I end up with a tiny booklet containing my name and birthplace and a small medal I can pin to my chest showing that I’m now a Citizen. It’s simpler than I’d thought for us to sell off the majority of the Bellisares’ valuables at the market. By nightfall, we’ve had a marvelous dinner of foods I’ve never imagined, and we’re ready to turn in.
We take rooms in a small inn. The owner looks at us curiously but doesn’t comment on our clearly foreign appearance.
Bayled, Parsifal, and I huddle in the common room for wine and dessert. “I learned something surprising in Records today,” Bayled says, pulling something out of his new coat. He looks just like every other Citizen—it’s as if he never left. “You remember my father’s merchant business, before my mother was called away to serve as a diplomat?”
“He did pretty well before he and your mother came to the Holy Kingdom, right?” I say, sipping a strange, spicy wine with ice cubes in it.
“Right. It turns out the business still exists, and it’s run by his old partner. We should visit her and see about work.”
I choke on my wine. “Work?”
Parsifal laughs at me and I scowl at him. Bayled’s also grinning, but he’s too kind to mock me, even if I deserve it. “That’s how we’ll get on here. We should use the money we made today to find a place to live. Then maybe we can start rebuilding the family business.”
I sigh into the glass. I knew all this when I agreed to come here, but it still feels as if some part of me—the part of me that Mother raised and trained into wanting only one thing—is disappearing into dust.
When we’re done talking and drinking, Parsifal helps me to our room. We lie on top of the sheets because it’s much too hot. “I don’t know that I’ll ever get used to this,” I say.
“Within a cycle, you won’t even notice.” Parsifal leans over and lightly kisses my cheek. We have our clothes off before I notice the small pink light hovering outside at the window.
“Percy?”
He looks up and gasps. “I’ll let it in!” He thrusts his hand up in the air, and the window opens on its own. The tiny pink wisp flies in, circling the room once, then twice, as if getting a feel for us. It drifts down to the small table beside the bed, where our oil lamp burns. It must have found us by the coating of Magic we still carry. My heart surges, beating a thousand times a second. Hoping.
“Is Sapphire with you?” I ask it. Parsifal kneels beside the table. The wisp doesn’t speak, but it settles down at the base of the lamp like a cat finding a comfortable spot to sleep. I look out the window again, begging Melidia that I’ll see Sapphire’s unmistakeable head of blue hair.
There’s nothing except for the late-night dock workers, and a few drunk women kissing and walking home together. Parsifal returns to the bed and wraps his arm around me. We lie there, watching the wisp sleep, its light slowly fading.
I know that Sapphire is alive. That’s enough for me.
Acknowledgments
Since this book was so long-winded, I’ll try to keep the next part short.
A huge thank you to my good friend Eddy Rivas (going on two decades!) for telling me years ago this was a fun idea, for gasping and laughing at the right parts, and for always asking me, “When do I get more?” Thank you for being my writing partner for all these years, and telling me the fetus of this weird book was worth it.
Thanks to my dad for raising me with a love of fantasy and sci-fi, for cheering this project on from the beginning . . . and for saying you wanted to read it despite its content.
As always, thank you to my best writing buddy, the Adam to my Becky—Amber Keyser. You’re literally the reason I finished drafting this. And of course, Kate and Sione, for all of your insightful thoughts and critiques. You both always take the time for me and I love you.
Huge thanks to my agent, Fiona Kenshole, for championing this from the outset and pushing for it to be real. To Alix Reid for acquiring the not-yet-finished manuscript. And to Amy Fitzgerald, my editor, who picked up the mantle brilliantly, helped me make sense of this weird, wild thing, and who really made all this possible.
And of course, my partner in life, Danny—you are so many multitudes, and I hope this queer little book captured some of them.
About the Author
Kiersi Burkhart always wanted a high fantasy novel with gobs of kissing, intrigue, and magic. She travels around in an RV with her two dogs, playing tabletop games with her power lifter spouse. A macaron-making master, Kiersi goes on sprees watching Miyazaki movies and The Great British Bake Off. She is also the author of the YA novel Honor Code and the coauthor of the Quartz Creek Ranch series.
Castle of Lies Page 29
