I nod. “Maybe it’s time for a repeat?”
A smile blooms across his face, and the cracks in my heart stitch back together again. Not all the way, but close enough. I memorize every detail, burning my brother’s image into my mind. This could be the last time I see him. My eyes sting at the realization, so I turn away.
“The Naming was today,” I say, clearing my throat when the words come out strained. “And I’ve already received my first assignment.”
I can almost feel the intensity of his stare boring into me, but I can’t muster up the courage to turn to him. To look my brother in the eye and answer the question I know he doesn’t want to ask.
“They’re sending me to Eretria. I’m going to be playing the role ofPrincess Aella Sotiría.”
Kal curses as he launches to his feet and starts pacing. “Why are they sending you off so soon?”
“You’re just jealous you can’t come with me.” I keep my tone light, teasing, so as not to alert him of my own misgivings.
He snorts a derisive laugh as he comes to a halt in front of me. “Why, Aella?”
With a sigh, I angle my face toward Kal. The moon isn’t hiding now;her full body casts a silver crown of light on his hair, highlighting sharp cheekbones and deepening the shadows of his creased brow.
“Because the Eagle has decided he wants a puppet queen on the Eretrian throne. I’ll be competing in their Royal Trials, and he’s made it clear that losing is not an option.”
Too many emotions cross his features too quickly, but I don’t have time to decipher them as Cinder lets out a shrill squawk from above.
Someone is coming.
“I need to go,” I say, scrambling to my feet.
“Aella, wait.” Kal grabs my wrist, but I’m the one that pulls him into an embrace this time, holding on tight as he wraps me in his arms.
“It’s not forever,” I whisper. “Nothing is forever.”
“I know. When I’m king, I’ll bring you home.”
“Then it is fortuitous that I have no plans to hand over my crown anytime soon,” a new voice says. This one cold and commanding.
I smooth my expression as I turn and come face-to-face with the king—my father.I drop to a curtsy, seeing Kal bow at the waist from the corner of my eye as I do.
“Let us skip the formalities. It is apparent neither of you has any respect for the rules laid out for you,” he says, and I wince as I rise and see his eyes cut to Kal at my side. “Return to the palace. I will deal with you later.”
Kal looks at me, and I dip my chin in a subtle nod, not wanting him to waste any time and risk a harsher punishment. My chest aches as his form disappears among the hedges, but I turn back to my father, finally taking him in.
His figure is equal parts imposing and familiar, not unlike the palace grounds we stand within. With our long lifespans, tycheroi age slowly once they reach maturity, so it’s a shock to see my father looking so much older than I remember. He looks so much like Kal; both have ochre eyes and wavy mahogany hair. Only our father’s is now streaked with silver at his temples, and fine wrinkles of time have started to mar his olive skin.
He watches me back, and—not for the first time—I wonder what hesees in me. Does he see only what I look like on the surface, or does he see beyond that? Does he see only my mother’s face when he stares at mine, or does he see the scarred soul peering back at him?
As if in answer, his mouth firms, and our eyes connect again. I almost flinch at the disdain I see writhing in their depths.
I breathe deep, bracing myself for whatever he is about to say.
“You have received your assignment, I take it?” he asks.
I nod in response, furious with myself for being unable to muster the strength to reply, but he’s always had a way of making me feel small.
Reducing me to something less than what I am.
“Good. Prove to me you’re not a waste of your mother’s life.”
The air flees my lungs, a whisper-thin escape, as his words strike deep. The acidic tang of bile coats my tongue, but I swallow it down, refusing to let it surface. Instead, I steel my spine, forcing myself to turn and walk away from the father I wish I’d never had.
My body moves with the ease of old habit as I make my way back to the Aviary, instincts honed through years of training taking over. But my thoughts refuse to still.
