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The two others kept giving me glances, but I barely noticed. I sat, thinking of my sister who would return long after I was gone. Thinking of the queen who would take any chance of Lily having a safe and happy life long before she arrived.
Or she would.
Unless I could do something to change it.
I knew what was coming, and I knew how to stop it. Princess Elara was going to face the queen when she took control. The princess would lose, but not if I was there to help her.
I looked again at my hands, at the icy power from the Fae that still lingered there, at the burning throb of my sister's power. Power I would use to save her before she was even born.
“Hey,” I said after a minute, turning to the kids, who were still eyeing me warily as they slowly chewed their rolls. “What can you guys tell me about Queen Dalyah?”
Eighteen Years Later
Chapter 2
Elara
“Hurry!” I hissed behind me, hiking my skirts up more than was strictly allowed and turning a corner, only to dart back at the sight of the two men from court who were storming away mumbling about something I really didn’t care about.
Not right then, anyway.
Right then was not the time for palace gossip. That could come later. Right then, I had bigger plans.
I could always find out about the gossip later.
Which I would. It wasn’t like I had much else to do in this prison of a castle anyway.
“Shhh!” I turned back to the black-shrouded shape behind me, not that he needed to be reminded to be quiet. He never spoke. He barely made a sound.
“Come.” I grabbed his arm, the thick black leather of his tunic stiff and uncomfortable as I tugged at him to follow.
Racing down the hall, I darted down the black stone corridor and away from the still arguing men, who were growing more agitated with each step. Their voices faded to nothing as I raced down one corridor and then another in my trek to get to the large wooden door that was my goal.
The heavy wooden door that most of the people in this terrible place had forgotten about.
Hundreds of years ago, before the Goddess Leilan destroyed the last of the wretched Fae and saved the original holders of magic, the Lynar, from the monsters who stole their power, the Runturin had been a fortress built into the sheer cliffs of the mountains of Luftyn. Now, the Runturin was the sprawling castle of stone that jutted out from those peaks like dark knives looming over the capital city of Turin.
No one forgot what it once was; however, every child in the Realm knew the histories. They recited prayers to the Goddess as they thanked her for saving the Lynar from the Fae, thanked her for killing the monsters who enslaved us. Every faithful citizen of Okivo bowed and left offerings at the black stone gates of the Runturin every moon cycle or at the Temple of the Sister during pilgrimage. Every week the chapels would fill with those that worship the Goddess; I had prayed at those altars many times and given my own thanks for the destruction of the Fae.
It all took on a different meaning when you were trapped in those halls, when those ancient battlegrounds were nothing more than a fancy prison. At least I could use them solely to my benefit.
The corridors that had once been meant to allow royals to escape from invading Fae now helped me escape from all the rooms they tried to lock me in. The impenetrable walkways had once housed an army protecting us from the Fae murderers, now they were where I went to spy on the training sessions I was banned from.
That was where I was going now.
What else was I supposed to do? I certainly wasn’t going to sit around and hide in my room or look pretty like my mother wanted. This suited me better anyway.
My soft shoes padded down the hall as I finally let my skirts fall back around my legs and pressed my ear to the thick wooden door. The wood was cold, the metal trimming on it biting against my cheek. I barely even flinched; I only smiled at the sounds coming from the other side.
“Lari was right.” I grinned, trying to shimmy closer to the door. “They are training after taking the solstice off… It’s the first day back.”
The Boy came right up behind me, his thick leather boots not making so much as a sound, even though I could hear the gentle flap of the fabric of his dark cape as he raced to keep up with me.
“The new Requisites are here already.” I beamed at him, not that I could see him. His face was as covered as the rest of him.
Every inch of him was shrouded with either black leather or black muslin; his breeches were the color of slate, tucked into ebony high boots. His thick leather tunic and elbow-length gloves were the shade of ink and looked just as liquid. Even his cape, with its oversized hood and dark fabric that fell over his face and kept him from view, was the shade of the darkest smoke.
All was dark except the brooch that attached the face shroud to his tunic, the glistening ornament of a white snake twisted around a dagger biting into the black. The emblem matched the pommel of his sword, which was a carved white snake.
