I follow her gaze past the swarm of guards around the dais to the empty chairs that are usually occupied by the royal family’s advisors. The usual offerings of fruits and cakes on the table nearest their seats are untouched.
“What?” I look around some more, confused. “Where are they?”
“They’ve all retired for the evening. They still do things on Eldest Grandfather’s schedule, even though they all claim to support me,” Valoria says, a hint of sourness in her voice.
“But surely they wouldn’t try to—?”
I don’t even finish the question before Valoria cuts in, “Oh, no, I don’t suspect any of them of being a Shade-baiter.” She gestures to her leg, and though it looks ordinary beneath her crisply pressed trousers, it must be the reason she needs the cane. “However, I believe that at least one of them got drunk enough to let slip to someone in the city about the inventions and new laws I’ve been working on.” She sighs. “Or perhaps it was someone else who’s frustrated with me for any number of reasons—a worker who can’t do the job I hired them for because no one wants me to rebuild the city my way, or someone who’s afraid of my fireposts—the rods you saw on your way here. For lighting the road at night,” she adds at my confused look.
Peering more closely at her, I wonder when she last slept, truly slept. Given the storm brewing behind her sharp eyes, I don’t dare ask.
“I just want to improve people’s lives, but they destroy every project I start,” Valoria says, taking a shaky breath. Perhaps she’s closer to unraveling than I thought. “I’m trying to give them a safer city, and jobs, and fight poverty in seven provinces! Yet Karthians are so focused on how much they miss their Dead, and they blame me for sending them away. Somehow, on top of everything else, I’ve got to make people understand that the Dead being in their own world is for the best.”
“That’s why you have me, and Jax, and Simeon. Plus, Kasmira and her crew are well known in the city. They have some influence there, too. We’ll help the people see things your way.”
“I’m counting on it,” Valoria says firmly. “That’s why I need to speak to Kasmira as soon as possible.”
I nod. “As for your council—you need to talk with them about building a proper Karthian army, if you haven’t already.”
I can’t help but picture the scorched Sarralan valley as I say it.
Valoria blinks a question at me, and with help from Meredy, we explain everything we know about the vicious warriors with a rumored penchant for dark magic. We talk for so long that Valoria’s ladies-in-waiting, yawning, ply us with bread and cheese and juice.
Lysander swipes a block of cheese for his enjoyment, which only lasts a few seconds before Nipper starts trying to pull it out of his mouth.
“If a bunch of strangers want to kill me,” Valoria says after a pause, drawing my attention away from the beasts, “they’ll have to get in line. However, most of the other rulers I’ve written to so far have had the decency to at least acknowledge my claim to the throne.” The shadows on her face deepen as she adds, “It’s the people of Karthia whohateme. If they aren’t blaming me for King Wylding’s death, they’re claiming I sympathized with Hadrien because I’m restoringthe Temples of Change, or else they hate my plans to strengthen the city’s layout. There aren’t many who’d fight in my name.”
“Shouldn’t you let the head of your guard try to fix that?” a familiar, silky voice asks from the doorway.
Danial Swancott, master healer and—judging by the gleaming new pin on his chest—captain of Valoria’s personal guard, leans against one side of the entryway. His kohl-lined hazel eyes dazzle everyone in whatever room he’s in, but they’re especially bright as they sweep over Meredy and me.
“I’d come in and give you both a hug,” he adds, glancing at the dragon half-hidden by Lysander’s furry bulk, “but your giant lizard is smoking at the mouth.” He wipes his palms on his crisp healer’s whites. “Just watching it is making me sweat.”
“Danial!” I rush down the dais steps and crash into his open arms.Thisis what I missed the most. My friends.
“Let me get a look at you, Sparrow,” he says, sounding relieved to see me in one piece.
“Where are Jax and Simeon?” I ask as Danial draws back slightly and sweeps my hair away from my face.
“Simeon’s at the school,” he answers vaguely, scrutinizing the tiny scar on my forehead left over after the healers in Sarral saved me. “You should go see him as soon as you can. There’s something we want to tell you, but Si will kill me if I ruin the surprise...”
Noting the silver band on his right ring finger for the first time—a sign of another ring soon to join on the left—I grin. “You two were busy while I was gone. Will Jax be acting as Witness for the ceremony?” I peer into the back of the room, half expecting to see him. I would have thought, given his skill with a blade, Valoria might encourage him to stay close. “Where is Jax, anyway?”
“I can fix this, if you like,” Danial murmurs, distracted from myquestion as he rubs a thumb over the little scar on my head. Mild amusement coloring his voice, he drops it to a whisper to add, “Unless your lady finds you more fanciable this way, of course.”
Shaking my head at him, I step back while Meredy gives him a hug. They spent much of the battle together, which seems to have forged a bond between them.
Up on the dais, Valoria and her two ladies-in-waiting have their heads bent close together.
As if sensing my gaze, the girls draw back and study me with unfathomable expressions. The one on Valoria’s left, a petite girl with freckles in many shades of brown sprinkled across her face, sweeps her long raven hair over her shoulders as she meets my eyes.
A shiver runs through me: Her irises are a rich shade of amber, a color so rare, it isn’t present in any of Vaia’s five faces. I’ve never seen the like, not even in Sarral.
As we stare each other down, the edges of her figure start to blur. For a moment, I wonder if I’m going to pass out. But nothing’s wrong with me. Danial would have noticed.
The freckled girl’s body contorts, her ears lengthening and her fingernails becoming claws as she hunches over on the marble floor. She tugs at her lavender robe, loosening it, as her bones poke out at odd angles and her skin stretches to accommodate them. A quiet groan escapes her as her mouth reshapes itself into a whiskered snout. Suddenly, in her place is a silvery, black-spotted cat with shaggy fur, bigger than any I’ve seen before. It flicks its long tail, shoving away the discarded robe, still staring me down with the girl’s amber eyes.
Behind me, Meredy whistles long and low. She’s impressed. “Is she a beast master?” she asks Valoria, nodding to the big cat. “She’s got to teach me how to do that.”
