Prologue 2

prologue 2

Kael

It's cold in the dormitory when I wake up, but not nearly as dark as it should be this time of night. The cavernous room deep beneath the Telmarine Palace should be pitch black.

It's been a full dark moon since Lantimere took me from my family and brought me to live here with all the other boys. This time of night, I should be able to see little more than the outlines of the three dozen other beds crammed into the room with mine.

But instead, on the bed next to mine, a small blue orb of light illuminates the shape of a girl sitting cross legged at the foot of the bed.

She's a tiny thing with flaxen hair plaited in braids. The sacred amulet she holds in her hand is lit up as if the water within is sparked with life. She is the only one I know who can do this—make water glow. It's probably sacrilegious, the way she uses her amulet as a torch.

But she gets away with it because she's Caiside's be'lahshuk and because exceptions must be made in times like these .

None of the other paired be'lahshuk have been allowed in the boys' dormitory. I haven't seen mine since we first met, a bright moon ago. I haven't seen her, but she's rarely left my thoughts. A girl around Aislynn's age, with copper-colored hair and amber eyes.

Jaylerena of Kinsaera.

The first moment I touched her, I knew she was different. Mine. Within hours, the marks seeded the inside of my wrists. A sign we are fated to be mates.

Despite that, I've been kept from her. Only Caiside gets to see his be'lahshuk , because he is the oldest. Lantimere has been encouraging them both to use their fledgling powers even though everyone knows they are far too young to complete their bond.

I sit up, dropping my elbows beneath me as I scold her. "Aislynn," I whisper.

She twitches, surprised, and scowls over at me. "Don't wake him," she whispers back.

"You're not supposed to be here. You should be in the dormitory with the other girls."

"My tummy hurts and I just wanted to make sure he was okay."

I sit fully up, studying her. "What do you mean your tummy hurts?"

By now, Caiside is stirring. He wedges an elbow under him and blinks around blearily.

"Aislynn, what are you doing here?"

Even though it's the middle of the night, he sounds considerably less annoyed than I am. To me, she is just the annoying brat who sneaks away from her nurse in the girls' dormitory to follow Caiside like a lost skeelos. Those furry little creatures have always been a nuisance. But, to him, she is everything.

He pulls back his blanket and gestures for her to come to him. She closes her hand around the amulet, extinguishing the glow within, then scrambles to his side.

Now that the light is out, I can see almost nothing, but I hear the rustling of his thin blanket as she snuggles next to his body. She is but a young child to his eleven turns, but neither think it odd for her to sleep beside him in his dormitory bed. After all, she is his be'lahshuk . When they are both grown, they will be mates.

"My tummy hurt and I wanted to make sure you were okay."

The rustling in the bed beside mine stops. "What do you mean your tummy hurts?" he asks.

Caiside and Aislynn were the first to be matched. The seed markings slowly blooming down her neck and up his wrists. They won't fully blossom until they are much older. Their Venamy will not settle until then, but there are hints of each of their powers already. Her ability to make water glow. His to summon objects to him. Not just his ion blade, but other things as well.

And twice before now, she said her tummy hurt, and then something bad happened. "Tell me, Kap'ashal ."

She makes a whining noise before saying, "There was a strange noise from the windward side of the castle."

The windward side of the castle is where the girl's dormitory is.

"Light your amulet," he commands.

A moment later, light pours from the orb in her palm, brighter this time. He is already out of bed and pulling on his boots.

He meets my gaze. "Wake Radford and the others. Tell them what Aislynn told us. I'm going to investigate."

Instantly alert, I've started pulling on my boots already, thinking of my own Jaylerena who is across the courtyard in the girls' dormitory. "I'll come with you."

"No." He lifts Aislynn from the bed and hands her to me as soon as I'm standing. "Take her. Keep her safe."

Her arms are still wrapped around his neck. "No! Don't leave me!"

"I must." He cups her jaw for only a moment. "Stay safe. I will return."

I have to fight every instinct I have to obey Caiside's order and stay with Aislynn. I wake Radford, who is only a few moons younger than Caiside, and it's chaos after that. He brings up the lights in the room as we move from bed to bed, waking everyone as quietly as we can. Maedoc, another boy about my age, leads the younger boys down through the bowels of the castle to the servants' quarters, where Lantemere and his son Draeden sleep.

With the brighter light of the overhead lighting, Aislynn's glowing orb dims. At some point, I set her down to help one of the younger boys. It's not until the hall is nearly empty that I notice that her orb has vanished entirely. She's gone.

"That's everyone," Radford calls to me from across the room. "Let's go!"

"Aislynn is gone." I give one last look around the room to verify she's not hiding somewhere, before heading toward the doorway through which Caiside vanished. "I think she went after him."

Radford mutters a curse. "I'll go after her."

"No. The others need you. She's my responsibility." If Caiside is our natural leader, Radford is our de facto second in command. If something has gone wrong, we need him. "I'll go."

I don't wait for him to answer but take off down the hallway that leads to the castle courtyard. It's so dark I have to draw my ion blade and use its light as a torch.

I run down the hall and up the stairs, praying I'm faster than a girl of five turns.

Thank Tides, I am.

I catch up to her, holding her tiny orb in her palm, only a few steps into the courtyard.

We both stop at the sight we find: shuttles on the horizon, one directly above us, Sovereign troops on the ground pouring from the girls' dormitory, and Caiside running towards us, his ion blade lit, blade fully extended.

He skitters to a stop when he sees Aislynn.

His gaze jerks from her to me, yelling over the hum of the shuttle engine. "Get her out of here!"

I snatch her into my arms, all but running backwards as the scene unfolds before me.

He doesn't follow us. Instead, he braces his legs and extends one hand overhead.

"What is he doing?" I ask the question aloud, but expect no answer as I turn and run for the doorway.

Aislynn is screaming in my arms, her orb glowing impossibly bright. When I reach the relative safety of the hallway, I turn back around.

Caiside has dropped his ion blade. Now, both hands are raised above his head.

Why did he drop his weapon? What is he doing?

Then, the shuttle above him seems to groan before lurching closer to the ground. It catches, hangs in the air for a moment, then lurches again, stuttering for a moment.

When I realize what is happening, I turn and run.

I don't look back when I hear the rumble of engines. I don't stop despite Aislynn's screams and frantic attempts to break free. I don't even hesitate at the deafening crash of the shuttle hitting the ground.

I don't stop until we're through the dormitory and deep into the servants' quarters, reunited with the rest of the boys.

When I finally stop running, the walls have stopped shaking. And Aislynn's glowing orb has gone dark.