Page 17 of Draekora

Roka cocked his head. “What’s the difference?”

“One I’d be able to hear, the other I wouldn’t.”

Sending her an apologetic smile, he said, “Ah. My mistake.

I’ll remember that for next time.”

“How about we aim to not have a next time?” Alex said pointedly. “What are you doing in here, anyway? It’s nowhere near dawn yet.”

“I was worried I’d wake you, but I can see that’s not the case,” Roka said, his tone questioning. When Alex didn’t offer a reason for why she was standing awkwardly beside her bed—and had been for some time—he continued, “I have an idea I want to run by you, but to do that I have to ask you to come somewhere with me, preferably without Zain or Kyia knowing.”

Alex looked at him suspiciously. “Why the secrecy?”

“Because I don’t believe they would approve.”

She waited a beat, and when he gave no forthcoming details, she said, “You’re not exactly selling this idea to me.”

Roka’s gaze was steady on hers when he said, “Have I ever given you reason not to trust me?”

“Why do I have a feeling my answer is going to mean I lose more sleep tonight?” Alex mumbled.

“That’s the spirit,” Roka said, beaming. “Follow me to theValispath, Alex. We shouldn’t be gone too long.”

She looked at him inquisitively when he held a hand out for her to precede him. “Can’t we just take off from in here?”

“There are certain rooms in the palace that are warded against directValispathuse—like the throne room and dining hall, for example,” he said. “For those rooms, we have to arrive outside them and enter or exit normally through the doors.” He gestured around her room. “Your suite is one of the warded ones, so we’ll have to come and go from the hallway in order to access the Eternal Path.”

Nodding her understanding, Alex motioned for Roka to lead the way and she followed him out the door, grumbling about impossible princes pulling her from bed and ignoring his quiet snort of amusement.

The moment he halted and drew her closer to summon theValispath, Alex knew she was going to regret not having asked Kyia if there was a way to lock her bedroom door. First the queen, now this.

“Are you planning on telling me where we’re going?” she yelled over the icy wind as the Path led them out of the palace and into the city.

Roka quickly reached out and activated the shield to protect her from the elements. “Sorry, Alex. It can be easy to forget you’re human.”

Not sure if that was good or bad, she rubbed some heat back into her arms and replied, “No biggie. But seriously, Roka—where are you taking me?”

He didn’t respond straight away. Instead, he looked her over with a furrowed brow and muttered, “I didn’t think this through very well.”

“Roka—”

“Here,” he interrupted, unclasping his black cloak and handing it to her. “Put this on.”

Frowning, she did as he requested, belatedly realising how unsuitable her nightgown was for their midnight escapade. “Ro—”

“The reason Zain and Kyia wouldn’t approve of what we’re doing tonight is because weshouldn’tbe doing it,” Roka said, answering before she could get the question out again. “I have informants in the city who have been keeping an eye out for signs of Aven. They’ve discovered that he’s somehow communicating with his remainingGarseth—his Rebels. We need to know how he’s doing that. We need to know where he’s hiding, or at least how he’s managing to avoid anyone discovering his whereabouts. We need to knowanythingthat will help us better understand what we’re facing.”

Alex raised her eyebrows at his unspoken implication. “How exactly am I supposed to help with that?”

TheValispathmoved through the side of a building and sailed to a stop in a large foyer-like room made out of what looked to be black crystal. The walls, floor and ceiling were fully constructed out of the shiny dark substance.

Acting on a hunch, Alex asked, “Is that Shadow Essence?”

“No. It’s unrefinedtraesos, pulled directly from theabrassaand shaped by the power of the great Aes Daega herself. This place—we call itTaevarg—is a prison; the only one in this world that can contain an immortal being indefinitely.”

Alex had to take a moment to absorb his words. But even then, she was at a loss. “I have no idea what you just said, other than the prison part. Let’s focus on that, since it seems important.”

“Zain told me that when you and your friends first came to Meya, he dragged a prisoner up from here because he believed you were affiliated with Aven,” Roka said. “AGarsethnamed Niyx. Do you remember?”

---