We talk in whispers about our plans to meet with Valoria the next day at sunset as we all head back to the kitchen, Jax in the lead and not paying attention to anything we’re saying. Meredy and I get so caught up in talking about Valoria’s inventions that neither of us remembers to breathe a word of warning to him about the soldiers’ curious positions, courtesy of Jax.
His laughter spreads swiftly among us when he sees them, first catching on to Meredy, then me, and finally a reluctant Jax, until we’re all doubled over gasping for breath.
I decide I like the prankster, or at least the soldiers. Eerie as they look, they’re certainly good for something besides fighting. For making Meredy laugh, for making Karston look less exhausted and Jax less surly, I could practically kiss a metal cheek in thanks. That is, until I remember what awaits me tomorrow: the dreaded air balloon.
XXI
“That’s it, Odessa,” Valoria says soothingly as I put one foot into the air balloon’s basket the next day. “Come on. Now the other one.”
“You can do this,” Karston urges, extending a hand to me.
“I’ll give you a kiss if you hurry up,” Meredy offers, clearly afraid we’re going to be standing on the beach until well after dawn at the rate I’m going—and it’s not yet suppertime.
Devran yawns from inside the basket, looking bored, and turns away from me to gaze out over the crashing waves. I’m surprised he showed up. Valoria really didn’t think he would, yet by the time we dragged the bulky basket-and-balloon combination onto the beach, he was there waiting. I narrow my eyes at him. From the back, with his generous height and choppy blond hair, he reminds me too much of Hadrien.
“I just don’t understand why we have to do this so close to the water,” I grumble, knowing I sound like a child as I reluctantly tug my other foot out of the beach’s warm sand and put it, along with the rest of myself, into the huge basket.
Karston thumps me on the back and cheers.
“I feel like an apple waiting to be taken to market in this thing,” I sigh, now trapped inside the narrow confines of a basket that so resembles a farmer’s fruit-selling one. I glare at Devran, daring him to make fun of me for being afraid, but he keeps his gaze trained on the sky, watching the sun drip down a canvas of red and pink threaded with amber.
Meredy grins and pulls me closer to give me that promised kiss, taking my attention away from Devran, while Valoria—beaming at our display of affection—asks with a snicker, “And are you a sweet or sour apple?”
“Oh, she’s sweet enough, trust me.” Meredy laughs as she draws back slightly to watch Valoria light the flame. She must be able to feel me shaking from head to toe, because she keeps a protective arm around my shoulders.
“So, how is this supposed to work?” Karston asks eagerly, gazing upward into the colorful canvas balloon over our heads.
“I was wondering the same thing,” Devran remarks. There’s a dryness to his voice, as if he’s bored to tears, but a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth betrays the real reason he’ll barely look at any of us: He’s scared, too.
Unable to keep from smirking slightly, I try to listen as Valoria explains how the flame will cause the basket’s canvas top to inflate and carry us upward, and how she’ll control it. But when we begin to hover above the sand, I get too nervous to focus on a word of her scientific ramblings.
“I know you hate not being in control of everything for once,” Valoria says near my ear a moment later. “But you trust me, don’t you?”
“If anyone else said that to me, they’d be sailing out of this basket about now,” I answer sweetly, casting a glance at Devran. I hope I haven’t given him any ideas about tossing any of us out once we’re high in the air.
Grinning, Valoria tells me, “You’re in good shape if you’re making jokes already.” Gazing between me and Meredy, she adds with a gleam in her eyes, “Let’s take flight.”
As we begin to climb slowly, gently toward the few clouds in the watercolor sky, I realize I’ve left my stomach somewhere on the ground. I swallow hard to keep from being sick, but once Meredy guides me to sit on the narrow floor of the basket and put my head between my legs, I feel a little better.
For his part, Devran stands motionless, his back to us, silent as the water below even as Valoria leans in to speak to him. My shoulders tense. He could try to push her out of the basket when she’s that close. I don’t know that he would, but that’s the problem—I don’t know him. Valoria, seemingly oblivious to our sudden worry on her behalf, continues to chat away to him as the rest of us watch closely, ready to react at a moment’s notice.
She babbles away about some of her other inventions as Devran nods stiffly. She’s too fixed on tonight’s mission of getting him to find something positive in the new and unexpected to actually read his body language, but I’m not. I don’t think he’s buying a word she’s saying.
Our balloon climbs higher still, making my world feel so unsteady that I give up on watching Devran like a hawk. I don’t know how much time passes before Valoria says, “Odessa . . . you’ve got to see this. Please. If you can.”
“Come on. This is incredible,” Karston says, flashing me a reassuring smile. Excitement shines in his dark eyes, which look more brown than violet in the shadows cast by the sinking sun. Tipping his head back, he does his best wolf howl.
“You and Jax would be the best of friends if you’d realize how much alike you are,” I mutter, more to myself than Karston.
“What was that?” he asks.
“Nothing,” I say, grinning guiltily.
“All right. That’s enough stalling.” Meredy locks eyes with me and smiles. “You really shouldn’t miss this—if you’re up for it, of course.” She and Valoria both offer me a hand, while Karston steadies me with a hand on one of my elbows. Carefully, with no small amount of shivering, I stand and grip the basket’s edge.
We’re floating high above a flat, glassy sea. It’s like a mirror to the sky, reflecting each and every swirl of color, and it makes my breath catch in my throat.
Meredy, who by now is attuned to even the slightest change in my breathing, whispers just for me to hear, “That’s how I feel every time I see you.”
I don’t know how I got so lucky, or what she sees in me, but I’m sure that I need to stop worrying so much.
With effort, I pry the fingers of one hand from the basket in order to put an arm around Meredy’s waist. Meredy pulls Valoria away from Devran and into our embrace, I pull Karston against my other side, and together, the four of us take in Karthia as we’ve never seen it before: the sun-washed cliffs, huge and jagged, and the marble palace sparkling like a red jewel, like a crown for the hill it tops.
Giddy beyond reason, beyond remembering that we don’t want to draw too much attention to our adventure, we all start howling at the sky. Up here, floating above the world like no one ever has, we’re untouchable. Invincible.
Up here, with fire reflected in her eyes and warm light threaded through her hair, Meredy steals another piece of my heart with a simple gesture—pulling me back from the edge of the basket, into her embrace, the moment I start to shiver. I just hope my trust isn’t misplaced. That by leaning into her, I’m not letting her steer us—and more importantly, her health—into disaster.
“Devran?” Valoria breaks away from us at last to touch his arm.
Stiffly, he turns to her, his expression stony.
“Well?” she prompts, spreading her arms to indicate the stunning scenery. “What do you think?”
He takes a deep breath. “It’s incredible. Forgive my not saying so until now, but I’ve been too busy trying to get my body to catch up with my brain and stop craving solid ground.”
I think the poor man just wants to sit down until his knees quit shaking, but Valoria has a certain spark in her eyes now: She’s encouraged. “Imagine what we could do with more
of these! Imagine not being bound by the limits of what ground a horse can cover in a day! Imagine no seasickness. I mean . . .” She leans closer, peering up at him through her glasses. “You have to admit, this is pretty fun.”
Devran shakes his head, and I tense. Once again, he’s too close to Valoria.
“I don’t know about fun,” he says at last. “But fascinating.”
“It could change people’s lives,” she adds proudly. “And not for the worse.”
“Perhaps,” he says slowly, finally yielding to the desire to sit in the cramped bottom of the basket, “you could.”
Valoria’s cheeks glow pink as she hands us her spyglass to pass around. It’s not one of her inventions, but one she made from an old book she found at the school.
Devran clears his throat. “I’ve been thinking about what you proposed, and I’d like to offer this—if you’ll allow us to elect ten citizens to your council, one for each noble, and hold off on bringing any more inventions into the city”—he pauses, warily eyeing the flickering flame that powers the air balloon—“until our council members have been installed, we’ll cease all protests. What do you say? Of course, we expect you to start raising the Dead again, too.” He extends a hand.
Valoria’s face is a mask, revealing nothing of her thoughts as she gazes at Devran’s outstretched hand.
He sighs and finally drops his hand, apparently sensing that Valoria isn’t about to budge on that issue. “Don’t you have someone you miss, too? The palace used to be twice as full!”
“They’re always with me,” Valoria says firmly.
Devran lapses into silence.
After that, Valoria turns her attention to guiding us along Grenwyr’s coast as Meredy, Karston, and I comment on the sights. Even the Ashes look beautiful from up here, somehow softened by the dying light, the old buildings there made new from our incredible viewing spot. When it’s my turn again, I look along a path that brings me out of the Ashes and through Market Square, taking in the shadows of trees and the glow of fires—like tiny embers from here—flickering in the homes of those who must be busy preparing supper.
“So, what do you think, Sparrow?” Valoria asks as I twist the spyglass. “This,” she adds, spreading her arms to encompass the balloon and the view, “is the future I want to give our people. If they want to fly, I want the wings—or rather, basket—to be there for them.”
“It’s certainly not your worst invention,” I grudgingly admit. She asks me something else, but I’m distracted by what I see through the glass—what starts as a small fire, growing bigger by the moment. A fire coming from the Temple of Change.
The school is ablaze.
The flames dance and multiply in the reflection of Valoria’s glasses as her eyes widen and all the warmth and excitement of our ride drains from her face. She seems to be fighting back tears, perhaps unwilling to cry or shout in front of her esteemed guest.
Unlike her, I don’t care about niceties.
“Did your people do this?” I demand of Devran, rounding on him.
He stares through the spyglass, his lips a thin line. “Honestly, I don’t know. If they did, it wasn’t on my orders.”
“Yeah?” Karston asks, crossing his arms. “We’ll see soon enough.”
It seems to take an agonizingly long time for Valoria to steer the air balloon over the temple. Before we’ve even reached a landing spot, though, we see that the fire isn’t coming from the building itself, but from the gardens behind it. Still, it’ll reach the school soon if we don’t act quickly.
Mouth dry, heart racing, I’m half-tempted to jump the rest of the way to the ground so I can help the students, Simeon, and Jax as they rush to throw buckets of water on the flames. It seems no one among them is a weather mage.
But I’ve got Devran to worry about, so I stay put. After exchanging a glance with Karston, I keep my gaze trained on the rebel leader as our basket finally touches down, ready to tackle Devran to the ground. If he really did plan this, and he’s about to do something stupid to make the situation worse, Karston and I will be on him like a Shade on raw meat.
As we leap from the basket, someone cries out. I follow the sound to a large old tree, one that must have been weakened before the fire. The way it’s leaning, it’s going to fall any moment—right on top of the school.
Before I can think of what to do—before we’ve done more than start to run toward our friends, Devran on our heels—the tree groans, pulling itself upright. It crumbles in on itself as the flames eat away at its core, sparks flying in every direction, but it doesn’t hit anything.
“Good job, Zee!” I call. I don’t see her amidst the chaos of leaping flames and people running in all directions, but I know she’s there. No one else could have made that tree move away after it had started falling. She’s even better at moving things with her magic than Karston—but then, she’s been practicing longer.
“It was nothing,” she answers wearily from somewhere to my right.
As I start passing buckets of water with the others, Devran to my right and Meredy on my left, I hear Azelie sob, “My poor garden.” I toss water onto the blaze as fast as I can, wishing I could do something more to ease the pain I know will grip her when night descends on a fragrant, unruly garden turned to ash.
Karston, who seems to be thinking along the same lines, whispers, “I’ll go see how I can help her,” before hurrying off in the direction of Azelie’s voice.
“I’m going to find and kill whoever did this,” I growl as the flames begin to die down.
“Not if I get there first,” Devran snaps from beside me in the water line. He shakes his head, his eyes on Valoria. “Burning a statue on the palace lawn to get your attention is one thing, but setting a fire meant to burn a bunch of students alive? And for what, exploring the magic that exists inside us all? That’s different. Darker. My people didn’t do this, but I wish I knew who did. All I know is that there are always those who will kill to get their way, and they clearly don’t realize the consequences. Without a Wylding on the throne, we’d drift even further from the Karthia we love.”
“Down with the queen!” someone shouts over Valoria’s reply to Devran, well out of view and out of reach. “Death to change!” Their words are followed by whoops and rough laughter.
“Cowards!” I shout back, only to be answered with silence and the hiss of water putting out more of the blaze.
“I just don’t know what to do,” Valoria sighs, wiping sweat from her brow. Passing another bucket of water down the chain we’ve formed, she adds, “I can’t go down Hadrien’s path. I don’t want to hurt my own people. But if I can’t end these attacks . . .”
She swallows, unable to finish, and I nudge her with my shoulder to let her know she doesn’t have to.
“Are you all right?” Devran asks tersely, frowning as Valoria’s complexion turns paler despite the heat. “Majesty?”
That last word alone is enough to startle Valoria back to the present. “Yes, I—I’m sorry. I was just thinking about how we’re going to handle this new threat,” she whispers, looking stricken.
It’s more than that, though: She hasn’t told Devran about the Ezorans’ movements, at least not to my knowledge, but I understand her dilemma. Should she focus all her attention on her people—their welfare and happiness? Or on the outside forces that could draw nearer at any time to destroy everything and everyone here, regardless of what they stand for? Because if her attention is split, something is bound to slip through the cracks.
Valoria seems to have opened Devran’s mind tonight—that remains to be seen—but somewhere out there is a group of people desperate enough to attack more than just their queen. We’ll have even more death on our hands if someone doesn’t find and stop them soon. Looks like I have a long night ahead of me.
* * *
* * *
My body aches
from lack of sleep when Meredy kisses me awake in the morning.
“What are you doing?” I groan, sitting up and glancing across the room at Lysander and Nipper, both still asleep. They’ve got the right idea. We didn’t get back from the temple until well after midnight, meaning we’ve only had a few hours’ rest, but the whole building survived with minimal damage to the wall nearest the garden. There was plenty for the healers to mend, with many burns sustained and one bad case of smoke inhalation, but everyone survived. Everyone, that is, but Azelie’s plants.
I made a long, pointless search for the arsonists, following broken branches and other evidence of their path away from the school, before I lost their trail near a creek and was forced to return to the palace angry and empty-handed.
“Getting you up and dressed.” Meredy tosses a shirt at me, then a pair of trousers. “I’ve been awake for hours already, thanks to our mystery singer, so I figured we might as well deliver some more food parcels to the sick—they still need our help, no matter the danger.”
“You realize I don’t feel nearly as charitable as you before breakfast, right?” Pulling my usual black shirt over my head muffles the words. The arsonists yesterday didn’t care if a bunch of students died, which means they probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill the queen’s friends if we were recognized outside the palace. But Meredy is right. The sick are counting on us for food and supplies.
She prods me until I’m awake enough to slip on my gloves and scarf. “Come on! We can eat breakfast while we walk.”
On our way through the palace, we bump into Valoria. She has a notebook in one hand and a cup of tea in the other, and looks as if she never went to bed. “Morning, you two,” she says absently, scrutinizing a page of scribbles in her notebook. Then, as if just realizing who she’s talking to, she tucks the notebook under her arm and pushes her glasses up. “Where are you going? You won’t be gone long, will you?” she asks, looking between us.
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