Even so, I’d had more than those refugees outside the city.
“We must be getting into Thornton,” Melanie said.
“Need anything while we’re here?” It was a weak joke. Thornton was the high-class district of Skyvale with several sizable markets, and where we did most of our work. The Flags—Black Flag, White Flag, and Red Flag—were easier and less guarded, but it seemed impolite to steal from other poor people.
Several minutes later, a shadow fell over the windows and the carriage stopped. We’d reached the enormous wall separating Hawksbill and the King’s Seat from the rest of the city. After a few moments of men’s voices at the driver’s box, a guard swung open the door.
My stomach dropped. They’d caught us already.
But the guard only checked inside our bags and underneath the benches, then ducked out, all without saying a word. My head buzzed with uncomfortable energy, and the dagger at my back pressed hard into my spine.
With a rattle, the carriage burst into motion once more. Voices of servants and nobles and guards calling cadence rose above the noise of our vehicle. Cathedral bells pealed in the distance. Every moment brought us closer to Skyvale Palace.
We’d meet King Terrell.
I’d see the prince.
“Are you all right?” Melanie touched my arm. “You look nervous.”
I twitched a smile. “I do not.”
“Only to your best friend.” She kept her voice low. “What’s wrong?”
I couldn’t tell her the whole truth, but she deserved something. “This mission is so important. We need people in Aecor to fight for us when we return. If we can’t find the resistance groups, or we can’t protect them—”
“I understand.” Melanie kept my gaze for a moment. “We’ll do this. We’ve been training and studying for months. We’re as prepared as we can be.”
“It’s the things we aren’t prepared for that I’m worried about.”
“Say it again,” she muttered.
Shortly, we were deposited at a side entrance to the palace. “So no one gawks at you before you’ve had time to adjust,” explained the driver, all haste to soothe potential offense. He passed us off to a valet, who clutched the envelope with our residency documents, and not very carefully. All our hard work, crushed beneath clumsy hands.
I maintained an expression between weary refugee, aloof nobility, and awe for the palace’s magnificence.
And it was a magnificent palace, with gilded friezes and marbled floors. Heavy rugs ran the length of the hall, all blue and gold and patterned with geometric figures. Copper-and-glass oil lamps hung on the walls every several paces. The palace would never be dark.
Uniformed men kept guard over staterooms and studies, while a handful of lords and ladies made their way through the palace. Some glanced at us, but most hardly seemed to notice our presence.
Even indoors where they’d do no good against the wraith, there were glass mirrors on every west-facing surface. We turned a corner and I caught my reflection. My face was thin and hard, smudged with dirt and sweat. The coronet I’d braided my hair into was oily and dusty. Brown strands hung loose in places, as though I’d been running. Melanie, with her pale brown skin and black hair, looked the same. We looked horrible, and hungry.
We looked like refugees.
“This way, Lady Julianna, Lady Melanie.” The valet gestured toward a heavy oak door, which stood open for our arrival. “His Majesty and His Highness will see you now.”
“Thank you.” My voice came out raspier than I’d realized it might. Nerves crowded in my throat, and my whole body was shaking.
In moments, I’d see the man who was responsible for my parents’ deaths. For my kingdom’s destruction. For my stolen childhood.
In moments, I’d be in the same room with the man I hated most in the world, and I’d have to pretend he was my rescuer.
When the herald announced us, Melanie and I entered the king’s office.
The room was well lit with the windows thrown wide. Four men with Indigo Order uniforms stood around the perimeter, their expressions blank. Bodyguards. A middle-aged man in blue livery sat in the corner, writing at a tiny desk.
The king sat behind a massive desk, and a young man stood beside him.
My breath caught. Tobiah.
“This way,” said the valet, beckoning us toward the crowded end of the room. He handed our papers to the secretary, and then exited.
The herald cleared his throat. “His Majesty Terrell Pierce the Fourth, House of the Dragon, Sovereign of the Indigo Kingdom, and his son, Crown Prince Tobiah Pierce, House of the Dragon, Heir to the Indigo Kingdom.”
My feet moved. I walked. But I couldn’t look away from Tobiah. His eyes were lowered toward something on his father’s desk. He kept his hands behind his back as he nodded and murmured, and then both the prince and his father looked up.
King Terrell’s smile flashed in my peripheral vision, but it was Tobiah’s dark gaze that held me.
He cocked his head and glanced from me to Melanie and back. There was something in his eyes—surely not recognition. It had been almost ten years since the One-Night War, and I was a different person now.
The crown prince said nothing, though, offering only a slight nod and cautious smile.
He had no idea who I was. No idea that—because of him—my life was in ruins. And here he was with his palace and father and perfect life. Like the One-Night War had never happened.
I pushed down those thoughts. I needed to work.
“Forgive me for not standing to greet you.” King Terrell motioned to a pair of chairs in front of his desk. “Please sit. You must be exhausted.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.” The words slipped from me without thought, as though I’d never left my own father’s palace. My childhood of court manners hadn’t disappeared, even after ten years.
Servants held the cushioned chairs for us, then vanished.
“Lady Julianna. Lady Melanie.” King Terrell offered a grim smile. “I’m sorry that you’ve been forced from your home, and that there was nothing more the Indigo Kingdom could do for Liadia. But I rejoice in your presence here. We’d been informed that there were no more survivors. I couldn’t be more glad for incorrect intelligence.”
We both thanked him again.
“Tell me,” said the crown prince. “Why did no one in Liadia evacuate? Everyone knew the wraith was coming, surely.”
Was that a test? Could he suspect?
I repeated the information I’d learned from refugees. “Of course everyone knew that the wraith was coming.” I bit back more venom. A little indignity at his question would be natural for Julianna, but lashing out at Tobiah was unwise. I softened my tone. “Of course everyone knew. For months before the wraith arrived, the weather grew more intense. Winter was colder. Summer was hotter. On clear nights, we could see the glow of wraith on the western horizon.”
The room was so, so quiet.
“We knew it was coming. And so, the royal scholars and philosophers studied and tested and worked until they announced they had found a way to protect the kingdom. Because he trusted their efforts, His Majesty promised safety for the kingdom, but many didn’t believe. They left anyway, so martial law was declared, and borders were closed to keep more people from fleeing.” I let my voice sink. “As you already know, the barrier erected did little to halt the wraith.”