Kaelen's hand lingered at the small of my back as we stepped into the cool evening air. His touch was steady, but his eyes… they kept scanning the dark corners as though the city itself had grown teeth.
"You're quiet," I said, breaking the silence.
"Am I?" His tone was light, but it was the wrong kind of light, forced, almost brittle. "Just… thinking about Council business."
"Council business or my business?" I pressed.
He smiled faintly, though it never reached his eyes. "In this city, they're the same thing now."
We walked the winding streets in near silence. The torches lining the walls guttered as we passed, their flames bending toward me like they recognized something. The hair at my neck prickled.
Halfway to the palace, I caught movement in my peripheral vision, a figure keeping pace in the shadows. I turned sharply, but they melted into an alley before my eyes could focus.
"Someone's following us," I whispered.
Kaelen didn't even glance back. "I know." His hand shifted to the hilt of the blade at his side. "Keep walking."
The palace gates loomed ahead, silver light spilling across the stones. Relief bloomed, until a sharp hiss cut through the air.
Kaelen moved faster than I could blink. His arm wrapped around me, spinning us both aside just as a thin, black-feathered dart embedded itself in the wooden post where my head had been.
It sizzled. The wood began to rot in seconds.
My pulse thundered. "What was"
"Poison," Kaelen said, his voice low and lethal. He scanned the rooftops, but whoever had thrown it was already gone.
I gripped his arm. "Tell me what's happening."
He looked at me then, really looked, and for the first time since I'd met him, I saw fear in his eyes.
"They've already started."