A Girl in Black and White (Alyria 2)

Being taken to the palace dungeons until I could be judged at a later date was only an annoyance and had actually worked in my favor.

I’d been thrown into a cell that couldn’t keep me in and found myself being pulled to the wooden door at the end of the hall. I’d pushed it open and was standing in the doorway when a saccharine yet refined voice rushed over me. “Ah, finally they send me a woman.”

I’d blinked, standing still while he turned from his spot at the table to look me over. He grimaced. “Ugh, not another blonde. They’re too squeamish.”

Don’t ask me why I entered that room and why I shut that door behind me. At that point, my dreams of icy water and darkness had left me sleepless, and this man-boy with the dark shadows under his eyes seemed to be the only one to understand. I was angry with this new order I’d been shoved into and desperate to find a solution to being Fated. I had, at that point, nothing to lose.

The first time I’d embrace my Shadowed side, I sweated it out down here. He didn’t ask questions; he only worked on that clock on his table. And somehow, I believed he understood the dark; he might have known it better than most.

The noise of him tinkering with metal filled the room. I’d rarely see him do much else than work on that clock. His obsession with time drove his madness into a full-fledged profession. For all the knowledge he shared with me—usually completely irreverent to my question—the man couldn’t finish that clock. He’d been compulsively working on it for five months, and the strange part was, that it looked far enough along that I might be able to figure it out if I ever got the chance. Not that I did. He guarded that thing with his life.

“They won’t give me a fork anymore.”

I blinked, being pulled back to the present. “What?”

“Forks pierce food, not eyeballs,” he said as if he was repeating what someone had told him. I wondered if Maxim had ever come down here, or if he just allowed the palace servants to deal with him. Probably the latter.

“Forks are multi-purpose,” I supplied.

He dropped a metal piece with a clink, his eyes gleaming when he glanced at me. “That’s exactly what I told them.”

When I came down here, I was mad as well. At least I played the part—it seemed to work well for both of us.

“Talon,” I said, but then frowned when he shot me a glare. I wasn’t supposed to use his name for whatever reason. I’d tricked him into telling me a while ago, and I thought he was reminded every time I said it. “I think I’ve gotten myself into a bit of a tangle . . .”

“Better just leave as that Titan prince tells you.”

I blinked. “How do you know he wants me to leave the city?”

“The mice,” he said simply.

Ah, yes . . . the mice. Of course.

I wondered if the mice were code for palace servants who knew everything about everyone. If I had to clean chamber pots all day, of course, I would eavesdrop to pass the time.

“I cannot leave yet. I have to stay for a few more days at the least.”

“You’re a fool.”

I rolled my eyes. “Nice play on words. Aren’t you at least curious about why I’m going to look into the well?”

“I do not care about your trivial issues. Do you think I have all the time in the world to listen to your woes?”

“Um . . .” I glanced around the small quarters he lived in all alone, before replying wryly, “I suppose you are probably much busier than I had imagined.”

He let out a breath like even that was an understatement.

Some nerves ran through me at the monster I’d created who roamed freely upstairs. I smacked my head against the door. Bloody hell . . . And then some confusion settled over me as I realized that dark feeling wasn’t there anymore. It didn’t move, make a sound—it was gone. I blinked, uncertainty pressing on my chest.

“Say, do you have any books on the Shadows of Dawn?” I asked him.

“Third book in that pile.” He nodded to a heap of books sitting on the floor by his table. I scooted over, digging through the mountain. There was no system to it, and I wasn’t sure where he pulled the number three from; but eventually I found an ancient, leather-bound book that looked like it would fall apart if even opened.

Records of the Shadows of Dawn and its Inhabitants.

I let out a hesitant breath, eyeing the book for a moment. It was time to learn the truth about who I was, that much was true. So, while Talon tinkered throughout, I opened the book and read until the last of the red candle wax melted, filling the room with blackness.

The Mad Prince’s voice filled the dark. “What time is it?”