Page 74 of Court of Secrets and Flames

I wave, trading smiles with each of them before they saunter off. I sense Knox watching our exchange and growing steadily more tense.

Once they’re out of earshot, I face him with my hands on my hips. “Go ahead, say it. You’re about to choke on whatever’s pissing you off.”

His brow draws into a scowl. “What I’m about to choke on is the fact that you smile at them nonstop yet seem like you can barely stand to breathe the same air as me.” His voice lowers to a dangerous level. “If you’re getting any ideas about them, I suggest you quit now.”

Once I process his words, my fingers curl into my palms. “Are you kidding me? Do you really think I’d hop from you to one of your friends as easily as I change my clothes? No, don’t answer that,” I growl, holding up my hand, “because if you respond the wrong way, I can’t promise I won’t throat punch you.”

I’m so irked I can barely stand to look at him. Seriously, is that really what he thinks of me?

When I manage to get my temper in check, I address him again. “If I smile at them more, it’s because you’re treating me like just another soldier under your training. You’re closed off, and you act like your only interest in me is my ability to serve Tirene. Meanwhile, your friends tell me about themselves, their pasts. Their lives in Tirene and at the castle. I’m getting to know them. Yet you’re holding me at arm’s length.”

I tuck my chin, shielding my face so he can’t see the hurt I’m desperately trying to hide, but he grabs it between two fingers and lifts until our eyes meet. Whatever he sees causes his shoulders to sag.

In the next breath, he grabs my hand and tugs. “Come with me.”

He guides me through the labyrinthine halls of the palace. Each step takes us deeper into a wing I’ve never set foot in.

The older walls here speak the secrets of a bygone era, their stones untouched by time or the king’s renovations.

“Jasper never saw fit to change this place. I don’t know why. Maybe it was because of what we kept hidden.” His voice, lacedwith a hint of reverence for the untarnished history around us, echoes off the high ceilings.

I trail behind him, my fingertips grazing the cool surface of the ancient masonry. Here lies the heart of the kingdom, unaltered and authentic. A brief peek into the previous king’s style.

Knox turns a blind corner, and as if by magic, the prince is gone.

Vanished.

I blink in disbelief. The Tirenese are known for many things, but spontaneous invisibility isn’t one of them. At least, I don’t think so.

My heart skips a beat. Is this part of the training? A test? Am I about to get kidnapped again?

“Knox?”

No answer.

I scowl as I examine the stones, pressing and tapping, seeking the mechanism that spirited him away. A draft teases my hair. I lift my gaze just as a slab of ceiling shifts and an arm drops down.

Yelping, I jump back a step. Knox’s impatient voice follows. “Grab my hand.”

He hauls me into the cramped darkness of the passage. “Watch your footing.”

“I’ll give us some light.” Channeling a tiny part of my magic, I form a ball of light that hovers in the palm of my hand.

Knox guides me along the uneven floor. We shuffle forward, our heads bowed against the low ceiling of this strange attic space.

“Here.” Thick air nearly swallows the click following his whisper in the dark.

Another door grinds open, protesting its disturbance after years of neglect. From there, we step into a realm forgottenby time. A concealed nursery designed for regal heirs now shrouded in dust and shadows.

I survey the small beds and empty hearth, wondering what I’ve been pulled into. “Gods.”

“Indeed.” Knox performs a sweep of our surroundings, his gaze laced with a nostalgia akin to sorrow.

The walls are plastered with aged drawings. One catches my eye, and I creep over the exposed joists to inspect it.

It’s a child’s depiction of a stick figure king upon a dragon, the words beneath written with innocent pride.

Father flying to save us

---