Page 38 of Once the Skies Fade

Lieke’s features tightened. “You just said you’d make it quick.”

I shrugged casually, frowning. “So I did. You know what I mean, though.”

“And you don’t plan to see Minerva on the way?” Connor asked.

Regarding him curiously, I asked, “Weren’t you just rebuking me for being late as it is? There’s no time to stop to see the mage, even if I wanted to.”

“You should still consider it,” Lieke argued.

I pivoted away from them and returned to brushing Storm. “One of her glamors would help me avoid Calla’s objections?—”

“She’ll protest as soon as she sees you,” Lieke interjected. Storm whinnied as if agreeing with her.

“Probably, but I have a better chance of being accepted into the games if I attend as myself. Her general can sense magic—both the innate and the acquired. She’ll recognize the glamor the moment I arrive, which could get me banned from the tournament—or worse. And if I go see Minerva and she delays me even more, I could be disqualified before I ever arrive.”

Lieke was silent for a moment before finally asking, “What about a more conventional disguise?”

“Perhaps, but that could be difficult to maintain depending on the type of trials they have planned. I’d hate to be skipping through a maze and have my fake mustache fall off.”

Lieke wrinkled her nose.

“What?” I asked and ran my thumb and finger over my upper lip. “A mustache wouldn’t look that bad.”

“No,” she said, biting her lip, but her giggle refused to be suppressed so easily. “I’m trying to imagine you skipping.”

I nodded. I certainly couldn’t imagine that either. Tossing the horse brush into the bin against the wall, I gave Storm a final stroke and leaned close to her ear.

“Watch after them for me while I’m gone,” I whispered.

“What was that?” Lieke said.

I straightened and snatched my saddlebags from the ground, slinging them over my shoulder. “I told her to bite you if you try to feed her too many apples.”

That earned me an exaggerated eye roll as Lieke turned on her heel and began to drag Connor back to the palace. But the prince stood fast, motioning for Lieke to wait a moment. He lowered his head and his voice as he leaned toward me slightly.

“Be careful, and try to stay alive. I can’t watch her lose another friend,” he said.

I studied both of them, marveling at how well they fit together.

“I had no idea I was so loved,” I said, but Connor only walked away wordlessly with his wife, leaving me to my final preparations.

Chapter 19

Calla

For four days I watched as male after male arrived. With each new contestant, my dread grew more intense. Isa insisted I remain set apart from the competitors, at least until she could process and register them officially once they all arrived. She cited some nonsense about needing to protect me from potential threats and would-be assassins, as if I couldn’t adequately defend myself.

So I spent most of my time perched on the second-floor landing that overlooked the inner courtyard of the castle, watching as each of them marched through the glass doors from the grand foyer into the brilliant sunshine pouring in through the glass ceiling suspended high above. Each had, immediately upon arriving, stared up at me with one of two expressions: morbid curiosity or muted fear, yet always with the same unmistakable hint of pity. They tried to hide their emotions, of course, as they attempted to smile, but I’d received enough of these looks from my own staff and the Assembly to recognize them easily.

Part of me wanted to answer those looks with my shadows—to let them see what I was capable of, but again, Isa had given me strict instructions not to interfere with the games. I would beinvolved, but I would—under no circumstances—do anything to sway favor toward or away from any of them.

By the end of the week, two males—one from a village in the north and one from Emeryn—had yet to arrive, and I secretly hoped they wouldn’t, if only to make this whole ordeal end that much sooner. If there were fewer to compete, then there were fewer who needed to die or fail before a victor could be named and a new king crowned.

I spent much of that last day pacing my study, avoiding my unwanted guests, waiting and hoping for the two stragglers not to turn up. I’d tried to read, to sit, to nap, but my limbs and mind were restless.

I needed out of the castle.

To breathe.

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