Lyana snapped her wings, freeing them from their snug position against her back, and stretched them to their full ivory glory. She pumped them once, twice, three times to float above the bed. “Now I’m hovering.”
Cassi rolled dramatically onto her back, a black-and-white speckled wing falling over the edge of her bed as she moved, and offered Lyana a sleepy, though still effective, glare. “What could you possibly want so early in the morning?”
Lyana shifted her head to the left, staring through the crystal wall of the palace at a sky tinged lavender by the rising dawn, then turned back to her friend. “Come on,” she grumbled. “Don’t tell me you forgot what day it is.”
“How could I possibly forget when it’s all I’ve been hearing about for weeks?” Cassi paused for effect. “But waking me up with the sun won’t make the day come any faster.”
At that, Lyana put her hands on her hips, unperturbed, and smiled—a wicked sort of smile her best friend undoubtedly recognized. “It will if we sneak out to the sky bridge.”
Cassi blinked twice, expression not changing. “Are you serious?”
“Am I ever not serious?” Lyana asked innocently. Cassi opened her mouth to respond but was cut off. “On second thought, don’t answer that. I mean it. I can’t sit here and twiddle my thumbs all day while the other houses make their way to the palace. I’ll go crazy. Crazier. And you have to come with me. You have to. Even if just to keep me out of trouble… Well, more trouble.”
Shaking her head, Cassi winced. “I should have seen this coming.”
Lyana nodded. “Yes, you should have.”
“Ana…” her friend whined.
But the use of her nickname would not change Lyana's mind, not today of all days. “Just get up, all right? I brought our furs and our hunting gear. Nothing will happen. But Elias is only on his shift for another thirty minutes, so we have to go now, or we’ll miss our chance.”
“Elias? Really?” Cassi snorted, shaking her head. But she eased to a seated position and flexed her wings, awakening her tired muscles.
“He’s my friend,” Lyana said with a shrug, tossing the extra furs onto the mattress before slipping her own around her wing joints and tying the openings at her shoulders.
“He doesn’t know how to say no to his princess is more like it,” Cassi huffed, but grabbed the clothes and started changing.
Lyana watched her, smirking. “Few people do.”
Cassi snorted again as she pulled on her pants and laced her boots. “Let’s go before I change my mind. I’m already beginning to overheat in all these layers.”
Not needing to hear any more, Lyana turned and marched toward the door, the bottom tips of her wings barely grazing the floor. The air in the palace was always warm and slightly humid, but in clothes meant for the frigid tundra outside, she found the temperature oppressive, heavy in a way that made her feathers itch. She slid one of the double doors open an inch, peeking through the crack toward the curving hall outside and the atrium beyond. The palace was a tall, ovular dome, with the rooms corkscrewing up along the outer perimeter, leaving a hollow central core for easy flight. The exterior walls were made from translucent crystal stones, allowing the sun to shine through and trapping the heat inside. But in order to maintain a proper seal, there were only two ways in and out of her home—and both were located at the very bottom of the structure. In a few hours, the palace core would be bustling with movement. Right now it was, for the most part, empty.
Perfect, Lyana thought, biting back a grin.
Turning, she found Cassi over her shoulder, eerily silent as usual even in movement, and whispered, "Let's go."
Her friend nodded, somewhat reluctantly. It was still a nod.
Lyana pulled the door fully open and sprinted into the hallway, then dove over the railing and tossed her wings wide in one quick motion. The air whistled as it whooshed through her feathers, her dove wings not nearly as stealthy as the owl wings following behind her, but still doing the trick. The breeze created by her body whipped her clothes as she plummeted to the floor. Luckily, she had bundled her tightly braided hair into a knot atop her head earlier that morning, so it was no bother. In fact, there was nothing she loved more than the stinging kiss of the wind against her cheeks.
Cassi flew past her as easily as she always did.
Lyana tried to hold back a frown when her friend threw a goading look over her shoulder, but failed. Cassi’s owl wings were predatory, made for a quick attack and nearly vertical as she dropped in a straight line toward the ground. Lyana's wings were meant for maneuverability and agility, not for hunting. So, although she soared as quickly as she could, keeping the flapping to a minimum, there was no way she could beat Cassi in a rapid descent. And Cassi knew it.
“What took you so long?” her friend teased from the shadows as she waited with crossed arms on the mosaic floor at the base of the palace.
The colorful stones seemed dull in the early morning haze, but in a few hours they would sparkle. The floor had been designed to mirror the sky above. At midday, when bright rays spilled through the apex of the dome, the crystal palace became radiant with the power of the sun.
Lyana ignored her friend and spun toward the discreet door nestled on the northwestern side of the room. It was the only discreet door there. The other four, positioned at north, south, east, and west, all towered at least thirty feet high and were impossible to open without alerting the entire palace. Though, of course, that was the whole purpose. One led to the banquet room, one to the sacred nest, one to the arena, and one to the official entryway, where an indoor market was held every day to sell goods and create a sense of community. But Lyana didn’t want official, she wanted secret, so she ran her fingers along the wall, searching for the telltale groove of the hidden back door. And…
Got it, she thought as she pressed, hearing a click.
The door swung open, revealing a narrow, dark passage, built from limestone like the interior walls instead of lucent crystal. The hidden route was courtesy of a former king with a paranoid streak unnecessary in a land that had been at peace for hundreds of years—but Lyana wasn’t complaining, when it made sneaking out of the palace for a few hours that much easier.
“This place always makes me feel claustrophobic,” Cassi muttered.
Lyana grabbed her friend’s hand because, to be honest, she’d always felt the same way. The ceiling was barely two feet above her head, the walls weren’t wide enough to spread her wings, and though a handful of oil lanterns lit the space, everything felt cramped, especially to bodies made for open air.
“We’ll be outside soon,” she said. An undeniable excitement pulsed through the words. As much as Lyana loved her home and understood the need to remain indoors in such a hostile, cold environment, she’d choose the wintry bite of open air over the palace walls any time.
“Are you sure about that?” Cassi couldn’t help but wonder.
Lyana frowned, shaking her head. “We’re back to this?”
“Well,” her friend drawled, “I just remembered that I ran into Elias with your brother last night, right before bed. Exactly how many cups of hummingbird nectar did you have to plug into him before he agreed to this little plan of yours? Five? Ten? He was flying in zigzags when we left him.”