The Girl King (The Girl King #1)(95)

As he cast his eyes about for where he might find drinking water, there was movement in the doorway; a swift, gray blur pushing past the white linen curtain that hung there.

Nok jumped, then flinched in pain. When he looked back, whatever had been there was gone, though the curtain still swayed in its wake.

He took an exploratory step forward. Then another.

Behind the curtain, the hall was empty and massive and gray, so gray. The side of the corridor on which he stood was punctuated with curtained doorways like his, while the other was let with open archways taller than trees. Each had a delicate, spindly banister carved at its base like stone vines.

The ceilings here were higher than they had been in his room, and it struck Nok that they looked not so much made from stone, as cut into it. As though the building in which he stood were carved in relief out of the side of a mountain.

He went to one of the archways. Sticking his head out over the balustrade, he saw he was at least partially correct: the building was embedded in a steeply ridged mountain. Close to the base of the mountain, a manmade section flared out, connecting to a temple erected just below. The temple was blocky and four-sided, with sides that sloped slightly inward toward the top. A tepid breeze tousled his hair, threw it almost playfully over his eyes. He brushed the strands back, flinching at the pain that shot through his side when he moved his arm. The air felt neither cold nor warm, as though it were the exact temperature of his body. He felt light-headed.

He backed away from that dizzy edge, then froze.

At the end of the hallway stood the wolf.

His wolf. He couldn’t say how he knew for certain, but he did, sure as he knew his own name, or the back of his hand, or the sound of his sister’s voice.

For a long moment, neither of them moved. The wolf blinked at him, black eyes languid and peaceful, and Nok . . . felt it as though he himself had blinked.

Come to me, he thought.

Footsteps rang out from the other end of the hall, voices bubbling in their wake. Nok whipped his head around just as Nasan turned the corner, followed by a tall young man whose face Nok recognized but could not place. They stopped short, seeing him.

His sister looked him over once and grinned. “Brother,” she said. The young man just inclined his head politely.

Nok looked back to where his wolf had stood, but it was gone.

“You slept long enough,” Nasan said as she and the young man walked toward him.

Nok stepped to meet them. “Where’s Lu? Is she all right? Did—”

“Nokhai.” The young man was smiling as though he hadn’t noticed Nok’s panicked rudeness. “I am Prince Jin of the Yunian Triarch. Princess Lu is fine.”

Relief swept over his body like cool water. “Can I see her?”

Prince Jin’s brow furrowed. “Certainly, at some point, though right now I think it may be difficult to—”

“Why?” Nok demanded, the word emerging harsher than he intended.

Nasan placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. I’ve been with her this whole time. She’s just being dressed by some waiting ladies—”

“Ladies in waiting,” Prince Jin supplied helpfully.

Nasan cast him a wry look. “—or whatnot. Anyway, she’s not wearing clothes, is what the guy’s trying to tell you.”

Prince Jin blushed at her assessment but continued, “Princess Lu has requested to speak in open court before the Triarch.”

Nok frowned. “That’s you, you said.”

“Me,” the prince agreed. “Well, one of three. I’m the Warrior, my sister Vrea, the Oracle, and my brother, Shen, the Steward. The Steel, Silver, and Gold Stars, respectively.”

Nok touched his side gingerly. Like all Ashina children he had learned something of the Yunian government growing up. Right now, though, with his head swimming, and no grasp on how he had gotten where he was or how long he’d been there, he was having a difficult time recalling the finer points. “Are we your prisoners?” he asked warily.

Prince Jin’s eyebrows shot up. “No, certainly not.”

“Is Princess Lu a prisoner?”

“Not at all.”

Nasan’s hand squeezed at his shoulder. “Relax, brother. They’ve been nothing but good to us. Fed us, let us bathe in their hot springs, gave us an apartment big enough to house our entire Kith. Patched you up faster than I would’ve thought possible, too, with their energy healing. You’ve only been out for a couple days, you know.”

“I didn’t know,” Nok mumbled, rubbing his head. The surprise of waking up in this place was wearing thin, leaving only exhaustion in its wake.

“Prince Jin here was just giving me a tour of the grounds,” his sister continued. “We passed the hospital wing of the palace, and I thought I’d check in on you.”

“If you’re feeling well enough, you could join us,” the prince suggested. “We can locate you a wheeled chair if you’d like.”

Nok gave a quick shake of his head. His side hurt some, but his legs ached worse from lying still for two days. “It’s fine. I want to walk.”

“Excellent.” The prince nodded. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had visitors.”

Nok studied Prince Jin guardedly. He was young—most likely no more than a few years older than himself—tall, handsome. He had the most open, earnest face Nok had ever seen. It was almost unnerving, the way the other boy’s sun-warm brown eyes sought his own, seeming to beseech him for his trust. And won it almost instantly.