Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59723 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
As he quietly soaks in each line of ink, I speak softly. “Your flutette is made from that tree.”
“My brother’s armband, too, I believe.”
I stare wistfully at the painting. “I wish he remembered.”
Quin turns to me, his focus broken. “Would it change anything?”
Would it? Nicostratus is . . . a genuine kindness, wrapped in strength, with a smile that warms my heart. I look away from the violet oak and meet Quin’s eye. “It doesn’t change anything.”
He nods and snaps his cane closer to the bed. “Take the floor.”
“You can have the whole room. I’ll sleep with Akilah.”
“What?”
“She’s stargazing on the roof. I’ll join her.”
“Wait.”
I pause, halfway to the door.
“You’re male, she’s female. It’s inappropriate.”
“We’re practically siblings. Plus, it beats the floor.”
“You—”
The door shuts behind me. I hurry across the yard, drop some extra blankets in Akilah’s room, and climb the ladder to the roof, where she’s lying starfished under the clear sky. I sit beside her, breathing it all in: that ticklish feeling of my forefathers and River looking down on us.
After a few minutes, I ask her to take off her boots.
She lifts one foot after the other and I undo them.
“I should probably ask why, but I figure I’ll end up without boots either way.”
“You’ve always been the best test subject. Now hold still—I’m going to practice swapping your toenails.”
She raises her head, looks down at her feet and my glowing hands, and reclines again. “Put them back in the right place after.” She lazily traces stars with her fingertip while I rearrange her nails—mostly successfully—and then she freezes and turns her head to me, whispering, “Why is he pretending to be an aklo?”
“Probably because he’s actually the king and doesn’t want anyone to know.”
She snaps upright. I slip on her boots and sigh a foggy breath into the night.
At the crack of dawn, I wake to Lucetta pummelling at the door for Akilah to get up and play. I dress, grab my cloak, and chase Lucetta all the way to Mother’s chambers. My niece sits glued to my lap while Mother fusses around me in delight. We breakfast together, and I escort her as she prepares, reluctantly, for her herb collecting excursion.
Akilah is serving Quin breakfast at an outside table, for once impeccably dressed with a respectful sort of countenance I’ve never seen on her before. I drift towards them and halt when I realise Mother has followed. She’s eyeing Quin curiously; there’s no way Mother will believe me if I introduce him as an aklo. Not with the way he angles his chin like that. Not with the way he looks at me.
“Who is this beautiful man?” she whispers.
Akilah’s perfect composure wavers as she chokes on a cough. I yank my gaze away from Quin and pull my mother in another direction. “Never mind him.”
“Is he courting Akilah? I’d happily welcome him into the family.”
“He’s already married. Let’s go.”
“Such a shame. Why is he here?”
“He’s a . . . ah . . . He came with me.” I kiss her cheek. “I’ll visit again soon.”
She has tears in her eyes as the wagon moves away; I wave until she’s out of sight and when I turn back, Akilah has disappeared and Quin is watching me. The closer I come, the more his eyes glint. “A what? A friend?”
I scowl and flick my finger at him. “You were not acting your part.”
“You take after her—the blond hair, your eyes, your smile.”
“She has Iskaldir allure.”
“She called me beautiful.”
“I’m sure she was drawn in by your godlike jawline.”
Lucetta flings herself against my side, Akilah chasing after her once again. “Can you come camping with us?”
Akilah catches her breath. “We’ve been planning the trip for weeks.”
I kiss the top of Lucetta’s head. “That sounds like so much fun. I’ll come next time, alright?”
She nods and makes me promise to visit again soon before she dashes off. Akilah embraces me hard. “By the way, how’s our Florentius?”
Florentius! I stiffen. “I may have left him in a canal full of toads.”
She laughs and disappears after Lucetta, and I’m left with Quin and an entire day before us.
Quin, possibly reading the apprehension on my face, raises a brow. “I have people to see at the dance academy. You can explore the market.”
“Cael!”
I twist to see my father crossing the courtyard with three thick books and a sack that smells of sacredbloom. He stops and hesitates before thrusting the sack my way. “You and your aklo can drop this off at the luminarium.”
I groan inside, and nod. “I’ll be on my way.”
I pivot to leave and he clears his throat, halting me. He deposits the books in my arms and I almost drop the purifying sacredbloom. “They’re your grandfather’s. His research.”
I feel the thump of my heart through the books I clutch, like they’re pulsing with life. He kept them?