“The Wielder dies,” Poppy said. “Happens quite often, actually. Especially now that Rimemere has a wall, and we cannot come pay our respects without getting brands and verbal threats from the kingsmen??—”
“Poppy!” Sonia whispered, lightly nudging her wife. “Quiet.”
“It’s true, is it not?” Poppy crossed her arms. “The wall was uncalled for.”
Sol flicked her gaze to Semmena, who watched her over the rim of his chalice.
Shivers skidded through her. “It’s meant to protect from these Jinn?”
The man directly beside Alix, with sun kissed skin and a long ebony braid, laughed. “I suppose that is what the official reports say.”
“Those demons get through anything,” the Romalian woman—Kenia, Sol had learned—chimed. “They dwell in water. And there is no wall along the coast.”
Memories from the Yavenharrow disaster flashed through her mind. It had truly been incredible the creatures hadn’t found her before the Wielders did.
Sonia seemed to have the same thought, as she leaned on a hand casually, her lashes grazing her cheeks. “Do tell us, Sol. How was life in Graniela? Did you truly live as a commoner?”
It wasn’t lost on Sol how all conversations halted. Of course everyone was interested in that response.
“I—”
Don't say something stupid. What would your mother say? What would Lora say?
She took a steadying breath. “I can’t really say it was a ‘commoner’s’ life, as I had nothing grander to compare it to. But, I loved the simplicity and the town.”
“Did you never feel the pull to us?” Poppy asked. “Didn’t Warren call to you?”
“My dear cousin has yet to do her Awakening, as you all know,” Sawyer added, drinking directly from a pitcher of wine. “A reason why she didn’t need our dear, dear temples.”
They all blanched simultaneously, similar versions of horror on their faces. Semmena’s people, though, laughed.
“So, it is true?” A woman with a scaled dress that might as well have been her skin, cackled, shaking the plate before her with a slap of her hand on the table. “The Yarrow Heir is human?” She let out another deafening caw.
“Unsettled, technically, since she is past fifteen summers,” another person said. “What a disgrace.”
Semmena watched with amusement as Sol tried to suppress an embarrassed flush.
They didn't know.
“We thought this knowledge was distributed,” Nina said, looking to the end of the table.
Samara shrugged. “Oops.”
Hushed murmurs erupted, the nobles leaning to whisper to each other, casting glances her way.
Penny’s words about the Unsettled echoed in her memory from their first meeting.
They say we are bad luck to have around.
“I think it’s a strength, actually.” Sol’s voice was stern. “I’ve lived my whole life without magic as a crutch.”
Sawyer smiled, a small laugh echoing from within her raised pitcher.
Sol continued, ignoring the onlookers, and donning that casual mask, giving her uncle a sweet smile. “I believe my set of expertise will only aid us once I do Awaken.”
“And what are those, Princess?” Gina set her sharp chin on her hand. “Do tell us.”
“Not placing worth on someone’s name or power and seeing them for who they are instead.” Sol stood. “Seeing people not as assets and additions, but as human beings with lives and rights. Supporting those who aren't heard. Using knowledge to heal and not harm.”
