“The details are perfection for something of this size. This was a job well done.” He looked up, as though remembering he had an audience. He smiled and held the book back out to her, running his hand down the cover respectfully.
“Thank you—” Isa started to respond.
“Poor choice of story to receive this level of craftsmanship, though,” he said, speaking over her.
She snatched her book from his hand.
“Not to offend you a second time, of course,” he hastily added. “Reading any written word is far preferable to dancing.”
“We can agree on that point.” She turned to the railing, miffed but intrigued. The conversation had been far more entertaining than any of her dances this evening.
The young man stepped to her side and leaned against the railing.
Raising his goblet, the older man gave his friend a slight nod. “I’m going to find some more ale,” he said, disappearing into the crowd.
His absence left an awkward pause. Though they had already shared multiple opinions, Isa scrambled for something new to say. She wondered why he thoughtThe Queen of Silverreignwas boring, but she was not quite ready to give him an opportunity to ruin her favorite story by asking him about it. Her eyes roamed over the moving people below.
They had not introduced themselves yet. That seemed like a good next step.
She turned toward him.
“She came.” The young man spoke to himself while staring at the dancers below. He looked back at Isa, his face transformed into a genuine smile. “Enjoy your book.” He nodded curtly and left her at the railing.
As he stepped down the far staircase, she puzzled over his assessments, then tried to forget him. She did not want to waste her time dwelling on someone who thought they had the right to outtalk and outthink everyone else.
Yawning, she blinked her eyes rapidly. It was nearly midnight, so the earliest crowd would be leaving soon and she could politely make her escape. She was anxious to return to her ailing father in Allys, despite the days of travel it would entail.
Something familiar in the dancers below caught her attention. The girl in the light-blue dress was at the far end of the hall, almost directly below Isa’s spot on the corner of the balcony. She was with her second partner of the evening, the one who had made her face light up. But they had just been joined by the rude man in black she had been conversing with. He was smiling at the girl in blue and chatting with her. They began to walk along the wall, examining the magnificent tapestry that ran across the back of the room.
Isa’s heart went out to the poor girl. It seemed that every man in the room was besotted by her tonight, and that was a fate Isa knew better than to wish upon anyone.
As the trio disappeared from view, she looked down to reopen her book. She had just enough time for another chapter before she could politely leave. But her hands were empty.
Alarmed, she quickly reached into her pocket, where her fingers wrapped around the familiar shape of the small tome.
That was odd; she didn’t remember putting it back in her pocket.
She pulled it out and skimmed through the pages, looking for the place where she had left off. The room around her dimmed, obscuring her view of the words on the page. Had the candles all gone out? She looked up as a sphere of light exploded in the center of the dais below and the room erupted into chaos.
Chapter 2
Aden wished he could shut his ear holes. Eyelids had such a useful and overlooked functionality. He merely had to close his eyes, and the visual stimulation of color and light faded away. It would be incredibly effective if he could simply activate a muscle and shut out all sound in a similar manner.
“Any change?” his older brother whispered nearby. Well, Ian probably thought it was a whisper, but the breathy tones pierced Aden’s skull, reverberating in shock waves through his drowsy mind.
“No, not yet,” Aden heard his mother reply. Queen Cara’s voice was more rounded, but it still sounded far louder than necessary.
Aden fought the growing wakefulness in his consciousness. He just wanted to sleep.
He heard a shuffling sound accompanied by the clink of armor. The familiar noise of the palace guard did not surprise him, but the close proximity of it confused his still-sleeping mind. The nearest guard was stationed four doorways and two hallways from his bedroom. Aden decided that his mind was playing tricks on him. Of course, he could not hear the guard from this far away. That would be laughable.
Ian’s heavy breathing continued to slice through the room.
Exhaling against the inevitable, Aden shifted his body into wakefulness. His breaths felt infinitely slow and his limbs unusually weighty, as though he had overused them in the practice range. They begged him to be left alone, but he ignored their pleas. Only a fool would attempt to sleep amidst the barrage of sound attacking his defenseless ears.
He opened his eyes. The movement felt foreign, as though he had multiple eyelids sliding open from different angles. The sensation sent chills down his spine. All he could see was darkness. He must still be dreaming.
He tried to open his eyes again but found they were indeed already open. He was not dreaming. Everything was dark, though. Alarm pounded in his chest as he sat up in his bed, his arm brushing against something warm and fuzzy. His pup, Warrior, was supposed to sleep on the floor mat. The pesky rascal must have climbed up to the bed during the night.
