28

TALON

I take steps two at a time to get to the room we chose for commanding our troops here at House Barghest. I hear the echo of cannon fire, but it isn’t hitting the fortress anymore, presumably because the ships in the harbor have turned to fight each other.

A handful of Teeth and regulars hurries behind me, ready to disperse where I need them.

The room is a guest suite we seized on the third level, with access to a stretch of ramparts from which we can see the entire bay and most of the ocean-facing part of the fortress. Last night, before the wake, we pushed aside furniture and stacked chairs, propped the bed upright against the wall, then brought in two long tables. That’s where Captain Jersey of House Barghest stands when I burst in, pointing to a map of the coastline as he gives orders.

In the whole room there are only Barghest soldiers. Not the low-ranking indentured, either, but the third daughters and sons of the richest Barghest families, with bought ranks and little battle experience.

“Catch me up,” I say, joining Jersey.

Arran Lightscale is at my elbow and gestures for the Dragon next to him to head out onto the ramparts for lookout.

Captain Jersey hesitates. His mouth twists momentarily. He’s got a solid decade on me and is only distantly related to Silas Brynson, but seems to have the same watery blue eyes.

I scowl. “Catch. Me. Up.”

“Ah . . . War Prince.” Jersey stalls with my title and the pause.

Every Barghest soldier in the room has their hand on their sword.

Just then the lieutenant Arran sent outside darts back in, voice panicked: “Sir! There’s ships flying the Vir’asvan merc flag! They’re coming up from the northeast and attacking the Kraken ships. And the . . .” Lieutenant Kennar stops, taking in the strangely tense atmosphere.

“Yes, lieutenant?” I say, eyes all for Captain Jersey.

“The ships protecting the bay are all flying Barghest flags, not Phoenix Crest.”

“Is that so?” I ask Captain Jersey. House Barghest has been vocally against peace for weeks. Just how far were they willing to go against Dragon to sabotage Caspian’s plans?

Jersey nods, but it isn’t for me. His soldiers draw their blades and attack.

It isn’t a long fight, barely even a skirmish. My Dragons and I take them all out in moments. I personally stab Jersey through the neck, jerking my falchion out with an arc of blood that splashes onto the next Barghest’s cheek. She widens her eyes as Jersey’s body collapses half on the table, and immediately drops her blade, falling to her knees. Three remaining Barghest soldiers do the same. There are six of them dead. One of my Dragons has a gaping wound on her upper arm, but we’re otherwise unscathed.

Fury clenches my jaw, and I have a hard time getting out any commands. “You,” I say to the soldier who surrendered to me. She looks up from her knees.

“War Prince.”

“What do you know?”

“The—we—House Barghest hired the mercenaries from Vir’asva, and . . .”

“Spit it out.”

“My cousin is on one of the ships, and he warned me to be ready, that they weren’t to let Kraken start the fight, or end it.”

I nod. My fury is melting into something darker, heavier. “Arran.”

“Sir.” Blood covers his sword. He doesn’t bother to wipe it off now.

“Take control here. We are taking House Barghest in the name of the High Prince Regent.”

Arran’s expression twitches, but he doesn’t ask his question. I glare until he says, “Regent . . . Talon?”

My face is so hot. “What matters is that the High Prince Regent is of House Dragon.”

“Yes, War Prince.”

“I’m going to find Finn, and the Kraken and Sphinx regents. I will bring them here, and the High Prince Regent. We will take Barghest and defend the coast but end the attack on Kraken. Hold command here. If anyone surrenders, let them; if they resist, no quarter.”

“Yes, sir,” Arran says, echoed by the rest of the Dragons.

“Defend what is yours,” I say almost gently. It is the beginning of the Dragon’s Teeth motto.

The Dragons in the command room yell back, “With strength and fury!”

I leave.

As I jog down the narrow stairs, I think about how my entire life has really been spent defending what is not mine. Stolen land, stolen lives, pieces of a hoard taken by force and might and certainly not for anyone’s good. I did it for my family. Because my father told me to, because my mother was murdered. Then I did it to hold Caspian up with the only tools I had. Just yesterday I believed it was working. We were stumbling toward peace, toward bringing Pyrlanum back together. I was engaged, imagining myself happy as consort allied to a different House. Had it been a dream? Last night with Darling? Smiling, kissing, all those soft sounds she made?

I have to rub violently at my eyes as I reach the main floor. Indentured servants scatter before me, hands full of silk and stolen pearls. Good. I ignore them. I push through and snag the first Dragon I can. “Where did the Dragon Seer take Leonetti Seabreak?” The soldier doesn’t know. I ask about Finn, whom they saw crashing down a hallway toward the guest rooms.

Reaching out with my boon, I search for Aurora’s trace. There is so much anarchy, people have crossed over their own traces, moved in hurried packs, the traces are an awful tangle . . . I give up. Asking will be faster right now.

The next Dragon I find is one of the guards from Phoenix Crest. They’re on their way to join their fellows on the ramparts with crossbows. They escorted Aurora and the Kraken regent to Aurora’s guest room.

I bid them strength and fire and head for Aurora’s rooms.

If I can get Leonetti to believe me, to understand that I want peace between Kraken and Dragon, and that the Barghest betrayed us both, maybe we can salvage something. My Dragons will absolutely follow me, and if we turn them to Barghest as an enemy, that will make it easier. I don’t mind that my House works best with a designated enemy. I feel the same.

There are no soldiers guarding Aurora’s guest rooms, and I push the door open.

My aunt’s name dies dry on my tongue at the sight before me.

Aurora stands in the center of the room, her grand green-and-gold gown sparkling in firelight, not boonlights. Her hair is wild and down around her shoulders. She has her arms open. Leonetti Seabreak is tied to a chair, his jacket open and shirt torn to display his bare chest and streaks of blood there, painted into a rune of some kind.

Before I can move, the knife in Aurora’s hand flashes, and she drives it into Leonetti’s stomach.

He grunts, punched out and horrible, and Aurora’s fist disappears into him.

She rears back, flinging the knife aside, and then dives forward again to dig both hands into Leonetti’s body.

I can’t move. I am trapped by horror. She’s up to her wrists, reaching under his ribs. Nausea boils up my throat as she clenches her teeth and braces her whole body to shove in, and then she rips backward.

She lands on her bottom on the floor—it’s then I notice the array sketched onto the wood. The rug is rolled aside, and there’s a diagram in blood, drying brown, elaborate.

In Aurora’s hands is a fleshy chunk of meat. Muscle.

I know what it is: a piece of Leonetti Seabreak’s heart.

“Aurora!” I finally yell, drawing my falchion.

She ignores me but speaks a word I don’t understand: the bleeding meat cupped in her palms catches fire.

The array beneath her glows bright red, then turns vivid purple silver, rainbow purple, the flashing colors of Chaos I have seen reflected in my brother’s eyes. In Darling’s.

Aurora sucks in a huge breath, taking in the eerie white smoke from the charred flesh in her hands.

I start toward her but stop at the edge of the array. I don’t want to break it, touch it, smear it. It’s so wrong. It seems to waver in my vision, sticking to my nostrils, the back of my throat like a living thing. This isn’t just burning flesh; it’s wrong. Beyond Aurora, the Kraken regent slumps in the chair, his chest a blossom of blood, a gaping wound. His head lolls back, awful, his expression lax in death.

Darling’s adoptive father. I gave him into Aurora’s custody. He’s dead. Not just dead but brutally murdered for this awful magic.

Aurora’s back arches; she flings her arms out. The chunk of Leonetti’s heart plops to the floor, landing with a small splat.

Chaos sparkles around Aurora: it becomes like bubbles of light. They each grow and then pop.

We’re left suddenly in nothing but torchlight. Flickering fire.

Aurora turns to look at me, and her eyes are pure violet rainbows, filled with swirling Chaos. Her lips part. She says in a ghostly voice, “I see them, flying! I see them—they kiss—they die.” She shudders through her entire body. “Darling! She’ll kill your brother with a kiss!”

My aunt collapses.

I stare at her sprawling body.

She’s always been faking her prophecy boon. This is blood magic.

It’s been years since I was in danger of vomiting at violence, but I stumble back, a hand clasped over my mouth. My aunt, my family, she—she murdered this man for nothing but a vision. For power. For a fake boon.

The room spins.

I duck out, lean against the wall, and breathe carefully.

“War Prince?”

I nod, uncaring who it is, when I see the uniform in my blurry vision. “Take Aurora Falleau into custody. In chains, do you understand? And I want—I want Silas Brynson found and arrested, too.”

“Yes, my blade.”

Someone else echoes it.

There’s blood on my hands, and I don’t know how it got there. I need . . .

I take another deep breath. The corridor is strangely quiet. Everyone must have fled these rooms already. I need Darling. I need to find her, be the one to tell her about Leonetti. And Caspian. He promised Darling her father would be all right. Did he not see this? Did he not care? What does he care about?

I push off the wall. I have to keep moving, keep acting. When things are settled, we can all have a real talk.

A Dragon soldier stalks out of the guest room with Aurora dragging behind him, barely on her feet. She’s dazed, her eyes still sparking Chaos. It can’t be true, what she saw, but isn’t the point of this sacrifice to force a true vision?

Before she’s hauled away, she suddenly turns to me, reaching with hands like claws. “Talon, Talon!”

Her gaze is unfocused. Her hands covered in gore. My heart hurts, but I let her have one of my hands. Her nails dig into my wrist as she clutches.

“It was a true vision, Talon,” she hisses. “Trust it. If nothing else. That magic is true. I saw it. She kisses him and he dies.”

I shake my head; I can’t believe it, but Aurora is so insistent. She digs her nails deeper, and the pain focuses me.

“I believe you,” I say quietly. “Go with this Dragon. We’ll keep you safe, Aunt.”

“Oh, Talon, nephew, little dragon,” she murmurs, listing to one side. The soldier catches her, eyes wild as he looks at me.

“Go,” I say.

The Dragons take Aunt Aurora away.

“Talon,” grunts Finn.

He grabs my shoulder, turning me around.

I begin to ask for his report but frown in confusion at the blood on his shoulder, soaking his uniform.

Finn sees the direction of my gaze and scoffs. “Your lover did that. I’m sorry, Talon, but she’s a traitor.”

“Darling?” I frown.

My friend holds out his large hand. Cupped in the palm is a small jar of paste. It looks like someone’s paint pot. Makeup. I shake my head and look questioningly at Finn.

“The Barbs use poison, Talon.” Finn tucks his chin and stares into my eyes with all his earnest certainty. “I had intelligence they gave some to Darling. This was in her room. I just confiscated it.”

“What?”

“It’s lip balm. Poison lip balm. If she wore it, and kissed you, you’d die.”

I step back.

“She didn’t deny it,” Finn continues, almost respectful. “I’m glad. We finally know where we stand.”

“This . . .” I reach out but don’t quite touch it. There is blood streaked on my hand where Aurora clutched it. “This is poison. For kissing. And you found it in Darling’s room.”

It doesn’t matter what Finn was doing in her rooms, searching them. Not anymore. My breath is shallow. Nausea won’t stop churning, churning in my stomach.

“Yes,” Finn says.

Just like that everything stops. Like the moment water becomes ice. I am just as cold.

I see them—they kiss—they die!

Aurora saw it.

I snap my gaze to Finn’s. “We have to find Darling and Caspian. Now.”