Fly or Fall

Chapter Seven

The palace was silent as prince Kol crept down a dark passageway with nothing but the flickering light from a candle to guide him. The passageway was part of an elaborate system which ran through the entire palace. Kol had discovered the system when he was seven and had been using it in secret ever since. The passages were great for sneaking into the kitchens late at night and snatching a couple of treats to enjoy with his older sister, Val.

She was the only person he'd ever told about the passages. He preferred it that way. Wenly would insist on telling their mother and then he'd end up in trouble and the passages sealed. Nicco would abuse the passages and it would only be a matter of days before their mother, or more likely, Sevan found out. And Hae, sweet Hae, he didn't think she'd be that much interested in the passages. If it wasn't something related to a book she hardly ever paid attention.

Val was the one he was closest to, the one he trusted the most and the one he knew would never betray him.

He made a left and climbed up a flight of stairs before he reached his destination, Val's chambers. He pulled a small thin chain and a bell rang. Since turning seventeen she'd been very insistent on him using the bell instead of barging in like he used to do. She'd said something about needing her privacy. Kol suspected it had more to do with her secret boyfriend. He was yet to meet him but he knew he was right about him. Every so often Val would use the passages to sneak out of the palace and Kol would find her room deserted. If she wasn't meeting up with some boy, then what was she up to?

"You can come in," Val's voice came a bit muffled through the stone wall.

He pushed at the wall until it barged forward an inch and then slid to the side. He found his sister sitting in front of the dressing table, a brush in her hand as she brushed her hair to her left side, exposing the section that had been shaved. Their mother didn't know about her in-the-moment decision to shave off part of her hair. She'd nearly keeled over when she saw the bleached hair. Anything more might lead her into the grave.

"Going out?" Kol asked, plopping down onto her bed.

Val chuckled looking over her shoulders to look at him. "That's," she pointed the brush at him, "none of your business."

"I'm your brother," he said, "and your best friend, you'd think that earns me certain insights into your life."

She resumed running the brush through her hair. "I'm sorry," she turned towards the mirror, "but there's nothing to share."

He rolled his eyes. "Are you going to see him again?"

Her fingers froze mid stroke. "Him who?"

"You know perfectly well who I'm talking about," he folded his arms over his chest. "One of these days you're going to tell me all about this mystery boy you've been seeing and for your sake he better be cute."

She laughed. It sounded forced. "What are you doing here?" she changed the subject, and Kol allowed it. Tonight, was not the night to talk about mystery boys, he'd come with an agenda.

"I have a crazy idea," he said, with an excited glint in his eyes.

She scoffed, putting her hair brush down. "All your ideas are crazy."

"The best ideas are always a little crazy."

"Does that include when you were twelve and you thought exploring the catacombs beneath the council building would be fun?" she asked in blatant humour. "I wouldn't call that one of your best ideas, seeing as we almost got killed."

"We did not almost get killed," he puffed his chest out defensively.

"Clearly, you don't remember the look on councilwoman Vonya's face when she found us," she laughed. "She was seconds away from having our heads."