Free The Immortal Heights by Sherry Thomas

Master Haywood was heinous, and she would not allow another moment of it to pass unrectified.
    Lady Callista had listened quietly, seeming to pay attention, but then, with Iolanthe in midsentence, she’d raised her wand.
    That was the end of that meeting. The memories of Lady Callista, old and new, had returned to their vault deep in her mind, and Iolanthe had awakened the next morning, aching and upset, and had thought it was only because of her despair over Master Haywood and her increasing distress over her own future.
    â€œAre you all right?” came Kashkari’s soft voice.
    She realized that she’d been staring at the ceiling of the cave. Something about the situation with Lady Callista bothered her—something besides her mother’s callous treatment of Master Haywood. But she couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was.
    She sat up. “I’m fine. How long did I sleep?”
    â€œAbout three hours.”
    The cave, which opened to the west, was now filled with a golden light. She noticed the two-way notebook in Kashkari’s lap. “Have you heard from Amara and your brother, by the way?”
    â€œYes, from both—they are safe and regrouping,” he answered—but did not meet her gaze.
    Was it because he did not want to reveal his inner thoughts as he spoke of the one he loved and the one she loved? Or was it something else?
    â€œWhat about Mrs. Hancock? Anything from her?” Mrs. Hancock, special envoy of Atlantis’s Department of Overseas Administration stationed in Mrs. Dawlish’s house, had turned out to be a staunch enemy of the Bane and their secret ally.
    â€œNothing from her. I hope she’s all right.”
    â€œI wonder if West has been discovered missing yet,” she said slowly.
    West, a senior boy who bore an uncanny resemblance to the Bane, had been abducted from his resident house, setting off the chain of events that led to Titus and Iolanthe’s abrupt departure from school.
    â€œThat we don’t have to worry about, for now. Mrs. Hancock set up a number of otherwise spells. People at school believe him to be on extended leave. His family thinks he can’t get away from school for various reasons.”
    Kashkari still didn’t look her in the eye. What was the matter with him?
    He closed his notebook. “Do you know anything about the Commander’s Palace?”
    She supposed it was natural enough for him to be thinking about the Bane’s stronghold, since it was their eventual destination. “Yes, a few things Titus told me.”
    She related what she knew—the fortress’s location in the uplands of Atlantis, the rings of defense that surrounded it, the wyverns and armored-chariot-carried colossal cockatrices that crisscrossed the air above, ever vigilant on behalf of the Bane’s safety.
    â€œAnd how did Titus learn everything?”
    She brought up the rupture view that resulted from Titus’s interrupted Inquisition and the spy Prince Gaius, Titus’s grandfather, had sent into Atlantis many years ago.
    â€œThat’s remarkable,” mused Kashkari. “Atlantis receives no diplomatic delegations on its own soil and issues no visitor visas. And I hear that floating fortresses guard the entire coastline, watching for any approaching intruders. How did this spy get in?”
    â€œI don’t know. I assume he snuck in somehow.”
    As they would.
    Kashkari nodded, seemingly deep in thought. Then he rose to his feet. “Shall we get going then?”

CHAPTER 6
    TITUS POSSESSED A ONE-TIME VAULTING range of three hundred miles, a rare gift. But such a gift was not terribly useful unless the world was a network of nodes he had visited in person, each node less than three hundred miles apart from the next nearest connection point—vaulting was only accurate when the destination could be visualized from personal memory.
    After he arrived at Eton, at age thirteen, he set out to