Page 41 of Splintered Shadow
“I see,” Baris said.
“You see nothing,” Vekele replied, a bit too quickly and a touch too emphatically.
Baris hummed, a noncommittal noise that indicated he did not wish to argue but wanted Vekele to know he was wrong.
“Nothing,” Vekele repeated.
Baris’ karu returned, clutching a ripe purple berry in his beak. Baris accepted the berry. The karu pecked gently at his ear until he consumed it. Satisfied, the karu took flight again.
“He thinks I am too thin,” Baris said, explaining before Vekele could ask.
“You are,” he said. Now that Vekele could see his brother in the strong daylight, he noticed how tired he appeared. Circles hung under his eyes, giving his face a weary look. Baris had always been the taller and broader brother, fitting the image of a warrior king, despite never having set foot on a battlefield. Now Baris seemed diminished. “I do not like it.”
“A night of uninterrupted sleep is what I need, not food,” Baris grumbled. Still, when the karu returned with another berry, he obediently ate it.
Vekele suspected his brother needed both sleep and food. “Surely you are not so important that the kingdom will fall apart without guidance for a few hours?”
“You have a way of keeping a male’s ego humble,” the king said, sounding amused. “Tell me about humans.”
Vekele summarized the information he pulled from the archives.
“Yes, yes. I read all that. Tell me what you have learned from this human,” Baris said.
Sarah’s posture stiffened. No doubt she knew they discussed her. Ghost brought another stick, which she threw diligently into the trees. He darted off, shadows at his feet.
“Human technology has advanced. Sarah possessed a device that opened a portal and transported her here, but she is unaware of how it worked. I have examined the device and believe that it is malfunctioning.”
“Send the device to Luca for analysis,” Baris said.
“Consider it done,” he said with a nod. Baris motioned for him to continue. “She claims her arrival was accidental. I am inclined to believe her. The royal mark is a coincidence.”
“How did she acquire the mark? Is it recent?”
Vekele watched Sarah’s reaction as he spoke. “It is not fresh. Old. Perhaps a handful of years. It is difficult to judge with her skin.”
“Did you ask her?”
“Yes, I asked her,” Vekele said, annoyance creeping into his voice. “She said it is based on an Earth animal that symbolizes wisdom.”
Baris made a pleased noise. “And bonding with the void beast? It is difficult to believe the creature is tame.”
Vekele was hesitant to call the void beast tame, but he was civil.Civil-ish.The void beast continued to growl when Vekele approached Sarah and watched him warily, as if Vekele were the beast.
“A fluke,” he answered.
“Once is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is a conspiracy,” Baris said, nearly muttering.
“No one could orchestrate all those elements. What you are suggesting would be…” He refused to saymagic. Eventually, he settled on, “Fantastical.”
“Some would say the eyes of fate are watching,” Baris said.
“I know which councilors would agree.”
Ghost trotted out of the trees, carrying a small animal by the neck. It kicked and thrashed. He dropped it at Sarah’s feet, and it bolted away. She jumped, startled.
Vekele huffed with amusement. Civil-ish, indeed.
“The wedding is a week away. No one can know about the human,” Baris said. “If you bring her to court, it will disrupt everything. I get little enough sleep as it is.”
