Page 88 of Fallen Nocturne

I look down at the platform below, searching for the familiar pale shape that’s always there. Coral usually watches every training session, sitting at the platform’s edge with her nose pointed skyward, tracking my movements. Sometimes she still tries to jump, though less frequently now. Mostly she just watches, making small chirping sounds whenever Sunstorm and I execute a successful turn.

But today, the platform edge is empty.

My stomach drops. “Coral?”

I scan the training grounds, looking for that distinctive white shimmer of her scales. I don’t see her anywhere. The other wyverns are scattered across their platforms, riders tending to them. None of them is Coral.

“Have you seen Coral?” I ask one of the stable hands as I hurry past.

He shakes his head. “Not since this morning, Your Highness. She was mucking about near the water troughs earlier.”

I try the stables first. Her sleeping area is empty, the straw nest I made for her undisturbed since this morning. The food I left has been eaten, but that could have been hours ago.

“Coral!” I call, my voice echoing through the stable corridors. Several young wyverns lift their heads at the sound, but none of them are mine.

I search the water troughs, but she is not there. The feeding area is empty too, as is the sunny spot behind the barracks where she likes to nap.

My heart begins to pound harder. It’s not like her to wander far. Despite her stubbornness during training, Coral has always been close by, always within sight or sound.

My little one doesn’t have the survival instincts of a normal wyvern. She’s too trusting and gentle. If she’s wandered into the wrong area, if someone mistakes her for a wild creature and hurts her—

“Your Highness?” Garrett approaches hesitantly. “Is something wrong?”

“Have you seen Coral?” I ask the knight, hurrying toward him.

“Oh, the little one?” He nods slowly. “I saw her heading toward the upper city maybe an hour ago. Thought it was odd, but she seemed to know where she was going.”

The upper district. That’s nowhere near the training grounds or her usual haunts. “Which direction?”

He points toward the northern gate, the one that leads down into Völundr proper. “She went through there. Coral walked right through like she had business to attend to.”

How odd…

I start to turn away, but something in Garrett’s expression stops me.

Something is off.

He offers me one of his familiar smiles. It never quite reaches his eyes. There’s always something about my knight, something heavy living just beneath the surface.

A sadness he keeps buried beneath smiles, duty and perfect manners.

He carries it so well, most people would never notice. It worries me.

I reach out and place my hand over his. “Are you all right?”

Garrett looks down at our joined hands, surprise flickering across his face. “Of course, Your Highness.”

“You seem to have a lot on your mind,” I say. “More than you ever let anyone see.”

His smile fades. For a moment, I think he might finally tell me what troubles him. Instead, he lowers his gaze. “I have been thinking about the Aeonians. We exposed their order, but one of them escaped.”

I remember the list I found in the tent. Six names.

Samara. Leafhdraich. Kabur. Thormein. Siullan. Kafrenn.

My memory of what happened is patchy, fragmented pieces that don't always connect. But I remember enough. I remember what happened to them.

Kafrenn died at Arescaine’s hand in the tunnel. Four more fell in the arena. Arescaine killed Samara, my patrons killed Leafhdraich and Siullan. Kabur fell to Rainer, my knights, Shade, and Wolf.