Page 115 of King of Storms and Feathers

“My guards are fast, imbued with fire magic,” drawled Quin. “Not even you could get past them. Get up, Zali, before I have him take your head off.”

The guard pushed off me, and I stood, my muscles trembling with suppressed fury.

“Well, sister, if you weren’t a traitor before, you’ve certainly proved yourself one today, trying to kill your Regent.”

“I think we both know who the traitor in this hall is,” I hissed.

I bit my lip, dying to tell him how incompetent his guards were. Not one of them had searched me for weapons before I entered the hall. They’d looked at me and seen a pitiful girl, incapable of stealing a weapon. They’d underestimated me, and so had Quin.

“Poor, Zali. You must be disappointed by our family reunion. A little different to the one you imagined, am I right?”

“Not at all. I’m grateful that you’ve taught me a valuable lesson.” I thought of Ari, Ildri, and yes damn it, Arrow again. “Thanks to you, I now know that families aren’t formed by accidents of birth. They’re forged by continual acts of kindness, loyalty, and compassion.”

Quinn laughed, and I straightened my spine. “If you find someone who’ll hold you when you’re at your worst, who’ll make you laugh so hard that your tears of pain turn to joy, then they’re your family. They’re the ones you should love with all your might until your last breath. And you, brother… well, as it turns out, you were never part of my true family.”

He sniffed and twirled his finger in the air. A servant appeared carrying a goblet filled to the brim with golden liquid. “Take the traitor to the central cell in the dungeons,” he said to the bearded bear of a guard who had tackled me to the floor.

“The central cell?” The guards’ amber eyes goggled at me. “Are you sure that’s a—”

Quin snarled. “Have you lost your fucking hearing? You’re here to do what I tell you, nothing else. So do it. And while you’re at it, tell my counselor to attend me immediately. I have an urgent message to send.”

“Sire.” The guard bowed low. “As you command.”

“Quin, what will you do with me?” I asked.

“I haven’t decided yet, Zali. Relax and give me time to enjoy finally having you at my mercy.”

As the guard dragged me through a doorway, I glanced over my shoulder. With a sigh, Quin collapsed on the throne, then took deep gulps from his cup of serum.

It wouldn’t be hard to kill him, lost in gold delirium as he was. The fire-magic-enhanced guards were another matter, though.

Before Quin had my head cut from my shoulders, I needed to get him alone.

The guards walked me along a narrow hallway lined with more pale, twisted tree trunks. Shafts of afternoon light shone from high windows, burnishing the gnarled roots that buckled the wooden floor. Then we turned down a narrow staircase that stopped several floors beneath the palace and led to a dungeon that smelled of rotting rodents and piss.

Without lighting a torch, the guard unlocked a door and pushed me inside a cell.

“How can you see anything?” I asked. “It’s pitch black in here.”

“Fire magic. If you behave, we’ll light the torches,” he growled before stomping away.

I shuffled backward until my back hit a wall, then slid carefully to the ground and hugged my knees to my chest. I took slow breaths and tuned in to my charming new environment, praying my eyes would soon adjust to the darkness.

Nearby, a creature scratched, emitting little squeaks. Water dripped from a pipe, but then, after a minute, I heard the ragged sound of someone else’s breathing. A flash of hope made my heart pound faster. Rather than being alone in this stinking shithole, it would be much better to have some company.

“Hello?” I whispered, crawling toward the sound. “Is someone there?” My nose bumped metal, and I swore, gripping the bars tightly and squinting into the black void of the cell next door.

After a moment, a shadow moved in the far corner. Definitely a person.

“Are you all right?” I asked. “Come closer, so I can see you.”

A groan rumbled, then with hesitant movements, the shape shuffled forward, a face and thin body forming out of the darkness.

The boy looked young, barely out of adolescence. Short, black hair swept back off a tanned, handsome face, his feline gold-green eyes almost too pretty to belong to a male.

Those eyes flared as they fixed on me, and a guttural cry caught in his throat. He scrambled to the bars between our cells, his grime-coated fingers folding over mine.

I breathed out a curse as my body trembled with the shock of recognition. I knew him. I knew this boy. Had he played in the forest with Quin and me years ago?

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