Chapter Ten

"You did what ?" Kai's shout, so forceful that Darius flinched, echoed in the small stone-walled room.

"Keep your voice down," Darius hissed.

"We're atop the highest tower in the palace, by your request, and there is no one else within any kind of earshot. I will shout about your stupidity if I want to!" Kai ran a hand over the side of his face, still looking at Darius in horrified astonishment. A gentle breeze blew around them from the room's single entrance, a window that faced the harbor. They'd both spent a good deal of time up here when they were younger, and there were still floor cushions and boxes containing strategy games strewn about from those days. It was one of a few places in the palace that was only accessible by flight, which was why Darius had chosen it. Kai's apparent desire to shout, however, was making him regret that decision.

"Let me see if I understand this correctly," Kai said at a slightly lower volume, still looking stunned. Not stunned past words, unfortunately, since he continued, "Your mother informs you that there is a woman fated to reach incredible heights of power, and that she is a threat to our very existence. And your response to this is to take said woman to your Hold, where you, the prince of the city, are at your weakest and most vulnerable?!"

"I am not weak there," Darius snapped.

"No? Do I really need to spell this out for you, brother?" Kai demanded. "If she's what you think she is, she'd be a danger to any of us in our Holds, and you're not an exception! What if— what if she sees you in your true form?" The skin of his upper arms was pebbling with emerging feathers, as if Darius couldn't already see how alarmed he was. Despite his previous protests about no one being able to hear him, Kai dropped his voice considerably, down nearly to a whisper. "What if she binds you?"

"Do you think that hasn't occurred to me?" Darius asked, exasperated. "I'm taking precautions. And she won't be there long."

"No, just until you've teased out the little matter of what exactly her fate is and whether or not it can be shaped," Kai said, fully matching Darius' exasperation. "A minor task, very easy. Never mind that the world's strongest oracles couldn't do it." He shook his head, apparently at a loss for words. He gave himself a shake, the feathers receding. "Darius… your mother was right. You have to kill her."

Darius' mind jumped to that brief moment when Tanitha had touched his hand, and he wrenched his thoughts from the memory. He couldn't afford to be distracted right now. "I'm not going to kill her."

"I'll do it, then," Kai said. Darius looked sharply at him, taken aback. For all Kai's flippant affectations toward matters of death and violence, he was in reality much gentler than one would suppose. If he'd ever shed another person's blood in his life, Darius didn't know about it. When he met Kai's gaze, however, he saw only a stoic determination.

"I'll kill her, if you can't, or won't," Kai repeated. "If that's what it takes to keep you safe. If you truly can't do it."

From anyone else, Darius might have thought this was a barb, a transparent jab about weakness or softness, but he didn't see that in Kai's eyes. All he saw reflected there was concern and worry for Darius.

The realization bled some of the anger and frustration out of him. "It isn't that I can't kill her, it's that I don't think she should die, " he said. Kai shook his head, the astonished exasperation returning to his face, but Darius pressed on. "She doesn't deserve that fate, for one thing. And for another… suppose it goes wrong if I do try?" Kai frowned, but Darius pressed on before he could speak. "You know the dangers of trying to avoid prophecy as well as I do," he said. "Suppose I do what you ask, and somehow I fail."

" How could you possibly fail? She's a pigeon keeper! You're a demon prince! You could kill her with your bare hands! Or— or claws, or teeth, or whatever !"

Darius folded his arms. "If I knew how I might fail, I could prevent it, obviously. But how isn't the point," he said loudly over another exasperated exhalation from Kai. "The point is that if I tried to kill her— if any of us tried to kill her— and failed, we'd be marking ourselves as the enemies of someone fated to rise to greatness and power."

"So don't fail," Kai muttered, but Darius could see he was considering the point. "Can't you at least put her somewhere less dangerous?" he asked after a moment. "Does it have to be there ?"

"I'm open to alternatives," Darius said wearily; he'd been circling this same matter in his mind all night, barely able to sleep. Whatever he might have said to Kai, having Tanitha there was dangerous to him. "If you've any suggestions for places she'll be safe where my mother doesn't have eyes, I'll happily consider them."

Kai made a face, taking the point. "All right." He considered for a moment, then said, "Why did you even tell me about this, if you don't want help getting rid of her?" He tilted his head, then said, "Is she pretty?"

"What's that got to do with it?" Darius asked, putting enough annoyance into his voice that he hoped it would deter further questions about her attractiveness.

"I'm just wondering what's gotten into you," said Kai with a shrug. "You're remembering that any proper demon woman can be as beautiful as she wants to be, right?"

Darius restrained a glare, though a twitch of irritation still ran through one wing.

"I wanted to talk to you about this," he said, each word deliberate, "because you know more about elemental theory than I do. Is there a way to test for specific abilities? Particularly if someone has talent but is unwilling to use it?"

Kai pursed his lips. "You really think she might be a soul-speaker?" Darius nodded, and after a moment, Kai slowly shook his head. "There's not a test for the presence of latent elemental abilities," he said. "Not beyond putting the subject in a situation where they're forced to use them. And I don't see that method particularly endearing you to her."

"I'm not trying to endear myself to anyone," Darius muttered.

"Well, you're doing an excellent job on all fronts, in that case." He held up a hand at the look Darius sent him. "All right, I'm sorry. Listen, if you want to find out if she's hiding talent, you're going to need to tread very gently. She has to know how valuable the skills are. If she does have them, she's been hiding them her entire life, and she'll have what she considers to be a very good reason for doing so. And she won't be happy with a demon lord trying to shed light on that."

Darius nodded, resigned. He'd hoped for a simpler solution. His initial meeting with Tanitha had gone about as well as could reasonably be expected, but Kai was right that she might view this as a dangerous subject. He'd need to build a little more trust before he brought it up. If that was even possible, he thought with an edge of frustration, remembering the difficulty of even convincing her she didn't need to be outright terrified of him. He wasn't even certain if he'd succeeded on that minimal front.

"What can be tested," Kai continued, bringing Darius' mind back to the present, "is the workings of elemental magic." He folded his arms with the air of a decision firmly made. "So. Because you're too much of an idiot to solve this efficiently, I'll be doing that. Daily."

Darius felt his brow furrow in confusion. "What?"

"I will be testing you every morning for evidence that you've been soul-bound," Kai said flatly.

"She isn't going to have a chance to—"

" Every morning ," Kai said, jabbing him in the chest with one finger. Darius gave him an affronted look, which Kai ignored, stubbornly continuing, "And if you put up the slightest resistance to it— if you put me off or avoid me or forbid me— I will fly straight to your mother and tell her that I think the girl you were supposed to kill is now controlling you." He folded his arms. "That's the only arrangement where I keep quiet about this, Darius. Do you agree?"

Darius glowered. "Fine," he muttered, although a small part of him was actually grateful for the added precaution. As frustrating as Kai could be, Darius did believe he had his best interests at heart. It was more than he could say for most people. "But it's not going to be a problem."

"It had better not be," Kai said, arms still folded. "You know what Naratha will do to me if she realizes I knew about this and didn't tell her right away?"

"Probably eat you alive," Darius said with a shrug of feigned indifference. A salt-laden breeze drifted in the window, ruffling the feathers of his wings. "Literally, since she still takes that old dragon form of hers now and again."

"Hilarious," said Kai sourly. "When you're done endangering our entire species, perhaps you can explore a career as a traveling jester." He glanced to one side. "Actually, on the subject of the continuation of the species, we've received word from Alethia of Zharen."

Darius stifled a groan. The situation with Tanitha had driven the matter of his incipient courting attempts completely from his mind. "Dawn of the Awakening," he muttered under his breath. "All right. When is she coming?"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "Well, you're back to your old confidence toward women, I see."

"Kai."

Kai leaned casually against the wall, trying and failing to hide a smirk. "As a matter of fact, your would-be paramour declined the invitation."

It took Darius a moment to comprehend the statement, unexpected as it was. "She declined ?"

"She did," Kai said, examining one hand casually.

Darius stared at him. "She can't just decline a royal summons!"

"You told me to issue an invitation, not a summons, so she could, and she did," Kai said, sounding annoyingly cheerful at the distinction. "She made appropriate excuses, of course, but my theory is that your reputation precedes you."

"Reputation?" Darius scoffed. "I have one broken engagement to my name."

"And a half-dozen baseless rejections of others. Apparently she decided she'd rather fight pirates than deal with you." He gave an exaggeratedly mournful sigh. "Wise of her. I wish I'd had the option today."

Darius narrowed his eyes, deciding for what felt like the thousandth time today to ignore Kai's insults. Pirate attacks on their trade ships were rare— few raiders would risk targeting a ship that might have a demon aboard— but it had been known to happen occasionally to ships from Enclaves farther from the main network of city-states. Zharen, though, was close enough that it shouldn't be an issue.

"Pirates," he repeated. "Near Zharen?"

"Yes. Her refusal was very polite, to the effect of saying that she was honored by your attention, but the raids on their trading ships have grown bolder, and Zharen's magistrate has tasked her with addressing the matter personally."

Darius' eyebrows rose. That almost certainly meant a dramatic and impressive display of elemental magic was forthcoming. He'd have to make sure to get a report of the event.

"Bolder, you said. This has been happening frequently?"

Kai made a wavering gesture with one hand. "Not frequently ," he said. "But there were a couple of incidents last year, and they're starting up again. Enough to annoy, apparently."

"And we're sure they're actually pirates?" Darius asked, thinking of a similar event a few years previous. "Not mercenaries paid to harass us?"

"Good to know you've been paying attention after all," Kai commented. "The Sabrians recently cracked down on piracy in their waters— brutal by anyone's standards, by all accounts. It's possible that the survivors are just seeking easier prey and assume we'll be distracted by other problems. But yes, it's also possible that these have been bribed by Sabrian coffers to make trouble for us. It wouldn't be the first time."

Darius considered for a moment, then gave a decisive nod. "All right. Send ships to assist."

"Zharen hasn't requested aid. They might consider that an imposition," Kai warned.

"Or a gift befitting a proposition to courtship," Darius countered. "Send the assistance."

Kai looked at him with consideration, quirking an eyebrow. "Are you actually interested in Alethia?" he asked. "You've different tastes than I thought, if so."

"I'm interested in protecting the trade routes," said Darius shortly.

"Is that all?" Kai asked, eyebrows raised. "Or maybe you just like a challenge, and Alethia's the first woman in this process who hasn't outright thrown herself at you."

The thought of another woman who hadn't thrown herself at him, albeit for very different reasons, came unbidden to Darius' mind. With effort, he pulled his thoughts away from Tanitha, from the sight of her reflexively cupping one protective hand around a sparrow.

He looked back at Kai. "Just send the ships, all right?"

Kai grinned. "Very well. By the way, what are you going to offer me for my silence to her ?"

"What?"

"To Alethia," Kai clarified. "When you finally meet her, and she's duly impressed with your assistance with those pesky pirates. What are you going to offer me to not let it slip to her that you've got another woman living with you?"

Darius rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Kai."