Chapter 24
Father passed away this morning. As tradition goes, my brother inherited the First-Made Vessel as it fell from Fathers’ lifeless hand, and Dagen’s Second-Made fell off as soon as he put the white ring on. He is now the king of Zarr, the married king of Zarr. He’s falling for Kathreen, but only because she is his wife, and if I know my brother—which I do—he”s taking his duties as husband and king seriously. I don’t like her. Not only is Kathreen so wrong for him, I believe she’s the one who poisoned Father. His illness started after King Rajim suspected us of stealing—and after Kathreen started visiting. Needless to say, I’ve ordered Preysee to replace every food item that goes to Dagen’s rooms. I don’t trust anyone in this castle, but if I did, it would be Preysee.
My guards blaze the trail up the giant spiral staircase to my chambers, visibly sour at the sudden absence of short skirts and deep necklines.
“I will be reading the rest of the night if you wish to go enjoy the rave,” I say to Liha as she fades into my shield. She will try to talk me out of what I’m about to do, and I don’t have time or patience for it tonight.
She nudges me. “Are you sure?”
Her voice is light and energetic as if the Awom’s death never happened. Her ability to avoid hard emotions amazes me.
I walk to my desk and flip open The King of Kings. “I’m sure. Have fun.”
“Oh, I always do. Tonight, I might catch one of my boyfriends doing something scrumptious.”
“Oh, for the love of—”
She giggles and the small tug on my shield tells me she’s gone.
Preysee arrives to tend to me and ushers me into my closet. Once inside, she turns me to face the giant mirror, and I watch her face as she unzips my dress, her eyes darkening on the blue and purple finger marks around my neck. They’ve deepened into an angry shade of black and purple.
Her voice is thick, “My lady—”
I wave her off. “It looks worse than it feels.”
Her lips press into a firm line.
“Preysee.”
She looks up from my neck, and I instantly regret what I’m about to involve her in. “I’m going to sneak out, and I need you to cover for me.”
Her expression sharpens. “Why?”
I step out of the golden dress and reach for a pair of matte-black fighting leathers.
“There’s something I have to fix.”
After sliding my legs and arms into my suit, Preysee pauses at my zipper, holding it. “This has to do with tax court, doesn’t it?”
Our eyes meet in the reflection, and I dip my chin. She slowly zips up my suit.
I walk into my closet and grab a plain golden necklace with a small blue gem pendant strung from it. I wore it once as a child in Zo, so no one will recognize it, but it is worth a small fortune to a mill worker. “I will be back in three hours, realms willing.”
Her brows pull together, giving a hard cast to her face. “That’s too long. Your father gave Brunar specific orders tonight. He’s to check on you in an hour and report back.”
I look down at the necklace in my palm and feel my shoulders drop. There’s no way I can deliver the necklace. With only an hour, I’d barely have time to help Palko in the dungeons.
Preysee takes my hand in hers. “Let me help.”
I shake my head. “No. It’s too—”
“My lady,” she says, her honey-brown eyes slicing through me. “Do not deny me the opportunity to protect my people.”
Something flickers in her gaze as she beholds my pained expression and I wonder if she is talking about me as well as Palko, but I don’t linger on the thought. My heart can’t afford to. Palko is her people, and I will not deny her.
“It needs to be delivered to someone.” I pour the gold chain and pendant into her palm and give her the name of the mill worker’s wife along with the district she belongs to.
She takes the necklace with reverence. “I will do this.”
I remind myself that Preysee goes into Zarr city all the time. She will be fine, I tell myself, but it doesn’t calm the fear coursing through me. If she’s caught, she’ll be executed. I shove the thought away as I pull down two of my warmest winter cloaks, one for me and one for Palko. I fasten them both around my shoulders, layering one on top of the other and go to the balcony doors.
Her fingers clasp tighter around the necklace as she follows. “I will run your bath. For as often as you get in, no one will suspect otherwise.” She almost smirks. “If Brunar knocks before then, I’ll tell him you’re not decent yet.”
I look out the glass doors to the wind and fog. “I’ll be back before an hour.”
When I open the balcony doors, high above the castle grounds, the cold cuts through my two cloaks like they’re nothing, and my stomach plunges for Palko.
I roll my shoulders, my injured one protesting with a stinging, pulling sensation as I mentally talk myself through my plan, but when I look down, the fear and vertigo sets in.
Of all the things.
Heights.
Maybe that’s why Father stuck me up here in the first place—after he lost his temper with me on the roof, he figured I’d be too scared of heights to sneak out.
That little thought propels me over the edge. I grab hold of the slick stones and swing my legs over. The icy cold bleeds through my gloves as I navigate the angles and spikes of my turret while the wind whips my cloaks around.
Fast. The key is to move fast, before my hands become too numb. I risk a glance down and swallow.
A few places my fingers slip from the accumulated frost, but I’m able to catch myself on a nearby ledge or crevasse as I descend.
After a shoulder-wrenching twenty minutes, my feet smack the icy ground and I inhale a deep lung-full of sharp, cold air, satisfied with myself.
That’s when his velvet voice sounds at my shoulder. “Sneaking out? So naughty.”