Page 32 of Somber Prince

Oskura kneeled by the decomposing corpse. “Do you know this man, Your Highness?”

I looked closely at the dead body. His hair had been cut to shoulder length, like that of Joy Guardians. But desert dwellers often cut their hair, and some even shaved their heads, not bothering with braids or following the court fashion. His appearance bore no other signs of a Joy Guardian, however. He was dressed in rags and wild animal skins like a desert thug of the lowest class that he probably belonged to.

There was nothing particularly threatening about the man. Yet his behavior demanded an explanation.

When Oskura lifted the blood-stained dagger to examine it, I spotted something in the sand underneath.

“What is that?” I crouched as she scooped out a cluster of succulent yellow flowers using the tip of the blade. Their thick stem was crushed, with some flowers torn or missing.

“It’s a golden hyacinth.” Oskura flinched, tossing the cursed plant away with the blade, without touching it.

The juice of the predatory flower had been used in the assassination plot against the queen that ended up taking my father’s life. Since then, Queen Abeille had forbidden to plant, harvest, or sell the golden hyacinth or to use its juice in any form.

There was no place for it in my city.

“Did he bring it with him?” I questioned the guards, only no one knew the answer. They just shook their heads and shrugged apologetically.

“It may’ve been here before him,” Oskura offered.

The golden hyacinth grew wild in the desert. No number of royal orders could stop that. It could’ve been growing nearby and brought here on the hoof of a horse or the foot of a camel. The thug didn’t necessarily pose a threat to Teneris.

Yet my skin prickled, and my muscles tensed with warning. Dropping the cover from my head, I strained my hearing and scanned the horizon for any signs of danger.

Oskura stood next to me.

“If he planned an assassination,” she said quietly, “he would’ve sought a meeting with you, not killed himself at the prospect of one.”

Unless it wasn’t me who he’d been after.

I gritted my teeth. Had I gotten here earlier, would I have been able to stop him from slashing his own throat? Probably not. Still, I wished Starlight had been just a little bit faster on our way back.

“He knew I had the means to get the truth out of him. Or maybe he was also creating a distraction.” I turned to the leader of the guards. “Where is the caravan that this man arrived with?”

“In the city, Your Highness. The owner is well known to us. She’s a widely respected woman.”

“I need to talk to her and to everyone who accompanied her.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

I spoke to Oskura next. “I want more guards at the sarai. More Joy Vessel Keepers too.”

Oskura tilted her head. “Should we move Dawn there? She’s still in isolation.”

What I really wanted was to move that particular Joy Vessel to my private rooms, to keep her safe and sound underground. Maybe then, this maddening vibration of worry about her would ease in my chest.

But would that be wise? Or would it feed the affliction I couldn’t even identify myself? What if I was developing an addiction?

Something about Dawn was off center, and it wasn’t just her appearance. Her anger came from dissatisfaction and imbalance that I had a feeling might run deeper than the sadness from being taken away from her home or even from the death of her father. Any imbalance unnerved me, urging me to fix it.

Oskura arched an eyebrow. “You really want her as your favorite?”

That couldn’t be the reason. The purpose of favorites was to enjoy them. Dawn had said it herself—she didn’t have much joy to give. I couldn’t develop an addiction to something I hadn’t even tasted yet.

I just wanted to keep her safe.

“Yes, put Dawn together with the rest,” I said. “We’ll increase the safety for all Joy Vessels in the sarai.”

Addiction or not, it was best to stay away from that woman for a while. My general was right. I should take the chance to get to know the others.

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