Page 1 of Hearts Lost

ALOSERIN

WE HAVE A PORTAL

“Great,” I mutter under my breath.

The guard standing in front of my desk looks nervous. Then again, this guy always looks nervous. I wave my hand over my reports and try to smile at him.

“Thank you for the message,” I say.

“Should I, uh, tell her you’re coming?” he asks.

I feel my smile tighten. No, I think. Please tell her that the Acting Captain of the Royal Guard has jumped out of his window in order to avoid talking to her.

“Yes, please,” I say.

The guard nods again, then a third time just for good measure, and then stumbles toward the door. I lean back in my chair and watch him go. His heart is in the right place, that guard, and his levitation magic is damned useful. He just can’t seem to handle the slightest bit of excitement.

Which means Royal Guard duty for the Kingdom of the Fall is the perfect place for him, because absolutely nothing exciting ever happens down here. Carrying a summons for me to meet with Lythienne, the king’s head magician, is probably the most exciting thing he’ll do for the next fortnight.

With a sigh, I lean forward and stare at my paperwork. There’s nothing crucial here, just reports and more reports. Honestly, nothing at all has happened since Rowan showed up in the barrier gardens dragging a monster from the Worlds Above. And even the monster had been a bit of a disappointment. I’d been expecting a warrior or some genocidal maniac. Instead, the monster was just a spoiled prince with a sword who’d mowed down three unarmed farmers before Rowan caught up to him.

Well, perhaps Lythienne has something interesting to share. I blow on the ink to make sure it’s dry, then shut my ledger book slowly. I’ve had hundreds of meetings with the Head Magician Lythienne, both before Orryen lost his heart and I became emergency Acting Captain in his stead and after, as I struggled to assume the role my friend had made look so easy. Not once had Lythienne shared anything that could possibly be considered good news.

I sigh heavily as I push my chair back and come to my feet. This has to be related to the heart magic they’re attempting today. It sounds dangerous, and borderline suicidal, especially after what had happened to Orryen and that princess from the Worlds Above when they tried heart magic so many years ago.

I shouldn’t be overly concerned, of course. This time it’s Rowan, the most annoying son of a bitch in the Lands Below, along with some crazy woman from the Worlds Above who are putting their hearts on the line. If the two of them lose their hearts or fall through a crack in the world, well, no great loss.

Still, it’s unsettling to think the king’s magicians are attempting that sort of magic in a tower just above the room where I’ve spent all morning sitting at my desk, filling out my reports. I turn back to look at the cozy little office, with its low fire on the grate and its stacks of reports all neatly arranged on the desk.

It had been so much messier when it was Orryen’s office. Messier, and somehow warmer in a way I’d never been able to duplicate. My parents had been delighted when I was promoted to Acting Captain but, like everything else that had happened in my life since we’d been trapped down here, I hadn’t felt the same.

I miss Orryen. Miss teasing him about the mess in his office, miss having someone else to handle those chaotically annoying personality conflicts within the Royal Guard that seem to crop up as regularly as switching out the glowsoft orbs. My parents had hoped my promotion to Acting Captain would be one step closer to my eventual selection as the king’s heir, the future King of the Kingdom of the Fall, but as usual, their schemes and predictions made me feel like I’d swallowed something bitter.

No, Orryen was still the king’s chosen heir, even though he’d spent the better part of the past few decades heartless and locked in an enchanted sleep. Orryen had an ease with people I’d never been able to mimic. He acted like a king, for all that he was lowborn and raised an orphan, two facts that my parents loved to bring up under literally any circumstances.

Well, voids, that’s one bright side to meeting with Lythienne, I tell myself as I pull open the door to my office and step into the hallway. At least I’m not being summoned to my parents’ estate with its dark corners and forbidden doors to inspect some new, painfully boring artifact from the void or to listen to another far-fetched scheme to nab me a throne I’ve never once actually wanted.

Lythienne is waiting for me in the hallway just outside my office, twisting her hands together at her waist. She smiles when I turn the corner.

“Aloserin,” she says. “You’re looking well.”

Every muscle in my body tenses. Lythienne is an old magician; she’s been serving the Kingdom of the Fall since before King Galan was born. She saw the war between the kingdoms. She was there when the Kingdom of the Fall was forced through the barrier and into the howling darkness of the Lands Below, something I can only recall in my nightmares.

She is not a woman who has time for social niceties or friendly greetings. When she does offer them, it infallibly means something has gone horribly, horribly wrong.

My heart falls, even as some part of me watches with amused detachment. Really? Am I actually upset that Rowan Sans Evenworth, of all people, has fucked up whatever heart magic he was supposed to do?

“What’s gone wrong?” I ask.

I’m immediately taking stock of our guards, where they are, and how many are in the palace. How many I could call back from sentry duty, or free time, or the various stupid escort and guard positions we accept to kill the time.

Lythienne’s face wrinkles, as if her expression can’t quite make up its mind whether it’s a smile or a grimace.

“Oh, Aloserin,” she says. “It worked.”

It takes my mind a moment to realize what she’s saying.

“The— The heart magic?” I stammer. “The heart magic with Rowan?”