Page 58 of The Shrouded Queen
“Birthday party!” she replied. I spotted a little boy among the crowd, wildflowers tangled in his hair and smiling widely as he was hauled into the circle.
Velka tightened her arm around mine and jerked me through the mayhem.
Before we disappeared around yet another bend, I saw Keir rush into the courtyard, his enhanced Shifter’s senses unable to pinpoint us among the cacophony. He searched blindly. “Velka!”
“Come on,” she urged, and then we were running down a different alley.
We didn’t stop until we reached a tall tower made of stacked logs, with a ladder leaning against its side. Velka climbed without hesitation, and I followed.
She collapsed on her back at the top, laughing, and I paused on my hands and knees beside her, chest heaving as I struggled to catch my breath. But I was laughing, too. “Did you just get us in trouble?”
She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s our favorite game. Or—I guess it’s my favorite game that I force Keir to play.”
I laughed again. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d laughed, but it felt good. Like a small weight had been removed from my chest.
Glancing around, I spotted a row of arrows, and beside theman assortment of bows. A long horn rested against the line of weapons. Meant to sound an alarm. Banisters wrapped around the square space, but there were no walls. The wind whipped through here easily. A watchtower.
Velka got to her feet and rested her forearms on the railing, jerking her chin to gesture outside. “Come look.”
I stood and moved to her side. The Shroud was the first thing I saw, malicious and twisting.
“Not there,” Velka corrected. She pointed south. “There.”
Kaldfold stretched before me. The drought had taken its toll on this place; what I was sure had once been lush, full trees were now mere spindles with only the most stubborn leaves still hanging on, and the once-vibrant grass was now an anemic spread of brittle weeds.
And yet, somehow, there was still beauty here. Birds soared overhead, a handful of deer disappeared into the forest. The overcast sky was like a comforting blanket over all of it. The wonder of Ketet’s work, no matter how hard Shaya sought to diminish it, held true.
And if I strained my eyes to the horizon, I could make out the tan color of sand. No buildings, no vegetation dotting its surface. Just sand. “Those are the Wastelands,” I breathed.
Velka nodded.
Ashorah was too far west for me to make out Khada Palace or even the Frozen Sand Mountains, but just that small glimpse of the Wastelands, of terrain that was recognizable, was enough to settle me. No, I had never set foot in the Wastelands—and I never would, if I could help it—but it was only a hundred miles away from Ketopolis. Home.
“You can come here anytime.”
I blinked at Velka.
She smiled. “I’ll let the others know. Whenever you need to take in the view, feel free.”
Free to look toward my home whenever I wanted, whenever Ineeded reminding why I was doing this, whenever I needed to draw strength.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” I couldn’t help but ask. “Even on the journey from Ashorah, you were kind. And now this…” I looked back toward the Wastelands.
Velka studied her clasped hands hanging over the watchtower’s banister. “If our roles were reversed, if you were holding me in Ashorah, would you treat me like one of Shaya’s leftover monsters? Or would you be kind?”
My answer was instant, but I bit it back. If Amunet got hold of a Kald, there would be no mercy. And I don’t think I would’ve felt bad about it, either.
Velka’s lips curved grimly at my silence. “My mother always says that people want to learn, they just don’t want tofeellike they are. But if you want a better world, people must learn how to be better. So we have to show you how to be better, Your Majesty,” she said. “And maybe, at the end of this, when you’re in charge of the largest empire on the continent, you’ll have learned how to make it better, too.”
I swallowed and looked away, cheeks heating with shame. Shame that I had allowed myself to be swayed into believing they weren’t people but mindless animals. They had magic—just like my queen would in a few weeks. They weren’t all pleasant. They were certainly flawed. Cracked, Rade had said. But Velka had never treated me like a monster, even when she thought I was responsible for so much pain and fear in her home.
She was right. She was better than me.
I was quiet for a moment. Then I broached, “Velka, could I ask you something else?”
“Sure.”
“There was an old man in Netherridge—Finan. He let the Shroud take him.”
