I looked up at the clear sky. Stars shone brightly, but the moon was only a small sliver in the western sky. Dressed as darkly as I was, the darkness was sufficient to conceal my movements. At least, I reasoned, sufficient to put the odds in my favor.

It had been five years since my last attempt to breach the castle walls, five years since I was put on that mockery of a trial, and five years since I had woken up on the edge of a bean field, face to face with foreigners.

I had been walking on a main street for most of my trip, but now that I was getting closer to the castle and the richer homes, it would be far more suspicious for me to be out walking so late at night.

I picked an alley way and paused my movements. I guessed I had only had a handful of minutes until I would reach the palace.

I took a back road, careful to walk slowly. Harsh movements would be far more noticeable to a causal onlooker. I kept my eyes scanning the buildings around me. They were made of stone, most of them, and the high and rather smooth stones made for a difficult climb. Any men that were posted to keep out thieves would most likely be in the front of the buildings, meant only to deter the less serious criminals and slow the professional ones.

Tonight, though, I was no thief. For reasons probably related to vainglory, I considered myself to be something of a personal messenger of the king.

When I had nearly reached the bridge that led to castle, I veered my path to the left. To cross the heavily watched bridge would be professional suicide.

The gap between the clouds of the city and those of the palace were certainly close enough to jump in some areas, but while it was a safer idea, it wasn't safe enough for my liking. I made my way around the back side of the castle.

I waited again in an alley. I was maybe twenty meters from the gap in the clouds, and, crouching down, I used my hand to measure the angle between two of the walls of the palace. I stepped to the right until I was content that I was in the correct place. I dug through my pockets until I found a copper piece and dropped it at my feet. I then moved back into the alley, deeper into the shadows. I would be more than hidden from view from the palace.

A few guards circled the inside clouds every night, and once one of them had passed, it would be a simple feat to get myself into the palace walls.

From behind me, I thought I heard footsteps. I looked back, but the sound was fading. My heart beat in my chest, but if there were any more footsteps, they weren't audible. They were out of my view, and I nodded to myself, satisfied that I was out of theirs. I needed to get on with it.

A figure walked across the clouds near the palace. I watched until I saw the breast plate that marked him most obviously as one of the king's guards. When he was far enough away from my location that it would be impossible for him to hear me, I made my move.

I quickly stepped to the copper piece. Picking it up, I half ran straight to the edge of the clouds. I counted with my steps, thirteen paces to the left.

I dropped down on my stomach before anyone could notice my soft silhouette in the night. I reached my hand under the clouds. There should be a section of the clouds where, instead of the usual solid composition, the clouds were instead a collection of tiny water droplets. They appeared to be the same, but beyond the small, vaporized section, an under-cloud passageway existed that could take me to the palace itself.

I reached around and groped along the edge of the cloud. Solid, solid, solid. I cursed. The length of my stride had probably lengthened since I last had come through this way. I moved myself further to the right, hand still groping.

And there! I felt my hand move through a mist. I had found the opening. I laid myself as close to the edge of the cloud as I could. It was the pitch-black night. A quick memory flashed across my mind. The distance between the clouds of the city and those of the palace was only a bit more than two meters, something that could easily be jumped if one needed to, but between the clouds, the sky gave way all the way down to the earth.

I would be just as dead from a 20-meter fall as I would at 2,000. It was a far cry from encouragement.

My breath was coming louder, and I almost missed the sound of the footsteps picking back up. Someone among the houses behind me shouted, and the footsteps turned into a run. I cursed again, and, holding my breath, I gripped the edge of the cloud and moved myself off the side of the cloud. I used the cloud I had just been laying on to propel myself underneath onto a landing that I knew would be there.

There wasn't enough room to stand up, and I brought myself into a crouch. The footsteps echoed from above, and they brought themselves to a stop. There was faint swearing followed by silence. I wondered how close I had come to being caught, and I wondered why any of the palace guards would be on this side of the chasm. It made more sense for the shout to have come from one of the residents in the houses nearby.

Still aware of the close call, I reached out my right hand until it connected with the wall of the landing. The landing turned into a narrow crawl space that ran around the city side of the palace, then crossed onto the palace side underneath the ice-covered bridge. I would need to enter into yet another passage. From there, I would turn up in a maze of small tunnels that ran through the palace. I would find the king from there.

I crawled the rest of the way to the palace, keeping my hand on the wall to guide myself.

I knew I was under the bridge when the air went from damp to cool. The space under the bridge was always colder. Now, I guessed it was because the bridge had less cloud depth underneath it and was less insulated. Or maybe it was the ice constantly kept cold over top.

Either way, it signaled for me to move my hand to the top of the passageway. The secret entrance to the palace was a well-guarded secret, but, because secrets inevitably get out, the passageway did not lead to any important rooms unless one knew even more.

Finally, I felt above me another veil of mist. It was a small opening, and I stood up through it. It was not impossible to learn of these secrets, but I suspected that those who found out through devious means did not stay in the clouds for very long. I, on the other hand, was told of the passageway years ago from the king himself.

I did not ask why he had told me. I suspected that I did not want to know.

I felt up for a small ledge and pulled myself onto it.

I groaned as I gladly stretched out my legs and shoulders. The under-cloud passageway was tight fitting. Now, in the palace, I could stand fully as I made my way.

The walls were made of stone in the new passageway, but they were impossible to see in the dark. I knew my way, but I kept my hand along the wall for the additional stability. Being the more secretive of the two systems of tunnels in the castle, it led to no more than maybe three rooms. The three rooms belonged to members of the royal family, and when they were not in use, they were locked and heavily guarded. The rest of the royal apartments could not be accessed by either set of tunnels.

I took the rest of the path without thinking. When the passage turned, I expected it. When my foot stepped on the last step of a curved staircase, my next step did not stumble.

The air around me grew less damp as I climbed, and the warm air from the castle replaced it.

I could tell I was getting close. I knew I had walked almost the whole length of the palace, hidden in between the stone walls. When the walkway became straight, I knew I had found the wing of royal apartments.

There was still no way to see anything. I imagined that kings and queens from centuries ago were walking this same path, dressed in robes and carrying their small candle-lit lamps. They would venture into the night, perhaps all the way back to where the two systems of tunnels came together, then back out into the palace through the other.

I shuddered at the thought.

Who was I to walk the path of kings and queens? I never carried lamps through the walls of the palace.

I stiffened as my hand came to the first split in the tunnels. I moved to the right, and there was a wooden door in front of me.

I shouldn't be here.

I put my hand to it, then my ear.

Silence.

I briefly considered opening the door. It was unlocked, but it was customary to leave such personal doorways kempt very particularly. The hinges were oiled so that when the door was opened, it would squeak just loud enough for the occupants to hear, but not enough to alert anyone outside the door. In this way, protection was given to the occupant without revealing the secret passage to the attendants and guards and anyone lurking nearby.

It was the middle of the night, and the room shouldn't be empty. The woman in the room before me was most likely sleeping. There was no telling if she would wake if I opened the door. There was no telling what I would say when she awoke.

I turned away from the door to the queen's room and deeper into the darkness.

I walked with purpose back down the tunnel past the second door and onto the third. I didn't think when I got to the king's door. I realized I was angry, though I couldn't figure as to why that may be.

I threw the door open. It squealed on its hinges and pushed against an elaborate and heavy tapestry. I let the tapestry push the door closed and stepped to the side.

King Syhoven was not sleeping as the hour of night would usually dictate.

Instead he was sitting before a small fire in an elaborate cushioned chair. There was an identical chair next to him, with a table in between, and a rug splayed underneath it all.

The tapestry I had side stepped was to the left of the king, and all of it was embroidered with gold and rubies.

There were two doors in the room, and I knew one led to an antechamber and the other led to a bedroom that was even larger than the room I was in.

Next to the tapestry, I stood frozen. I watched the king, but he hardly moved for many more seconds. His emotions seemed muted and silent, settling on a single tone of damped satisfaction. Unlike the strong, passionate feelings that pressed on my mind and intensified my thoughts, this one seemed to pull at me. It was almost draining.

I wondered if my own muted anger pull at him, this man I hardly knew.

"Rozpalyty," he started, raising a cup of tea from the table to his lips. "You should sit, if you would like."

I didn't want to sit, so swallowed my pride for a brief second and made my way across the room to the second chair. I sat down on the edge of the seat, suddenly finding the rug before the fireplace very interesting to look at.

I was nervous in anticipation, but it was so much different from the meeting before. Before, the meeting was strictly business. I was in a private meeting room, being offered a private job. While the King was frightening all on his own, it had been so familiar. What was different than learning the details from a new client about what Jace and I would need to steal or who Yulimer would need to assassinate.

Now, there was no denying it. I was sitting next to the king in his private rooms in the middle of the night. This was a personal matter, and I had no choice but to follow suit.

"So," the king prompted me, "you have made up your mind."

I was still staring at the rug when I said, "If you can't be bothered to expend any resources on saving the prince of your country, then yes, I have. I'm not going to leave him."

But instead of rising to my less-than-subtle bait, the king sighed, and relief flowed out of him.

"Thank you," he said.

I looked at him, trying to seek out the lie in his emotions, but it was too genuine.

"Since when have you cared," I demanded.

"He may be the prince of this country, but he is also my son." The king's voice was firm. "I want him here and safe."

My face went hot, and I could barely keep from raising my voice.

"Safe?" I hissed incredulously. "Is that what you were thinking when you faked our deaths and left us on the streets? Did safety matter to you when you banished me? Or when I was thrown out of the clouds through a windstorm because of you?"

I threw myself deeper into my chair and crossed my arms. "Did safety matter to you when you son was captured by a King who doesn't even have the right to be in the clouds? Some kind of father you were. Some kind of bold man you are, to call my brother your son."

"You are my daughter too," he tried, but I growled and turned back to the fireplace.

He averted his own eyes to gaze into the fireplace with me, and he sighed.

"Safety is all I have ever cared about. First it was that the northern kingdom might be plotting to destabilize the country, so I faked your deaths. I sent you both away, but they pressed on and eventually saw through it. There was nothing left but to split you up so if it came to the worst, only one of you would be captured."

The banishment, I thought.

But I was not satisfied with his answer. "Wouldn't we have been safer to remain in the palace with you personal guards and such?"

"It was a sound plan until a few months before your dismissal. Do you really think you could have been convinced to return?"

It didn't need to be said. Why would I choose to reside in palace filled with strangers? There was no one for me here. My brother was with me and I was with him, and we had joined a real family.

The life of kings and queens was a loveless one. Their emotions had pushed and pulled, but their feelings were so painfully hidden under masks of false contentment and stilted words.

The constant contradictions between the mental and physical had driven me insane.

"So you let him get captured," I realized.

"With the intention for you to retrieve him, of course."

My voice was barely above a whisper. "With no guarantee that I would."

"There was no other way," he replied confidently. "There was no one else who could be sent that would succeed."

Maybe if you weren't playing a five dice game with a stack of cards, I trailed off in my head.

But it didn't matter what the king theorized about any of it. I couldn't change my mind just to spite him.

"And what makes you so sure I will succeed?"

The king nodded to himself without answering my question. "He is in the separated cells just outside of the northern kingdom's capital. When you retrieve him, bring him to your Red City. You both will be returned here at the next storm."

He looked pointedly at me. "You will need to get yourself back to earth," he said. "There is nothing I can do to help you without someone learning of it."

The king again picked up his tea and sipped at it.

As he put the cup down, he spoke again. "The clouds will be lowered tomorrow. Make use of it."

Between his actions and the finality of his tone, it was obvious that he had nothing more to say.

I stood, making the formal gesture and bowing. When I righted myself, my eyes focused for one on his face. "Your prince may wish to return to the clouds, but he will not come here," I stated.

The king flicked his hand almost carelessly, but his voice was icy. The fire went out in an instant, smoldered under the hard frost now present on the wood. "That is not a decision for you to make."

Oh, the king was bold.

I turned to go, and crossed the room in a few swift steps. As I moved the tapestry aside, the king spoke once more. I froze with my hand on the embroidery, and I didn't turn to his voice.

"You say I won't expend any resources to prompt the release of the prince. Make my decision to send you the right one."

I pulled the iron ring of the hidden door and disappeared behind the heavy fabric. The door snapped shut behind me.

And with the shutting of the door, I was off, racing down the stairs and back into the quiet darkness.

My feet hit dully on the stairs as I descended and thought about the conversation.

The king thought I would succeed, but I felt no comfort from his notion. I wondered if I failed would the King send anyone else, and if I was my brother's only chance.

After a short while the air became the familiar cool of the lower passageway. Before I made the mistake of walking on a patch of mist, I dropped to my knees and felt the floor. I crawled until my hands dropped through an unseen hole in the floor, and I let myself fall through to the main tunnel under the clouds.

I circled my way back through the bridge and around the palace until I reached the end of the passageway.

It was late at night and I still had a few hours until the sun came up. There was no way I could make it safely to earth in the dark, and thoughts swirled on how I could accomplish such a feat even with the light of day. I would have to occupy my time until the sun rose.

It would be no use to wander the streets aimlessly for the next hours before sunlight, and I didn't want to return back home only to give more hard goodbyes.

With the veil of mist to my right and the long passageway behind me, I stretched out on the ground and napped, hoping I would wake up before the sun shed its light. I would need the darkness to sufficiently cover me as I climbed out of the tunnel.