KANE
RETURNING TO SOLARIS AFTER HALFย a century away was not dissimilar to revisiting a childhood classroom as an adult. I couldnโt deny the
comfort, the familiarityโthe soles of my feet knew the pebble-dashed streets of the walled city better than theyโd ever know Shadowhold. Iโd been raised here. Had played my first game of chess with my brother under that awning outside the noisy toy shop. Had broken my first bone climbing those still-mismatched stairs to the southern towerโthe guard whoโd allowed me such freedom was whipped the next morning in the city center until his back peeled like a late-summer peach.
These paved stone avenues only served to remind me that Iโd never be that boy again. I could sail or fly or run anywhereโthe highest peaks of the Pearl Mountains, the lowest depths of the Mineral Seaโbut I could never truly go home. Not to the walls that had sheltered me in boyhood. Not to the life Iโd built in Shadowhold. I was a nomad, with no destination, and everything still to lose.
Think on the bright side, I told myself. Youโll be dead soon.
And it was true. Soon Iโd spare the greater good from the monster that was my father, and in doing so, find my home there. Perhaps my coffin might serve as some new foyer. A mantel of graveyard soil. A roof of inching worms.
The brassy twangs and pitchy strums of an orchestra plucked me from my gruesome fantasies. I craned my neck up toward the looming palace flickering with glowy red light and the shadows of exultant bodies.
He was celebrating. Hosting a ball of some kind.
My father experiencing joy should have sent my dragon hackles straight up. The vacant ridges only served as a reminder of how egregiously underprepared I was to stalk inside those walls.
As I neared, the palace entry became visible, and I could just narrowly make out revelers wandering in and out amid the merriment, donned in elaborate masks.
The Lumerian Solstice. Iโd been gone so long, Iโd forgotten what had once been my favorite day of the year. More memories of Yale and Griffin, not even ten years oldโunwilling to dress as anything other than stately guards. Weโd fight my mother, whoโd handcrafted brilliant masks of rich leather and real lionโs fur to turn my brother and me into decorative, regal beasts.
This was good, actually.
A mortal in the palace of Solaris hunting for the Blade of the Sun? My full week in Pearl traveling across pillowy, silken clouds and endless snow had not offered me a single intelligent idea on how to accomplish that without dying. And swiftly.
But the masquerade was a godsend. Perhaps literallyโIโd never know. Once inside, finding a mask couldnโt be too difficult. Knowing the
Solstice, there would be fewer sober patrons than I could count on two hands. The real obstacle would be slipping inside in the first place.
Crouching behind a stationed carriage, I appraised the palace entrance.
Rows upon rows of those bone-white gates with their red-and-black filagree stretched on. Hordes of silver-clad Fae guards milled between every layer. And beyond them, deep inside the heart of the castle walls, I knew each invitee was being checked against an elongated scroll with at least a thousand names scribbled down its face. An infestation of thick silver armor would monitor that, too.
Perhapsโฆperhaps I wouldnโt need a mask at all.
That silver Fae armorโmolded carefully to each guard, sealing off everything but their face under a red visorโwas as powerful a disguise as any headpiece or costume. One on one, I couldnโt physically best a Fae soldier with my new mortality, but with a bit of creativity and the element of surprise on my sideโฆIโd at least have a shot.
But Iโd never get my hands on one of those men at the castleโs entrance.
I hurried from the bustling gates toward the back of the palace. Around carts selling masks of monsters and dragons and exotic birdsโI fought the trivial ache that stirred in my chest at the wings and scalesโand through cobblestone alleys with decorative garlands of Fae lighte strung high between buildings.
It wouldnโt be spare of guards, but Iโd have far fewer to contend with. And Iโd have the gardensโtall, strict hedges and precisely cut grassโas meager cover.
I kept my face buried in my cloak. I knew it was an unnecessary precautionโno mere citizen would recognize me after all these years. And even if they did, the fallen prince would have to be mad to return to Solaris without an army, and in his human form no less. Theyโd assume their mind had been playing tricks on themโnobody could be that foolish, right?
Wrong. So very wrong.
I was as foolish as the night was dark.
The dry, clipped gardens surrounding the back entrance were closer to the rich Solaris neighborhoods that hugged the cityโs walls. Those nearest to the palace were the most noticeably grand and stately. If I found myself outrunning Fae soldiersโor trying toโIโd at least have a chance of hiding in some nobleโs courtyard or lofty agate doorway.
I slipped behind a crisp, sheared hedge. Back here, only one spear-tipped gate stood between the gardens and the palace. Heart beginning to ratchet, I pulled my sword from its scabbard and threaded it under my arm and through the fabric of my tunic. From afar it made for a convincing stab wound. And my clothes were dark enough that theyโd be unable to discern whether I was bleeding or not. I lifted my cloakโs hood over my head.
Kneeling to the sharp blades of grass, I sucked in a mouthful of muggy Solaris air.
โHelp,โ I called out with an exhale, crawling out from the hedge into clear view of the castle. Moving toward the suburban, pebbled streets, I writhed back behind another row of low, dehydrated bushes. I slid across the dirt, cautious not to actually slice the tucked blade right through my rib cage. โDear Gods!โ
I crawled even slower. Then I croaked out another garbled plea.
One set of footfalls sounded a few feet away. Hurried, but in no real rush. โSir, this is royal property.โ
Victory sang in my ears. I only moaned, my face blocked by my hood.
The soldier sighed, kneeling to inspect my grievous wound. โWhat happened to you?โ
I overtook him in one swift movement.
My cloak served as a fine noose, wrapped tightly around the flailing soldierโs neckโworking both to subdue him and silence his screams. I grunted as I rose to my knees, heart spasming, and kicked us both back behind the nearest towering hedge. Looming over him, I pulled the fabric tighter, and tighter still. His faceโa round one slackened by shock and lack of oxygenโwas turning a ghastly shade of purple. My muscles strained, my brow dripping sweat. The soldier clawed at me, nails scraping entire chunks of skin from my neck and cheek. The pain hardly registered.
An eternity crawled between us. He gasped and spit. All I could think was that his silver helmet would prove even more useful now that my face was marred by scratches.
โPlease,โ he gasped, hardly audible. โJust let meโโ Death stole away with his final words.
NOW,ย THISย WAS A PARTY.
An upbeat melody blared through my eardrums, steady drum line like a heartbeat in my chest. Women danced with abandon, dressed like works of
fine art, men drunk and drooling after them. Roasted bird and hot buttered rum scented the air. I swiped a full chalice of crimson birchwine from a server as I ducked through the throng and toward the banquet table.
Arwenโs chocolate hair and endless eyes filling my mind, I raised the glass slightly and drank the rich spirit to her in one long swallow.
It was a beautiful night to die.
If I could commend my father on anything at all, it was his tremendous forethought. The man had always been six steps ahead of me. Ahead of everyone. Of course, once he realized the blade couldnโt be destroyed heโd have it guarded night and day. Probably by the fiercest creatures known to man.
Which meant it was in one of the lairs.
The monsters Lazarus chained beneath these floorsโฆthey made my nightmares look like sleeping aids. Where they were kept were the only catacombs in the castle Griffin and I never dared explore. Not even at our most rebelliousโฆor most inebriated.
The best route to the lairs would be past the raised banquet table atop the decorated dais, through the castle kitchens, and down into theโ
โHonored guests.โ
Layers of skirts heavy like sodden mops slowed their swirls all around me. Shiny leather shoes stopped midtap. Bile pitched in my gut.
I hadnโt heard my fatherโs voice since Sirenโs Bay.
My head swam with startlingly vibrant memories of Leighโs and Arwenโs screams. Sand that had grown heavy with blood. The clash of metal, bleeding into the bandโs quieting harmony. I tucked my chin down and pushed faster through the crowd, my heart slamming. The silver helmet covered my face, I knew, but it wouldnโt be the first time heโd picked my thoughts out of a crowd. Though Iโd found ways in my youth to quiet my mind around him, I didnโt dare look to that dais and run the risk of letting my emotions get the best of me.
โWhat a triumphant celebration of our plentiful harvest,โ Lazarus announced.
The crowd of trashed noble Fae cheered.
Rat brains. Fucking imbeciles, all of you.ย How could they fall for his manipulative swill?
My eyes suctioned to the scuffed, checkered floor of the great hall. Ten more feet. Maybe twelve. I could slip into the kitchens while he addressed his subjects. Make it to the monster lairs in the next few minutes, if I was fast.
I hurried past buxom women and potbellied men scarfing down enough food to nourish the entire starving realm. At every too-quick step that drew an odd look from a guest I slowed my pace until my legs moved rigidly, as if wading through a swamp.
Five feet now.
โI couldnโt conjure a better night to announce, in the greatest union our realm has yet seenโโ
I could just make out the oil lamps that lit the hallway that led to the kitchens. The chefs and servants and dishwashers fussing like hens to get each appetizer and drink out to the crowd. I dodged one such speeding server, steadying his tray of emptied glasses with a muttered, โSorry.โ
โI present to you,โ my father continued, โthe beautiful last full-blooded Fae, who has agreed to be my queen.โ
I stalled at his words, my eyes still on that bustling hallway, my blood turning to solid ice.
My first thought was that my father was lying to his people. Heโd done it before. Countless times. He was the kind of leaderโthe kind of manโwho would tell his subjects anything so long as it served him. Heโd tell them all to slit their throats if it would award him more lighte, more power, more coinโฆCertainly he wasnโt above dressing some unassuming Fae girl up and presenting her to his court as the captured full-blooded Fae?
Within a fraction of a second, a different, far more horrific thought drifted in:ย Heโs going to display Arwen for them. Her rotting, impaled corpse. His crowd will cheer as heโ
No.
I was sick. Sick, twisted, depravedโthat kind of barbarity permeated only my mind, not reality. He wouldnโtโฆevenย heย couldnโtโ
As the masked revelers around me boomed their cacophonous cheers, and morbid curiosity won out, I lifted my head to the banquet table.
A gold-draped woman stood in an elaborate matching mask beside my father.
Itโs not her. Donโt do this to yourself. Itโsย notย her.
Butโฆthe womanโs curled brown hair falling softly down her back, and the gentle shape of her jaw, and those full, worried lipsโฆso similar. Standing there, body bound tightly in some garish gold monstrosity that hugged her hips and too-thin limbs and displayed her chest as if it were a feast for any lecherโs eyes. Her lovely flushed cheeks. Her long, elegant neck. Her chest, rising and fallingโ
Everything inside of me halted.
No maskโnot even the lavish gilded one that covered half of her delicate faceโcould hide those warm olive eyes from me.
Alive.ย She was alive.
Where devastation had run rampantโall of it, cleared out in a single instant. My vision blurred with hot tears. My knees buckled, and I locked them to stay upright. Was this real?
I took in the sweaty, delighted faces and grotesque piles of food and barrels of spirit. I was here. In Solaris. And so was she.
Arwenโmy Arwenโwas alive.
Even with the White Crow, Iโd never allowed myself to have hope. But I doubted the woman I beheld now had ever given up on me. That thought aloneโhow she might recount the days she spent steadfast in her belief that Iโd come for her, soft hand laced in mine as she spokeโit nearly sank me to my knees.
But I stood firm, holding her shadowed eyes as she observed the roaring crowd with nothing but loathing.
โIn honor of our sacred Solstice,โ my father said beside her, โwe swear a hallowed oath to bear heirs worthy of this palace.โ
His words slammed me back to this plane. This realityโheirs.
The crowd, still hollering with glee, cheered louder as Lazarus edged toward her. โTrue Fae heirs that will restore this great realm. Heirs that will
bestow more lighte, theย strongestย lighte, back into its soil. And weโll begin our questโฆโ
Arwen flinched as he reached for her. Stroked her cheek. Her neck. Her arm.
I dug my toes into the floor to keep from launching myself at him. From becoming a human barrier between her and his fucking hands. He wasย touching herย with his fuckingย hands.
Lazarus grinned as he cupped her backside with familiarity before a rabid audience. โTonight,โ he promised.
Noโno.
A harvesting ceremony.
Thatโs why heโd put her in that vile, degrading costume. Why heโd fondled her before his entire court.
I pushed past a squealing woman in a ghoul mask as Lazarus grasped Arwenโs face in one hand. Not gently. Not a touch between a king and his queen. But with malice. So tightly I could see the flesh of her cheeks draw inward, could see her recoil from his touch and try to yank herself away. But he was stronger, and he jerked her toward him.
I was barreling through a grunting, squealing crowd when he planted his lips on hers.
My stomach coiled into feverish knots, and I froze.
My eyes, locked on a more gut-wrenching sight than I had the stomach for.
He wasย kissing her. Not chaste, not kingly. A vile, vicious kiss. A promise of violence to come.
Arwen squirmed. Tried to withdraw from the intrusion.
And the sick, sycophantic members of his court all around me were still
cheering, as if beholding a harmonious union.
I wouldย annihilateย him. I had to. And if I could, I would have killed each member of his court, too. Slowly. And with euphoric pleasure.
Lazarus released Arwen and motioned for the crowd to quiet down. In the absence of their hoots and claps I could hear only my heart pounding. My lungs, shallow with breath.
But I had to be smart, first. For her sake, I had to drown those volatile, impulsive parts of me for the time being.
Arwen wasย alive.ย She had survived the fall. Survivedย impalement.ย And not only was she alive, she had likely spent the last few months here. In Solaris. With my father. Betrothed to him. He had probably beaten her. Harvested her lighte. Doneโฆunspeakable things to her.
And I would not be able to save Arwen, to shear the skin from my fatherโs bonesโto feed it to him as it regenerated for a thousand yearsโ until Iโd been reborn as full-blooded. If I charged the dais now, Iโd be dead in the next minute, if not less.
And then heโd conduct the harvesting ceremony before his entire banquet of nobles without incident. An archaic practice performed at midnight every Lumerian Solstice. One which my father and his court believed would help him conceive the full-blooded heir heโd always hoped for.
All those men and women, watching in polite silence as he ruttedโ I couldnโtโwouldnโtโallow that to happen.
I pulled my eyes from the now-seated Arwen, staring at her plate piled high with dead peacock, and moved swifter than I ever had in my life. Not for the dais, nor the monster lairs, but for my only hope of getting to Arwen before my father could.