I could hear the flapping of Micah’s wings as he soared through the skies.

Rylan had suggested we gather any more information in the national reports similar to my curse before we investigated further, and had directed Micah to send me back to my dorms.

An awkward silence lingered between Micah and I for too long. I had to try and break the quietness, because hearing nothing, while being carried by an attractive prince, put my nerves on edge. Like his brothers’, his body had a muscular tone, but he felt bulkier than Rylan had.

“You don’t talk much,” I said.

His velvety voice smoothed past me. “No.”

“Why is that?”

“Because.”

I puffed up my cheeks. Yep, this was going to be tough. I racked my brain for more things to say. He set me down in front of my dorm. It was a tall white building, with vines curling around its entrance. The sound of trickling water played in the background. It belonged to another one of the many streams weaving through Raynea.

“Thank you,” I said.

“I’ll walk you to your room,” Micah replied, picking his way in front of me before I could retort. “Which floor is it?” he asked, not turning around.

“The third.” I followed. Having another go at breaking the tension, I said, “Why is Gaius so rude?”

“You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?”

I studied the tattoos on his back. They wound around his scapulae and muscles. “It’s part of being a scholar. Inquiry is the entire basis of our profession.”

“You’re a bunch of busybodies, then?”

“Learners,” I corrected him.

He huffed and climbed up the marble stairs. “Gaius is rude because he’s spoiled.”

“Spoiled?”

“He’s an eligible bachelor. He’s wanted for nothing.”

“You are, too.”

“Yeah. But I didn’t get everything I wanted. Not like he did. Not like Kael. They have the love of Queen Miriel.”

“Have you… met your—”

“No.” He hesitated, as if not wanting to continue the conversation. “I don’t know who my mother is.”

“Why doesn’t Rylan act like them, then?”

“He’s had a lot of responsibilities since being a child.”

A pause lingered between us.

“Like?” I asked.

“Important ones.”

“Well, of course they’re important.”

Micah sighed. “He’s being raised to be a king. Our father picked Rylan as his crown prince and treated him harshly to forge him into a strong ruler. Rylan spent some years with the common folk. Twenty, in fact.”

“Twenty?” My face scrunched up. “How old are the lot of you again?”

“More questions.”

“You lot are intriguing.”

He sighed. “Rylan and Gaius are two hundred and ten. Kael is a hundred and fifty.” A hidrae’s life span was a thousand years, so they were considered young. The lower the class of dragon-kind, the shorter their lives were. Chances were that Frederick wouldn’t live past two hundred, and Bianca, my sister, would make it to five.

And me, a human daughter born from a dreryn and a darmar? With a soul with a strange make-up on top of that? I didn’t know what the hell I was, or how long my life span would be.

“How old are you, then?” We reached the top of the stairs. There was only a short distance left to my room.

“I’m a hundred and two this year.”

“That’s…”

“We’re old, yes.”

“It’s a long time to be faced with that.”

“That?”

“Scorn.” I couldn’t imagine facing a hundred and two years of constant gossip and being treated as an outsider. If I were Micah, I would have left the palace long ago. “I… Maybe I can relate.”

He regarded me, frowning. “That’s presumptuous, isn’t it?”

“You weren’t their favorite… because… well, you know.” I wasn’t sure if I’d gone too far, so I didn’t spell out the details of his illegitimacy. “My parents sometimes don’t even think I’m their child, because my hair’s a different color from theirs. My dad looks at me strangely. Bianca gets everything she wants, as long as we can afford it. I was left doing more shifts scrubbing the toilets and was hungry half the time. Sometimes the world treats us unfairly and we just have to fight harder to get what we want. We’re not that differen—”

Micah slammed his hand across me so abruptly that I yelped. One moment I was rambling, and the next, I was leaning against the stone wall of my dorm, with Micah’s blue eyes digging into mine, and his breath too close. “What do you know? You’re just some scholar.”

“I…” I can’t think straight.

“You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

“No, but I…” What was I doing, rambling like that? I should have held my stupid tongue.

“Stay out of my business.”

I wasn’t sure if he was overreacting because he thought I was spouting lies, or if I’d strayed too close to the truth and was striking the wrong chord.

“Is this your room?” he asked.

“That one,” I said, pointing at the door right across the wall Micah had me cornered on.

“See you tomorrow, then.”

“I’m sorry if I overstepped my boundaries.”

“You did. Don’t do it again.”

“Micah!”

We whipped our heads to the direction of the high-pitched voice in tandem. Who was that? A little girl greeted us at the end of the corridor, next to the stairs. She reminded me of Kael, with the same long white hair and bright blue eyes. She wore a pretty, expensive-looking dress, and couldn’t be more than five. Black wings fanned out from behind her back.

“Anatolia?” Micah’s face scrunched up in confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Anatolia Everborne. The princess. She was Gisiroth and Miriel’s newest child. People hardly ever saw her around, because Miriel preferred to keep her daughter secluded and safe. What was she doing in my dorm?

“Nana told me Rylan was seen carrying a girl earlier this afternoon. I looked around. Wanted to know who took my Rylan.”

“Rylan isn’t yours.” Micah backed away from the wall and scratched the back of his head.

“Yes, he is. You are, too. You’re all mine. Is she the girl?”

Micah exhaled. “Yes, Ana, she is.”

The princess stomped up to me with a flushed, angry look. She tried to look fearsome, but she ended up being more cute than scary. Her cheeks were full, rosy, and entirely pinchable.

“Ana, where’s your nanny?” Micah asked. “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

“I slipped away,” the princess replied. “I don’t like having Nana breathing down my neck all the time.”

She took my hand in hers, as Micah grabbed her to stop her from advancing.

Then she convulsed. Her eyeballs rolled back into their sockets, showing a ghastly white. Her teeth were clenched tight, and her grip over my gloved fingers tightened so much that it hurt.

Panic spiked through me.

“Princess?” I said, scooting down to stop her from falling. “Princess!”

Micah beat me to it and caught his half-sister before I could. “She’s having a vision.”

“A vision?”

“Anatolia has been getting strange episodes lately. We think she’s been receiving visions of the future. Some minor things came true, but so far, a lot of them have been ambiguous and we can’t say for sure.”

She looked like she was having a fit. Foaming at the mouth couldn’t be healthy. “Is she going to be all right?”

“She’ll be fine,” Micah said. “She’s never had any ill effects from her visions, but I know it looks bad. Try not to worry.”

“I don’t want Queen Miriel stringing me up for accidentally killing her daughter.”

Just as I finished my sentence, Anatolia snapped into consciousness. She blinked, staring at me with her shocking blue eyes. Her face contorted in confusion as she wiped away the foam of her mouth with the back of her sleeve. “Micah?” she called, sounding meek. “Micah.” She started tearing. She reached up and hugged her brother, before breaking into stuttered sobs.

Micah picked her up into his arms. She shivered and curled her arms around his neck.

“What did you see?” he asked. He cupped his hand over her hair. He glanced at me, and we shared a worried look.

“Dead,” Anatolia said, her voice quivering. “Everything was dying. Fires and sparks, and red skies.”

He furrowed his brow. “What else?”

“You, Rylan, Gaius, and Kael were there. All of you. Looking sad and crying. And…”

“And?” he asked, using an encouraging tone. He rocked her back and forth, as if she were a baby.

She pried her face away from his shoulder and craned her neck around so she looked at me. “She was there, too.”

* * *

“We’re going to your quarters?” I asked, feeling unease creeping through me. “Why?”

Micah pursed his lips. He had his hand wrapped around mine and was tugging me down the stairs. “We need to ask Rylan what the next course of action is.”

I didn’t know if he had realized he was holding my hand. He likely did. The fizzling in our souls occurred. But he didn’t show any signs of minding.

I said, “You mentioned that the princess’s visions don’t mean much.”

Micah, with his other arm, was holding Anatolia. “Ana, I’m taking you back to Nana.”

“Wait. Why?” Anatolia growled.

“Nana’s probably worried sick about you being missing. The queen, too.”

“It’s all right. I wrote a note.”

“That’s not how it works. You’re going back.”

“But I want to play.”

“You can play with the staff.”

“They can’t do the things we do.” Anatolia summoned lightning from her hands.

My eyes widened. I didn’t know the princess could do that too. Not much was known about Anatolia. Her parents mostly kept her whereabouts a secret, perhaps to keep her safe.

Micah had to make a detour to drop Anatolia off. He was carrying me as he flew me around, and I still couldn’t get over the fact that the princes were letting me ride in their arms.

The princes’ building was grander than my dorms by far. A massive artificial waterfall cut down its center. Two large statues, one of the first king and the other of the first queen, framed its entrance. Green flora sprouted from its decorations in a planned, purposeful pattern. Against the orange sunset, the building was breathtaking. The royal family lived in a separate location to the rest of us. I’d only just found out that the princes had their own separate lodgings from the king, queen, and princess.

Most lower officials and servants lived in the palace, because means of transport were too troublesome, and the younger ones opted to stay in for convenience’s sake. Many higher officials, however, preferred having their own homes outside.

“That’s where you sleep?” I asked, peering down. This area was walled off to non-royals, so I had never seen it before.

Micah nodded. “Yeah.”

He flew straight to a balcony, which stuck out from the walls, and landed. Micah allowed me to slip from his grasp. Through the large windows framing the balcony’s entrance, I saw the other princes… and the king.

Up close, King Gisiroth looked like a far older version of Kael. He sported a thick beard, and his eyes were sharper than an eagle’s.

He glanced in my direction. My heart skipped. His gaze had a hardness to it that could make anyone uneasy. He turned back to Rylan. Gaius stood behind Rylan in uncharacteristic quietness.

“That’s the girl you carried this afternoon?” Gisiroth said.

“Yes, Father,” Rylan replied, head bowed. It jarred me to see the way Rylan acted next to his father. His confidence retreated under Gisiroth’s shadow.

“A few officials alerted me on the issue. You hardly show interest in women. Do you intend to wed her?”

“No. Our meeting was more of a work-related nature.”

A hint of disappointment seeped through me at Rylan’s denial. I was letting the attention get to my head. Frederick’s musing that I might marry one of the princes had become a fun bit of imagination I allowed. But it was just that. I wasn’t a hidrae, and of far lower birth. Being with any of them was out of place.

Even then, a girl could dream.

Gisiroth crossed his arms behind his back, like Rylan often did. “Elaborate.”

“She is human.”

“Humans have shown up before, so it’s not a new phenomenon.”

“And she has the ability to give pain to any dragon-kind who touch her, except for us.”

I started at Rylan’s admission. I thought we were supposed to keep this a secret?

Gisiroth regarded me again, this time with a more contemplative look. It made me worried that he might come over, but instead, he turned his gaze back to Rylan and said, “You’re running tests on her?”

“We’re beginning to.”

“We could use her. To kill.”

I shrank back. I didn’t want to become a weapon. A weapon was an object, merely a tool. It’d degrade me to be even less than a human.

Rylan nodded. “We’re trying to figure out what the extent of her abilities are, and how they relate to us.”

“And?”

“Gaius used his magic to inspect her soul. She’s not entirely human.”

“There’s something else, Father,” Micah cut in, strolling across the balcony. “Anatolia just had a vision.” Was it me, or was Micah standing straighter, trying to seem taller than Rylan? Rylan was at least an inch taller than him, so it didn’t work. They were all massive compared to my five-foot-four frame, so maybe I was a bad judge of height.

“A vision?” Gisiroth asked.

“Ana saw destruction,” Micah said. “And we were there in the vision, with Sera.”

Gaius perked up.

“What?” Rylan said.

“We don’t know if Anatolia’s visions can be trusted,” Gaius added.

Gisiroth finally peered at me for longer than a second. He tipped his chin. “Sera Cadriel, daughter of Theo Cadriel, from Aere Grove?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. I often tried to portray a look of calm and intellect, but I wasn’t sure I could, not with Gisiroth’s piercing gaze. “Yes, Your Majesty.”

“I won’t take Anatolia’s visions lightly. Many of them have come true before. She foresaw Vancel’s winning of the Council of Fortitude’s election, for one, and that wasn’t a small event.”

“But we didn’t know what Anatolia’s vision had meant before Vancel’s victory happened,” Gaius said. “It’s too hard to make any inferences out of them.”

“Keep watch over her, Rylan,” Gisiroth said, turning his attention away from me. I breathed out a quiet sigh, hoping the king didn’t hear the relief pouring out of me.

“Yes, Father.” Rylan dipped his head.

Gisiroth strode off, and the door clicked behind him. As soon as he left, the atmosphere in the room felt lighter. Its walls seemingly widened, allowing for more space to breathe. I allowed my shoulders to relax.

“He takes himself too seriously,” I said, attempting to warm the chill Gisiroth had left behind.

Rylan poured himself a glass of wine. He sat down and took small sips. His brow creased into a deep wrinkle. “He’s the dragon king who managed to bring Constanria the most prospering since Garitus the Wise. He wouldn’t have been able to do that if he weren’t like this.” Respect shone from Rylan when he talked about his father, but there was also a hint of ambivalence. He leveled his gaze at me. “Weren’t you supposed to be in your dorm?

“Which I do want to be in. I have too much work to plow through.”

Gaius poured some wine. “What’s this you said about Anatolia again, Micah?” He leaned against Rylan’s table and crossed his legs in a relaxed posture.

Micah shrugged. “Hadn’t I told Father? Anatolia saw destruction, with all of us in the scene, including Sera.”

“Our sister’s visions tend to be more vivid. What exactly did she see?”

“Dead bodies. Fire. And she mentioned a bit about us crying.”

“Crying?” Gaius said. “Doesn’t sound like us.”

“Something terrible must have happened.” Rylan stared at nothing in particular and rested his lips on his wineglass. He paused. “Father said we should keep close watch on Sera.”

“And?”

“I’m thinking.”

My feet were getting tired from all this worrying. Princes, visions, curses. I had a vote that I had to plan for. I crossed my arms and tapped my foot on the ground.

Micah tightened his jaw. “The vision was triggered by Anatolia touching both Sera and I at the same time… if that means anything.”

“So maybe if we did that again, we’d find out more?” I asked. “But my hands were gloved… What exactly triggers those visions?”

Gaius shrugged. “She had one while drinking a glass of milk before. I don’t know if triggers are reliable.”

Rylan shook his head. “We’re not likely to find out more if we do the same thing again. I’ve never seen our sister get a vision of the same event twice. We’ll need to ask her more questions, however. Figure out what exactly she saw. She might have been too startled to properly list the details.”

Gaius set his glass down. “Good luck with that. Our sister prefers to talk about her dolls and nails.”

“If we’re persistent enough…”

Gaius pushed himself off the table and, with heavy footsteps, made his way toward the exit. He tripped on his own foot along the way, but quickly caught himself. “Dragons damn it.”

“I’m always warning you to be more careful,” Rylan said. He met my eyes. “He’s clumsy.”

I cracked a smile.

Gaius snarled and whipped his head around. “What are you smirking about?”

I replied, “That you’re a klutz. Are hidraes supposed to be graceful?” Kael and Rylan definitely were. Rylan’s strides reminded me of a prowling panther at times, and Kael was so light-footed that he made walking look like an art.

Gaius, however, was a big oaf. “You didn’t see that.” Was that a blush on his cheeks? I couldn’t tell because of his tan skin. I would have thought he was cute if not for him being so easily hateable.

“I saw it.” I had to hold back laughter. “Clear as day. You were about to fall on your face.”

Sourness took over his expression.

Rylan picked up one of the scrolls on his table and rolled it open. “Are you going to look for that noble girl you mentioned last week?”

“No,” Gaius said. “I have better things to do.”

“But she was the first female you’ve mused over in ages.”

“Well, I’ve lost interest.” Gaius gave me a look I couldn’t decipher. “That thing I did with my feet earlier… I did that on purpose.”

“Tripping on purpose?” I placed my hand over my mouth and bit my tongue.

“Gah. Doesn’t matter.” He pulled the door open. Peering down at his feet, he walked off.

“Sorry about bothering you again,” Rylan said.

“No problem at all,” I lied.

“We might have to meet more often, but it might make the election you’re running for seem rigged, so perhaps we can be inconspicuous about it. Why did you bring her back, Micah?”

Micah shrugged. “I figured with her around, we could get more answers.”

All I’d gotten was a meeting with the king, which, in retrospect, I probably should have used to better advantage. I chastised myself for freezing up.

Rylan intertwined his fingers and rested his elbows on his desk. “Not likely this soon. Perhaps the future will give us more clues. For now, we’ll just do as Father asked us to.”

“Why are you so afraid of your father?” I blurted.

Rylan wore a dumbfounded look. It flashed by quickly before he pulled his face into calm. “He had an interesting way of parenting, which I’m not keen on elaborating on. Let’s say… failure never goes unpunished under him.” He gestured to the window. “I’m sure you have a lot of work to do. You should go.”

“I think I should, too.”

I ambled toward the balcony, hoping to summon my imaginary wings, because I hated the way Rylan was looking me.

“I suppose I’m taking you back,” Micah said, lifting me up.

“Yeah.”

I allowed myself to rest into his arms. His bare chest brushed against my clothes. He called to his majestic white wings and lifted to the sky.

Was it wrong to feel this comfortable in this man’s arms?