At midnight, the first paper lanterns rose into the copper washed sky. I sat on a high northern terrace, taking in the beauty of the final step in the ceremony of light. Below me, on the northern hill, thousands of Carucans gathered in the semi-darkness to dance, eat, drink and set their lantern gifts adrift above the hills of Caruca. Only at daybreak, once the all-night sun had rolled across the horizon to ascend in the east, would the people return to their homes.

I had settled in on a rough mound of earth, wearing my farmer's clothes and one of my subtle but effective-enough disguises–a moustache and bushy eyebrows, when I heard voices speaking in Etean. I scuffed down the slope and began following along the terrace above where they could neither see nor hear me.

'It would be disrespectful to leave tonight.'

'I have waited long enough,' a gravelly voice replied. It was the Etean emissary. 'His highness must be informed that the Carucan Princess did not live. There will be no alliance, no contract of marriage.'

'Perhaps we should be patient. This Tman Queen is strong. She could be with child again in two or three moons.'

The men stopped. The emissary said something in a low murmur as though he sensed he was not conducting his conversation in private. I pulled back into the terrace vines and waited until their voices resumed from a distance, getting lost in the sounds of music wafting up the hillside. Stepping out again, eyes knotted to the orange spill of sky, I thought perhaps my sister had had a lucky escape. The Etean royalty was reputed to be a violent, warring breed. King after King had sought to increase their lands and riches. To be promised from birth to an Etean Prince, when their barbaric behaviour towards the female sex was infamous, would have been a fate worse than my own. I was bound to an eleven-year-old Rudeashan Princess, a minor humiliation in comparison. Except I doubted my father's new Queen would have agreed to give her child up to such a contract, even for the peace of two Kingdoms.

Turning to go back, a flash of white on the terrace below caught my attention. My first thought was that someone else was following the emissary, but then I heard a woman's angry voice. She spoke a tongue unfamiliar, which was more than curious considering I had been schooled in all six known languages across the four Kingdoms and was fluent in three. I moved closer to the terrace edge to see better.

A man, reedy and slightly hunched stood only two feet away from a girl with straight dark hair that rippled on the night breeze. Just a glance told me those slim shoulders and erect stance belonged to the Lady Calmi. The man reached for her and she brushed off his hand with another angry snap. I had no idea what was transpiring between them, but at the swish of metal on metal I jumped the seven foot drop, landing several feet away. They both whipped around startled. I almost smiled when I saw it was Lady Calmi who had drawn a knife. The man, three times her age, did not look dangerous enough to hurt a fly. Stooped and awkward in manner, he blinked and flinched at my presence.

'Surely,' I said, raising my sword casually behind my shoulders, 'this is not the night for a lover's tiff?'

In the dusky light, Lady Calmi's piercing gaze did not register the insult at her beauty or propriety. Her composure was as impressive as her figure. Her angry eyes grew coldly disdainful.

'And who is my gallant rescuer?' she said.

I ran a finger over my moustache. True, we had only seen each other once this afternoon from a distance, and now it was semi-dark and I wearing my moustache and farming hat. But there was a sharpness about her. I could not be sure whether she was playing me at my own game, or whether she really did not know.

'My name is of no importance, my Lady,' I said with a flourishing bow.

'That is undoubtedly true,' she retorted. 'Good evening to you.' I chuckled to myself as she picked up the skirt of her long gown and, knife still clenched in her fist, pushed past me along the terrace. Hearing my laugh, she halted. Now only inches from my face, something inside me wound a painful knot. Up close, in the pale light, she was mesmerising. The laughter vanished and the smile fell from my lips. For a moment, I could think of nothing. Her blank stare only made my vapidity worse.

'Should you be walking alone?' I asked eventually. 'Where is your escort?'

'I am perfectly able to defend myself.'

'Really? I had not been informed that Carcuan ladies now trained in self defence.'

'I am not Carucan.' She caught a strand of hair as it flapped into her eyes.

'Where are you from?' She had no accent. And the red royal court was not in the habit of accepting foreign courtiers. As far as I was aware, only Tmàn females were trained from an early age in the art of war. She glanced back at the man. It was so discreet I fancied I'd almost imagined the bow of service, before he slunk backwards into the vine bush shadows. She put away her knife and began walking along the terrace, her pace slow, her body half turned towards me as though expecting my company. I arranged my sword and fell into step beside her.

'Do you always carry a knife?' I enquired.

'You are overly confidant for a farming boy,' she said. 'And the sword does not help your disguise.'

'I had been keeping it hidden,' I answered, defending my intellect in the matter. 'Until I heard you arguing with that man.'

'He is no one.' Another dismissal. Was there anyone Lady Calmi did not think herself above? 'So you are a soldier, avoiding your duties tonight?' she asked. The distain and dismissal had crept back into her. She had already tired of me. No wonder Linx had grown frustrated attempting to thaw her icy veneer. Unlike my friend, I was not convinced there was any soft warmth or glow beneath the ice, only prickles.

'In a certain manner of speaking,' I answered. I had never once given away a camouflage. Not even Linx or captain Rex knew I altered my appearance to wander freely around the Red City. But curiosity as to how this strange girl would react to the truth, got the better of me. 'Perhaps you saw me earlier this evening,' I said casually. 'In some other guise.'

Her eyes narrowed a fraction. She examined me openly and without qualm. Understanding fleeted across her. 'Ah I have been rescued by a Prince,' she said. 'Every girls' dream.' She raised a hand to her breast and gave an exaggerated sigh.

I smiled, though the mockery stung, truth be told. I wondered if during her few weeks at the court, she had already discovered in what little esteem I was regarded by the King. Usually, being Prince and heir to the throne made some impression.

'What does a lady not from Caruca dream of?' I asked.

'Freedom.'

Her word plunged into me. At the same moment, our gazes clashed like two sparring swords. I searched her eyes for more mockery. But how could she have guessed my secret? I longed for freedom: Freedom from the red court gossip and speculation, from my father, from the warrior Queen who had proved him capable of affection, from my future marriage to a Princess I had never met. Freedom to be someone else. I had only two desires: The first, that I would join the Elite army core at the end of the summer and leave the palace. The second, that one day, when my father was dead in battle, or too old to reign, I would prove a better King than he – wiser, stronger, more generous and just. Both ambitions meant shedding my life as the Prince of Caruca and I awaited it impatiently.

Lady Calmi and I continued along the shadowed terrace in silence. In the distant sky, on the southern hillside more lanterns had been released by revellers from the other side of the city. Specks of light danced towards the stars. When we reached the edge of the palace gardens, guarded by soldiers, I bowed to her.

'I would leave you here, my lady.'

She nodded, but continued to stare at me.

'Is something wrong?'

'You are not what I expected,' she said. Coming from her lips, it was difficult to ascertain her intent – compliment or insult. Deciding it mattered neither way, I gave an indifferent smile, and took my leave.

¨¨¨¨

Thanks for reading! This chapter is dedicated to Laura Hidalg who made the awesome cover.