Every part of Prince Meilek’s dragule proclaims his status. Its scales are white with an iridescent pink shimmer. Its head is wide and thorny, its snout shorter than a drake’s. Gold-plated armor molds to its body from above its flat nostrils, over its brow, and all the way down its neck. Four shining black horns curve out from its head, tipped in gold and painted with beautiful designs to accent its custom armor. Savage companions in battle and symbols of high status, dragules are reserved only for reiwyn and Blades, Evewyn’s warrior elite.

I wonder if Yandor would be able to outrun it. Drakes are larger, not as lean, but he also isn’t weighed down by absurdly elaborate armor.

“Blades,” I murmur with a soft snort.

Prince Meilek glances at me and then back at his Blades. “I agree they can be rather sullen, but what specifically has you irritated?”

I lower my head. I hadn’t intended for him to hear.

“Is it the capes?” He flips back his own, letting the material catch the air and billow out behind him. “Rather inconvenient, really, but they’re excellent for making dramatic exits.”

In another situation, I might have laughed. Now I only glower at the trees in our path. “Forgive me, Your Highness. I was making an observation.”

“Please enlighten me.”

“The owner of the teahouse would have told you there were three shamans last night, and only two were accounted for. With a company of five Blades and three soldiers, your main objective would have been the shaman who escaped, not two fourth-year students.”

He cocks his head at me, appraising. “I see now why Kendara speaks so highly of you.”

At the mention of Kendara, I stare stonily ahead. “Does she really?”

The thought fills me with joy and a dangerous, fragile hope.

“Constantly.” He sounds almost embarrassed by the admission, although I can’t imagine why. “I feel as if I ought to know you already.”

“I don’t know me,” I say softly, remembering my reflection, wearing a stranger’s eyes. For Kendara to speak so freely with him, she must trust him implicitly.

I’m unsurprised, though. When they’re together, Kendara’s face and voice soften in a way they never have for me. I’ve seen enough mothers speak to their children to recognize that Kendara and Prince Meilek share a similar connection. He was only two years old when she first joined the Evewynian Court as Shadow to his father, so it makes sense that they would form such a bond.

I’ve always envied him for having Kendara’s love, when I could barely earn a kind word. There’ve been times when I thought she might love me, but she was always quick to dispel the notion. The day I began my training, I gifted her a bouquet of flowers in what I hoped was a gesture of my respect and gratitude.