Page 19 of Ash and Feather

They had died several years ago. Mother first, from a terrible sickness that shriveled up her lungs, and father soon chasing after her as he’d been doing since the day they’d met. I’d heard about it secondhand from the Goddess of Stars—the one who kept record of all mortal lives and deaths—and I’d watched my brother’s coronation from the shadows a week later.

He’d looked so alone.

Our siblings gone in the span of one violent night, and then our parents taken almost as quickly…yet, somehow, Fallon had stood tall and managed not to flinch as they placed the heavy crown on his head.

It was the only time I’d come close to regretting my decision not to show my face or speak to him.

I hadn’t left him entirely alone, however; there were magical wards of my making around the palace here just as there were around my palace in the middle-heavens. I’d put them in place on his coronation day, and I returned regularly to make certain they were still intact.

I kept my eyes on the gleaming wall of windows as I walked—a room I’d taken especially great care to surround in hidden spells.

Some of my earliest memories were of sitting in it with my mother and my siblings, playing childish games, pretending to be dragons sunning ourselves in the warm beams of sunlight. I remembered few details, now; whenever I tried to focus on them, I was usually met with nothing more than a hazy, hot feeling, and occasionally visions of sunset colors bursting behind my eyes.

Reaching the edge of the city, I paused. I could have surfaced into this realm somewhere closer to the palace, but I’d wanted distance while I tested the current limits of my magic—and also to test out the ring Mairu had given me. As I twisted it a few times around my finger, the ruby-eyed dragon in its center emitted a soft hum that vibrated up my arm, tickling my skin.

I exhaled, surrendering to the spell.

As easy as that, my body began to shift its appearance whenever I moved, taking on the colors and textures of whatever I stood in front of. It was a weaker spell than what she could have performed in person; she was capable of more than mere camouflage, able to transform entire bodies intootherbodies if she wanted to. But I could rely on stealth for my plans tonight, so this borderline invisibility would serve my purpose well enough.

“I suppose I owe you for this,” I thought aloud, watching the ruby-eyed dragon shine in the setting sunlight.

It seemed to wink at me in response.

I summoned a few flames to my hands next, testing both their strength and my hold on them. Once I felt in control of the various magics at my disposal, I set off at a quick pace into the city.

I kept to the outskirts, stealing up and down smaller side streets I still vaguely remembered.

The air was filled with dozens of scents, each more tantalizing than the last. One could never predict the smells they might encounter when strolling through the streets here; Altis was a crossroads city, frequented by travelers journeying along the three major roads that ran through it. The exceptional amount of foot traffic drew merchants from far and wide. Tonight, the place smelled strongly of spices—mainly cinnamon and cardamom—mixed with the pine forests hemming the city in.

The sounds were more predictable. Shopkeepers pushing their goods in the common tongue or in occasional, heavily accented Galithian. Buyers bartering. Coins clinking as they exchanged hands.

As the sun dipped lower, the hum of noise featured more idle chatter and gossip about the day’s events, with the competing chimes of the three temples serving as background music.

A few people shivered with awareness as I passed them, some looking twice at what maybe appeared to be a strange ripple in the air.

But no one trulysawme.

Sometimes they stared at the space where I stood for an unsettlingly long time, but ultimately just said a quick prayer under their breath, often while making the sign of the Sky Goddess—the deity best known and worshipped for her protective magic—before they turned and hurried in the opposite direction.

It was a strange feeling, this invisibility. I used to sneak out of the palace as a young adult, wide-eyed and following my older brother as he made his rounds at various questionable locales, drinking and gambling and swapping contraband goods with his friends. I hadn’t wanted to be seen then, either, but it was a different kind of stealth. It had been exhilarating—a game.

My current invisibility felt more like being a ghost walking through a graveyard full of all the people and places I’d once loved.

I was very clearlyhere, but without being able to share that existence with anyone, did it matter?

As I drew nearer to the walls around the palace grounds, searching for the easiest place to quietly scale them, a sudden commotion caught my attention.

A small, harried unit of soldiers was converging on the main gates at a frantic speed, their leader shouting orders as they came. Two bodies were draped over two horses at the center of the company. It was difficult to see them from where I stood, but I was certain the bodies were barely moving, if at all.

I drew closer, first out of curiosity, and then because I saw the opportunity the clamor created for me: The guards at the main entry point had flung the gates wide open to allow the injured men to be carried inside.

Nobody noticed when I calmly made my way in behind them.

I’m not sure they would have noticed me even if Ihadn’tbeen using Mai’s magic, given the levels of panic and disorder among them.

“Take them to the garrison and see to their wounds as best you can until the healer arrives,” said a voice that sent a shiver of familiarity through me.

The voice’s owner lowered his hood as the gates groaned shut behind us, and I was unsurprised to see a face I recognized glowing in the fading sunlight.

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