The Shadow Queen (Ravenspire, #1)(19)

“We’ll have to use the north gate,” he said. “It’ll be locked.”

“Meet us there,” the girl said. Her bird arrowed into the sky and flew in the opposite direction.

“Hey! We might need that bird,” Jyn called out.

“She needs to find Gabril and make sure he’s safe,” the girl said as she practically flew over the cobblestones. “There’s nothing more she can do for us.”

Kol sped up—the girl was fast—and came abreast of her as she whipped into another alley. “How far to the gate? And why is it locked?”

“Just past this alley. And it’s locked because when the gate watchers warned the village about your arrival, several of them ran to bar the gates shut from the outside. Makes it easier to rob you if you refuse to barter when you have nowhere to run,” she said as she reached the end of the alley and launched herself into the street.

“If the gate is locked, how—”

“She led us into a trap.” Jyn grabbed Kol’s shoulder as they rounded the alley’s corner and found themselves facing a brief cobblestoned walkway leading to a closed gate. The wooden beam used to bar the gate from the inside was still propped against the wall, which meant the girl was right—the villagers had locked the gate from the outside to trap the Eldrians.

“Watch your backs and wait for me.” Flexing her gloved hands, the girl took a deep breath and ran for the wall.

Kol’s jaw dropped as the girl seemed to run straight up the wall, kicking upward and out, lightly touching the wooden planks, and then flying upward again.

“Skies above, now that is a worthy human.” Trugg clapped his meaty hands once and glanced over his shoulder. “Trouble coming. Better hope that girl can open a gate as fast as she can climb a wall.”

“My sister can do anything.” The girl’s brother leaped from the roof of a building to Kol’s right, rolled forward as he hit the ground, and came up to his feet like jumping off a building was as easy as walking down the street.

The gate swung open, and the girl met Kol’s eyes. “Hurry up.”

He didn’t need to be told twice. The Eldrians raced through the open gate, followed by the girl’s brother, and then she shut and locked it behind them. In moments, she’d led them deep into the trees where the shouting from the village couldn’t make a dent against the forest’s hush.

As soon as she stopped moving and turned to face them, Kol dropped to one knee and touched his brow in the Eldrian gesture of fealty.

“Why are you bowing to me?” The girl took a step back and gave her brother a look Kol couldn’t decipher. “You don’t bow unless you’re before royalty.” A thread of worry wrapped around her words.

Kol slowly raised his head. “I’m not—this has nothing to do with royalty. You saved our lives. We owe you an incredible debt.”

The girl glanced at her brother again, who spread his arms in a grand gesture and said, “We humbly accept your fealty on behalf of the— Hey!”

The girl punched his shoulder and glared at him.

He frowned and rubbed at the bruise. “I was just—”

“About to say something you shouldn’t.” She gave him a look that must have meant something to the boy, because he dropped his eyes and kicked the ground with the toe of one boot. The girl met Kol’s gaze. “You don’t owe us anything. You should leave. Now.”

“That’s kind of rude,” Jyn said.

“Be quiet, Jyn. Have respect for the human who can run up walls,” Trugg said.

“May I have your names?” Kol asked.

“We’re nobody.” The girl’s brown eyes were guarded. She had a smudge of dirt on one pale cheek, and her long dark curls were tangled from her sprint through the village, but even so, she was beautiful in a way that made Kol want to keep looking. He smiled to show her he’d meant no harm and slowly rose to his feet.

“You need to be much more careful. The people are starving, and they still owe taxes. Taxes they can’t pay. Unless they find another source of coin or food, they’ll either starve to death or be thrown in one of Irina’s dungeons. The last Eldrian refugees who came through here paid for food with jewels worth fifty times the price of their bread. The lucky people who gained those jewels were able to take their families and escape Ravenspire. Walking into one of the poorest villages in the kingdom looking as rich as Eldrian royalty is a tremendous risk.”

Trugg cleared his throat and stepped forward. “We look as rich as Eldrian royalty because he”—Trugg pointed at Kol who suddenly felt like his collar was too tight—“is royalty. I present to you King Kolvanismir Arsenyevnek, son of Ragvanisnar III, holder of the sky scepter and supreme ruler of Eldr.”




EIGHT


LORELAI STARED AT the Eldrians, her cheeks heating. The handsome boy with the golden eyes and wild hair was a king? What would a king be doing walking into Tranke with only two escorts, both of whom looked no older than Lorelai herself?

The boy seemed just as uncomfortable as she felt. He waved a hand in the air like he could swat his title away. “There’s no need for formality, really. I’m just Kol—”

“You’re not old enough to be the king of Eldr, Kol.” Lorelai crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. Did he think she was stupid? She didn’t know what the Eldrians hoped to gain by making such a ridiculous claim, but they weren’t going to get it from her. She’d spent years learning everything there was to know about the kingdoms that surrounded Ravenspire, and the king of Eldr was old enough to be this boy’s father. “I don’t know what you want here, but it’s time for you to go.”