Sky Song: Overture Read Online Free PDF Page B

countrymen’s wine. “Oh, Clikk,” he groaned. “You ask so many questions. Now I truly will have to kill you.”
    “If your sister is a princess, then you must be—”
    “I might have said sister, but in truth, Molly is my ward, whom I am selling to the highest bidder.” He stumbled over his words.
    There was a short time after my exodus from Shale when I thrived on the promise of royalist rebellion. The Luftberg royal family was imprisoned in the black spire, and people spoke of a siege to liberate them and crush the Blue Dusk while they were still vulnerable. They gave me such hope back then. It never happened, and I was in the ancient city square when Prince Derek Luftberg laid his neck on the chopping block. I saw the axe fall. I saw the executioner lift the disembodied head as the eyes twitched. He was dead. I saw it. And seeing him now resurrected was nothing short of a miracle.
    “You’re him,” I whispered. “Anyone could see it. Captain Alexander Dirk. Prince Derek Alexander Luftberg, rightful heir to the Elsatian throne.”
    “Careful. Those are dangerous words to put in that order,” he said.
    “Your people need you.”
    Dirk made a sour laugh. “The people who after the famine, murdered any person with a drop of blue blood in his veins.”
    “You could restore your family’s dynasty.”
    “Prince Derek was publicly executed, Clikk!” Dirk stood and wobbled over to take a fresh bottle of wine from a cabinet. He opened the cork with a knife.
    “No. The man who died that day must have been a royalist. He knew as well as you that it is your destiny to retake the throne.”
    “Why is it my destiny? I never wanted it. I always looked to the sky.”
    “So you’re just going to hand your kingdom over to the Blue Dusk? You really don’t care what they stole from you? What they did to your family?”
    Dirk cracked his neck as he rolled his shoulders. He tumbled into the cushions, curling up like a cat around his new bottle. “Ever notice that everyone you know is less than thirty? I am thirty-one this year. You know how I did it? I didn’t start a war. I hold no grudge for what cannot be undone. It’s a nasty world out there. We need coin, and our girl Molly, everything she touches is made pure. She will heal the leadership from within.”
    “Unless they kill her when they realize she’s enchanted.”
    Captain Dirk reclined his head all the way back and closed his eyes. “How old are you, Clikk? Seventeen? Eighteen?”
    “I’m twenty. I know I’m not as learned as you, but you must listen. Only you can heal our country. The Blue Dusk will never change. They have been holding our people hostage since the revolution. They force us to either steal or starve. If you made a claim, thousands across all the provinces would rally behind you. Because you’re different. You’re the first man with a claim who knows what it’s like to be one of us. You understand suffering, and it makes you a fine captain, and it would make you the finest king who ever ruled.”
    “Lishen,” Dirk slurred. “The old bird’s full of mold. It’s not even safe to breathe the air in here.” The wine bottle fell from his fingertips and rolled, spilling a streak. I chased it across the floor and plugged the neck with my handkerchief. “Damn. What was in that wine?” he asked.
    “The berries in Shale carry a toxin that knocks foreigners off their feet.”
    “How about that?” he said, his laughter skidding. “A woman drank me under. I’m through, Clikk. One sign of weakness is all it takes to be thrown.”
    “No shame in it,” I told him. “I’ve been drinking this piss since I was thirteen. Think about what I’ve said. Goodnight, Captain.”
    I closed the doors on my way out. The men cheered, “Falcon!” when they saw me again, but I passed them without a hint of recognition. I went to the sleeping quarters to lie down. I needed to be alone.

 
    V. The Pact
     
     
    S ilver light crackled as a storm