It takes little effort between the two of us to climb and slip over the wall into the unprotected city of Meranthi. There’s an eeriness that haunts the streets that doesn’t seem quite right, though I can’t quite place it. It’s nighttime, so it could be normal that everyone is holed up inside.
“The market is closed,” says Nox, nodding down into the main thoroughfare, where booths sit abandoned for the evening.
It hits me then something Asha told me, that because of the unrelenting midday heat, business still bustled into the late hours in Meranthi, after they’d taken a break in the hottest portion of the day.
At least, that’s how it was before.
A chill snakes up my spine at the abandoned quiet of the streets.
“How do you plan to sneak into the palace?” Nox asks. When I open my mouth to tell him I was planning on playing it by ear, someone else answers for me.
“What’s your business inside the palace?”
We both whip around to find a girl—human judging by the scent of her blood—standing behind us, a hood pulled low over her head.
“Who are you?” asks the girl. She brandishes a long, serrated dagger, one that really does look like the type that would be unpleasant to be cut with, even if the wound healed immediately.
There’s something familiar about the girl’s voice, though I can’t quite place it.
“Just visitors to town.” Nox holds his hands up as if that would stop him from ripping the girl to shreds if he so desired.
Everything about the girl, including her posture, drips with suspicion. “Az doesn’t allow visitors anymore.”
Nox and I exchange a look.
“You call your king by a shortened version of his name?” he asks.
The girl takes a moment to answer, but when she does, it’s not to Nox’s question. “I asked who you are, and I suggest you answer honestly.”
Nox offers a questioning look at me, then takes a gamble. “We’re friends of Queen Asha’s.”
The girl’s knife hand falters, but she keeps it extended. She turns, not bothering to look at Nox.
“And you?” she asks, twisting the knife toward my chest. “Would you call yourself a friend of Queen Asha’s?”
She knows, whispers the parasite in the adamant box. She knows what you are. Not a friend, but a traitor. A snake in the grass. This girl has never met you, yet somehow she knows. The evil radiates off you, girl. Why can’t you just accept that?
I grit my teeth. “No,” I say. “No, I wouldn’t. She might have considered me a friend once before, but I pretty much ruined any chance of that when I betrayed her.”
The girl’s knife goes still, and I can’t help but notice the way her breath hitches. “Then why are you here?”
Why are you here? whispers the parasite. Do you even know?
“I don’t really know. I suppose I want to try out doing something right for once.”
“Why the change of heart?” asks the girl.
It’s an effort not to bite my lip. “Because I’ve tried the other way, and I’m learning it never works out well.”
The girl’s chest collapses in a sudden exhale. It takes me a moment to realize it’s a gesture of exasperation as her breath fogs the air.
She slips off her hood, shooting her stunning eyes between Nox and me, looking like she knows she’s going to regret whatever she plans to say next. “I suppose that’s as good of a reason as any.” She lowers the knife, tucking it into her belt.
Nox raises a brow, clearly shocked.
I’m a tad shocked, too. Apparently, a dash of honesty really does go a long way.
“I’m Dinah,” she says, and though I don’t think I’ve ever seen her, I recognize her now. The subtle similarities to her sister are written all over her—the curve of her nose and the deeper quality to their voices, and even the way they carry themselves. “You’re Blaise, and you must be Nox,” she says, nodding toward him. “Glad you made it back to this side of the Realms,” she says, rather politely, especially for someone who just had a knife pointed in our direction.
She beckons us to follow her, and after we shrug at each other, we do.
“Why’d you decide to trust us?” Nox asks, clearly confused.
Dinah looks up at him and offers a sad smile. “My family believes in second chances.”
Nox’s eyes glow with something, and he looks at me, then quickly turns away.
“But it’s really not up to me whether you’re punished,” she says, looking toward me with a slight bit of concern.
“What do you mean?” asks Nox.
“I mean, that decision is up to someone else.” She stops, biting her lip. “I’m afraid he’s not too happy with you at the moment.”
Dinah slips into the shadows.
I have a sneaking suspicion I know exactly who she’s leading us to.
I’m not expecting a warm reception.
