"But, Nox, you shot that man."

"He survived!"

"The one before that did not." Xelan grew quiet.

"How did you hear about it? Mother?"

He said nothing. At Earth-age nine, Xelan witnessed only half the horrors as I because I prevented him from seeing them. That meant he was no less capable of reducing me to a pile of shamed shit. "Look, Xelan. That one was an accident. If he kept still--"

"That must be him!" Xelan pointed to a young man fetching water for the garrison.

"What makes you say so?"

My brother scoffed. "Cause he has white hair." As if that made it obvious.

He did, indeed. The starved Icarus, no older than Earth-age twelve, boasted glorious white hair to his waist. Junior rank at best, they kept him dirty and in rags to break him in. But something about his posture and carriage... Regal. That was the only word for it.

By Earth-age fifteen, I well surpassed any archer on Cinder. I planned to shoot him in the throat. That way, if he didn't catch it, we had time to properly remove it and let his nacre heal him. If Cinder suddenly tilted on its axis, causing me to miss, the boy was better off dead, anyway. No one should be a servant in this Spire and for this army. Especially one so fair.

I lifted my bow.

"You actually intend to shoot him?!"

"Shh!"

"Oh, I cannot watch." Xelan turned his back on the scene.

I hurried and released the arrow before my little brother got in it his head to warn the servant. As I did, my target dropped the pail and made to reclaim it. When the fair boy knelt, his head lowered to throat height. Right between the eyes.

He caught it with one hand. Before I took a breath, he returned it like a spear with the same force of a bow. I dropped for cover and felt the wind as it whistled over my head. If it weren't for my recent upgrades, you and I, once again, would never have met.

"Wow." Xelan looked down at me, amazed.

"Assassin!" A gruff man called.

Another squealed, "You tried to kill the Night Prince."

Xelan shouted, "Not at all! He was defending himself from my brother--"

"Let him go." I pointed at the man holding the servant boy by his scruff. "He belongs to me now."

The men brokered no arguments. That's how I liked it.

We climbed the Spire in a silent parade until we reached my room. Once there, I considered sleeping arrangements for my new guard--

"What are you doing?" Xelan sounded concerned.

I turned to find the young boy had stripped himself naked. He even loosened his hair. I frowned hard and opened my mouth to chastise him for the bizarre behavior until I looked at him.

Bruises draped his fair skin. Scars from healed cuts marred his chest and stomach. I didn't want to know, but I had to, "Xelan, close your eyes. Young man, turn around." They obeyed, and I looked away after only a second. The whipping marks on his back compounded the scar tissue into deep heaving mounds.

He didn't have a nacre, but someone beat him like he did. Among other things, I was sure. Why else would he strip naked?

Starved, he was closer to Xelan's size. "Brother, fetch him one of your robes."

"Right away."

After Xelan left the room, I draped a sheet over the strange boy. "You will be my guard. Conduct yourself as you wish beyond that. Take up residence in the next room. Tell me anything you need or want, and I will make sure you have it."

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Eyes so pale they bordered on unnatural stared up at me. Hard. Remote. Not aggressive. More like... dead.

"Do you have a name?"

"I brought what you asked. I think it will fit." Xelan hurried into the room and opened the garment for the boy to climb into.

The servant answered quietly with a glance at Xelan. "Korac."

My brother placed a hand on his own chest. "Prince Xelan. This is Prince Nox. Try it on for size. I have extras."

Xelan's genuine warmth changed Korac's demeanor in a slight, immeasurable way. He let my brother dress him and fasten the robe secured.

"Thank you, your majesty."

My family extended by one whole person that day.

On his way to fetch the robe, Xelan informed Savis of my new personal guard. She joined us in addressing Korac's hygiene. After his bath, mother insisted on brushing his hair and braiding it. A sign she defected from the Old Ways. Xelan and I gathered furniture and books for his room.

By the time we returned, Korac's icy exterior thawed slightly. "But if Elden died, who is protecting us?"

Savis sighed as she finished the last braid. "Icari survive. We do this best. One day, someone will care enough about us to set us free." She glared at me. "But it may be a long time, yet."

I raised my brows at her with my mouth tight in concern as I changed the subject. "You can catch and throw arrows. But can you fight?"

Korac averted that pale gaze.

"No. None of that. No one touches you here. You fight. Kill them if you have to. I vow after you fell the first one, the others will not likely try again." I knelt until my face was in front of his, and I stared into the silver trauma. "Can you fight?"

Korac stared back and nodded.

After collecting his measurements, mother ordered the tailors to supply him with a "fitting" wardrobe. Whatever that meant. She also requested some items for his room. The young man showed his appreciation more in the quiet relaxing of his shoulders than in his verbal acknowledgments.

After she finished doting on him, we sparred the afternoon away. Xelan's training came along nicely. He held his own against the two older opponents.

Korac preferred this manner of contact far more than any other. Confident in the wordless exchanges, he threw me from the circle many times. Impressive, especially without a nacre.

"How do you live without one?" Xelan asked.

"No need of it."

The youngest boy tilted his head. "But what about upgrades?"

"What is that?"

Xelan repeated the facts as if reciting a textbook, "Drinking blood from a caste higher than your own will upgrade the nacre to equality. Any abilities and gifts they have, now so do you."

I recalled the scar tissue on his back. "Who whipped you?"

"Many people."

I stared over the veranda's banister to the garrison down below. "Who was the last?"

Amolot entered my bedchamber after dinner per my invitation. "Your request surprised me, your majesty." The words rolled off her tongue on a purr.

I fought not to shrivel under her measuring stare. "As I am sure." I gestured beside me. "I understand you met my new guard?"

Korac glared at her with frost in his gaze.

Amolot's eyes flickered with dread? Desire? She regained her composure enough to ask, "Promoted, then?"

"Consider him your replacement once I inherit the throne," my voice hardened into flat stone.

Amolot gaped. The yellow in her eyes swallowed the whites as she transitioned into Atramentous. Her voice cried in three pitches, "That contaminant?! Have you lost your reason--"

I gripped her by the throat. Squeezing my thumb into her pulse, I stared into her eyes. "You enjoy causing others misery and pain. I will enjoy watching you die. But not tonight. Tonight, you serve a more useful purpose."

Her eyelids fluttered until they closed, as she passed out.

"Drink from her, Korac. We will test your upgrade capabilities without a nacre."

Korac stared down at her, his face perfectly schooled. Yet he didn't move.

I inclined my head. "If you worry for her, I advise against it. She will wake before too long in Many Feet's pen." When he still didn't move, "Have you another reason to hesitate?"

"I wish not to touch her."

"I can help."

We both whirled to find my brother spying from a panel in the wall.

I gaped. "How--"

"I have syringes. Let me bring one."

Before I protested, he popped back into the wall, the little sneak. Hurriedly, he returned within a minute.

"Will this do?" He held up a syringe for Korac's approval.

He shrugged. "What is it?"

"Watch." Xelan withdrew blood from Amolot and held the syringe up for Korac's examination. "I plunge this into your arm the same way I took it from hers."

The next action Korac made defined our relationship for the rest of our lives. Rather than agree with my brother, he looked to me for approval.

The best soldier.

I nodded.

After a few minutes, the pale Icarus stood half bare in my room again. Not from any miscommunication, but so we could watch the scars and bruises disappear from his body.

"Impossible without a nacre." That was Xelan's way of showing admiration. "Fascinating. Do you mind if I take a blood sample to keep?"

Again, Korac looked to me before nodding his ascent.

Over the next hour, we hauled Amolot's unconscious body into Many Feet's pen. A cavern with plenty of mushrooms and bats to eat. Xelan ensured the beast ate an enormous meal before leaving the woman there. Korac refused to touch Umbra's General, but he helped himself to some affection from the overgrown puppy.

I liked the relationship we were building. My brother's scientific mind was so useful. Curious and eager to experiment. Korac's fighting abilities were only matched by his silent gratitude and loyalty. And one day I hoped to lead them both off this hellish rock and into paradise.