Mite made no reply. She had quickly lost interest in the spectacle on the beach and had started overturning pieces of driftwood.
Noa knelt by the water’s edge, brushing her hand through the lapping waves. The current was oddly warm—it swirled along the spit, which was now a causeway joining the islands. A school of bottlenose dolphins drifted past the beach. They chittered indignantly at Astrae, not at all impressed by a moving island.
Noa’s brow furrowed as she eyed the undulating currents. She prided herself on being the practical one in the family—not that this was saying much, given Julian’s penchant for drama and Mite’s overall weirdness. She noticed things other people didn’t. It had been her idea to capture the islet of Delphin before attacking its bigger neighbor, Gray Sisters, which had allowed Julian’s magicians to simply wade over to Gray Sisters at low tide. The thought hadn’t even entered Julian’s head.
That was Julian’s problem—he was the least practical person on the planet. Having more magic than anyone else made him think he could simply blast his way through obstacles instead of bothering with strategy. Well, Julian wasn’t going to defeat Xavier and become the king of Florean by going about things that way.
And Noa intended to make him the king of Florean if she had to tie him down and beat some strategy into his head.
That was Noa’s primary mission, anyway. She also had a secret mission that she didn’t tell anyone about.
Specifically, stopping Julian from going bad.
It wasn’t that Julian was cruel. It was more than he did cruel things without thinking—tossing fishermen to a ravenous sea serpent, for example. Julian used to toss people to Beauty only as a last resort, but these days, he didn’t hesitate, and sometimes gave off the distinct impression that he was enjoying himself. Noa was used to hearing fanciful stories about Julian’s black deeds. He was, after all, the Dark Lord that most people in Florean would only whisper about in low tones, or blame for bad harvests or other misfortunes. Those stories were no more Julian than his shadow was. But increasingly it was difficult to separate Julian from his reputation, as if shadow and brother were no longer distinct. And the fact was, as a dark magician, Julian was more likely to go bad than your average person.
In short, Noa had her hands full.
“Princess Noa?” a voice said. Renne, Julian’s second-in-command, was hovering behind her.
“Yes?” she said coldly. She hated being called “princess.” For one thing, it wasn’t accurate—she wouldn’t be a princess again until Julian defeated the king and all his mages and took his rightful place on the throne. Calling her “princess” was like saying her mother’s death was something you could push aside and forget.
“Well,” Renne began, stretching the word out. He fiddled with the edge of his cloak. Renne should have been intimidating—he was a big man and, like all of Julian’s followers, wore the same ferocious dragon tattoo that Julian did. But there was something small about him.
“The island seems to have run up against a coral reef,” he finally elaborated. “It’s going to take a while to work our way free.”
Noa didn’t know why he was telling her—Renne usually seemed barely aware she existed. Then she sighed. “You want me to break the news to Julian.”
“If you’re headed to the castle,” Renne said with a relieved smile.
“I wasn’t, actually.” But Renne was already walking away. Noa blew out her breath and turned her back on the strange currents.
“Mite,” she called. Her sister bounded out of the tall grasses, her dark hair a bird’s nest framing her tanned cheeks.
“Is it lunch yet?”
“You just had breakfast.” Mite had three interests, Noa amended. Bugs, dirt, and food.
Noa didn’t go to the castle right away. Instead, she followed the path from the beach to Devil’s Nose. Noa and Mite had to step over several iguanas warming themselves on the dark soil. They just lay there, peaceful as logs.
“Where are we going?” Mite complained. She had to run to keep up with Noa’s long strides.
“If you’re tired, you can wait for me by the rocks,” Noa said.
“No, I’m okay.” Mite darted ahead, her bare feet quiet against the dirt.
Noa heaved a sigh. Looking after Mite hadn’t always been her job—in the terrible first year after they fled to Astrae, it had been Julian’s. But gradually, as he gained power and followers, Mite had become Noa’s responsibility. Not that she had ever agreed to it. Not that she didn’t sometimes try to give Mite the slip—after all, wasn’t seven old enough to look after yourself, especially on an island as safe as Astrae, with so many magicians to keep an eye out? Noa had tried ignoring Mite, she had tried bossing her around, but no matter what she did, Mite followed everywhere she went, like a shadow that sometimes had bees in its pockets.
Noa spent most of her days exploring Astrae. As a princess, her life had been tightly structured into lessons with tutors, public appearances with her mother and Julian, banquets, and playdates with stuffy royal children. As a fugitive, though, Noa didn’t have a schedule. She didn’t have guards following her everywhere. At first she had found it strange, but then, once she got used to it, she drank in her new freedom like a cactus did the first rains of winter. She drew maps of Astrae’s topography and flora and landmarks. She listed every tree and bird and animal that had names, and gave names to the ones that didn’t. In short, she cataloged everything she could think of. The information wasn’t just interesting; it helped Julian. When he needed a weird spell ingredient, such as bark from a lightning-struck tree or the feather of an aged parrot, she knew where to find it. She could tell him where the best viewpoints were on Devil’s Nose, where the walruses slept on sunny days, and where the goldenberries grew fat and gleaming on the hillside like
