Kalon

I hadn’t been back in the castle since I was a child. I had sworn to myself I never would. When we got up the next morning and the maids returned to get us dressed in stiff gowns that wore you and not the other way around, it all felt familiar. Like a distant acquaintance I had hoped to never see again.

I could tell I was worrying Maeve. To this day I had told her nothing of my past. As much as I loved her, the only person who knew was Azriel and I fully intended to keep it that way.

I was the daughter of one of the most important, wealthy businessmen in the high tier. What his job specifically was, remained a mystery to me, and I had never dared to question him. The job kept him and my mother from me and my twin, leading to years of being ignored where the only parenting we got was from the maids. My brother made it his mission to follow in his father’s footsteps, but I wouldn’t be a pawn in the monarchy’s chess game. As soon as I had the opportunity, I stole some wings and flew away from home. Azriel found me at ten years old and recruited me into training for the Mariposa and I had never looked back.

My mission was to help dismantle the monarchy that had encouraged my family to abandon me. Little did I know, I was as much as a pawn as my brother was.

If they found out where I had been all this time...

“Kalon? You good? You’ve been staring into space for ten minutes. It’s time to go, we’re supposed to be meeting Elyas for a tour through the tier.”

I scoffed, looking at her. “Is that excitement I hear? Have you already forgotten these people are our enemies?”

Maeve rolled her eyes. “They’re not all bad, look at Elyas. Besides, as evil as this city is, you can’t pretend it isn’t cool to look at.”

I crossed my arms, refusing to verbally appease her, but quietly stood to my feet, following her out of the room. Before leaving, we collected our wings and met Elyas at the front doors. He smiled brightly at us, and his gaze lingered on my best friend a moment too long.

“Are you two ladies ready to go?”

Maeve opened her mouth to say yes, but I cut in:

“I’d like a hoodie.”

He arched one brow. “Cold? I could’ve gotten the maid to give you longer sleeved dresses.”

“A hoodie will do.” I didn’t want any one of the businessmen that knew my father to catch me. They hadn’t seen me since I was a child, but I couldn’t be too sure. Elyas got a maid to fetch me a hoodie, and I put it on, slipping my wings through the holes on the back. I flipped it over my head and followed them out of the castle.

We were halted by a guard. “You will need protection, Your Highness. Allow me to come with you.”

Elyas smiled, glancing at the two of us. “They are the ones who saved me in the first place. I think I am in perfectly good hands, thank you.”

The guard reluctantly let him go, returning to his post.

Elyas took off, Maeve and I close behind him. We descended until we reached the city we had flown through before, landing on the street. We walked along the meteorite road, looking up at the skyscrapers as we passed them.

“You two should see this city at night. It’s even more gorgeous. All of the buildings light up like a bunch of stars,” Elyas said.

Maeve had a look of sheer amazement on her face as she looked at her surroundings and I couldn’t help but smile at her wonder. We were hardly sent on missions to the high tier, and when we were, it was an in and out mission. She had lived almost her entire life in grungy cities with grey, polluted skies. This was a far cry from that.

“Are you two hungry? There’s a hotel with a restaurant at the top that has some really nice views. If you wish, I can get you rooftop access,” Elyas offered.

Maeve could barely contain herself, nodding violently. He laughed, his hand slowly coming to rest on her lower back. My heart swelled slightly. It was dangerous, the way in which he was swooning her. It would never last, and I knew she would only get hurt in the end. But the entire time I had known her, she had never looked so happy. How could I take that from her?

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He led us through the city, and I watched the people walking by us. They were dressed to the nines as well, full faces of makeup at nine in the morning. Not a single one of them were without the most ornate, impressive wings. I could hear conversations about trade and commerce, the queen and politics. Everything was swift, everyone’s movements rushed in contrast to our slow, leisurely pace.

We reached the hotel, one of the many skyscrapers in the city. The doorman immediately bowed at seeing Elyas and he chuckled, gesturing for him to be at ease. The doorman quickly opened the door for us, and I heard Maeve have a sharp intake of breath at the interior.

Upon entering the lobby, there was a giant fountain in the middle of the lobby with a woman with wings, water dripping the side of the wings into the pool below her. The walls were a dark, forested green with a deep wine red carpet. Soft piano filled the room, adding a light coziness to the otherwise intimidating building. Elyas strode confidently up to the front desk, where the receptionist once again bowed.

Maeve and I snickered as Elyas reddened, scratching the back of his head. “Could we get a table in the restaurant, please? I know normally it’s reservat-”

“That’ll be no problem, Your Highness, we’ll just have someone else leave if we must, you can go up immediately. Would you like me to make sure no one else enters the elevator? I’ll have some of our staff guard the doors,” she said in a rush, her words tripping over each other in a mad race.

Elyas’ eyes widened and he shook his head. “That really won’t be necessary, and don’t make anyone seated leave, please, we can wait if we must.”

She smiled. “No problem, Your Highness. I will have staff escort you up.”

She shot a quick glare at a hotel staff who immediately came to our side. The employee led us through the lobby and stopped at the elevator, gesturing for us to enter. We entered without the employee and Maeve went to the window, resting her arms on it, watching as we swiftly rose through the floors. My gaze averted as Elyas came up behind her, standing a little too close to be for platonic purposes.

“What are your thoughts on all of it, Kalon?” he asked, turning towards me.

Maeve did as well, looking my way. “Yeah, you’ve barely spoken since we left the castle.”

I felt my throat close up, uncomfortable with suddenly being the center of attention. The day had been relatively easy until now because they were so distracted by the city and... each other.

“It’s... pretty. Disconcertingly so.”

Elyas tilted his head, a look of understanding on his face. “Like a really pretty mask over a scary face?”

I startled at his words, taken aback at his bluntness and his understanding of how I felt. Upon further consideration though, it made sense. We both came from here. We had both seen the scary face of this city, behind the shiny mask. Whether he knew it or not, we had a shared experience. I nodded.

“Yeah. That’s exactly how it feels.”

The rest of the ride up was filled with tense silence until finally the elevator dinged, the doors opening to allow us to walk into the restaurant where we were immediately escorted to a table near the wall, where a huge window took up most of the wall space with a breathtaking view of the cityscape and sky.

We sat down, Maeve and I on one side, Elyas on the other. The waiter was quick to tend to us, offering their finest drinks.

We promptly declined, instead settling for some tea. The waiter left and we started to peruse the menu. We found what each of us wanted to eat and ordered, and it wasn’t long before our food arrived before us, steaming fresh with the most pleasing aroma. All of it was mouth-watering, using only the finest ingredients, carefully crafted within every inch.

But it was impossible for me to stomach any of it. I poked at a few bites, but trying to swallow it felt like shoving a fork down my throat. The conversation between the three of us was almost nonexistent, besides the occasional fact from Elyas about the city I already knew far too much about. Otherwise, we were awkwardly silent, not able to share any stories from our home life for fear of others in the restaurant overhearing.

So instead, I started perusing the environment around us, looking at the faces of the business mongers and politicians that were near us. My heartrate was picking up, knowing this could be exactly the type of place my father could be spending his time, on some important business meeting talking about who knows what.

I hadn’t seen him in years, yes, but his face was still very fresh in my memory. I saw it in my nightmares.

“Kalon, are you alright? You’re looking a little green,” Maeve said.

I jolted, forgetting who I was sitting with, where I was. I tightened my hands on the table, seeing both Elyas and Maeve were now staring at me with concerned looks on their faces.

“I’m feeling kind of sick to my stomach, I think I’m going to go use the restroom real quick. Don’t worry about me, have fun without me, I’ll be back in a little.”

Maeve frowned. “You sure you don’t want me to come with? I don’t mind.”

I shook my head. “It’s fine, really. I want you two to enjoy yourselves.”

“Alright,” she said slowly, obviously still worried.

I didn’t allow any more time for questions or concerns, standing from the table and rushing away. I quickly asked a waiter where the bathrooms were and followed his instructions towards the opposite end of the huge, dimly lit dining area. I had just reached the hallway where the bathrooms were when I heard a voice that made my heartbeat halt.

“Kalon!”

I should’ve kept running. Azriel would be so disappointed in me because I couldn’t help stopping in my tracks, turning to see a face that so closely mirrored my own.