by Kova, Elise
“To say the least. We’ll likely have to get through her to see the King.”
“How so?”
“She’s one of his core guards and by far the toughest of them all. What she says, goes. But if I can get to King Noct before she gets to us, all the better.”
Vi adjusted the bandanna around her forehead. Tough, headstrong, demanding—none of them were personality traits she exactly wanted to work with.
They entered the castle through another free-standing archway. The castle had no outer wall or gates. In fact, there was little to stop the populous from strolling in. In a city protected by a force like the shift, Vi could understand why they didn’t feel the need for fortifications.
She wondered if Adela felt much the same. Vi could only dream of catching the pirate flat-footed.
“You finally came.” Positioned at the door was another young woman. She had a shade of blonde hair similar to Ruie’s, though slightly more ashen. Even so, the family resemblance was unmistakable. “Arwin is waiting for you.”
“Tell her I need to speak with the king.” Sarphos continued leading them into a large foyer, the girl falling into step alongside them.
“And who are you?” she asked.
“A traveler of sorts.” Vi looked up at the ceiling, where a chandelier of glowing stones illuminated the open space with a harsh, bright light.
“Who is she?” the girl asked Sarphos, apparently dissatisfied with Vi’s answer.
“She’s a traveler.”
“From where?”
“Enough questions, Emmie.” Sarphos rolled his eyes as they stepped into a hallway in the back of the room. A curtain of small, white flowering vines was strung along the ceiling. These, too, gave off their own magical illumination. Enough to see by, but comfortably dimmer than the entry.
“Why do you only tell Arwin things?” Emmie puffed out her cheeks in frustration.
“I do not only tell Arwin things,” Sarphos muttered.
That would be something to keep an eye on—how close Sarphos and Arwin really were. Vi didn’t know much about the woman yet. But what she’d gleaned so far assured her that Arwin gaining knowledge of Taavin would be trouble.
“Go find Arwin and tell her I’m with the king.” Sarphos shooed Emmie away. The girl gave a huff, but ran off anyway.
Vi paused, looking down the hall where Emmie had disappeared. She saw a different young girl running down in her place, a girl with corkscrew curls and that same streak of childishness. Vi would bet anything Emmie and Ellene were near the same age.
“This way—” Sarphos tapped her shoulder and turned to lead, but stopped abruptly. “I just realized, I don’t even know your name.”
Vi smiled slyly, proud that she managed to go this long without telling him. “It’s Vi.”
“Vi… right, this way, please.”
They went through two more hallways and three antechambers before entering a rectangular room.
On the far side, an open wall faced a grassy glade where children ran and played; on Vi’s right stood a throne crafted from an array of materials, including some Vi would never attempt to piece together; wood and stone were fitted against glass and metal. It was where she would expect to see their King seated.
But the throne was empty.
At Vi’s left was a low table and sitting area surrounding it. A plump man sat with his back to the door, watching three children playing with a pair of wolves and a peacock in the field beyond. This sagely and content-looking man was not what she’d expected of the Twilight Kingdom’s king.
But looks could be deceiving. Vi was a living example of that—with her tattered clothing and grime-coated fingernails, no one would believe her a crown princess. Which meant she’d have to work all the harder to convince these people she was. Vi folded her hands in front of her, rolled her shoulders back, and adjusted her posture.
“My king, forgive my intrusion.” Sarphos rounded the sitting area, dropping to a kneel.
“You know you are always welcome in my home, Sarphos.” The king spoke with a whispering, weathered voice. “Stand, please.”
Sarphos did as he was bid as Vi came to awkwardly stand next to him. “Unfortunately, I have brought ill tidings.”
King Noct had golden hair like Ruie and Emmie, that faded into a white beard. But rather than analyzing the familial resemblance between him and the girls, Vi’s mind wandered back to her own family. She wondered if she was looking at a much older version of her brother in the man.
“Ill tidings,” King Noct repeated. “I do hope this lovely young woman isn’t the cause of such things.”
“Your highness.” It was Vi’s turn to kneel. Sarphos may be welcome in this court, but she was an outsider. “I’ve—”
“Sarphos!” A shout interrupted her. “You got some pair of stones, keeping me waiting.” A woman stormed in from a side entrance.
She had bright golden hair, braided back tightly and wound into a large bun at the top of her head. Tiny curls attempted to escape around her face. She was pale, but not unnaturally so like the elfin’ra. Her eyes were muted gray, and landed on Vi with cold, steely calculation. Vi had little doubt that the person currently sizing her up was the infamous Arwin.
“Is this the woman you’ve been hiding from us?”
“I’m not hiding anything!” Sarphos insisted.
“We were just about to find out who this lovely young lady is, and why Sarphos kept you waiting… before you interrupted,” the king said slowly, as if fighting back a yawn the entire time.
“If there’s a stranger in our midst, shouldn’t you be on your throne, father?”
Father?
“I think not being on my throne is far less damaging to my appearance than you questioning me before said stranger,” the king answered—though he didn’t sound the least bit offended. Vi felt like she was more present to a family gathering than a royal court.
Arwin pursed her lips and gestured for Vi to continue. Vi took a deep breath.
“I’ve come from an Empire across the sea.”
The king stilled. Then, he commanded slowly, “Tell me your name, child.”
“I am Vi Solaris, crown princess of the Solaris Empire.”
“Solaris?” Arwin looked to Sarphos, who seemed to shrink under the woman’s stare. “There is no such Empire.”
Vi fought a smile and failed. She remembered being in Arwin’s shoes. The moment the veil was lifted from her eyes was fresh in Vi’s memory. She had assumed the rest of the world knew about Solaris—that her people alone had been left in the dark. She had assumed wrong.
“There is, across what you call the Shattered Isles. On the Dark Isle.”
“A forgotten and desolate rock?”
“Let her speak, Arwin.” King Noct’s voice had deepened, his tone becoming far more serious.
“I was born in Solarin, capital of the Solaris Empire, to Emperor Aldrik Solaris and Empress Vhalla Solaris. There, Meru’s existence is not common knowledge. Shortly after my birth I was sent to our northernmost territory, Shaldan. I thought my wardship was a purely political arrangement, but it was more than that.
“There was a prophecy about my birth,” Vi proceeded delicately. Given the morphi’s relationship with the Faithful, Vi didn’t know what their reaction would be to Yargen. Tell the truth, just not the whole truth. Half-lies were child’s play compared to the web of fictions she’d had to craft along this journey. “It involves those known as the elfin’ra and Lord Raspian’s return to this realm.”
“Lord Raspian, elfin’ra? You speak like a Faithful,” Arwin said, her voice dropping to a low growl.
“I am not a Faithful,” Vi insisted.
“But you are a liar.” Arwin stomped over to her. Without so much as a word of warning, she yanked the bandanna from Vi’s brow. “Human,” Arwin seethed, turning to Sarphos. “You brought a human among us? She could be Faithful.”
Sarphos shrank backward. If Arwin pressed, he’d break. And if h
e broke, there was no guarantee of Taavin’s safety.
“I said I’m not Faithful,” Vi insisted. “The Faithful don’t even exist in Solaris.”
“Silence, Arwin.” The King sighed tiredly. “Tell me more of the details of this prophecy?”
“My lord, I don’t entirely know them all myself…” Vi looked down at her feet for a moment, hoping the body language of respect and deference was the same here as it was at home. “It has been passed to me in pieces, from my mother and from the woman who raised me. All I know for certain is that I have been chosen by Yargen to play a role in preventing the end of our world. I am Yargen’s Champion. But what that means exactly… I’m unsure.”
“And that is why you have ventured so far?”
“Yes, that… and to find my father.”
“Prophecies, the Faithful’s goddess, a human in the Twilight Kingdom…” Arwin paced between Sarphos and her father, staring down Vi at every turn. “She spews lies to you, father.”
“Have you not seen it, Arwin?” Noct straightened in his seat. In that motion he went from a lounging old man to a king. “The bloody ring that circles our moon? It foretells the end of days.”
“Or it’s merely a phenomenon we don’t yet understand. What’s more likely? Ancient prophecies or a natural anomaly to be investigated?”
“Then there are the tears in the shift…” Sarphos said meekly, staring at his toes.
“Tears?” All eyes were on him. Vi watched as he fidgeted with the bag strap over his shoulder.
“Lord Raspian is rotting the world from the inside out,” Vi said finally, when Sarphos didn’t speak. “On the Dark Isle, people have fallen ill to a deadly plague from which there is no cure; we call it the White Death. There has been red lightning in the sky, now the corona around your moon, and I fear the tears in your shift are his work as well.”
“Plague? Did you say plague?” Sarphos’s head snapped up.
“Yes.”
“What are its symptoms?” He was gravely eager. So much so that Vi had a horrible theory he already knew what she was about to say.
“Stony skin, milky eyes, bulging red veins, madness, and—”
“Sores that break and ooze white,” he finished solemnly. Vi nodded in acknowledgement. “It’s started to show here too.”
“I’m so sorry,” Vi said softly. “Our healers couldn’t make headway with it. I don’t think there’s a cure beyond stopping Raspian.”
“Don’t doubt Sarphos,” Arwin said defensively.
“I don’t. He’s already helped me once.”
“The journey looks to have taken a toll on you.” The king’s voice was almost sad. Vi didn’t need sympathy, but she’d gladly take it. “I shall open my home to you, Vi Solaris.”
“You can’t be serious,” Arwin grumbled. Everyone ignored her.
“She is to be my distinguished guest,” the king insisted. “See that she is made comfortable until she feels well enough to continue on her journey.”
“I am to be saddled with—”
“Enough, Arwin,” the king snapped, finally reaching his limit with his daughter’s objections. “I have spoken.”
“Yes, father.” Arwin lowered her head.
“Bathe, rest, eat, and recover tonight, Vi… For in the morning, there is something of grave importance we must discuss.”
“Grave importance?” Vi repeated.
“An object was bestowed on my forefathers long, long ago… well before history was recorded in your homeland. And I believe it belongs to you.”
“I don’t understand.” What could he possibly have that belonged to her? Moreover, how would something like that even get to the Twilight Kingdom?
“I never understood either… until this moment. But we shall discuss in the morning, for it is late now and you could use some rest underneath the safety of a friendly roof.” Noct gave a yawn, as if for emphasis, and when he finished, he waved them away.
Arwin placed her hand on Vi’s shoulder, giving her a small shove toward the door she’d entered from.
“Manners, Arwin.” Vi heard a soft snort over her shoulder. “When you have seen her settled… go with Sarphos to inspect these tears, and then return to me. There are things I must share with you regarding the Dark Isle.”
Secrets on both sides of the ocean. Vi already knew what King Noct would say, and she didn’t envy those revelations. It didn’t take a prophecy to see that the hours looming before Arwin were destined to be filled with unpleasantness.
“Very well, father.”
“I could help show the tears,” Vi offered. Really, the last thing she wanted was for Arwin and Sarphos to be alone in the Twilight Forest. It would be too easy for him to out Taavin and she still had yet to get a firm grasp on their relationship. “Since I know of them.”
“Can you find them confidently, Sarphos?” the king asked.
“I can.”
“Then you should rest.” Noct turned back to her with a small smile. “You look truly exhausted.”
She was. But she wasn’t too exhausted to try to protect Taavin. “I don’t mind assisting.”
“It’s all right, Vi,” Sarphos said. Vi looked to him and the man pointedly locked eyes with her. He gave a small nod that spoke volumes meant to be reassuring, yet it only put her stomach further in knots. “You can trust me to show her the tear.”
And nothing else. Vi hoped that’s what was left unspoken.
“Now that’s settled… Arwin, please see her to the north tower?”
“If I must,” Arwin grumbled, before escorting Vi deeper into the palace of the Twilight Kingdom—and farther from the healer who knew her secret.
Chapter Twelve
“There will be a guard positioned at the entrance to the tower you’ll be staying in,” Arwin said without so much as glancing at her.
“Am I a prisoner?” Vi looked back to the throne room. Sarphos was still speaking with King Noct. What if they were discussing Taavin? How quickly would King Noct’s hospitality turn to hostility? She should be ready to fight her way out of the castle at any moment.
“If it were up to me, you’d already be in irons,” Arwin muttered. Then, louder, “No, you’re not a prisoner. But that doesn’t mean I trust you.”
“I’m not here to make trouble.”
“That’s what all troublemakers say.”
“I suppose they do.” Vi sighed. No one who was about to stab you in the back gave any warning. There wasn’t any kind of armor that protected you from betrayal. The only defense was constant suspicion and vigilance. “I suppose I’ll think of this guard as an attendant, rather than a sentry.”
“Whatever makes you happy, princess.” Arwin said princess as though it were a slur.
“Are you not also a princess?”
Arwin let out a massive snort followed by raucous laughter. “I am no princess.”
“That’s what the daughter of a king is in my land.”
“In the Twilight Kingdom, the lineage is passed only through the male bloodline. Daughters become sworn guards of the crown.” It was a surprisingly straightforward and informative answer from the woman who had been entirely callous thus far. Even though Vi’s questions on the logistics of royal succession abounded, she kept them to herself, not pushing the matter.
Up two floors, Arwin led Vi across a narrow arcade.
On one side was the courtyard she’d seen three stories below from King Noct’s throne room. On the other side, the Twilight Kingdom was visible through the archways and stone pillars. Vi admired its ethereal nature as they walked to the tower at the far end of the walkway and up a final flight of winding stairs.
“You’ll use this as your room.” Arwin stopped at a doorway, the second one up the stairs that spiraled around the tower, and pushed it open.
The soft light of the stars filtered in through a window that couldn’t be bothered with glass. Instead, a curtain of white, glowing flowers modestly obscured the view. There was a comfortable
looking bed, a side table with a washbasin, and a tall dresser that hopefully had a clean change of clothes. As the king promised, everything she would need to be comfortable for a good night’s rest was there.
“One door down is the bathing room for this tower. I do recommend you use it.” Arwin scrunched up her nose.
“Yes, I need it.” Vi wasn’t about to let herself be offended by the obvious.
“While you’re in the bath, I’ll see to finding you a change of clothes.” Arwin walked back down to the first door. “Emmie will be positioned at the start of the bridge. Ask her if you need anything else.”
“Thank you.” Vi said, stopping before the bathing room as Arwin continued on.
“Don’t thank me. I’m just following orders.”
“Still, I’m grateful,” Vi called after her. Arwin didn’t look back.
The bathing room was small but heated to steaming perfection. The nearly scalding water of the tub soaked off grime and eased away her tensions. Her mind wandered to Taavin.
He was alone in that cave while she was enjoying the hospitality of the Twilight Kingdom’s royal family. Hopefully, Arwin wasn’t currently on her way to meet him. Sarphos was supposed to show her the tears, but could she trust him to do only that?
Despite the heat of the water, Vi’s shoulders tightened.
As she wandered back up the stairs to her room, she wondered if there was a way she could sneak Taavin in. If Vi couldn’t keep Sarphos in her sights at all times, perhaps she should try to keep Taavin closer. No, it’d be impossible, she quickly decided. Gaining the trust of the king and keeping Sarphos close was the best she could do.
When Vi returned to her room, she found the dresser full of lush fabrics in every color from pale grays to vibrant reds, embellished velvets and simple silks. There was everything she could imagine in every size.
She found a pair of voluminous trousers in a dark violet hue that tapered around the ankle. There was room enough for her hips and butt, and they were surprisingly comfortable. After that, Vi donned a thin sleeveless shirt, meant to be worn beneath the coat embroidered with matching silver vines along the hemline.