Page 73 of I Summon the Sea

Even more impressive, they are wearingwingson their backs, made of wood and metal and adorned with silk feathers.

I’m definitely in the right place. Not only because there is apparently an enchantment on the stairs, but also because the wings indicate they are wearing the ceremonial uniform of the king’s personal guard.

“Won’t you claim you got lost on your way to the privy, little bird?” The crooked-nosed guard leers at me. “Make up some pretty lie to save your hide?”

“Won’t talk? Won’t lie?” the missing-tooth guard suggests. “Won’t spin a tale for us? Explain what sort of magic you wield?”

I freeze. Wait… Is my magic coming back? Is that why I walked through the enchantment? Reaching inside me for my power, though, I find emptiness.

“Speak,” the crooked-nosed guard snarls, crowding me until I stumble back. “Answer me!”

“She’s mute,” a bass voice rumbles from behind me, and I spin around to find the quick-tempered dragon summoner standing there.

“My lord Athdara.” The guards start in surprise, then bow from the shoulders, a tight, military bow. “You have returned. Do you require an audience with His Majesty?”

Jai is standing there, hands fisted at his sides, his jaw tense. His shapely mouth is tipped into a faint sneer, and his dark eyes are so cold that a shiver goes through me. “No need for another audience.”

He doesn’t explain his presence. Did he follow me here?

“What should we do with her?” the guard with the missing tooth asks.

“Why should I give a damn?” Now Jai looks bored, eyes hooded. “Throw her over the parapet, for all I care.”

The guards exchange glances just as my breath goes out in a rush. “My lord, you?—”

“Or throw thekhoraback into her room and lock her up.” A slight shrug of those broad shoulders. “It’s up to you, as I don’t give a damn either way. I’m here looking for that idiot, Arkin.”

I stare hard. I thought Arkin was his friend, I thought… I thought Jai didn’t hate me. Why else would he have saved me more than once during the trial? I’m so confused by his hot-and-cold act. More like warm and then glacial.

This isn’t the first time he’s switched from nice to nasty, I think, as the guards flank me. But some people are like that, turning nasty when they don’t get what they want, and what he wanted…

“Have it your way, little human.”

Whatdidhe want with me out there, on the terrace? He had turned cold in a heartbeat after telling me not to go after the king. Was that what made him so angry with me?

“We will remove her from your sight, Commander,” the crooked-nose guard says, grabbing my arm. “My apologies.”

What’s wrong with you?I mouth the words at Jai as the guards haul me away, but his smirk is just a shape. No warmth reaches his dark eyes.

The guards manhandle me down the stairs, their fake wings creaking with every step.

“We’d throw you into the sea as Lord Athdara suggested,” the crooked-nose guard says, yanking on my arm so hard I almost fall, “but the number of the contestants is important, unfortunately. The telchin records the winners of each trial, and if one is missing, he’s likely to have a hissy fit. Something about fate and destiny and events foretold before any of us were born, if I recall his words from last year.”

“The time one of them got drunk and fell over the ledge into the ocean before the opening of the games?” The other guard snorts. “Yeah, we had to go and fish him out because the telchin threatened to set the palace on fire. The human had only one arm left by the time we got to him.”

My blood chills, then heats up with anger. How heartless can they be?

“You haven’t explained how you found the staircase to the royal apartments or how you got inside,” the first guard says. “The enchantment hides it. Maybe we should have the spellwork redone.”

Maybe they really should, though finding the entrance wasn’t my doing. No magic, remember? Still no magic.

It’s as if the entrance to the royal apartments revealed itself to me, let me through.

The fae nobles point and laugh as the two guards escort me through the halls. What are they all waiting for, aimlessly standing about and drinking? Shouldn’t they be getting ready for the banquet?

Or maybe they are ready, have been for hours now, killing time and forging alliances and dalliances. I sometimes forget that the nobles don’t work, everything served to them on silver platters. Their only real job is, in fact, to flaunt their riches and seek beneficial marriages to augment said riches.

The one out of place here, the one with a different origin and a different purpose, is me.

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