“I feel you hovering.”
“I’m not—” Lyana stopped and rolled her eyes as she stared down at her best friend, releasing a heavy sigh. Because, of course, she was hovering. Standing at the end of Cassi’s bed, bouncing from one foot to another, biting her lip, staring—all right, hovering. Although, technically…
Lyana snapped her wings, freeing them from their snug position against her back, and stretched them to their full ivory glory. She pumped them once, twice, three times to float above the bed. “Now I’m hovering.”
Cassi rolled dramatically onto her back, a black-and-white speckled wing falling over the edge of her bed as she moved, and offered Lyana a sleepy, though still effective, glare. “What could you possibly want so early in the morning?”
Lyana shifted her head to the left, staring through the crystal wall of the palace at a sky tinged lavender by the rising dawn, then turned back to her friend. “Come on,” she grumbled. “Don’t tell me you forgot what day it is.”
“How could I possibly forget when it’s all I’ve been hearing about for weeks?” Cassi paused for effect. “But waking me up with the sun won’t make the day come any faster.”
At that, Lyana put her hands on her hips, unperturbed, and smiled—a wicked sort of smile her best friend undoubtedly recognized. “It will if we sneak out to the sky bridge.”
Cassi blinked twice, expression not changing. “Are you serious?”
“Am I ever not serious?” Lyana asked innocently. Cassi opened her mouth to respond but was cut off. “On second thought, don’t answer that. I mean it. I can’t sit here and twiddle my thumbs all day while the other houses make their way to the palace. I’ll go crazy. Crazier. And you have to come with me. You have to. Even if just to keep me out of trouble… Well, more trouble.”
Shaking her head, Cassi winced. “I should have seen this coming.”
Lyana nodded. “Yes, you should have.”
“Ana…” her friend whined.
But the use of her nickname would not change Lyana's mind, not today of all days. “Just get up, all right? I brought our furs and our hunting gear. Nothing will happen. But Elias is only on his shift for another thirty minutes, so we have to go now, or we’ll miss our chance.”
“Elias? Really?” Cassi snorted, shaking her head. But she eased to a seated position and flexed her wings, awakening her tired muscles.
“He’s my friend,” Lyana said with a shrug, tossing the extra furs onto the mattress before slipping her own around her wing joints and tying the openings at her shoulders.
“He doesn’t know how to say no to his princess is more like it,” Cassi huffed, but grabbed the clothes and started changing.
Lyana watched her, smirking. “Few people do.”
Cassi snorted again as she pulled on her pants and laced her boots. “Let’s go before I change my mind. I’m already beginning to overheat in all these layers.”
Not needing to hear any more, Lyana turned and marched toward the door, the bottom tips of her wings barely grazing the floor. The air in the palace was always warm and slightly humid, but in clothes meant for the frigid tundra outside, she found the temperature oppressive, heavy in a way that made her feathers itch. She slid one of the double doors open an inch, peeking through the crack toward the curving hall outside and the atrium beyond. The palace was a tall, ovular dome, with the rooms corkscrewing up along the outer perimeter, leaving a hollow central core for easy flight. The exterior walls were made from translucent crystal stones, allowing the sun to shine through and trapping the heat inside. But in order to maintain a proper seal, there were only two ways in and out of her home—and both were located at the very bottom of the structure. In a few hours, the palace core would be bustling with movement. Right now it was, for the most part, empty.
Perfect, Lyana thought, biting back a grin.
Turning, she found Cassi over her shoulder, eerily silent as usual even in movement, and whispered, "Let's go."
Her friend nodded, somewhat reluctantly. It was still a nod.
Lyana pulled the door fully open and sprinted into the hallway, then dove over the railing and tossed her wings wide in one quick motion. The air whistled as it whooshed through her feathers, her dove wings not nearly as stealthy as the owl wings following behind her, but still doing the trick. The breeze created by her body whipped her clothes as she plummeted to the floor. Luckily, she had bundled her tightly braided hair into a knot atop her head earlier that morning, so it was no bother. In fact, there was nothing she loved more than the stinging kiss of the wind against her cheeks.
Cassi flew past her as easily as she always did.
Lyana tried to hold back a frown when her friend threw a goading look over her shoulder, but failed. Cassi’s owl wings were predatory, made for a quick attack and nearly vertical as she dropped in a straight line toward the ground. Lyana's wings were meant for maneuverability and agility, not for hunting. So, although she soared as quickly as she could, keeping the flapping to a minimum, there was no way she could beat Cassi in a rapid descent. And Cassi knew it.
“What took you so long?” her friend teased from the shadows as she waited with crossed arms on the mosaic floor at the base of the palace.
The colorful stones seemed dull in the early morning haze, but in a few hours they would sparkle. The floor had been designed to mirror the sky above. At midday, when bright rays spilled through the apex of the dome, the crystal palace became radiant with the power of the sun.
Lyana ignored her friend and spun toward the discreet door nestled on the northwestern side of the room. It was the only discreet door there. The other four, positioned at north, south, east, and west, all towered at least thirty feet high and were impossible to open without alerting the entire palace. Though, of course, that was the whole purpose. One led to the banquet room, one to the sacred nest, one to the arena, and one to the official entryway, where an indoor market was held every day to sell goods and create a sense of community. But Lyana didn’t want official, she wanted secret, so she ran her fingers along the wall, searching for the telltale groove of the hidden back door. And…
Got it, she thought as she pressed, hearing a click.
The door swung open, revealing a narrow, dark passage, built from limestone like the interior walls instead of lucent crystal. The hidden route was courtesy of a former king with a paranoid streak unnecessary in a land that had been at peace for hundreds of years—but Lyana wasn’t complaining, when it made sneaking out of the palace for a few hours that much easier.
“This place always makes me feel claustrophobic,” Cassi muttered.
Lyana grabbed her friend’s hand because, to be honest, she’d always felt the same way. The ceiling was barely two feet above her head, the walls weren’t wide enough to spread her wings, and though a handful of oil lanterns lit the space, everything felt cramped, especially to bodies made for open air.
“We’ll be outside soon,” she said. An undeniable excitement pulsed through the words. As much as Lyana loved her home and understood the need to remain indoors in such a hostile, cold environment, she’d choose the wintry bite of open air over the palace walls any time.
“Are you sure about that?” Cassi couldn’t help but wonder.
Lyana frowned, shaking her head. “We’re back to this?”
“Well,” her friend drawled, “I just remembered that I ran into Elias with your brother last night, right before bed. Exactly how many cups of hummingbird nectar did you have to plug into him before he agreed to this little plan of yours? Five? Ten? He was flying in zigzags when we left him.”
Lyana shrugged. “I don’t know. A few?”
“That’s what I thought. I’m not sure how hospitable he’ll be feeling after all.”
“Just come on.”
With a roll of her eyes, Lyana pulled on Cassi’s arm, urging her friend to move a little faster. They reached the end of the passage after a few rushed minutes, but before Lyana could pull the door open, a deep voice stopped her.
“Don’t even think about it.”
Lyana paused with a heavy sigh. But it was just an unexpected setback, a little delay, nothing more. She forced a wide smile onto her lips and opened the door. “Morning, Luka.”
Her brother stared back with his arms crossed and his ashy wings outstretched, blocking the door to the outside. The atrium was made of crystals, meant to blend with the surrounding town, and it was lit brightly enough to reveal the disapproving lines etched in his dark skin. Two years older, and he never let her forget it. To his left, Elias stood with drooping shoulders, his tan wings folded and his face remorseful.
Lyana wrinkled her nose at him. Traitor.
“It’s not Elias’s fault,” Luka cut in, aware of every thought racing through her mind. “Did you really think I wouldn’t know you’d pull a stunt like this? I didn’t even realize Elias was on duty until I got here this morning to wait with him.”
Lyana spared Elias an apologetic look before concentrating on her brother. “Luka, come on. We’ll only be out for a few hours. I’ll be back before Mother and Father even realize I’m gone.”
He raised disbelieving eyebrows. “When have I heard that before?”
Valid…
“I mean it,” Lyana insisted. “I just want to watch the first house arrive. I just want to get rid of my nerves. I need some fresh air, or I’ll go crazy. Don’t you, of all people, understand?”
“I do, Ana.” His hard gaze softened. Before she could press the advantage, however, his brows scrunched together. “But this week, of all weeks, we need to be on our best behavior.”
Her wings drooped. “Why?”
“You know why. We’re representing our family, sure, but we’re also representing the House of Peace, all our people, all the doves. And most importantly, we’re representing Aethios, god of the sun and the skies. We can’t dishonor that.”
“I wasn’t going to,” Lyana said softly. She stopped short when Cassi bit her lip to keep from commenting. “It’s just, Luka, that’s not all we’re doing. And you know it.”
He sighed but remained silent with his jaw clenched.
Because she had a point.
Yes, they were the prince and princess of the House of Peace, but they were also a boy and a girl about to be paired off with a mate for the rest of their lives in a political partnership, instead of the love match all their friends would someday make.
The heirs from each royal house were currently on their way to her home for the courtship trials—their most honored tradition, during which all the royal matches would be arranged. They were held once in a generation, usually as soon as all the second-born children came of age, though occasionally exceptions were made, as they had been made now. Lyana was a month shy of her eighteenth birthday, but the other families had grown impatient to see their children mated and hadn’t wanted to wait a full year for the next summer solstice.
So tonight, after months of planning, the ceremony was set to begin with the parade of offerings. Tomorrow the tournament would commence, giving each heir a chance to display his or her skills and win the top choice of mate. And in four days’ time, the matches would be determined. While Luka, the firstborn and crown prince, would welcome his new mate into the crystal city, Lyana would be leaving everything and everyone she’d ever known to follow her mate to his lands, as was tradition.
Part of her was excited.
Part of her was scared.
All of her was out of kilter.
If she could just see one prince from another house—not all of them, just one—maybe the nerves that had been fluttering in her stomach for the past month like a flock of wild fledglings would finally go away.
Lyana stepped closer to her sibling, widening her eyes, silently pleading. Her wings lifted and shifted just enough to make her appear small and fragile, like the innocent little sister he still saw her as, despite the evidence to the contrary. A slight wobbling of her lower lip puffed it into a pout. She didn’t have to turn to see her best friend roll her eyes—she just felt it without looking.
Her brother’s icy exterior began to melt. Deep in his honey irises, she could see the shell cracking. He closed his eyes tightly and released a loud, frustrated breath as his body slackened with defeat.
“Every time,” he muttered.
Elias offered him a consoling slap on the back. Cassi shook her head.
Lyana jumped forward and pressed a quick kiss to his cheek, wings rippling in anticipation of the endless sky. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!”
“Yeah, yeah.” He folded his wings, revealing the door to the outside, but didn’t fully step aside. “You’ll be back before noon?”
“I promise.”
“You won’t let anyone see you?”
“I promise.”
“You won’t do anything idiotic?”
“I promise.”
Luka scoffed and turned to Cassi. “You won’t let her do anything idiotic?”
“I’ll do my best,” Lyana's friend replied solemnly.
Luka sighed. “If you get caught by Mother and Father, Elias and I were never here.”
“My lips are sealed,” Lyana promised.
Luka looked at Elias, giving his friend room to stop him from making a decision he shouldn’t, and moved out of the way. Before her brother had time to reconsider, Lyana pushed through the door, sucking in sharply as the frigid air brought an instant tingle to her skin and nearly stole the breath from her lungs. Behind her, Cassi hissed at the cold. But to Lyana, the bite was one of liberation.
She spread her wings and pumped them, muscles awakening and warming her body as she took to the sky, unable to stop herself from sneaking one quick glance behind. There was nothing in the world quite like the flare of the rising sun reflected off the crystal buildings she called home. But in a few days, she’d be leaving. And her destiny was waiting at the sky bridge—in her hollow bones she knew it. She turned her gaze to the horizon, letting her wings and her eager heart carry her toward the unknown.