“No need to be so formal.”

“Lord Ilbondre has requested you take Frendyl on as an apprentice and that he assist in....” Mizen paused. “In seeking what you’re after,” he finally allowed, though only in a low voice.

“Ah. Let me see, then.” Melroc held out a beefy hand, as if expecting a letter.

Mizen nodded at me, and I pulled the vellum page from my soft leather vest. A spurt of fear raced through me. The letter was forged, of course, Mizen using his far neater handwriting to pen the message within. The green wax seal, which Mizen had stolen from Father, had the two mallards of our House pressed into it. The wax popped when Melroc thumbed the letter open.

His eyes narrowed as he read the message, and his lips drew into a tight frown beneath his beard. For a few terrifying heartbeats, I worried he wouldn’t accept the letter—or me.

Then he motioned to Mizen and said, “Lad, tell the high lord thank you for his generous donation, and I’ll take good care of Frendyl here.” Still, as he spoke, his gaze, which had gone steely, remained locked on me.

I tried to stand tall, as if I were supposed to be there.

Mizen rested a hand on Melroc’s arm. “Thank you, Uncle.”

“Sure, sure.” Melroc pulled him in for a second tight hug. “Now, I haven’t seen you both in far too long. Would you care for some spiced mead? Or some schlava?”

“I appreciate your generous offer,” Mizen said with a laugh, “but I must return to Drüssyevoi.”

“Much to accomplish today, eh?”

“More than I’d like,” my cousin said with a warm smile.

“Well, get used to it, lad. You’ll be ruling the city before you know it, then the work will never end.”

Mizen likely wouldn’t gain control of the city for another couple hundred years. I might even become a knight before he took his spot as high lord of Drüssyevoi. Still, he smiled at Melroc’s comment.

Before he left us, Mizen gave me a fond squeeze on the shoulder. “See you soon,” he mouthed.

And then I was alone with Uncle Melroc in the room, the clouds in the walls swirling lazily and closing the doorway, as if guided by some wind I couldn’t feel.

Melroc sank into his large chair and exhaled before running his hand over his face. “Now, Frendyl, explain to me why you two lied.”

My jaw dropped open. The way he’d handled Mizen, I was sure we’d gotten away with it and that Melroc believed the letter was from my father.

“Look, I know my brother’s handwriting and the scent of his blood well enough to tell the difference between this”—Melroc tossed the letter onto the table—”and the real thing. Now....” He leaned forward, rested his elbows on the edge of the table top, and pressed his lips against his clasped hands. “Explain to me why the two of you would lie.”

I sucked in a deep breath and let it out in shaky bits. Not how I thought this would go. Melroc was my favorite adult relative—and I have a lot of them, so that was saying something—and the disappointment radiating from him made me want to curl into a tiny ball and fall through the floor.

“Sir, I....” Again those words stuck somewhere in my throat. I bit my tongue to ignite them, and everything spilled out. “Someone’s broken into the ‘Combs, and we think the intruder released a prisoner—I’m not sure who. But they used a spell to distract everyone while the breakout happened. Father said using the Blood of the Sun is the only way to find those responsible, and if we don’t find them soon, the people might find out, and it could cost our family everything.”

I’ve never scared easily, but something about the circumstances that had set everything in motion encouraged me to continue. “I was supposed to train as a page under one of Lord Veren’s sons in Lendre, but this seemed much more important.”

When I paused to catch my breath, Uncle Melroc lifted his hand to cut me off. “This is serious, Frendyl. Did your father say whether he has everything under control?”

I shook my head, my face cold and clammy. “No, sir.”

“And I’m going to assume he doesn’t know you came to me instead of leaving for Lendre.”

I gave a single nervous nod.

My uncle leaned back in his chair and held his hand over his face, as though thinking. Each second of silence only made the pounding of my Center louder—WHUMP, WHUMP, WHUMP—and gave me more time to fidget and wonder what would to happen to me. Nothing could be done to Mizen, since he was predestined to be the high lord of Drüssyevoi, but I could be disowned, sent off to another city—or worse, sent to court in the capital. There, if I were convicted, I’d never see my family again.

Sure, my family had its faults, but I still loved them. I was willing to give up my page training to help Father out. Couldn’t my uncle understand that?

“I suppose I don’t have much of a choice,” said Melroc finally, and he leaned forward, though he shook his head slowly. “You need to understand the gravity of what you’ve done, though.”

Now that sent a chill between my wings. I clamped my jaw closed as hard as I could, resolute in my decision not to ask what he thought Father would do to me.

“Come, sit. We should talk.”

I sank into another of the cloud-made chairs, this one across the huge table from him.

“So, you know my crew and I are seeking....” Melroc nodded, staring right at me to let me know that the name wasn’t something we could discuss aloud. “And it sounds to me as if we must be quick about its return. Tell me, did you or Mizendrel say anything to anyone else?”

I took in a deep breath, my uncle’s lavender-and-plum blood-scent helping me relax now that he was closer. A least he hadn’t sent me away in shame—yet. “We... tried to keep quiet about it. Why?”

“The... thing we’re trying to find has garnered a lot of attention, and not all of it from upstanding individuals.”

I frowned. “If it’s so important to get it back so fast, why can’t we use mirrors?” Amüli used enchanted mirrors to get from one place to another, including Earth. The crossover was almost instantaneous, so it made more sense to use those than a ship of clouds, which would take days or weeks to travel from one place to another.

“Imagine we reached Erytel or another city, only to discover there is no mirror where we are headed. How would we get there? With a crew of casters hired in that city?”

I nodded. “Sure. Why not?”

He scowled. “I only trust those on this vessel. It also saves me time with customs.”

That made sense. Travel through mirrors was strictly regulated; a great deal of paperwork was required to leave one city and go to another, and if Melroc needed a large crew—especially for protection or to reach a destination where mirrors might not exist—the delay could be longer than the few days it took to traverse the Madirakovi Strait.

“Now, I can’t have you waltzing around as if you’re a cabin boy of sorts.”

“Why not?” I blurted. “I’m fine with working from the bottom up.”

He shook his head. “That’s not how this works. Your blood reeks of someone from a powerful House. Anyone with half a wit aboard this vessel would know you’re related to me, and there’s no point in trying to hide it. Instead I think you’ll work for me.”

My lips curled into a grin.

“Don’t be too excited, lad. You’ll still have to work, and hard. I can’t favor you in any way other than taking you on as a....”

“A what?”

He scratched his beard. “‘Cabin boy’ ain’t right. ‘Apprentice,’ let’s say, at least until I come up with something more apt. You’ll take minutes at my meetings, strip my bed and make it again, clean my clothes, empty my chamber pot, scrub my quarters, and share the same chores as the other crew your age.”

My expression must have given away my surprise at the mention of others my age on board, because he said, “Aye, one of your second cousins is here, and a few other runts whose fathers wanted them to learn something of the world. You’ll be expected to do as they do, understand?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

“Report to me this evening. My quarters are through that door.” He motioned to his left. “I need new linen tonight, and the chamber pot needs to be scrubbed before sunset. Go and join the crew, now. Ask Lord Loudrum to give you something to do while I think.”