Page 374 of Kingdoms of Night

Ursane slapped her hard across the mouth, reopening the cut. Warm blood ran down Isa’s chin, and she just let it flow as she glared. She didn’t speak. Ursane’s glittering eyes dared her to say a word so she could hit her again, or worse, go to Dame or Seigneur. It wouldn’t just be split lips and scowls then.

Isa pushed a retort back down, then helped Nico to his feet. Source save him, he weighed less than ever.

Dame appeared at the door to the galley. “What is happening here?”

Ursane curtseyed. “Nothing you need to worry about, Dame.”

Setting Nico down, Isa mimicked the move as quickly as she was able, and wiped the blood from her face with the back of her sleeve. Nico bowed his head. With a quick squeeze of Nico’s shoulder, she urged him toward the breadbox and they began slicing up the last of the flatbread they’d brought from their stop in Khem.

Ursane and Dame left, their loathsome voices murmuring complaints about Isa and Nico as they walked down the corridor. “I have serious doubts about those two…”

“I…” Nico sniffed and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand before slicing another piece of bread. “I didn’t get to look for any of the treasures yet.”

“They’re not going to grow legs and walk away.”

He giggled. “You sure?”

“Well, unless that one shell I picked up has a very shy inhabitant.”

“Inhabitant?” He blinked up at her with those sky blue eyes.

“Someone who lives in a place.”

She’d been doing her best to educate the boy. Her parents, who’d adopted her from a band of traveling merchants, had taught her well. Nico was smart, even if he’d spent the first part of his life in a rundown orphanage.

“We’re almost through being their servants, Nico. You know that, right? Have you been keeping track?” She’d taught him to tally so he’d have their last day of indenture to look forward to in a more concrete way.

“Yes!” He held up the knife.

She raised an eyebrow and carefully lowered the blade back to the flatbread. “Soon, we’ll be off on our own adventure.”

It was all she wanted. Freedom for him and for her. Even if it came with more terrible struggles. Anything was better than this prison of a ship.

CHAPTERTWO

VIRIDI

Under a copse of opal-leafed jeweltrees, Viridi ran his thorned fingertips through his tangled, black hair. The first stars of the night flickered through the sunset sky. Like all dryad elves’ souls, his soul sang for the starlight, the glory of the distant realms tingling across his skin and waking him, clearing his mind. Smooth and comforting earth magic curled from the ground, up through his bare feet and legs.

It was as though the earth knew Viridi needed support when dealing with his father, the king.

“Just shift,” Father said, looking up into Viridi’s face. “You can do this.” Using hands that boasted no thorns or wooden tips like Viridi’s, he adjusted the branch crown braided into his golden hair. His scowl pulled at his fine features, making him look more wolf than dryad elf. “I want to see you in your full form so we can discover how powerful you truly are.” He grinned in that wickedly pleased manner that mother had always hated. Viridi remembered her shuddering at that grin when he was very young and still ignorant of Father’s blazing need to control and submit anyone in his presence.

Viridi’s chest tightened and he swallowed, flexing his sharp fingers. He didn’t want this fate of his—to be the Thorned One, the monstrous protector of their people, the dryad elves. But he had been born to it and there was no shirking the duty when one’s father was King Elagabalus, cutthroat ruler of all the dryad elves. Father planned to use Viridi as he saw fit and there was no mercy in the king’s heart, not a shred of it.

“Father. You aren’t listening. The jeweltrees…there is something wrong with them. The words they whisper into my mind aren’t protective but violent.”

“Violence is a necessary part of protecting one’s people. You know that. Don’t go soft on me, Son. We need to find you a mate. Even if it isn’t your fated match. A strong dryad elf mate might thrust you into your full power. It’s time to fully grow up. You are twenty years of age, long past pretending life is some pleasant party.”

Viridi glared and fought the temper rising inside him, wrestling the deep magic that swirled in his blood. His fingers began to lengthen and a shiver rode down his spine. The only time he’d come close to fully shifting, he’d been lost to himself, his mind a blur of hunger and anger.

End him,the jeweltrees hissed into Viridi’s mind.He does not respect the power. End them all.

“They are instructing me to end you,” Viridi said, hoping Father would finally understand that though the jeweltrees were supposed to be sentient, wise protectors of this island, set to help the Thorned One keep the dryad elves safe and healthy, the jeweltrees had instead grown twisted.

“Bah.” Father waved a hand. “Once you fully shift and grow used to the feel of it, I’m sure your mind will meld with theirs and all will be well. The cliff tribes will no longer attempt to overthrow me then. The Thorned One that reigned with King Cali in the second age was known to be incredibly powerful, able to move entire forests with a word, to alter the very tides around the island.” His wolflike eyes glittered.

Anger raked coals across Viridi’s mind. “If you’d stop enslaving the cliff tribes’ people just to extract more gold you don’t need, they would cease their aggressions.” The cliff tribes had attacked their village at daybreak twice in the last six moons.

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