I’m not saying I planned on getting revenge on anyone once I was queen—but I did have a list of names that I updated every now and then.
I opened my eyes, careful not to move anything else. I closed them again a moment later. Acting like I was asleep felt like the right thing to do. I could have imagined the voice. I might have been dreaming without realizing it.
Yephi and Iris were sound asleep. Yephi in the middle, sleeping face down with one arm around Iris and the other around me. Iris on the other end of the bed, sleeping on her side. My bed was big enough to fit two people. Three would have been uncomfortable, but my sisters were small enough to count as one. The oak was sturdy, and never creaked no matter how much we moved around in our sleep. Blue silk sheets and a dark green cotton blanket woven by Taa made it comfortable in any temperature.
“Dina, I know you are awake. Come open the door.”
I sat up.
That was no imaginary voice. It came from the dark. Right by the entrance to my room. Nothing was familiar about it. It was accented, but I couldn’t tell from where. Nor could I tell if it was male or female. The pitch was somewhere in between, and it spoke with no inflection. It was a flat, monotonous tone.
There would be a guard outside of my door. Three more patrolling the corridor outside. And Taa was in the palace. I couldn’t be in any danger.
“Hello?” I whispered. “Can anyone hear me?’
“I can hear you, Dina. Come closer. Open the door.”
“What door?”
No response.
Saythana? I wondered, my skin prickling with cold. No, it couldn’t be him. I remembered his voice. This was different. The presence was different.
I rolled off from the side of my bed, careful not to disturb Yephi. I swapped myself for the pillow, wrapping her hand over the center of it as gently as I could. Yephi wasn’t a light sleeper, but if she was sleeping between Iris and me and either of us left the bed, it wouldn’t be long before she was up too. There was a flash of static when my foot touched the floor. We always slept with sweaters and wool trousers in my room. I liked it cold at night. Mother said it was because of my ocean blood. Even in the summer, if you cracked a window in this tower and kept the fireplace out, the air would cool to a winter breeze.
I walked over to the door.
“Hello?” I whispered. “Is someone there?”
It had to be a daemon. A ghost. A witch. But inside of the palace?
I looked at my doorway. The dream catcher was unbroken.
“I’m here, Dina. Come open the door before I eat the boy.”
The closer I walked to my door, the farther the voice went. It wasn’t right outside my room. It was coming from down the corridor.
“The boy?” I asked.
No response.
I thought of lighting a lamp. That would wake up Yephi and Iris, but I’d be able to see better.
I stood in front of the door and curled my fingers around the knob. My heart skipped a beat. A flicker of anxiety. Not fear yet, but it was getting there. I tried to listen. There was whispering. Right outside. But the voices were different. Not the voice I had just heard, and there was more than one person talking. My fingers were so tense I felt my grip starting to cramp. If anything happened I could always scream for Taa.
I turned back to the bed. If I opened the door, would I be endangering my sisters somehow? I thought about it for a few seconds.
“Are you going to hurt me?” I asked, realizing how silly that must have sounded. What a question to ask something whispering to you from the dark. Then again, I might still be able to learn something if it replied.
“Yes, Dina. If you don’t open the door, I’m going to hurt you and your sisters.”
My mouth was dry.
There were times when I didn’t think. I never thought slow or poorly, but sometimes I didn’t think at all. Mother said it was one of my serious faults. Taa said it came from the same brashness my father was known for. That made me proud of it, no matter how much trouble it got me into.
I swung the door open.
The hallway was dimly lit with two torches by the first alcove and a fading blue moon, so light didn’t flood in when I opened the door. Glacies was no brighter than a twilight afterglow, and outside, Raya had slowed the pace of the storm. The wind still rattled and the mist was now heavier, but for the most part, the night had calmed.
Two guards were standing there. With a clank of armor, Terethy jumped back from Raldor. I gasped, taking the better part of a second to put the pieces together.
“Princess Dina?” Raldor whispered, breathing quickly. He peeked inside my room. “Is something wrong? You scared us.” He took his sleeve and absently wiped his lips.
“We were whispering. I’m so sorry if that woke you,” Terethy said. Her face was scarlet. She ran a hand through her hair, looking as nervous as I was a few seconds ago. “I didn’t think you could hear us. Hear us whispering, I mean.”
“No, no,” I said. “Nothing like that.” I closed the door behind me, softening the click by turning the knob first. “I woke on my own.” I looked out the glass walls as I spoke, trying to convince them I had seen nothing. “The two of you are working the night shift? I thought you would be done by now.”
“We were short a few guards tonight,” Terethy quickly replied, her eyes and face still flushed. She straightened her collar. “It’s not a problem. We’ve been chewing on lima petals. I’m wide awake.” She tried to grin, but the expression didn’t fit her drooping dimples and her bloodshot eyes. Lima petals would have kept them awake, but the lingering bitterness of the raw leaves would have made for an uncomfortable night. You could eat a spoonful of sugar and your tongue would still feel stiff.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “There’s a spare bed if either of you want to take a nap. My room is fairly big. You can sleep without my sisters noticing. Maybe take turns or something until morning.”
They both sighed at the idea.
“Your father would have our heads,” Raldor replied.
I smiled. “Not if I said I demanded it. I’ll say that my sisters and I were scared and we requested one of you to stay inside with us. We’ll have to do something about napping laws when I rule, but please, really, I insist. The door is open, and I promise Yephi and Iris won’t say anything.” I peered down the hallway. “The two of you haven’t heard anything, right? Any noises? I thought something… err… someone else might have been out here.”
Raldor followed my eyes, then shook his head. “Like other guards? No. Not that I’m aware of.” He glanced at the alcove that led to the gardens. “Haven’t seen anyone up here besides that guest of your grandmother’s. There were a few people going in and out of the observatory, but that was before. Around midnight. It’s past three now.”
“Been a quiet night up here,” Terethy agreed. “Much more noise down the great hall. Think there’s still a few people, you know.” She tilted her head back, then imitated pouring something down her throat.
I laughed. “Yes, I’m sure there are plenty of people taking advantage of Chaya’s liquid specials. Can’t blame them for their tastes.” I looked down the corridor again. “Are all the halls guarded? I’d like to take a walk. Maybe just to the gardens or something. Not near the guest wings, don’t worry. I’ll keep away from any… straggling nobles.”
“Yes, I believe so,” Terethy said. “Though most of our patrolling routes tonight are through the guest wings.” She pressed a heel against the floor. “Not that there’s any real danger. On nights like these, we spend most of our time escorting nobles and courtiers who’ve had a bit too much to drink back to their rooms.”
“Too true.” Raldor frowned. He bobbed his head toward the window. “We should have guards out there instead. Would do Chaya more good.”
“Would you like one of us to accompany you?” Terethy asked.
“No, no,” I replied, feeling guilty and a bit embarrassed for having disturbed them. “I’ll be fine. I
f my sisters wake, they might come outside. Could you tell Yephi I’ve just gone for a short walk?”
They looked at each other. “Sure.” Raldor shrugged. “This is normal, right? I mean, allowed. We’re not supposed to force you to stay here?”
“I did hear you do this sometimes,” Terethy said, giving Raldor a pointed look. “Wake up and take walks. It’s a good habit, Dina. I’ve heard that’s what lots of bright minds do. My grandfather used to do that.”
“He did?” I folded my hands, squeezing my fingers as I tried to remember his name. “Gonulba Qiraji?”
Terethy raised a brow. “You’ve heard of him?”
“Of course,” I replied. “I don’t know much about him or anything, but he was one of Chaya’s most prolific inventors. I’ve read about him in our histories. He was a famous watchmaker, no?”
“Yes!” Terethy grinned widely. “He was brilliant. Too bad he didn’t pass any of his genes down.” She glanced down at her armor, fingering Chaya’s crest in the center of her breastplate. “My mother has some of his smarts, but all my siblings and I take after our father.”
“He’s a good soldier,” Raldor said, nodding his head. “My father speaks highly of him.”
“Yes, he’s a good soldier,” Terethy absently replied. “Anyway, Dina, you’re sure your mother won’t mind? I know you do this sometimes, but it’s a blue moon, and the palace has lots of strangers. Not that it’s not safe inside, but you know. I just don’t want to be on your mother’s bad side.”
“Or your father’s,” Raldor intoned.
“Yes, yes, don’t worry,” I assured. “Mother won’t be mad. It’s the palace. I won’t be wandering outside. Not even to the grounds.”
The first time Mother had caught me wandering the palace at night, I was only eight. I had to sneak past guards that were dozing off. She had been walking the palace halls herself, taking a break from trying to get Iris to stop crying. She hadn’t gotten angry at me, but she didn’t like the idea that I had a habit of getting up in the middle of the night. She had me see physikers about it. In the past year or two though, she’d finally gotten used to it. I’d told her I got my best ideas for poems while I was walking through the palace at night. It was an easy enough excuse. If you could properly put on the airs of a tortured artist, you could get away with a lot more in life than most other people.
“All right then.” Raldor glanced left and right, still sounding uneasy. He brushed the hair on his forhead, shoving it under his helm.
“Let us know if you need anything,” Terethy said. “Anything at all.” She spoke with far more enthusiasm after the mention of her grandfather.
“Just for the two of you to take a nap,” I replied. I tried to give them serious looks, then headed down the hallway.
“Hurry, Dina. Open the door for the boy.”
“Avisynth?” I looked over my shoulder to make sure I was far enough from Terethy and Raldor. If they heard me talking to myself, my nightly walks might start getting far more attention than they deserved. They were standing rigidly by my door. I’m sure they were much tenser than before I had interrupted them, regardless of how casual I tried to be. I’d need to find some way to loosen up the King’s Guard when they were around me. They always kept a very serious demeanor near Mother, Taa, and me. It was different with Father. He had this easy-going charisma that set people at ease without trading away any of his clout. Mother’s Rayanvir charm made you feel less beautiful, less witty, less deserving of attention. It wasn’t that she was condescending, or cold, but her charm was always distant. Something you couldn’t copy. Father’s was something you could aspire to. He made it look as simple as a few shoulder clasps and approving nods. It wasn’t like the way. It came naturally to him. You couldn’t point out the nuances of his movements, or how he’d go about choosing his words.
“You’re talking about Avisynth?” I asked. “Where are you? Who are you?”
It didn’t respond till I was at the end of the hallway. I turned to face the staircase.
“Here, Dina.” The voice came from down the steps.
The palace staircases were made of an obsidian and stone mixture. There were no windows here. The only light came from the torches hanging between the ends of the flights. There used to be sunlamps here, but Father had taken them out. There were better ways to use Chaya’s coin than wasting them on alchemical lights, he insisted. On most days I agreed, but at the moment, a sunlamp or two wouldn’t have hurt.
The flames ahead of me flickered. The rock glistened. Polished black, as dark as night. I hesitated before walking forward. It was only a second’s hesitation, but that counted as being careful. No one could hold anything against me now.
I took a moment to consider everything I knew. Whatever was whispering to me, it didn’t mention my sisters until I had thought about them. It could read my mind, either precisely or in abstractions. It couldn’t influence me beyond words. It didn’t whisper in my mind. It wasn’t telepathic. I could audibly hear its voice, but Raldor and Terethy couldn’t. It needed me to open a door. It was trapped somewhere. It couldn’t be at the bottom of the stairwell. There would be a guard nearby, and there was no door there. If anyone was hurt in the palace, someone would have noticed by now. I could follow its voice safely until I came upon a door, and then I could take my time to decide what to do.
I ran down the steps, imagining I’d be better off not overthinking it until I knew more.
“Yes, Dina. Come fast.”
I turned right, passing a guard in the middle of draining a satchel of water. It was much hotter here than in my room. I was already beginning to sweat in my wool clothes. The guard watched me with a curious expression as he drank, but said nothing. There were two groups of people chatting in the hallway. Their presence gave me much needed courage. Three courtiers from Mimenhi and a noble from Xenash were having an argument—too heated to notice me. Then there was a man and a woman at the far end of the corridor, both Chayan, laughing quietly into each other’s shoulders. The woman smiled as I went by. The man gave a curt bow. I returned it a bit too hastily, but I doubted he’d take offence or even notice. If they found it odd that I was walking through the palace at this time of night, they didn’t show it. They were both flushed with the warmth of spirits. I didn’t know if there was any truth to this, but people said that Chayan drinks gave joy, Xenashi romance, and Mimenhish relaxation. Panbin and Qashar were said to go in less appealing directions.
Down another flight of steps. Passed the armory and the hallway circling the library. One more flight of steps. The voice was taking me toward the maid and palace keeper chambers. Where Avisynth must have been sleeping.
A familiar figure peered around the corner of the hallway just as I got there.
I slowed my steps, trying to get a look at what he was spying on before he noticed me. I grazed the stone wall with a hand as I walked, somehow thinking that would quiet my steps.
It didn’t work. He turned around and then jumped back, shrieking as he covered his mouth. Luckily, there was no one else here.
“Whoops, sorry!” I said. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Stala’s Stones, Dina.” Nikhil gasped. “If you didn’t want to scare me, there are a hundred better ways to go about it.”
“Right, yeah, sorry.” I raised my palms instinctively, though I was sure even if I had been armed, I wouldn’t have looked like much of a threat in sky blue trousers. “What are you doing up? You’re staying in the palace?”
“Yeah. Father’s staying here. He wanted to stay close in case your father needed anything. Thought I’d stay with him. Mother’s at home with my brothers and sisters.”
“But what are you doing up? And why here?” I asked. “They must have you staying in the guest wing.”
His eyes darted left and right. He stepped back, leaning against the wall. He watched his feet as he thought about what to say.
“You’ve been hearing it too?” I asked. I leaned in and peeked ar
ound the corner. The next corridor was empty.
Nikhil’s eyes widened. “You hear it? That voice?”
“Is it telling you to open a door?” I asked.
He bent his left foot, balancing on the side of it as he peered into the hallway again.
“He’s there, Dina. He or she. I’m not sure what it is. In the room. It’s… it’s the hairless werewolf”
“What room?”
“The room with Avisynth. It’s in the room. Sitting on a stool at the corner. I don’t think anyone else can see it. A few of the other palace keepers have gone by, even looked into the room, but no one’s reacted. And Avisynth, he’s having a nightmare or something. He’s moving around in his sleep.”
I glanced down the corridor again.
“I see you, Dina,” the voice said. “Come here where I can see you better. Let me out so I can leave the palace. I’ll start to hurt people if I stay here. Your sisters. In your room. One of them is awake.”
“It just spoke to you?” Nikhil asked.
I nodded.
“It hasn’t spoken to me in a while,” Nikhil said. “Not since I… I looked at it.”
“Do you know what it is?” I asked. “What it looks like? Anything we’ve studied at the Cathedral?”
“You should see it. I don’t think it can leave the room. You really need to see it to understand.” He rubbed his hands together, then switched the foot he was balancing on. “It keeps threatening people in the palace. Telling me it’ll hurt them if I don’t open the door.”
“It said it would hurt my sisters.” I pushed my hair back as I tried to think, then crossed my arms.
“Do you think they’re hearing it too? Mawlik, Jahlil, and Elsa?”
“Maybe. I think it has something to do with what happened in the forest. Avisynth, he mentioned it. Remember?”
“That’s what I was thinking,” Nikhil replied, holding himself against the side of the wall. “The rippling.”
“Dina!” someone shouted.
I turned around. Father appeared at the other end of the hallway I had just come from. Two courtiers flanked him. The one on his left looked annoyed that he had lost Father’s attention. Naturally, I felt proud for taking it. The one on the right had a cup of light brown tamarind wine in his hand. He was speaking too, but much slower, and with an unsteady concentration. He moved his free hand left and right, giving you the impression that he was picking his phrases very carefully. They both had Chayan skin and the short hair everyone kept here during the summer, but they wore the black and white silk robes of Mimenhi. There were vials of liquid iron hooked to their belts, cased inside garnet glass. Father kept something similar around his neck. Not iron, but blue mercury. You’d think he would’ve kept witchwater like Taa, but Father said the alchemy of metals always came more easily to him. I knew not to ask about my grandfather, but I assumed it must have come from him.
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