Palace of Wishes (2020 Reissue)

by Helena Rookwood

  “Namir is good at his job. If Prince Rishi is still in the palace, he’ll probably find him.” I opened all the drawers in the dresser, scanning the contents. “I just think finding out what did this may be a little beyond him if we’re dealing with a magical creature.”

  “More of a job for a princess and her comely djinni?” Tarak rolled onto his front, batting his eyelashes at me.

  I took a deep breath, biting back my frustration with him. I needed him to take this seriously. Now, it seemed, both getting back to Mustafa and putting things right in the palace were vital to me accompanying Kassim to find the Night Diamond talisman. “Can you be serious for just one second?”

  Tarak wiped a hand over his face, swapping his grin for a humorless expression. “I can usually sense magical items.” He kicked his long legs back and forth in the air. “There are traces in this room. They’re very faint, though.”

  “Then whatever did this is long gone.” Something bright caught my eye. I bent down, picking up a green feather. “Look.” I held it out to Tarak triumphantly.

  “I hate to break it to you, princess, but a feather is hardly a clue. The bed is covered in them.”

  “Yes, but those are white. This is lime green. Perhaps it belonged to whatever creature did this.”

  Tarak still didn’t look impressed. He gestured to a shredded garment on the bed, where long, bent feathers stuck out at odd angles. “Isn’t that the remains of Prince Rishi’s peacock costume? Perhaps he destroyed it himself to get out of dressing like an imbecile for the night.”

  I glowered at the djinni.

  “Not that you look like an imbecile, of course, princess,” the djinni continued, circling a finger through the down feathers on the bed. “My point is, I imagine there were any number of people who wore costumes with feathers tonight.”

  I lowered the green feather. That was true. Namir and the Vizier had both been dressed as birds and had been here in Prince Rishi’s chambers. Prince Diyan had been a stork, and Prince Nephi had been dressed as a blue-and-yellow parrot.

  Although the colors still didn’t match up…

  “I should get back to the ball.” I held the quill of the feather, rolling it between pinched fingertips. “We’ll leave Namir to lock down the palace and to find Lotus, but we should do our own investigation into the missing prince and find the creature that caused all this.” I strode for the door. “And the first step is seeing if this green feather matches any of the outfits at the ball.”

  Tarak rolled off the bed and began to pick downy feathers from his hair. “You think Prince Rishi’s still alive then?”

  “I hope so. For the alliance and for Astaran’s sake. But the longer he’s missing, the more likely it is the other guests will find out he’s not just suffering from desert belly.”

  The tattered wall hangings stirred as the djinni marched past them to examine a smashed oval mirror, preening at his splintered reflection. “Not to mention that the longer he’s missing, the less chance there is you’ll find him alive.”

  Chapter Nine

  “So, where are we going again exactly?” Tarak followed after me in his handmaid form, stifling a yawn.

  We had a late night at the ball, checking the feather I’d found against all of the guests’ costumes. But we’d found no matches, which made me even more certain it was an important clue. This morning, I’d been up at first light for my training session with Elian, then headed straight to the library to check all of their books on ornithology.

  “The librarian said there was a room specifically dedicated to natural history,” I replied as we turned the corner and came face to face with a set of large wooden doors. “Apparently, one of Kassim’s ancestors collected rare and exotic species from around the twelve kingdoms.”

  I fought down the anxious churning in my belly. Hopefully we would find something here, but I was supposed to be meeting Mustafa right now. The merchant would be waiting for me in his Palace of Dust and Shadows with no idea why I hadn’t returned to collect on my end of our deal.

  Still, the sooner we found Rishi, the sooner Namir would end the lockdown on the palace, and I could go find Mustafa then.

  The door creaked as I pushed it open and stepped through.

  The room inside was dim, long curtains only letting in narrow slivers of light where they didn’t quite meet. I headed straight for the windows and pushed back the drapes. Dust motes churned in the air as thick shafts of light fell into the room.

  Hundreds of lifeless eyes stared back at me.

  “Ugh.” The djinni shuddered, wrapping delicate arms around himself. “This place gives me the creeps.”

  Beneath vaulted ceilings, the vast chamber was filled with an assortment of cabinets and display cases. On display were hundreds of dead animals.

  “And I thought humans treated us spirits badly. I think I’d rather be trapped in a ring for a hundred years than be killed, stuffed, and mounted in a glass case.”

  The room was silent, save for our footsteps on stone as we moved around the cabinets.

  “Where do we start?” I mused, wandering down one of the aisles lined with birds. Beady eyes stared back at me from doves, finches, and larks. None of them were the same green as the feather, and none had talons large enough to cause the type of damage that had been inflicted on Prince Rishi’s room.

  A clacking sound made me look up. Tarak was in his falcon form, perched on top of a case. He sidled along, his talons tapping against the wood. He craned his neck down. “How about this case?” He tapped the glass with his beak, reading the label. “Birds, predators.”

  I wandered over to join him. The case was filled with falcons, like Tarak, eagles, hawks, and owls. Still nothing green. “Not big enough,” I muttered under my breath.

  There was a rustle of wings as Tarak flew farther ahead, then let out a low whistle.

  I followed him, and my eyes widened when I saw what he was looking at. “Spirits,” I breathed, studying the creature before me.

  A huge, stuffed bird, too big to fit inside any of the display cases, perched on a tree trunk. Its wings spread wide, easily three times the height of a man. It looked like a bird of prey, yet large enough that its prey could have been humans, not rodents.

  Large enough that it could have flown away with a prince gripped in its talons…

  “What is this?” I muttered under my breath, looking for a handwritten label, like some of the other display cases had, and finding nothing.

  “It’s a roc,” said a voice that wasn’t Tarak’s.

  I spun around. “Prince Diyan!” My mouth fell open in shock as the lanky prince walked to my side.

  “They’re considered mythical in most kingdoms, but there’s still the odd sighting of them in the remote Ossur mountain passes between Astaran and Phoenitia, and there’s said to be a colony still nesting on some of the distant Islands of Hidu, too.”

  I just gaped at the prince.

  “Legend has it the people of Hidu tamed them,” he continued. “They ride them like horses in the sky.”

  My shock at finding Diyan in the room with me dulled slightly with the revelation of what he was telling me. I looked back at the roc, trying to imagine the great bird saddled like my horse, Bandit.

  “I didn’t think they were real,” I said in a halting voice.

  He gave a small shrug. “Few do. They’re hard to identify. From a distance, they look just like normal birds of prey.”

  That reminds me...

  I glanced around the room. Tarak was perched on the bird of prey cabinet, frozen in a posture just like the other animals, his purple eyes unblinking. Had Diyan heard us talking?

  Suspicion pooled in my stomach.

  “Why are you here, Prince Diyan?” I asked, a harder edge to my voice. Prince Diyan was a guest, but there was a time and a place for politeness. This was not it. “Did you follow me?”

  “No!” His eyes widened. “I’m sorry for disrupting your studies. I just–”

&
nbsp; “You just what?” I snapped. “Decided to take a morning stroll through our taxidermy room? Who told you about this place?”

  “No one,” the prince replied hurriedly, his cheeks flushing. “I found it when I was exploring the palace yesterday. It was even quieter than the library. I liked it here.”

  “So you’re just here for a little peace and quiet?”

  “No, I…” Prince Diyan seemed flustered. He tugged at his collar with a hooked finger. “I went to visit Princess Safiyya this morning. She seemed upset at the ball last night. She told me her tiger was in trouble for scratching up some expensive marble, and I told her I’d try and help prove his innocence.”

  I frowned. “And how does this room fit in?”

  “Over here…” Prince Diyan led me around the corner to another row of stuffed animals, all predators. Some had thick manes, while others were covered in markings I’d only ever seen in books. There were several tigers and leopards…and one blinked at me, its purple eyes sparkling.

  I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, there was no longer a falcon sitting on top of the other display case.

  Luckily, Prince Diyan didn’t seem to notice the extraordinarily glossy, purple-eyed leopard. He stopped in front of the tigers, where both a fully grown adult male and female looked back at us, their teeth bared.

  “I thought if I could take a wax press of its claw, I could help Safiyya prove that Lotus couldn’t possibly have gouged marks into marble.” He reached into his pocket and showed me the little tray of wax.

  I pursed my lips. “Why not just take an imprint of Lotus’s claws?”

  Prince Diyan visibly flinched. “Because I quite like my hands attached to my arms.” A small smile tugged at his lips.

  In spite of myself, I smiled back. Diyan did seem to know a lot about, well…everything. Perhaps he could help me.

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the green feather. “Do you know what sort of bird this is from? Do rocs come in this color?” I asked, thinking of the huge birds we’d just seen.

  Prince Diyan took the feather from me and studied it. Then, without a word, he marched back toward the birds. He stopped in front of a huge display case containing exotic birds. Each bird was brightly colored, none more so than the huge, multicolored parrot in the center of the showcase. Its purple eyes stared out at us.

  But it wasn’t Tarak’s flamboyant parrot that Diyan was interested in. He pointed to the top right of the display case, where a small, lime green bird with a red beak stared lifelessly back at us.

  “That’s your bird.” He handed me back the feather.

  “But that’s just a–”

  “Common parakeet, yes. They’re native to Nahraj, Sipparkish, and Southern Khiridesh, but they’re kept as pets all over the twelve kingdoms.”

  My shoulders slumped at this news. Not only could a parakeet not cause the level of destruction I’d seen in Prince Rishi’s room, but if they were indigenous to his homeland of Sipparkish, perhaps he’d just brought a pet with him.

  “I take it that’s not the answer you were after.” Prince Diyan gave me a nervous smile.

  “No, it’s not.” I sighed. “Tell me, Prince Diyan, how did you get so knowledgeable?”

  The young prince smiled. “I told you, my mother keeps a huge library. She asks a lot of questions. You remind me of her in that way.”

  Warmth rushed through me. I remind Prince Diyan of Sultanah Farideh? “And I suppose books give her the answers?”

  “Some of them.” The prince began to walk down the rows of display cases, browsing as we spoke. In each case, there was at least one uninvited guest with purple eyes.

  Well, at least someone’s having fun.

  “Tell me about Nahraj’s history.” I gazed over at the young prince. “Did your ancestors ever have spirits in their employ?”

  “Mmm, yes,” Prince Diyan replied, his voice thoughtful. “Most of the kingdoms have in the past, whether they admit it or not. At one point, we had many sorcerers in our employ.”

  “Why?”

  “Well, we needed the spirits to help with our border disputes.”

  “With Sipparkish?”

  “With all of the lands we border. In the past, we had to use brute force rather than peaceable negotiations to keep our kingdom safe.” Prince Diyan gave me an assessing glance. “You’re very interested in the relationship between spirits and royalty, Princess Zadie. Although I suppose that makes sense, seeing as you’ll be marrying into the Astarian bloodline.”

  I paused in front of a display cabinet filled with snakes and lizards. “What’s that supposed to mean?” A cold feeling began to spread through my body, starting from my fingers and toes.

  “Surely you’ve heard the legend.” Prince Diyan frowned. “Then again, the books I’ve read are very rare, so perhaps it’s not common knowledge. They were actually on loan from the Order of Scholars–”

  “What legend?” I snapped.

  Prince Diyan’s eyes widened. “Th-That magic runs in the Astarian bloodline. They were famous for it. Most kingdoms employed sorcerers as viziers to summon and bind spirits, but the Astarian royals were all sorcerers themselves. Legend has it they were descended from spirits.”

  I gaped, unable to form words.

  “Of course, this is all myth. Now, the Astarian bloodline is more famous for their amber eyes.”

  The prince fell silent for a moment. “Anyway, I apologize for intruding. I’ll leave you to your research, princess.” Diyan gave a small, awkward bow, then the mysterious prince walked away.

  Chapter Ten

  Prince Diyan swung one leg over the low wall before hopping into the arena in an ungainly motion.

  A smattering of unenthusiastic applause sounded in the air, the gathered crowd already muttering about how long the young prince would last in this round of the tournament. I reluctantly joined in. I had been keeping a close eye on Prince Diyan since our encounter in the Natural History hall. While he’d had answers for all of my questions, there was just something odd about him. He knew too much.

  In any case, the shy prince seemed more interested in books than weapons. This will likely be the shortest fight so far. Elian strode around the circular arena that had been constructed in the gardens, swinging his blade and waiting. This round of the tournament was supposed to let the princes demonstrate their skill with a blade, but Elian wasn’t exactly giving them much time to do so.

  Prince Diyan drew a thin blade from his side. It was less curved and slightly shorter than Elian’s scimitar, with a fine hilt and guard that befitted a prince.

  He’d barely settled into a fighting stance before the captain of the guard began swinging his scimitar with a single-minded fervor, his face set and unusually serious. Anyone would think he was in battle, not using blunted training swords against a handful of young princes. Not one of them had managed to best him, and it didn’t look like the final contestant was in with much of a chance either.

  The atmosphere felt strained today. Even though Kassim had reassured the rest of our guests that Prince Rishi was quite well and resting in his rooms, his attendants knew he was missing. And servants gossiped. By now, I had no doubt just about everyone in the garden knew one of the visiting princes had disappeared without a trace.

  Elian began to pace around as Diyan stayed rooted to the spot, just turning his body to keep the captain in front of him.

  The captain lunged forward, but Diyan darted back out of reach, his blade unmoving from its guard position across his body. Elian slashed again. This time, Diyan ducked right under his scimitar.

  I blinked in surprise. He’s outlasted the others already.

  Safiyya clutched her hands to her lips with a little gasp.

  I reached out and put a hand on her knee. “Elian won’t hurt him, Safiyya. You know he won’t.”

  The princess let out a noncommittal sound, then bit down hard on her thumb, not tearing her eyes from the fight to respond to me. All of a sudden, I wond
ered whether her concern was for Diyan or Elian.

  “Safiyya–”

  The clash of metal on metal had me turning back to the fight. Elian’s and Diyan’s blades met in the air as they exchanged blows. The wiry prince countered each attack, despite Elian’s larger size.

  My eyes followed Prince Diyan’s blade as it flashed through the air. His slender arms fluidly moved with the blade, as if they were one. He jumped forward and rolled on the ground in a cloud of dust, swiping for Elian’s legs.

  Safiyya let out another little gasp and clutched at the pillow.

  When the dust settled, Elian had managed to avoid the attack and the prince was back on his feet again.

  The captain let out a laugh, the first sign of merriment since he’d been fighting. “You’re a lot better than I gave you credit for, little prince,” he admitted. “You’ve lasted the longest of all your peers…”

  Then he swept behind the prince, grappling with him until he had his scimitar at Prince Diyan’s throat. The young prince dropped his blade to the ground and raised his hands in the air.

  “Victory to the princess’s champion!” the announcer called, and Elian inclined his head to Safiyya, who looked as though she wanted the ground to swallow her up.

  Prince Diyan scooped his fallen blade from the ground and offered a hand to the captain. “Well fought.” They shook hands, and Prince Diyan bowed to Safiyya.

  So the shy prince can fight. Even more suspicious.

  I stood up to follow as the rest of the crowd began trailing back into the palace, then stopped when I saw Elian walking swiftly across the area in our direction. Safiyya hovered beside me, clearly torn between the need to congratulate the princes and to give her thanks to the captain for acting as her champion.

  Elian stopped just inside the low wall running around the arena in front of us. His ebony skin glowed with sweat, his eyes bright. “Sorry, Safiyya.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “Looks like you’ll still need a champion even when you’re married.”