Utter silence fills the throne room. In our small space, not one of us takes a breath.
Then Ezryn stands and sheathes his blade. Kairyn stays down. With staggering steps, Ezryn walks up the stairs to sit on the throne.
“You will return to the monastery and await my judgment for breaking your banishment. Until my father recovers, I shall remain in Spring.” He turns to the acolytes, then gestures to the fallen Kairyn. “If anyone has an issue with that, you can take it up with your High Cleric.”
PartTwo
Enshrined Memories
19
Caspian
So. Much. Wind.
Does there truly need to be so much wind? I know we’re up on a mountain, and yes, it’s one of the highest peaks in all the Vale, and there’s nothing but the sky and stars and the Above, but I’ll never be able to get my hair untangled from the points of my ears.
Maybe I wouldn’t be as bothered if this damned monastery wasn’t so distastefully eerie. The art carved into the walls makes the Queen look dead-eyed and ghastly, and the presence of open-air windows everywhere—to be closer to the Above—means any torch is instantly snuffed out. Only the moon and stars light the chamber.
She would find this whole place garish,I think.
I sit on a narrow stone windowsill, one leg draping over the edge. The view below is at once awe-inspiring and vertigo-inducing. The rush of the river down the mountainside sparkles in the moonlight. Far in the distance, Florendel shimmers with twinkling lights of fires and glowspells.
Rosalina is there. She has no idea the danger they’ve put themselves in…
For better or worse, there’s no time to be alone with my thoughts. The mass of black fabric and shining armor before me gives another roar, slamming a hand against the stone wall. Kairyn’s breathing rages like a slumbering beast.
“Behaving like a child won’t help either of us,” my sister scolds him. She crosses her arms, her slender, jewel-encrusted armor the only color up here in the dark. “We knew Ezryn would return to Spring sooner or later.”
“All I’ve done for my realm,” Kairyn rasps, “and he dismisses me from the throne like I’m some common thief. Now, he is deliberating on my punishment? I’ve saved Spring, and he will not see it!”
I pretend to examine my nails, as if entirely disinterested in their conversation. Truthfully, I am. It was no surprise Ezryn wouldn’t allow Kairyn to keep a stewardship that the High Prince didn’t instigate himself. It’s also no surprise Kairyn’s storming about, puffing out his chest like a fool. He’s been both worshipping the ground Ezryn’s walked on and cursing his every breath since long before I met them.
But the Nightingale’s hovering presence behind him … That’s interesting. Her hand on his arm. The way she’s staring into the dark void of his helm until he turns and stares back. How she’s not wearing her usual mask either, the one that shrouds everything but her sapphire eyes. Now, her hair blows freely in the harsh wind, her mouth in a scowl.
She’s a pretty little thing. A deadly, pretty thing.
Kairyn truly has no idea what he’s gotten himself into.
“He does not see me as an equal,” Kairyn says lowly, though the Nightingale’s hand has steadied him somewhat.
“He sees you as a threat,” she responds. “An act we must mitigate quickly. Your brother needs to trust you. You were a fool to challenge him while he still wields the Blessing of Spring.”
Kairyn pulls away from her. “I can face him!”
“And if you won?” she snarls. “Would you be able to thrust the blade into his heart? Rip the helm from his head? Or are you still happy to walk in his shadow?”
Kairyn says nothing.
I slip from my perch on the windowsill and drift over to these two young fletchlings. “Sira wanted a report. What am I to tell her? Temper tantrums and bickering?”
A growl surges up Kairyn’s throat, and he makes a move to come at me, but the Nightingale grabs his arm. “Now, now, Kairyn. My sweet brother has never been a man of patience. What I have crafted here in Spring is something of beauty. Not like that sloppy goblin raid you organized on Autumn. Apparently, Autumn is thriving now, brother. Mother wasn’t very happy about that, was she?”
My back and legs throb as I think of the punishments I received for not delivering Autumn, but I keep a smirk plastered on my face.
Kairyn staggers to the door and rips it open. “You need something to report? Tell Sira soon the five divine weapons will be in my control.”
The Nightingale and I exchange a glance. She puts her mask back on, and we follow the Spring Prince out into the hallway.
