Into the Unreal by Carly Stevens

Author:Carly Stevens [Stevens, Carly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Carly Stevens

30

KIRIA

A desert cat paced back and forth in its cage, working its long, toothy jaw with the last of its meal. The tip of its snout was square and its back legs bent lower to the ground than the front legs. She’d forgotten those details when she showed Firian this place.

With the day full of rebuilding trust with the royal family, she hadn’t had time to see Firian since their encounter the day before. Besides, she needed a moment to think about the attempt on his life, about their connection, about his desire for her. Any time she started to think he was safe to love, his intensity made her step back again, check her own feelings.

Kiria glanced at Haved walking beside her. The princess had smudged her eyes with dark charcoal and pinned back her hair in a complicated knot. She looked as dressed up as she had been yesterday at the party. Memories of her behavior filled Kiria with heavy apprehension. Haved had to trust her after tonight, or she and her father might rethink the marriage with Atty. Kiria couldn’t bear it if she were the cause of breaking so many hopes.

Together they strode through the palace zoo, now populated with exotic plants as well as animals. This was the first time since Brithnem that the air didn’t feel so dry. The whole place ran humid, which felt good on her cracking skin, but also meant a rank smell rising from the animal cages.

Besides the desert cat, which was Kiria’s favorite, a massive gray-green lizard lounged on a rock, each claw as long as her pointer finger. Two blue and orange birds with sweeping tails three times the length of their bodies sat side by side on a branch. A furry creature with small, rounded ears and paws shaped almost like hands paced in another cage. She wasn’t sure what to call it. The closest association she had were pictures she’d seen of bears.

“Do they ever get to go outside?” Kiria asked.

“Sometimes,” Haved replied. “Normally they stay in here.”

Kiria tried not to read too much into Haved’s clipped reply. A respectful distance away walked four guards—two from Brithnem and two from Charäkhnem. It seemed that there were always more people to overhear her conversations. “It would be nice if they could have more freedom,” she continued.

Haved nodded solemnly, twitching the train of her dress with one hand so that it didn’t drag. It seemed as if she were thinking of something else. Her eyes were far away, not angry or cold, but wistful.

“Are you all right?” Kiria asked.

Haved turned her serious gaze to her. “Are you?”

Kiria wasn’t exactly all right, but she was in her right mind, if that’s what Haved wanted to know. “Yes, I’m perfectly all right.”

The desert cat’s claws scraped along the floor, a dry, rasping sound. The tiny bear creature gave an answering yowl.

Haved tipped her chin with uncertainty but didn’t contradict her. “Let’s go outside.”

The guards followed them, blue and red, out of the zoo area, through a ribbed, vaulted doorway and into the night.

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