Sorry. Marek says I can’t just tell people they have nice feet.
“Excuse me?” Sei whirls around to find Marek covering his face.
Sorry,Loska says again, not sounding sorry at all.Marek says I wasn’t supposed to say he had said that.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear it,” Sei says after a moment, and continues his journey past Loska’s furled wings. He left the ladder by Loska’s shoulders, so he decides to just focus on any rough patches he sees up close.
When he turns around, he’s surprised to see Marek watching him. Not amused like earlier, but not angry. Sei can’t read him.
“Is something wrong, Your Highness?” Sei calls out.
“You’re just more comfortable up here than I expected,” Marek says. “You have a good sense of balance.”
“Balance is very important, Your Highness.” Sei is fairly average as far as guild grails go, but he’ll take the compliment. “This is a lot easier when Loska isn't moving. I know I was rather pathetic during the flight.”
“No, you handled that well.” Marek drops down between Loska’s wings and starts checking the scales beneath the joints. “Everyone’s scared shitless their first flight. Some of them literally, so you're ahead of the curve.”
It’s Sei’s turn to surprise himself with a laugh. “Were you scared too, Your Highness?”
“Of course not. I’m not everyone.”
“What was it like, then?”
Marek tilts his head back. His arms practically gleam in the sunlight. “My first flight was like coming home. I finally knew where I belonged.”
His voice holds such longing and satisfaction, like a waking dream. Sei can’t answer at first, choked by his own yearning for a home like that. This betrothal represents Sei’s purpose, a grail bound to a mage. Could Sei belong to the sky too, at Marek’s side?
“Do you think we could try sharing power soon?” Sei asks before he can stop himself. He knows it’s the wrong thing to say as soon as the words leave his mouth.
Marek’s smile falls away. “No. I’m not taking your magic.”
Sei’s stomach twists. “Your Highness—”
“Don’t ask me about that again,” Marek orders, and moves farther up Loska’s shoulders. He swings down the rope ladder, dropping from sight and ending the conversation.
“Yes, Your Highness,” Sei whispers, blinking away the sting of disappointment.
?
CHAPTER TEN
Marek
Bringing Sei along might be a mistake. Marek made the decision on an impulse, for selfish reasons. This visit needs to look like an ordinary social call, not an investigation. Bringing his betrothed is the perfect camouflage. Still, surely this isn’t the city outing Sei had in mind: paying condolences to Countess Zora Bernek.
“Is there anything I should avoid talking about, Your Highness?” Sei asks quietly. “I haven’t studied Draskoran funeral customs at all.”
They wait in the antechamber of House Bernek’s Ostomar City estate. The dark murals and carved pillars are as overwrought as any Draskoran noble residence, but the opulence is hollowed out by piles of packed trunks. Wrapped paintings lean against the walls, and a constant flow of servants transports the luggage.
The new countess arrived in the city two days ago, and she’ll be gone by the end of the week. Zora is only here long enough to move her family’s belongings from the estate, which she apparently intends to sell. She already cleared out the palace guest suite in which her brother Petir died.
Zora’s speed means everyone else’s condolences, social calls, and interrogations of varying subtlety will be squeezed into the one week. Which is why Marek and Sei are waiting in the antechamber now. Zora is already seeing another visitor.
Most nobles would have ushered out any other visitors upon Marek’s arrival. Etiquette strongly discourages leaving a prince waiting. But Marek knows Zora well—her family rules the city of Parsk, where the dragon corps training grounds are located. Zora in turn knows Marek is more patient than many give him credit for.
“Don’t worry about it,” Marek says. “Zora isn’t a stickler for etiquette.”
“I just don’t want to say anything wrong,” Sei says, and only then does Marek realize Sei is genuinely nervous. Maybe it shouldn’t be a surprise, but Sei looks so calm. So put-together, from his pin-straight hair to the polished toes of his boots. His lips curve in a slight, friendly smile.
