"Thank you for looking after me," she murmured into my neck.
"That's my privilege and duty." I kissed her cheek.
She leaned away and looked at me with somber eyes. "You also have a duty to your family."
My throat tightened. The letter from my mother sat in my desk drawer, read and reread a dozen times.
Your father has fallen ill, and the physicians are concerned. He asks about you and when you will be back.
But Ravel had told Kailin that if I left now, I couldn't return. The risk was too great, not just for me missing out on my chance to become a rider but for my mission and, possibly, for the future of Aurorys. Above all, though, Kailin needed me here.
"I'm exactly where I need to be," I said. "My father has four other sons. You need me more than he does."
She made a soft sound of contentment and snuggled closer. Within minutes, her breathing evened out, the sleeping draught doing its work.
I should sleep too. Tomorrow would be another grueling day of training, classes, and making sure that Kailin wasn't pushing herself too hard. But my mind was too alert for sleep, and I couldn't shake the feeling of unease that pressed on my lungs.
Something felt wrong.
I couldn't point to a specific detail that set off my instincts. It was just a prickling sensation at the base of my skull that I shouldn't ignore because it had saved Codric and me on more than one occasion.
Perhaps that was what my mother had alluded to in her letter with her remark about my eye for detail? Had there been an assassination attempt on my father's life? Were his illnesses an injury he'd sustained?
My gut twisted with worry.
I listened to the familiar sounds of the Citadel at night. The wind whistling through the mountain passages, the creak of old stone settling, a distant dragon call.
Nothing unusual.
But the unease persisted.
Carefully, so as not to wake Kailin, I extracted myself from her embrace and stood. The floor was cold beneath my bare feet as I moved to the door and tested it again. Still locked. Still bolted. I put my ear to the wood and listened, but the corridor on the other side was quiet.
The window was next.
I crossed to it, scanning the sprawling vistas outside, the mountains stretching away in familiar ridges and valleys, painted in aurora light.
The landing platform was to the right of our room, several windows further down, so I wasn't worried about anyone coming from there. The landing platform on the fourth floor was right above us, though, and I could imagine someone using a rope torappel down and break through the window. It was a far-fetched scenario, but it bothered me nonetheless.
I was being paranoid. The stress of recent events was making me jump at shadows. I turned back toward the bed, ready to rejoin Kailin and try to sleep, but then I heard something that didn't belong.
A soft scraping sound. Metal on stone, barely audible.
My blood went cold.
That wasn't the kind of sound dragons made when landing on one of the platforms.
It was the sound a steel cable made when scraping against stone.
Climbing equipment. There were people outside our window, using cables to rappel from above.
I moved fast, grabbing my handgun from the desk drawer and reaching for Kailin. "Wake up. Assassins are coming."
She stirred slowly, the sleeping draught making her groggy and confused. "Wha?—?"
"Up. Now." I hauled her to her feet, pressing her knife into her hand. She'd left her handgun in the drawer of her desk. There was no time to get it now.
"Alar, what?—"
