“Come on out,” said the soturion. “We know you’re in there.”
With a heavy sigh, Auriel pressed his forehead to mine, his lips just a breath away from my mouth. I gripped his hip, and his eyes opened, suddenly locked with my own. My memory flashed to that day on our ashvan, a thousand years ago, Auriel’s eyes hooded. Asherah’s desire—my desire, pooling between my legs. My throat went dry.
“Look what we found,” said the first soturion, speaking with an unusually high-pitched voice. “Having some fun?”
The second one laughed. “Do you think he’ll share?”
Auriel snarled under his breath, but then whispered, “Let them see your hair.”
Their footsteps approached, and within seconds, two sets of hands grabbed his arms, hauling him off of me as he cursed and shouted.
The second soturion who had the beady eyes of the Bastardmaker, and an unkempt blond beard with scraggly hair, pulled a blade against Auriel’s neck.
The first one, with the higher pitched voice, stalked toward me, a knife in his hand, pointed at me. He wrapped his fingers around my neck, the edge of his blade, dirty and rusted skimmed across my jaw and then to the hood of my cloak. I stiffened. He pushed it back, revealing my new golden blonde hair.
The soturion smiled in approval, twirling a lock around his unwashed finger. “Pretty.” He grinned, his disgusting breath making me want to gag. But on the plus side, he’d let his dagger move. With my neck no longer in danger, I swatted his arm away with barely any effort. I had my sword withdrawn a second later.
The moment I made my move, Auriel did as well, easily head-butting his captor. The soturion’s knife fell to the ground, and Auriel swiped it, pressing him back against a tree. He used his free hand to withdraw the soturion’s sword. A second later, he’d whacked him over the head with the hilt.
The soldier collapsed instantly.
And almost at the exact same moment, mine fell, too.
I gasped, out of breath, and Auriel rushed to me, wrapping me in his arms.
“Meka! ” he said, his eyes scanning me up and down. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “Truly. Auriel that was brilliant—having them see my hair first.”
“They should be out for a while now,” he said, spitting on the soldier who’d fallen at my feet. “Disgusting shits.” He craned his head back, his lip curling in disgust. “We should take their horses.”
“I don’t think flying’s a good idea,” I said. “We’d be noticed too easily—especially in the daylight.”
“But we can ride them on the ground. Get us into town— it’ll be faster than walking, and it will slow those bastards down after they wake.”
I nodded. “That’s actually a good idea.”
He winked. “I have them from time to time. We just need to keep our glamour up. But once there we can start listening for any stories of recent akadim sightings. See if we can find any clues leading us to Rhyan. And by the time these two wake up and return to their post, we’ll be long gone. They’ll never find the two blondes who snuck away from patrol.” He tugged gently on my hair. “You actually look good in this color.”
I scoffed, highly doubting that was true.
But his eyes softened. “You’ve had it before. Other lives.” He pressed his lips together but then his gaze rolled over one of the fallen soturi, and he grimaced. “Let’s get some supplies.”
He removed the man’s dagger, and then started picking all the Valalumir stars off his belt. I followed suit. We relieved both soturi of all their weapons—and their money too, for good measure—then we hopped onto their ashvan, and rode down into Korteria.
It was late afternoon when we arrived on the edge of Vrukston, a small town at the foot of the hills. Auriel and I slowed our horses, moving carefully through a tiny woodland.
Soturi filled the streets—not surprising since nearly every man in Korteria became a soturion. There were hardly anymages in the country—which was partially because they didn’t respect them. But also because of their geographical position. They were landlocked with both of the southern Afeyan countries. Their western border was shared with the human lands, and their northern and eastern borders were up against three other Lumerian countries. It was the water of the Lumerian Ocean that strengthened our magic, that let it work. And while they weren’t the only ones on the western front, they certainly seemed to have embraced their fate the most—not even attempting to bring more magic into their daily life. The construction of waterways bringing in ocean water would have easily solved the problem. But they hadn’t even done that, they’d chosen to fight instead.
Looking more closely, I could see the mentality extended to nearly every aspect of their life. Two women walked briskly carrying two large buckets of water.
And in a nearby open stall, another woman sat weaving cloth. No use of magic at all. Even the buildings were constructed far more roughly than any I’d seen at home or in the other cities and countries I’d visited. The homes were shorter, the walls sometimes uneven, and lacking any sort of finessed design.
Magic hadn’t been used to build them, but actual physical labor. And if I were to bet, I was sure that we wouldn’t find any mages inside the town.
It made the Emperor’s recitation of the law to me after my Revelation Ceremony all the more infuriating. Because he’d claimed I needed magic to be part of our society according to his twisted interpretation of the law. Of course, the purpose was to punish me and my Ka. But still, seeing the lack of magic now was infuriating.
Auriel dismounted and came to the side of my ashvan, taking my hand and helping me down. My hand tingled wherewe’d touched, and I quickly brushed my palm against my cloak, peering ahead.
