I sat on the peak of the roof for a moment, taking in the damp air, the smell of the ocean. Sweat stuck my hair to the back of my neck. Some of the rooms I’d discovered in the aftermath of my father’s death were pointlessly locked. One filled with paintings, another with trinkets – gifts from other islands. These I set the servants upon to clean and to organize, to display in the newly renovated buildings.

There were other rooms I dared not let anyone else access. I still didn’t know all the secrets that lurked behind these doors, what the things I’d found meant. And prying eyes made me wary. I had my own secrets to keep.

I was not my father’s daughter. I was a created thing, grown in the caves beneath the palace. If anyone ever found me out, I’d be dead. There was enough dissatisfaction brewing with the Sukai Dynasty without adding this to it. The people of the Phoenix Empire wouldn’t suffer an impostor.

In the courtyard below, two guards patrolled. Neither looked to the roof. Even if they had, I’d only be a dark shape against a cloudy sky, the rain that drizzled into their eyes obscuring their vision. I crept down the other side, making my way to a window I knew was still open. The night was warm in spite of the clouds and the rain, and shutters were often left open unless we were in a true gale. Only a few lamps were lit when I slid from the edge of the tiles, my feet finding the sill.

There was an odd comfort in creeping through the hallways of the palace again, my engraving tool and several keys hidden inside my sash pocket. It was familiar – something I knew.

I couldn’t help but peer around the corner to see the door of my room. Jovis was still there, Mephi next to him. He was showing the beast a deck of lacquered cards. Mephi reached out with a webbed claw and touched one. “This one.”

Jovis sighed. “No, no, no – if you play a fish on a sea serpent, that means you lose that turn.”

Mephi tilted his head and sat back on his haunches. “Feed the fish to the sea serpent. Make the sea serpent your friend.”

“That’s not how this works.”

“It worked on me.”

“Are you a sea serpent?”

Mephi clacked his teeth. “Your game makes no sense.”

“You said you were bored and wanted to learn,” Jovis said. He started to tuck the cards back into his pocket.

Mephi’s ears flattened against his skull. “Wait. Waaaaait.”