Page 21 of The Night Prince

“Snaglak should get his own drinks,” Declan said dryly as he took the containers from Finley’s hands and went to fill both with foaming, fresh beer.

“He’s promised to pay for the next round,” Finley said as he dug into his own coin purse.“How much do I owe you?”

Finley took out a bunch of the bronze, silver and gold coins that had replaced credit cards and other human currency.King Aquilan’s visage was stamped on the gold coins.Even though it had been five years since Declan had seen the Sun King in person, he knew that the engraving didn’t capture the Aravae’s unnatural beauty, grace and power. He shook himself.The Sun King had been surfacing more often in his thoughts now that he knew the elf was coming back to Tyrael.

So what if he does?It’s not as if he is going to come into the Dawn and order a glass of white wine!Declan reminded himself firmly.He’ll stay up at the palace or with his noble retainers.I’ll be lucky if I get a glimpse of him from afar.

And yet, he found himself looking over at the Dawn’s door and expecting to see the real life version of the elf on the coins.It really was ridiculous.

“Maybe I should give you something to cover the whole night,” Finley was musing.“I know that Snaglak promised to pay for his next round, but you know how he is–”

“Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it,” Declan said as he forcefully dragged his gaze from the door.

“I have plenty of money, Declan.You don’t have to pay for me let alone Snaglak,” Finley protested.

“I’m pretty sure you’re making more money than I am,” Declan laughed.“But you’re going to need all your funds when you’re at the Academy and you can’t DM as much this year.”

Finley pinked with pleasure, likely at Declan’s certainty he’d get in.“Yeah, well, I don’t want to end up in fairy jail by not paying my fair share of the bar tab.”

Both of them looked over at the birdcage where Rain and Snow were just coming to.

Declan snorted in amusement.“It’s a little small for you.”

“When has size ever mattered to you?As I recall, you took down five orcs all by yourself,” Finley teased.

“Six.I count Snaglak as part of that bar fight even though neither of us pulled a punch.But I did best him,” Declan grinned.

“He swore fealty to you.You’re his new clan leader,” Finley laughed, but then he sobered, “You know, it should beyouapplying to the Academy instead of me or, at least,withme, Declan.”

Declan tensed.“Finley–”

“Hear me out.”Finley lifted a hand to fend off all of the arguments that Declan routinely put forward.“Please?”

He wasn’t mad at Finley for asking.He was glad that his best friend wanted him to share the glory of getting into the Academy.But there was absolutely no way he was exposing himself like that in an academy of magic.Finley might think that what he had done to the Leviathan was magical or something, but he was almost certain the Aravae wouldn’t be as impressed.In fact, they might be alarmed.

“We’ve talked about this.I’m not the magical academy sort.I never was one for school anyway,” Declan reminded him.

Back in high school, while Finley would be pouring over his school books with great zeal, the words on the page would blur before Declan’s eyes.He’d find himself tapping his pen against the book’s spine then shaking his right leg then his left.Pretty soon, he would be staring out the window at the trees outside, having forgotten he was supposed to be studying at all.His grades had reflected this.

When test time came around, Declan would struggle to finish within the prescribed time limit.Often, he would just start marking the paper randomly so he could finish early and escape outside. He’d lay down on one of the benches under the shade of a stand of trees in the high school’s courtyard, sunglasses on, hood pulled over his face, and wait for the bell to ring and Finley to join him.

Being in school was like being in prison to Declan. Sitting still.Staring at swirling letters.Having the teachers drone on.That was one thing he hadn’t missed when the Leviathan came and cut their senior year of high school short.And it had also solved the issue of what would happen after high school ended.

Finley had been ranked first in their class.He’d been applying to Ivy League colleges, which Declan could never have gotten into unless he’d applied to be a janitor there.Yet they’d been determined to stay together so Finley had been working on a plan to make that happen. But then the Leviathan came and any plans were well and irrevocably canceled.

Yet Finley deserved to be in the best school.He loved learning.He should be at the Academy.Finley studying dusty magical tomes with ink staining his fingers would make some things right that the Leviathan had made very, very wrong.But would the Aravae let him in?Any human who showed a hint of something different about them was suspect at least from how they’d treated him. And being as smart and clever as Finley would likely alarm them.

His eyes slid to the two Aravae–a man and a woman–who sat at a nearby table.While Finley wasn’t able to hear their conversation, he could.And he could understand them perfectly, even though they weren’t speaking English.Learning Katyr had been the one thing that had been easy for him to do.In fact, Katyr was easier for him than English.He’d actually tried to relearn Ukrainian back in the day–his native tongue–but it had been gibberish to him.Yet Katyr tripped off his tongue as if he’d been speaking it forever.And so what those two Sun Elves were gossiping about was quite clear to him.

The male Aravae with golden hair and chocolate colored eyes murmured, “So it’s true then, Leisha?The bartender really is not like the otherVulluin?”

That last was the Aravae word for humans, which didn’t fully translate to English.The closest approximation would be the “magic-less”, which if Finley had overheard them would have caused his best friend to bristle. Finley would prove them wrong, he was sure.If nothing else, his best friend’s zeal for learning should be rewarded with a place by Glass Scholar Neylor’s side.

The female Aravae with darker tresses and lighter eyes–evidently Leisha–nodded.“No, Seith, I wonder… well, I wonder if he isVulluinat all.”

Declan stiffened.What was this? There had been rumors about him since the Leviathan came. Despite him, Finley and Gemma all having survived, people seemed to sense thathewas the one behind that survival.They were right, but still.Was there something about him that made him stand out? And in this case, stand out so much that they didn’t even think hewashuman?

He already knew the answer to that question.

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