Page 37 of House of Dusk
Fighting back, against a green-eyed stranger who came for her child?
But there was no sign of the baby. Or Nilos. A fist of panic clenched Sephre’s chest.
“Listen!” said Timeus suddenly, turning toward the door. “Do you hear that?”
In the distance, a thin wail.
Sephre dashed back outside, following the cry. The trail that had led them to the house continued higher, winding past a stand of ancient olives. She pelted past the trees, around a sharp turn of stone, climbing higher and higher, until finally she came out to a wide, flat shelf of stone, the blue sky a bright bowl above.
And halted.
Nilos stood before her, a wriggling bundle in his arms. He regarded her with annoyance over the soft curls of the baby’s head. “This would have been so much easier if you’d just drunk all the wine.”
CHAPTER 11
YENERIS
Yeneris knew the city of Helissa was large and sprawling, but even so, she was taken aback by the view from the tower. The palace itself was vast, a green sea of terraced gardens and pools, punctuated by the crimson roofs of long buildings hedged by striped blue and green pillars. Gold glimmered from the rows of statues along the sloping paths and wide white stairs, each of them a testament to some ancient monarch or hero of legend. Helisson had no need of new heroes, it seemed. Or new kings.
During her training, Mikat had told her a story of two Helissoni men, both powerful already, one the owner of a large tin mine, the other a merchant with a lucrative trade in spices from across the Middle Sea. Both had claimed to be Breseus reborn, one on the word of a soothsayer, the other based on a pattern of freckles on his cheek that resembled the star sign of the boar-slayer. It seemed ridiculous to Yeneris, but she had been curious enough to ask,How did they decide?
They went into the wilds to hunt a particularly savage boar,said Mikat.They agreed that whichever of them slew the beast could claim the title. But the boar was crafty and slew them both.They might have mastered it, had they worked together, but they cared more for individual glory. Like all Helissoni.
Yeneris wondered, now, if the story was true, or just another way for Mikat to remind her that she was a part of something larger than herself. She and Mikat and a dozen others, all of them working together to regain what was lost.
In spite of herself, Yeneris turned to the south. She couldn’t see the ocean from here, only the silver snake of the river. One week’s sail to the Middle Sea, then another to the isles, if the weather was fair. Or so she’d been told. She had never made the voyage in that direction. Only the opposite, when she was just a girl, and that had taken far longer.
Sinoe leaned from the parapet, her fingers tightening on the stone balustrade. Tami clung to her shoulder, wings half-spread for balance, velvety tail swishing down the princess’s spine. The ailouron was behaving surprisingly well, though she had cast her scat perilously close to Yeneris’s feet earlier.
“I see them. That is them, isn’t it? There?”
Yeneris moved closer, squinting at the tiny figures down at the main gates, a pair of enormous bronze doors set into the outer wall that surrounded the palace, separating it from rest of the city.
“Yes,” she said, recognizing the prince’s glittering helm and the crimson spatters of the soldiers. And the spot of gray that trailed after Ichos like a blurry shadow. The Heron.
Yeneris gave Sinoe a sidelong glance. The girl’s expression was remote, but she could see the signs of worry, the tightness where she must be chewing the inside of her cheek. Tami ducked her head, crooning softly as she groomed the few loose curls that clustered at Sinoe’s temple. Yeneris’s belly clenched, seeing that sharply hooked beak so close to the princess’s lustrous eyes, but Sinoe had no fear. She stroked the ailouron’s crest. “You should fly. Enjoy your freedom while you can.”
Tami keened again, her feline hindquarters tensing, muscles rippling beneath charcoal fur. In one smooth leap, she flung herself into the sky. Yeneris’s breath caught at the sight. She hadn’t realized the ailouron’s wings were so large. For a heartbeat, they eclipsed the sun, and Yeneris dreamed of what it might feel like to rise above this world.
Sinoe was watching too, her face a study in glory and desolation.If she trusts you, she will not suspect you when it’s time toact.
“Your brother seems very capable,” said Yeneris. Which was only partly a lie. She’d seen the prince sparring. He could handle a blade, even if he couldn’t hold his tongue around his father. “I’m sure he’ll return safely.”
Sinoe cast a wry look at Yeneris. “So you’re the sibyl now, Yen?”
“No, princess. I didn’t mean it like that. Only—”
“It’s fine. I know what you meant. And yes, my brother is capable of a great many things. I’m certain he’ll find answers at Stara Bron. Especially with that man to help him sniff them out.” Her lips pinched briefly. “I just...I’ve been here before. I’m always here, watching people leave. Because of my visions.”
Likely she was talking about her mother, the former queen, Kizare, whom Hierax had divorced and then sent back home to her people soon after he declared himself the Ember King reborn. Because of Sinoe’s prophecy.
“How old were you when your mother left?”
“Nine.”
Yeneris’s throat clenched. She’d been ten when her mother died.
“And you haven’t seen her since?”
