“Because you know me too well,” I reply with a slight smile.
She lets out a long-suffering sigh. “When do we leave?”
It's been weeks since I've truly spent any time outside of this palace or its grounds—a fact that only dawns on me now, as I contemplate how to carry out my plan. I haven't been expresslyforbiddento leave, I just…haven't. There's been so much going on here that I haven't really been able to think about what’s happening elsewhere.
And it's probably not the safest time to try venturing out, given the tension between Dralsk and Mouren, and the dragons going rogue in Mouren's skies. If I mentioned it to Reave, I suspect he'd be adamantly against the idea—or, atthe very least, he'd insist on sending a small army of guards with me. Guards that would only get in our way.
Which is why I don't intend to ask for permission.
“First thing tomorrow, so get to bed early tonight,” I instruct Briar. “Hopefully, we can get there and back again before anybody even realizes we're gone.”
We'reup before the sun the next day, donning heavy, concealing cloaks and sneaking our way toward the woods that lie to the south of the palace grounds. It will mean a longer route to our destination, but it allows us to bypass the larger concentration of guards at the main gates.
I love early mornings. The slow softening of the dark sky, the stillness, the quiet, the possibility that I can taste in every breath of crisp, unspoiled air.
Briar is…less enthusiastic about them.
“I hate this and I hate you,” she says, drawing her hood more tightly around her face.
“No you don't.” I dig into the bag slung across my shoulder, taking out a wrapped muffin—one of several things I snatched from the kitchens on the way out of the palace. “Here,” I say, offering it to her. “Maybe this will make you less grumpy.”
“Not everything can be solved with baked goods,” she mutters.
“I beg to differ.”
She rolls her eyes. But she still takes the muffin, grumbling to herself, picking the berries out and shoving them into her mouth as we continue toward the Temple of the Mouren Flame.
It's not far from the palace, thankfully, and there's even a road that most of the city doesn’t use to get to it—one that was apparently reserved for royalty, back when the palace's inhabitants made more frequent pilgrimages to this temple.
Sesca flies overhead, mostly hidden by the vast amount of fluffy clouds. Even when she dips below those clouds, her body blends into the pre-dawn sky that’s still threaded with moonlight. We don’t see any other dragons in that sky, thankfully; the last thing I want is for one of those unpredictable beasts to interfere and draw attention to us.
The temple soon comes into view, a relatively unimpressive sight, given its importance. It’s a low, wide building of dark stone, free of decoration aside from a row of carved flames running along the roofline, most of which are chipped or smoothed or otherwise difficult to make out.
Only one guard stands at the entrance, appearing somewhat bored. But he straightens as we approach, taking one look at our cloaks and stepping forward, his hand moving toward his sword.
“His Majesty has sent me to inspect this temple,” I say, steeling my voice into something smooth and imperious, “as part of my duties as his Favored One.”
The man squints. He knows my face—I can see the recognition flicker through his suspicion—but he's weighing it against his orders, or perhaps his own skepticism about why the king'sFavored Onewould arrive on foot, before dawn, and with no guards accompanying her.
Sesca chooses that moment to drop from the cloud cover overhead, plunging in a steep, elegant dive before pulling up sharply and hovering directly above us. Her shadow swallows the guard whole.
The effect is immediate and gratifying. He stumbles backa full step, color draining from his face as he gestures for us to carry on.
Sesca’s voice threads through my mind:Be quick.
Her tone is odd—afraid, almost.
I don’t let myself think about why that might be; I just hurry onward.
Once we're inside with the door firmly shut behind us, Briar and I exhale a simultaneous breath of relief.
“I can't believe that actually worked.”
“Your royal voice was very official and convincing,” Briar says. “Terrifying, almost.”
I huff out a bitter laugh. “I don't want to think about anythingroyalat the moment. Let's just see what we can find in here.”
She nods, already moving deeper into the building.
