Alabaster Cities (Kings and Thieves Book #2)

Chapter 12

**OK so I know this is late, sorry, I didn't really have time to edit and post as I had to clean my whole apartment yesterday, long story, and then with school, which is kicking my butt... anyway, here's Ari's chapter, better late than never**

Chapter 12

It was bloody raining.

The weather, Ari worried, might ruin their dramatic entrance into the palace.

To be fair, Verignes was overcast most of the time, which accounted for the general green sponginess of their environment, but Ari found himself making a face nevertheless as another droplet soaked through his sleeve.

Predictably, Lyla and Jamie gawked at the palace for a little while as soon as they fumbled their way out of the carriage. The guards at the front gates had no idea for they were for a solid five minutes and just kept staring at them blankly— Ari was seconds away from losing it when a tall, plant-looking woman came rushing down the steps, looking extremely hassled.

She stopped short in front of them, folding her hands on the top of her daffodil-yellow skirts.

"These are our guests," the woman hissed out of the corner of her mouth at the guards before facing them with a practiced smile. "Welcome to Verignes. We are so grateful to have you all here. Would you like to get settled?"

Ari studied her with his mouth drawn. There was one gray streak in her black bun, and she had a round, plain sort of face. As with most people he met, Ari tested her by how she'd react to his rudeness.
"Who the hell are you?"

Her expression didn't slip. "My name is Dana. I will be showing you around the castle today. Would you care to follow me?"

Jamie finally ripped her eyes away from the palace long enough to pay attention to what was happening. Ari wondered what she saw. Sometimes he thought about that; what it would be like to see something for the first time again- through new eyes. He supposed, to others, the Verignes palace would be stunning.

Lyla was breathless. "It's beautiful."

It resembled a sort of gothic cathedral; perhaps more of a later century gothic with its lacy towers and sculpted flying buttresses to hold its weight. The turrets had been painted over with gold and purple swirling around their lengths, and there was a drawbridge and a moat, which Ari suspected was for more ostentatious purposes than functional. An array of nude, bronze-casted sculptures dotted the bright, vivid flower garden in the front. Lilac trees, apple trees, peach trees... there had to be at least fifteen different kinds of tree, Ari thought, idly scratching his head with one hand.

"The monarchy brings in only the finest architects, gardeners, and sculptors from all over the ocean for our courtyard," Dana was saying as she led them through the perfectly trimmed lawn.

"Are those gargoyles?" Lyla murmured, her focus on the winged creatures that perched, with their teeth bared, on the corners of either side of the palace roof.

"Grotesques, I think," said Aveline. "Grotesques are used for decorative purposes, I believe, while gargoyles follow practicality; if not for disposing rainwater, they're often placed to ward off danger."

Lyla dropped her hand from the thorned rose she'd been admiring. "What kind of danger?"

"The designs on the walls were completed by local artists-" Dana droned on.

Ari tuned them out, a restless feeling tickling him.

One of the hedges across from them rustled slightly. Was it windy? Ari frowned at the leafy structure. If he looked hard enough he could almost see the outline of a shadowy figure crouched behind the bush.
Ari's hand automatically flew to the pistol at his hilt.