Chapter Two
Betrayal had not been the first thing on Zahra’s mind when she’d woken up in the morning. But here she was, with her back pressed against the wall, her heart racing and her hands clammy with growing anxiety.
Discontention between clans was a messy business. But this? This was cruelty, plain and simple.
She hid herself in the shadows, listening to the red phoenix’s leader go on a tirade about the rightful ruler of Sunfire Isle.
The entire Perch could likely hear his drunken accusations, most choosing to pretend they hadn’t heard anything at all.
His voice became quieter as he moved in the opposite direction, likely planning to drink himself into a stupor and later return to push around the phoenix king when drunk enough he could hardly stand on his own two feet.
An anxious, shuddering breath escaped her as she braced her hand against the wall, ready to land herself in hot waters. It was highly unlikely that she wouldn’t get caught, but she found the risk worth it.
The red phoenix’s right hand man and apothecary walked down the hallway in her direction with a bowl in his hands filled with a white substance. His weathered hands stirred the contents with a wooden spoon, his face aged with frown lines across his mouth and around his eyes.
The moment he rounded the corner, Zahra stepped out from the shadows and blocked his path. Her entire body trembled. This was not something she would normally do. Not something she would get away with. But she must try.
The man glanced up, his frown growing even more prominent by the second.
“Move,” he grumbled. “I want to get this over with.” But then he squinted as he took her in, followed by his eyebrows shooting up.
“Ah. First Princess.” With his bad vision, he wrongly identified her, which was what she had been hoping for.
He guiltily rephrased his request. “I, uh. Please move aside.”
“Allow me to do it,” Zahra said, reaching for the bowl. But as she cupped her hands around half the bowl, the old man’s grip only tightened on his own half.
“I cannot ignore an order from my leader.”
Zahra held her head high and glowered at the older man. Although she was short, he stood even shorter when his curved spine stole much of his existing height.
“That was not a suggestion,” she said. “It was an order.”
Finally, the man inclined his head. “As you wish.” After he relinquished the bowl and cell key to her care, he limped down the hallway, muttering to himself and not once glancing over his shoulder as if relieved to shove the gruesome task onto someone else.
She turned and quickened her step in the opposite direction. The window was small. Too small. But if she had the power to prevent another death, then she would.
Knowing every nook and cranny of the Perch by heart, she stole past several guards and others in the red phoenix clan until finally, she slipped into the holding wing where several cages dangled high above her.
Most were empty, save for three with rotted bones and flesh, as well as the one holding the phoenix king himself.
Zahra took a deep breath but gave herself no more time to prepare for the interaction as she climbed a steep incline leading to his cage.
At her approach, the king’s head shot up. She froze in her step, something invisible seeming to slam into her in her shock. Although now a young boy instead of an adult, he was utterly beautiful.
Golden eyes gleamed in the dim light of the holding cell, matching the golden mark of the phoenix king glowing softly at his temple.
His skin was a dark tan in color, complimenting beautifully with the dark hair framing his face.
The low ponytail at the back was draped over one slender shoulder otherwise drowned in clothes far too large for him.
And like many others adhering to the phoenix culture, he wore a lot of jewelry.
Golden earrings in either ear. A row of bangles climbing both wrists. Necklaces dangling from his neck.
“Who are you?” the phoenix king croaked, breaking her out of her momentary stupor.
“Just a servant,” Zahra lied. Thankfully, the two of them had never met in person. Without a crimson head jewel to give away her identity, he had no other way to recognize her status.
“You’ve come here to poison me then.”
Shaking her head, she set the bowl filled with poison at the edge of the platform, and with the quick strike of her foot, she sent the bowl flying into the dark abyss below. After a brief pause, it clattered against the floor, echoing across the cavernous room before all lay still.
Weiyu’s lips parted in shock as he stared back at her with incredulous golden eyes.
Despite the youthfulness of his face and the small stature of his body, those eyes reflected the spirit of a mature, full-grown adult.
She hadn’t been present during the whipping.
She didn’t know what he looked like as a man.
But if his young form was any indication, he was likely beautiful and magnificent.
“Can you walk?” Zahra asked, reaching into her pocket and producing the key to the cage.
“Well enough.” But just as the metal door swung open, he paused, eyeing her with a worried expression. “You’ll get yourself killed if you help me.”
“I won’t.” She opened the door wider for him to limp through. “Besides, I’m just a servant. I’m nothing compared to the life of the phoenix king.”
“That’s not true.”
Although only three words escaped his mouth, the conviction behind them gave her pause.
All her life, the red phoenix leader had held himself above all, willing to sacrifice others for his own gain.
Mogwai was completely opposite from Weiyu to say such a thing to a supposed servant he had only just met.
King Weiyu tripped on his own clothing, hissing in pain the moment his knees hit the ground. His shoulders hunched with exhaustion. His arms trembled from the strain of holding up his own weight.
“Let me carry you,” she said, reaching toward him. But he pushed her hands away. Shame and shock burrowed within her chest when she realized what she’d said. Yes, this was the phoenix king, but he wasn’t a child, despite his current appearance.
“I apologize,” she murmured, taking a step back and dipping her head repentantly.
With great struggle, he pushed himself to his feet, wrestling with his clothing until most of it was tied around his waist to better fit his small frame. “I have to uphold at least a little pride.” He cast her a grin, letting her know he wasn’t angry with her. She breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he wouldn’t allow her to carry him, he still agreed to let her help.
She kept a tight grip around his shoulders while he held her around the waist. Together, they hurried, him limping, out of the holding wing, down several hallways, and outside onto a ledge on the phoenix landing with the darkness of pre-dawn filling the sky.
Wind rushed through the curls of her dark brown hair, the strands brushing against the light freckles on her tanned skin.
Her simple crimson headband kept most of her locks tamed, but the rest was a hopeless case.
She glanced over her shoulder for any signs of pursuit. None yet. But it was only a matter of time.
Turning back toward the king, she nudged him forward by the shoulder. “Go! Before we’re found out.”
He paused at the top of the landing, a long fall greeting them at the ledge with the ground far below. “Come with me.”
Oh, how much she treasured those words alone. The ones that promised escape from this awful, terrible place, tempting her with freedom she had never been able to enjoy. But...
“I cannot shift.”
The king’s face dawned with understanding as he glanced from her to the long drop waiting for her should she misstep. Not everyone in the phoenix kingdom held the power, and unfortunately, she was one of them. Otherwise, she would have escaped this place long ago.
“There must be a way down.”
She nodded. “There is. But the red phoenix leader purposefully makes it difficult to attach the ladder, and it’s heavily guarded. I cannot leave.”
“Then I’ll come back for you.”
Zahra would have laughed out loud if it had been anyone else.
But this was the king. Was he truly ignorant?
Or just optimistic? Even after entering the Perch with a dozen guards, he’d been ambushed, his guards killed, and lost two lives himself.
If he truly wanted to rescue her, he’d have to send an entire battalion.
The resulting bloodshed was not worth one life.
“Tell me your name,” he asked when she didn’t reply to his last comment.
But she simply shook her head. “If someone catches you here, you will not be able to escape. Now leave!”
He hesitated, reaching out with an arm clad with a half dozen golden bracelets. Shouts echoed from within the Perch. Someone had likely noticed the king was absent from his cage. If the light of dawn became any brighter, he would be easy to spot. He had to go now.
Taking a single step forward, she braced both her hands on the king’s shoulders and pushed.
He released a startled gasp as he stumbled backward and over the lip of the platform. She last spotted the glistening locks of his blue-black ponytail and the glint of his golden jewelry before he disappeared entirely.
And then moments later, a plume of blue feathers dove into a graceful arc, long wings catching the draft and swooping higher into the sky.
Zahra watched in awe at each flap of wings and the elegant glide of his phoenix form through the air.
He became smaller and less discernable in the waning darkness with each passing moment.
Before he disappeared entirely, she swore she noticed him turn his head back toward her. Just one more time.
“Good luck,” she whispered. She reached for the layer of necklaces around her own neck, needing something to grip onto when worry reared its head within her.