The training rooms are located in the higher towers of the palace. Through the windows of one, I spot white spires disappearing past the wall of snow battering against the black stone like a ram. The ice has crystalized and whips into the air, tossing and turning in frozen waves. The world beyond these walls, the people I left behind and the life I wish to maintain, are not my focus.

I pass through unfamiliar hallways. The only difference between here and the lower levels of the palace—there are people here. Luminaries. I spot them easily, and the tether inside my body does too. Though they hardly regard me with anything more than a passing glance, I sense their presence before they turn the corner.

Some are like me. Or Wyetta. Millicent. Varying shades of white, silver, and black hair stride through the halls in clusters. Fidibi was right when she said there aren't any schools around here for her to attend, but I stumble upon many classes that don't bother with teaching these children how to write, read, or kick a ball. Each is learning magic.

Magic never had a smell or a physical embodiment. But with so much of it around, magic smells like summer. Balmy and sweet with the scent of warm hay. Flower Foothills and swaying grasses. I never thought magic could get more beautiful until enough of it is gathered in one room, practically suffocating. It's radiating, to say the least.

Besides classrooms, I come across packed dining halls with enough tables stretched over the floors that there isn't enough room to walk. If there aren't hundreds of bodies living in this palace, I must be seeing double. There are so many—Luminaries, servants, witches, wizards. Every walk of life hides in the north, away from prying eyes.

Double doors lead out to small courtyards where students bundle themselves in their hoods, tucking their chins into their coats. A small boy melts the ice off the stone, skin growing hot. Two taller, lanky students applaud him from behind. They dance on their toes, desperate to go back inside. I am not allowed to go where they travel. The Void Queen told me not to step outside, not without her, and I won't dare threaten to step out into one of the stone courtyards to discover if she means that as well.

I've already felt the heat of one Terravale hand. I don't desire to feel another.

As much as I don't want to think about him, Cloak would have loved this place. The comradery of the students working together to train their powers is like nothing I have ever seen. They instruct each other—teachers stand back and fold their hands over their fronts, listening to technique and correction. Cloak isn't a Luminary, he's a far cry from one, but any warrior can appreciate work put in by others to further their own goals.

Also, the prince favors the cold. He would be one of the foolish students desperate to stand outside just to feel the ice prick his pointed ears. I smile at the thought of him dragging me out there with him just so he can listen to someone complain while he is enjoying himself. If he makes me run in the woods, I have no doubt he'd do that too.

I round a corner quickly, nearly running into a group of students wearing similar outfits as myself. A boy that looks to be around my age skitters to the side, smiling awkwardly before jogging back to his group. They all look so...happy to be here. Do they realize how the rest of the kingdom fares? Luminaries are killed around every corner, and they're living freely here. In the Void. Wyetta protects them, their magic, their identities. I had no idea this palace was so populated; I expected empty hallways and plummeting temperatures before I ever thought there would be living, breathing Luminaries here.

Then again, this isn't unlike her. She wouldn't live here alone without defense in the thousands. If she brought these forces to the capital, Millicent wouldn't stand a chance. Exole would fall, the entirety of Rivian shortly after.

Each door has a different number. As they trail higher, I squint harder at the carved shapes. 427, Fidibi told me. I'm not even close. Loosening a grumble, I push towards one of the doors, hoping to find a trainer on the other side when someone sneezes. Loudly.

In a quiet hallway, such a sound ricochets off the windows—practically shaking them. My back tightens, spine chilling. I look over, towards the source of the sound, and a seennouk marches towards me. I swallow deeply.

His deep blue wings trail behind him, tucked in tight against his spine. They're larger than any set I have ever seen and just as beautiful. Gentle arches of feathers crest over his broad shoulders and transcend all the way to the tips of his heels. Magnificent.

Suddenly, his brows furrow in my direction, and I realize I have been staring for a moment too long. Too late. He has me pinned to remember, and to my great displeasure, he heads directly for me. As he comes closer, I notice the unsettling burn over the left side of his face; the skin having healed in the only way it knew how. Rough lines of damage course down his jaw and disappear underneath the collar of his uniform, similar to my own.

"What are you doing?" he asks in a deep, conforming tone. "Don't you have classes to attend? Field training doesn't start for another two hours."

I open my mouth to speak, but no words come to mind. Pointing towards the door, my tongue thickens, throat drying. Panic shoots through me. "I...uh...the Void Queen—I'm supposed to—"

"Are you the new Luminary?"

An embarrassing squeak of laugh departs from my mouth, sounding more like someone let the air out of my lungs. "Yes, I just recently arrived."

"Great. Come with me. I was just on my way to retrieve you from your chambers." He struts ahead, leaving me behind.

He walks fast enough that the cherry blond hair reaching his shoulders, parted down the middle and perfectly straight except for being flipped out at the bottom, blows behind his shoulders. I look back and forth from one end of the hall to the other. Am I supposed to follow him?

"Hurry!" he shouts without looking back at me. "We don't want to waste valuable time standing around!"

That answers my question, then. I jog to catch up to him, but walk at his shoulder instead of at his side. I don't feel like an equal, so I shouldn't walk like one. His powerful strides are quick, lengthy, and calculated like he learned how to walk this way—trained himself to perfect each step. He hasn't spoken much, yet I'm already intimidated.

I steal a glance at him, at his ivory skin and hooded chestnut eyes. Actually, every part of his face seems to droop in a similar manner. His nose sags downward, and I suspect that his mouth isn't always tugged this tight into a frown, and when it's not, the corners still reach for his jaw to express displeasure.

"What are we doing today?" I ask, jogging to keep up with him. He takes staircases like they're slides.

"We will train with the Void Queen. Rather, you will. She wants to see the progress you have made over the past three years," he responds harshly like I should already know this without him having to explain it.

I hardly know how I got here, let alone what I'm supposed to do. "She won't be very impressed. I kept everything hidden to save my life."

"You're not the first."

He takes a corner quickly, then widens his path. I hardly notice until I take the same corner at a too-sharp angle and nearly run into a servant pushing a cart of towels and clothes. She smiles at me sheepishly, and I scurry along before this man leaves me behind again. How can one walk so fast? He's not even out of breath.

Once again at his side, I glance over his left shoulder at the burn marks trailing down his neck, his cheek, and into his hairline. Most of his blond hair has grown back thinner from whatever hurt him so, but he doesn't hide it. The skin is permanently scrunched, like it tried to contort back to its normal size, only to fail miserably and live as bumpy, uneven flesh for the rest of his life.

"Who are you?" I dare to ask. When he glances over his shoulder at me, arching an annoyed brow, I cough. "I mean, what's your name. Sir. Or should I just refer to you as a seennouk with large wings?"

He lets out a squawk of frustration, mumbling something about my incompetence underneath his breath. "Zikkora Rinorrian. I'm a Luminary Trainer at the Void Palace; I work through power hurdles to better improve strengths and remove weaknesses. I'll analyze you to mold you into a better Luminary."

I spent enough years in Gudgeon to know something isn't right. Rylan didn't influence me much, but he used to tell me that everyone has a goal, whether cruel or genuine. Once they latch onto that goal, they won't stop until they get what they want, and even then, small successes might not be enough. Goal-seekers use what—and who—they wish without looking back.

Why would the Void Queen wish to do this? The idea seems so simple, that of training and learning to use what she gave me. I'm not here for an alliance, I didn't come willingly. Making me stronger is creating an enemy and expecting them not to attack once given the right resources. Before her voice can echo into my thoughts, telling me she knows everything, I force it away and try to think of something else.

The Void Queen's presence in my conscience disappears with a glowering pout. What she did to thousands of innocents doesn't grant trust, it never will. She acted without consent and ruined lives. I can't trust her, simply because I know it's wrong to do so. Yet these people living in the Void Palace—sharing a home with her—must see a flicker of light beyond the trials she overcame to reach this point. That of taking down a wall that keeps her territory away from Exole and the rest of Rivian. Protecting the people. Protecting the queen.

Zikkora leads me to a closed door with '427' carved onto a metal plate on the door. No wonder I couldn't find it, I was on a completely different floor of the palace than I should have been. He wastes no time and shoves the door open, taking those long and fast strides into the room. My focus doesn't go to the statues protecting the outer border of the circular room, nor the domed glass ceiling over my head.

The outer walls looking to the south—they're completely glass. I practically float towards them, making a bee-line for the only escape I have aroundblack stone. My heart aches to see them beyond the chaotic, never-ending storm rippling through these northern mountains. Not out of natural occurrence; the Void Queen keeps her Luminary power ripe and stretched taut by maintaining the storm swirling over our heads. No one can find her hiding place if they don't know where to look.

In the glass, I spot my reflection. My heart aches at the resemblance to Castiel, even farther now that I wear Luminary skin. But it wasn't just our hair color and eyes that kept us relevant, the very nature of our smiles and our frowns are nearly identical. I see him in me, laughing at something Chaska said. How I long to see her too.

The door opens on the other side of the room. An excited gasp forces away my tears. "Little elf, Marie!" the Void Queen exclaims. "You look absolutely beautiful. Fidibi did well."

Grasping the idea that she just gave me a compliment, I turn on my heel and try to think of the right thing to say. But what are the right words for someone that holds you hostage?

Out of instinct, my hand flies to my chest to wrap around the raven pendant. My fingers curl helplessly into the fabric of my coat, cinched around the waist, and buttoned nearly to the throat. That's right, she took it from me. She stole what didn't belong to her, a token of royal lineage, and I want it back. And I say as such. "I want my necklace back," I blurt, surprised by the surge of dignity that comes with the words.

She laughs like I'm the most amusing thing she has ever seen. A court jester that just made a joke. "You can have your necklace back once you succeed." She sticks her fist out towards me and opens it wide. The pendant leaps from the dark, dangling from her middle finger, and I resist the urge to leap for it. She dangles it to me like a predator waiting to strike prey.

I know not to go for it. If she wants me to earn my right to have back a personal belonging, I'll have to do what she requests.