the Royal Guard. After a brief exchange, the other two offer him a swift salute before turning and marching inside, and Maxim takes his post. I rise from my crouch and rush forward, offering a grin as I dart past him and slip through the gatehouse.
Like every time before, my feet stall when I step beyond the archway, breath catching in my throat at the sight before me.
The Palace of Sorrows.
A paved pathway cuts through the surrounding immaculate gardens, leading to an arcade of intricately carved stone pillars. The palace glows in the moonlight, its white towers rising against an endless stretch of black velvet, cerulean flags fluttering in a sea breeze. Hundreds of windows glimmer with the reflection of the shy moon.
The memory of attempting to count them with Kal when we were children rises from the depths of my mind, drawing forth a soft, nostalgic smile.
Cinder swoops past me once again, and I tear my gaze away, following him through the tall hedges and ornate topiary shrubs that have kept my clandestine visits hidden from prying eyes.
A hand clamps down on my wrist and tugs me around a bend, pulling me down into the shadows of a hedge sculpted into the likeness of my great-grandfather, King Cadmus. Without thought, I unsheathe my dagger and swing it toward my attacker’s throat. My stomach bottoms out, and I only just manage to pull it back as I come face-to-face with my brother’s sparkling ochre eyes.
“Are you trying to get us caught?” I hiss, punching him in the shoulder as I slam the blade back into its sheath at my waist. “Or get yourself killed?”
“Come on, Aella,” Kallias taunts. “I didn’t take you as the type to scare easily.”
I huff out a breath of mock annoyance, but as usual, Kal sees right through me, offering a teasing grin as he pulls me into a hug.
When he finally releases me, Kal leans back and runs a hand through the waves of his dark hair, his olive-brown skin catching faint traces of moonlight. The scent of wine clings to him, and the kohl he typically lines his eyes with is smudged, making him look more worn than I’ve seen him before. His gaze drifts back toward the palace, and he sighs. “There’s a lot of that happening around here.”
His words peck at my apprehension, like birds of prey pulling scraps from a carcass. A frown creases my brow as I add concern for my brother to my worries.
“Something’s bothering you. What is it?”
“I’m unsure. Father has been absent a lot, cooped up in his study and meeting with that vulture of a man who stole you away. Even though I’ll be ruling in his stead one day, he won’t confide in me. I’ve tried to get him to talk to me, but he brushes me off and tells me it’s nothing to concern myself with. But I feel it, Aella. There’s this…tension you can sense when you’re around him, like he’s a serpent coiled and waiting to strike. The servants are also aware—I can only imagine what gossip is spreading among them.”
My heart fractures in my chest. I lean back and watch Cinder as he perches within the leafy crown of the King Cadmus hedge, his feathered head twitching in each direction as he keeps a lookout. A wave of emotions floods through me. Grief, guilt, and anger.
So much anger.
Before our father sent me away with the Eagle, Kal and I believed we would always be there for one another. From the moment I could crawl, we were inseparable. As thick as thieves, running around the palace and its grounds. But it was all a fantasy, the ignorance of childhood, shattered too soon by a reality much bleaker.
“Do you remember the time we thought he was planning to propose to that gods-awful Lady Cynthia?” I ask, the specter of an idea taking shape in my mind.
The lines on Kal’s forehead deepen. “And we broke into his study to find the proof?”
