Page 8 of Taken By the Shadow Prince

“Don’t get me wrong,” he says, “The man is hot. But I’m not really into the wholebaddest bitch aroundact he’s got going on. Grosses me out.”

I fight away the smile. “You could get in trouble for talking about him in such a way. He’s your superior.”

Benji grins at me. “Something tells me you don’t mind shit talking about him.”

Then, I really do smile. It’s nothing more than a small curve in the corner of my lip, perhaps so miniscule that he doesn’t notice, or perhaps he doesn’t point it out because Benji doesn’t understand how rarely I smile. But I like how perceptive he is. Most people forget to use their senses and instead rely on their mouths to talk them into the places they need to be.

I just say, “Wait here for everyone else. I’m going to go meet with the witch in charge.”

“I’ll take you.”

I look up.

A woman with deep brown skin and shining brown eyes, full of a wariness I have often seen in the mirror, stares at me, a hand on the hilt of what appears to be a very sharp but ancient sword hanging at her hip.

I nod and take a step toward her.

And then she leads me through the streets of Yevsta. A small place for what I’ve heard is a decent number of witches, but it seems well maintained, though crowded. A happy place filled with cheerful people, from the laughter I hear before it dies off at the sight of my pointed ears. I considered shifting them but didn’t want to be perceived as deceptive. The pace the woman sets is brisk, a bit too fast for my shorter legs, but I force myself to keep up.

I feel bare without my weapons. I’m used to always having at least a dagger at my side, something to protect myself, or Mair, if need be. And I would. With my life, I would.

It’s why I’m here.

I’m led to a room with a rectangular table. On one side sit four witches, all of them with graying hair, but so completely different looking that I can’t help but wonder how they wound up on this continent in the first place. One shares the same dark skin tone as the woman who led me here, another has skin like mine, the third has pale white skin, and the other looks like he hails from somewhere in the east.

I open my mouth to saythank you, though I believe those words to be a waste in most situations. But one of them, the man with skin so light it’s nearly translucent, holds a hand up in the air and stands. “We’ve already heard what you came here to say. And our answer is no.”

No.

“I’m not sure you understand,” I start, taking a step forward. “This—”

He cuts me off with a wave of the hand. “By all means, sit. Give us the same pitch this young girl did in a different way. But our answer will be the same. It’s your time to waste.”

It’s your time to waste.Do I listen? Do I leave, without even having said more than a single sentence? I haven’t a clue what Kelsa has told the four of them, and if there might indeed be something I can say to convince them or not. Or if I should just accept the answer and have everyone get back on their horses so we’ll make it to the next sanctuary with plenty of time to spare. But... I can’t just leave.

I was put in charge for a reason, and it feels like if I don’t at least do a little pleading on Mair’s behalf, then I don’t deserve to be here—even if my true mission is to find demon witches.

So I clear my throat and sit down. Kal comes in behind me, out of breath like he ran all the way. He sits down beside Kelsa, which is most definitely a slight, but I couldn’t care less.

I say, “This war is for you. For everyone like you who has been hiding to save their lives. But hiding won’t save you anymore. Now is the time to fight, while there’s still something to fight for.”

“We have been fighting,” the midnight-skinned woman says. “Every day, we fight to survive here.”

“Apply that fight to the fae who try to exterminate you. Stop fighting to survive, and fight tolive.”

My words strike something in her, but the man who stood earlier shakes his head. “No.No,” he says. “We do not owe this country a single thing. We should not have to give our lives for a country that did nothing to help us for adecade.”

“You haven’t acluewhat has been going on for a decade, if that’s what you believe.”

Kelsa clears her throat. “Mavey is right, you know. Mair—Queen Mair, I mean—has been visiting the sanctuary I lived in for as long as I can remember. She’s the one who brought us supplies, who made sure we had everything we needed and more for ten years. She did what she could.”

“She could have done so much more.” The man narrows his eyes.

I shake my head. “Do you have any idea how little power princes and princesses have until they are crowned? There was nothing she could have done until she was Queen. And the second she was, she reversed the law.”

“She should have done something about her mother, then. Or the boy.”

The boy.Saile. It’s hard not to laugh—because nobody knows that a minor rebellion in the castle, that Saile and Ender, did indeeddo something about her mother. But I can’t very well say that. So, instead, I say, “Should have killed their mother? Have you no compassion?”

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