“YOU’RE DEAD AGAIN.”
James pulled the blow at the last second; his practice sword tapped my neck, while mine sailed in a breath too late to save my life. I knocked his blade out of the way, and we reset.
“You seem to have the duties of a bodyguard all mixed up.” I struck first this time, aiming for his head. He parried and slashed, forcing me to sidestep out of his reach. We filled the practice room with the clack of metal on metal, both of us waiting for the other to drop his guard and leave an opening to exploit. “At the rate you’re killing me, I don’t know how anyone will be persuaded to give you the very important job of guarding my life.”
“I should think,” James huffed, “you’d want an accomplished swordsman as your bodyguard. He should be better than you.”
“You’re not better—”
James killed me again, this time gutting me. The blunt tip of his blade dragged at my shirt. “I’ll say something nice at your memorial.”
“You are the worst friend I’ve ever had.” I swiped my forearm over my face, mopping sweat. Damp hair clung to my scalp. Even this early in the morning, summer’s heat and humidity flooded my family’s practice quarters. By the door and along the mirrored wall, my guards stood at attention, uncomfortable but unmoving.
“I’m your only friend.” James lifted his sword again. The blade flashed silver in one of the giant mirrors.
“That isn’t true.” It was a little true. While there were certainly many benefits to being the heir to the Indigo Kingdom, having a large circle of close and trusted friends wasn’t one of them.
I readied my sword again and attacked. He blocked, and we traded blow after blow, neither of us lowering our guard. I pressed forward, feinted an attack to his groin, and sliced at his flank instead. The dull edge of my blade cut across his side, harmless but to his pride.
James growled and let his sword swing toward the ground. “Cut in half! Is there any more humiliating way to die?”
“I’m certain there are a hundred.” With a grin, I sheathed my sword just as the Hawksbill clock tower chimed eight. “Time for breakfast. Want to join me?”
He shook his head. “It’s with the Chuter family this morning, right? I’m afraid I’m busy preparing for the party this evening.”
“That’s eleven hours from now.”
“Yes, well, I hear the crown prince is very spoiled and makes ridiculous demands of his party hosts.”
I whapped him with my sheathed sword as we strode toward the door, my guards moving into position behind us. “Speaking of how spoiled I am, I’m going to make ridiculous demands of Father today.”
“Make demands? About attending the Academy? That’s big talk.” James shot a sideways glance and smirk. “Seems more likely you’ll start with begging and escalate to cowering.”
“Cowering?” I pressed my hand to my chest. “You wound me. I’m the crown prince of the Indigo Kingdom! I do not cower.”
“Remind me of the last time you left the Hawksbill district.”
“Being sheltered isn’t the same as cowering. One is forced upon me. The other would be a choice.”
“Fine. Remind me of the last time you tried to leave Hawksbill.”
“I—” I couldn’t remember the last time I’d asked Father’s permission to go anywhere. And then there was the fact that at sixteen years old, I was asking to go places.
James had a point. Skyvale was a huge city—the capital of the Indigo Kingdom—and I hadn’t set foot beyond the walled-off district for the local nobility in . . . years, probably.
We stepped outside and he said, “That’s what I thought. Don’t get your hopes up.”
“The school is in Hawksbill.” I straightened my back, like I was facing Father right now. “If he feels it’s unsafe, then everywhere else in Hawksbill and the King’s Seat is unsafe, too. Including the palace.” I glanced at my home, a huge structure rising in the north. Its front face was stern and regal, covered with balconies. Lights flicked on in a few rooms. Mirrors on the western faces gleamed darkly with morning at their backs.
James wiped away a trickle of sweat. “Just don’t give King Terrell ideas about locking you away in a tower without doors.”
I shuddered. With the Indigo Order Cadet trials next week, hopefully my bodyguard situation would begin to change for the better.
“Well, good luck.” James’s tone left no question as to what he expected my father’s response to be. “And now I must be off. You have a breakfast. I have a party.”
“When you’re my bodyguard, you won’t be able to avoid boring social calls so easily. You should consider building up a tolerance for them.”
“I already have. There’s this prince, you see—” He let out an oof when I whapped him again. “Well! Someone is bitter about losing ninety percent of today’s fights.”
“You’d better watch yourself tomorrow morning. I won’t go easy on you anymore.”
James laughed and lifted a hand. “See you later, Tobiah.” He turned down the main avenue of Hawksbill, leaving me alone with my well-armed shadows. In spite of the deadly fire at his house a couple of weeks ago, James didn’t have guards. He didn’t need them.
I didn’t need them, either.
A vague sense of loneliness chased me up the grand staircase toward the palace, but I shook it off. I’d never indulged it before, and I wouldn’t start now. Instead, I let today’s schedule run in the back of my mind. Breakfast with the Chuter family—ugh, but they were wealthy and Father insisted—lessons on history and government and official documentation, and lunch. After that, I was being granted some rare free time because, in honor of my sixteenth birthday, Father had canceled afternoon court.
That was the excuse, anyway. The truth was that everyone would be busy preparing for the ball, so there wasn’t a point.
The ball would run late, eating through my evening practice with James, and in the morning I’d get up and do it all over again. Only, tomorrow would have more lessons as well as afternoon court, and more engagements with palace society.
I climbed the last two steps and paused.
“Your Highness?” My guard Geoff checked the area for a threat, but of course there was nothing. Just a fountain spraying nearby, a cool mist wafting over the front gardens, and nobility walking and gossiping; a few offered birthday wishes as they noticed my presence. I smiled and thanked them.
They passed by quickly, busy with their own schedules, though I did hear one remark to another, “What a nice boy that prince is.” I turned from the palace, taking in the spread of Hawksbill before me.
Elegant mansions rose between the meticulously maintained trees. Mirrors shimmered on the rooftops. Maids and footmen crowded the winding streets between homes, and delivery carts trundled over the cobblestones.
The clock tower loomed in the center of Hawksbill, while in the east, the spires of the Cathedral of the Solemn Hour pierced the deep blue sky. In the west, there was only a hint of the white rooftop of the Bome Boys’ Academy. Most boys I knew studied there, stayed in the dorms—at least some of the time—and learned how to rule their lands from the finest teachers in the Indigo Kingdom.
A privilege that had always been denied to me, no matter how spoiled anyone claimed I was.
This was my world. This space. From the Hawksbill wall to the palace, this was the area in which I existed.
Beyond the wall, there was the rest of Skyvale, and hundreds of thousands of people. There were refugee camps and forests and mountains and other cities and other kingdoms. There was wraith and hunger and hope, an entire world just begging to be explored.
But if my father had his way, I’d never stretch my legs away from the King’s Seat and Hawksbill, these two small districts of the city where he felt I was safe. But not safe enough to go to school without my countless guards.
Geoff cleared his throat. “Your Highness? You’ll be late for breakfast.”
“Right. Thank you.” I turned on my heel and strode toward the palace. There was no sense in wishing for something I’d never have.