‘We have a prince?’ Falco asked quizzically.
‘The Prince of Pirenti,’ Lutius snapped, making Falco give an exaggerated ‘ah’, and a quick wink at me. Did he think I found him amusing? Because I most certainly did not.
‘You met him?’ I asked.
‘We did,’ Brathe said. ‘He is not what we expected.’
‘Meaning what?’
‘Young and quiet and very well mannered.’
‘Will he cause problems?’
‘I can’t imagine so, Majesty. He seems intent on enjoying Limontae as a guest. I have heard that he keeps mostly to himself.’
‘You didn’t bring him here with you?’
Brathe faltered, looking between Falco and I. ‘No, Majesty – I wasn’t aware that I should …’
I rounded on Falco, who was inspecting his impeccably manicured fingernails. ‘Did you not extend the invitation?’
He looked up. ‘Was I meant to?’
My eyes turned furious steel grey.
Falco sighed. ‘Oh dear. Ava is not going to be happy about this.’
‘You think we can afford to insult the King and Queen of Pirenti along with the bloody Sparrow?’ I hissed.
‘I’ll send the invitation now,’ he shrugged, as if it didn’t matter in the slightest.
‘He won’t get here in time! The announcement is in four days! If you’d sent it when I asked you, he could have been escorted by the general himself, but now you expect the Prince of Pirenti to traipse across the land alone?’
He looked at me, spreading his hands helplessly. ‘I thought he was meant to be a big scary monster from the ice? Can he not make a simple journey without help?’
‘He is a child,’ I said softly. ‘A child in a foreign land, where everyone he meets is likely to hate him.’
Falco shrugged again, this time with disdain. ‘I would hardly call nineteen years old a child. When I was nineteen I was Emperor of a nation and half the world was out for my blood.’
‘And what an Emperor you have made,’ I said softly.
Falco’s expression changed, but only very slightly. I saw the rare shift in his eyes, a tinge of tangerine hat was the only hint my barb had wounded him at all.
Steeling my temper with a deep breath, I turned back to the warder and the general. They wore similar expressions of resigned disappointment. A look I was so accustomed to in the presence of Falco that I had given up concerning myself with it.
‘Moving on,’ I said flatly. ‘May I see the map?’ Petir brought forward a map of our lands, divided into realms. We used him as more than a bodyguard when we were out of the palace, as it was necessary for us to limit contact with people. ‘Here is where the Sparrow’s men have been spotted.’ I pointed out a section of land well within our very own region of Galincia.
‘They have breached the borders?’ Brathe asked quickly.
‘They have. Falco’s man Petir took them out, but there will be more.’
‘It’s time to send troops into Querida and Ora to quell the uprising. Their land outspans our own.’
‘It is not their land and ours,’ I said crisply. ‘It is all the same land – we are all Kayan.’
‘And what of those in Yurtt?’ Lutius asked mildly. ‘What would you call them?’
Once, not so long ago, Yurtt had been called Sanra, and it had been a region of Kaya. But the slaughterman of Pirenti had won too many battles and he had taken our furthest region for his own, changing its name and subjugating its people.
‘What about Yurtt?’ I asked, feeling a coldness come upon me.
‘You have heard the whispers that the Sparrow hails from that forgotten region?’
‘Not forgotten.’
‘You have never negotiated for it to be returned to Kayan rule,’ Lutius pointed out, his pale, milky eyes probing me in a way that I hated.
‘I have had nothing to offer in return, and I cannot risk starting another war over one region.’ Guilt made me sick, but I swallowed it. Falco, of course, stayed silent throughout this. I had no idea what he thought of the region so often called the forgotten. It was more than likely he didn’t care.
‘If Yurtt follows the Sparrow, he will have control of three full regions, which is as many as you control, Majesty,’ Brathe pointed out. ‘And if we must fight,’ Brathe hedged softly and I braced myself at the tone of his voice, ‘then we must do so without the curse of the bond limiting our numbers to half what they should be.’
His idea was simple. Because so many of our soldiers were bonded, when one was killed, two died. Therefore we’d spent hundreds of years losing battles because of the bond. But now we had a way to end this curse – if there was anyone in this country strong enough and brave enough to set out and find it. Gone would be needless death. And gone would be my need for secrecy. Gone would be the days of keeping Radha locked out of sight, of Falco and I having to cover our eyes wherever we went.
‘You have the full scroll?’ I asked Lutius.
He nodded and produced an ancient looking piece of parchment, upon which were the writings of Agathon, first warder of Kaya. Magic had kept the document from perishing, but there was no way to know how old it truly was, or how the world had looked on the day it was scribed.
I tried to imagine a place without the bond, and was reminded, all too abruptly, of our violent neighbours to the north and what had happened to them over the centuries when they’d had nothing to remind them of the power of love.
I shivered a little, though the afternoon was warm.
‘The winners of the tournament will each receive a copy of it, to be kept solely in their possession, with a tracker and a ward for secrecy,’ Brathe said. I nodded, reading the words again. They were burnt into my soul already, and I knew that in this matter, Falco was just as excited as I was. He probably grew tired of bedding women who couldn’t look at him and marvel over his beauty. Whatever the reason, we were in agreement: this tournament was the most important thing that would happen in Kaya for thousands of years, because the winners were our only hope at a new life.
The people of Kaya die in pairs. With the forging of the soul magic, so is forged an unbreakable bond between those in love. When one dies, so shall the other, and forever will it remain so … Unless in the turning of the world the day comes when one is born with both the frozen blood of the north in his veins, and the hot winds of the south blazing through his soul. Then shall he, and only he, have the power to break the unbreakable bond.
Thorne
Da pulls his face from the hollow curve of the girl’s neck, licking the warm blood from his lips. In it he can taste her innocence. It is yellow like her eyes. She makes a sound, a lazy murmur of confusion, then her gaze alights on him as he crouches over her, covered in her blood. The sound turns to one of terror and she tries to escape, but she is too weak and he is giant in his power. He ducks his head for another taste –
It was scent that crashed through the nightmare of my father and brought me stumbling into wakefulness. The scent of furious boredom, of excitement and grief all at once.
Ma told me once that Da had had an unrivalled sense of smell – that he could scent the subtle details of a person’s emotions. I hadn’t ever told her that I could do the same because if I said it out loud somehow the connection between he and I became too strong. Another monstrous piece of him I had inherited.
My big, ugly knuckles clutched at the unfamiliar sheets as I peered around the unfamiliar room. There were none of the usual smells or sights to orient me. Instead there was a room I was unused to, and a blonde girl sitting beside the window.
She was watching me with eyebrows arched in curiosity. As soon as I spotted her, she promptly went back to filing her nails. ‘Nightmare?’
I clenched my fists to stop them from trembling. It was too strange, having the echo of her in my dream and now sitting here in the same fading light as me.
‘I wonder what Pirenti Princes dream of that could scare them so.’
&
nbsp; ‘What are you doing here?’ I asked softly.
‘I followed you.’
‘How did you get in?’
‘Climbed in through the roof.’
I peered up at the sky-light, then back at her, lost for words. ‘You’ve just been sitting here? How long was I asleep?’
‘Hours and hours and hours. I nearly killed myself from boredom.’
I climbed out of bed, wondering if this was normal behaviour for Kayans. I wasn’t sure what to do, felt uncomfortable at having her alone in my bedroom with me.
She led the way out into the marble kitchen, which also had an opening in the roof for the first stars to fall through. It was a beautiful aspect of Kayan architecture; here they could afford to keep their houses open because of the warm weather. In Pirenti you’d freeze in a house like this.
A few servants scampered away at our approach, except for Winn, who stopped dead at the sight of Finn.
Her eyes alighted on him and narrowed like she’d spotted prey. ‘Hello.’
He couldn’t speak. I felt instant kinship with the boy, since she seemed to have a similar effect on me. I could see immediately that he was a little in love with the idea of her, and too amazed by her closeness to come up with any kind of response.
‘This is Winn,’ I supplied, and he shot me a grateful glance.
‘A pleasure,’ Finn smiled. ‘I’ve seen your face. At the races, maybe?’
He nodded faintly. ‘Forgive me, I know it’s supposed to be private …’
‘Do you know how to keep a secret, Winn?’ she asked softly.
Winn swallowed, audibly.
‘If you know how to keep a secret, you can come as many times as you like.’
He nodded hurriedly. ‘I would never …’
‘Come and say hello to me next time,’ she implored, which might have seemed kind if it didn’t seem so much like a cat playing with a mouse before eating it.
Winn cleared his throat, then set about lighting the lamps in the living room and pouring us both wine. He vanished before I could tell him to stay.
Finn and I looked at each other. She clearly didn’t feel any of the discomfort I did. It occurred to me, rather belatedly, that she was the first girl my own age I’d ever met. And I already knew little pieces of her, enough to know that she was one of those women – the ones who took pleasure in their power over men. A woman too used to her own beauty, too desirous of the forbidden. Too clever for the world.
‘You’re a curious man, Thorne of Araan.’ Finn started wandering the house, running her fingers over the surface of everything. She liked to touch, it seemed, but didn’t reach for the wine offered her. ‘Why is it that a man from Pirenti would care about the Kayan bond?’
I frowned.
She smiled an infinitely sly smile, watching me out of the corner of her eye. ‘You’re not very good at keeping secrets, are you, Thorne?’
I didn’t say anything.
Finn seemed too big and loud and vibrant to fit inside this house. I could sense her wanting to be outside, under the vastness of the sky where she had room to move.
‘My lady. Are you not expected home for the night meal? It grows dark …’
‘You speak very prettily for a northern brute.’
I blinked.
Finn smiled again. ‘It does grow dark,’ she agreed. ‘We’d better go.’
‘We?’
‘You’re coming to dinner at my house.’
‘I beg your pardon?’
She gestured for me to follow her out into the night. I couldn’t think of how not to follow, so I followed. Feet clipping against the cobblestones, I took a breath of warm night air, willing my heart to slow. I couldn’t for the life of me work out why this woman wanted me in her home, or why in the world I was going along with it.
People skirted widely around us, not wanting to get too close. We walked towards the towers and the ocean. I recalled Winn telling me last night that the twins came from the cliffs. But that memory made me think of the cave, and the ropes, and the children risking their lives simply to earn that smile of Finn’s. It was glorious, but it was not worth dying for.
‘This must all be very strange for you,’ she commented.
‘You have a beautiful country,’ I murmured. ‘I am fortunate.’
Finn glanced at me, lips twitching. ‘You don’t have to be so polite. There are no royal officials around, waiting to report you.’
‘I was taught that manners show respect.’
‘And who taught you that?’
‘My ma.’
‘The two of you must have a wonderful time, being polite to each other.’
I didn’t bother replying – not if she was going to mock what she didn’t understand. Finn brought me to the edge of the cliff and through a small iron gate. There were steps carved into the side of the cliff. Finn and I descended these a few levels, then turned left to follow a winding path. The view was stunning, even more so than it had been last night, because now the sun was casting a brilliant golden glow over the sea. There were people everywhere – sitting out on their porches, enjoying the sunset, singing and playing music. Children careened along the stone paths and there were crowds of families down on the sand, taking advantage of the perfect summer night. Smells hit me – salt, seaweed, fish and spices, a heady mix that made me hungry and calm at the same time.
I was struck by how beautiful it all was. The sense of community that filled the cliff side was something I’d never come across before. I now understood what Ava had been trying to create in the fortress for the last twenty years – a place where people shared laughter, food and music.
The only problem here seemed to be me. Wherever we walked people stared at me with anything from wariness to open hostility. Finn greeted them all, completely ignoring their expressions. But I couldn’t move past the notion that there was danger in the air, and that I had brought it with me.
Finn stepped up onto the porch of a small house. It had no door – rather, the entire front was open to the spectacular view, and I had the sense that you could walk out and drop right off the edge of the world without meaning to. There was nothing to stop you, nothing to catch you. I wondered how her parents had managed to raise children in such a dangerous spot and a shudder went up my spine as I accidentally moved too close to the edge.
The front half of the house was an open kitchen and living room, and like most houses in Kaya, its roof opened up into the sky. Even though the house was small, it felt spacious.
Finn loped inside to greet her family, who met her with a great eruption of noise and laughter. There were three men – her twin brother, the small red-haired boy I’d seen at the race, whom I did not think related to her by his scent, and an older man who was clearly her da by the look of his face. I stopped and watched, feeling like an unwanted intruder – like their bright, physical warmth should remain untouched by the one who lurked in the darkness.
The boys caught sight of me and stopped dead.
‘What’s the matter, Highness?’ Finn asked innocently. ‘Is our house too small for you to fit within?’
I cleared my throat nervously and gave a quick bow of my head. ‘Greetings.’ I edged forward slowly, not wanting to alarm anyone.
‘Who have you brought, Finn?’ the older man asked, his eyes searching my face warily. He looked tired and haggard, and stood with a clear stoop to his back.
‘My name is Thorne, sir. If it’s not appropriate for me to stay I will leave.’
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Finn said with a roll of her eyes. ‘They just feel emasculated by you, Thorne.’
Embarrassment sliced through me, but her family ignored the comment, obviously more accustomed to her careless barbs.
Her da’s name was Alexi and he spent the next hour in the kitchen, calling for his children to smell or taste something for him, and demanding they explain the results in terms of colour, which I didn’t understand in the least. I sat quietly at the table and listened, b
ewildered, to Finn saying things like ‘that one tastes of smoky autumn’ or ‘this one’s too hazel’ or ‘can’t you put more sky in it?’
Her brother was called Jonah, and though I could see uncanny similarities between them – the quickness of amusement and the sharp cleverness – I could also see the stark contrasts. Where she never stopped moving, he was still. Where she was loud and full of laughter, his smiles were soft smirks and he seemed more prone to gravitas. Where she gave voice to everything on the tip of her tongue, he held his, and I found myself liking him more with each moment that passed. If it were not for the cold gazes he sent my way, gazes unmistakably tinged with white, I might almost have been able to pretend I was welcome here.
The little red-haired one was Penn, and I saw from my first glimpse of his eyes all that was missing from his mind.
‘Your hand is huge,’ he said as he shook it, unable to look into my face.
I simply nodded, because it was huge. It made Finn grin, but I kept my eyes on the boy. He was covered in freckles and he had deep chocolate eyes that watched my body with an odd kind of awareness. The top of his head barely reached my ribs.
‘Have you ever killed anyone?’ he asked me next and I felt the blood drain from my face.
Finn smiled; her teeth looked almost sharp in the candlelight.
‘It’s a fair question,’ Jonah agreed, eyes hard. ‘Go on, Majesty – answer him.’
I didn’t look away from Penn, nor did I say anything. I might not have been good at lying, but I was very good at keeping silent, and if these people thought they could earn my secrets with little more than probing gazes and disconcerting confidence they were mistaken.
Penn read my silence, and I knew he knew the answer without me having to say anything anyway. ‘Fish for dinner!’ he announced excitedly, and the moment dissolved.
The wooden dining table was carved through with all kinds of sea creatures. Penn sat beside me and traced the grooves cut into the wood absently, as if he’d done it a thousand times and his fingers had been born to fit within them.
‘Here’s where the sea ends,’ he pointed out. I looked at where the grooves ended with the wood, as if the world had dropped away into nothingness.