It was noon by the time we climbed down the stairs, still breathless and laughing like we were young and untouchable. But the sound died in our throats, the moment we reached the second floor. Ravić immediately pulled me behind him.
"There you both are, Your Majesties," the priest sang, his voice smooth as oil. He stood there, draped in white ceremonial robes, pale as bone, his fangs bared in something too lecherous to be a genuine smile. He looked he had been waiting for us.
"I've been asking the Palace staff where I might find you," he said, every word deliberate like he had been waiting all his life to say it.
"What do you want?" Ravić snapped, his body tense, ready to strike.
"Now that the First Trial is behind us," the priest said, mock humility curling in his tone as he folded his fingers together, the jewels on his fingers catching what little light there was, "it is time for the Second."
"No one told me that it would be today," Ravić snapped. "What is this, a trap?"
