Chapter One
Less than a day after I met Countess Donya, I had fallen in love with her so deeply that I risked my life trying to save her from execution. This was despite being fully aware she was heterosexual and thus would never return my feelings. That probably made me sound like a chump. But there was something about Donya that instantly inspired in me an admiration far deeper than a mere crush. The world would be a better place with her in it.
Also, her future execution was sort of my fault.
Shortly before the disaster, I’d stood at the gates of Arahasnor, the capital city with the same name as our country, handing my papers to a bored guard.
The young, pockmark-faced man gave them a cursory glance before handing them back to me. “Enjoy your stay in the Holy City, Miss Bora,” he said in the tone of someone who’d repeated those words a million times. Then he stopped and looked harder. “Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar.”
I did look like the famous Holy Maiden Ysabel. Though I had no pressing reason to keep my connection to my big sister secret, I didn’t want to deal with the fuss. “I just have one of those faces. I’ve never been to this city before.” That last part was true, at least.
Light snowflakes dropped down on us, with the white sky overhead portending a future storm. High granite walls shielded the city from my view. Tent poles and holes in the dirt, refuse of a refugee camp, lingered around the walls, despite the blight refugees either having returned to the newly restored and green Conollia or movedinside the city. The garden around the walls had been mostly covered by snow, except for a row of determined plants, namely snowdrops and witch hazel.
Since there was no line behind me, I asked, “Could you give me directions to Saint Kald’s School for the Gifted?” That was my first mistake. In creating this minor delay, I sealed my fate, though I had no way of knowing at the time.
A flash of interest appeared in the guard’s eyes. “Are you a new gifted?”
“Yes. A very late bloomer.” Most gifts appeared in children, but I’d only developed mine at age twenty-four. Or, more likely, I just never noticed it before. Either way, the law required me to report to the school for a brief training course. That’s what brought me to this city. Officially, this was to ensure I had my powers under control. Unofficially, it gave the kingdom a chance to recruit the strongest for the World Games. No chance of that for me, given what my gift was.
“What can you do?” the guard asked.
I placed my mittened hands over my cheeks to fend off the nipping cold. Even with the late afternoon sun overhead, it was still freezing. “When I’m dropped from a great height, I bounce.”
He blinked. “I don’t think I’ve heard of that one before.”
“It’s not common.” There was also a good chance that most of the similarly gifted never noticed their ability as long as they never fell from a high location.
“Does that mean objects bounce off your skin? Could you block arrows or swords?”
“I only wish. That would be far more useful.” I was clumsy and prone to bumping into things. “No, if I tripped and fell right now, I’d still get hurt. For some reason, it only works when I’m free-falling through the air. I haven’t experimented with how great a fall is necessary, for obvious reasons.”
He chuckled. “Completely understandable. It’s a pity. I was going to ask you to demonstrate for me if you could. We’d have tried to recruit you into the guard if you could block weapons. Oh well. Saint Kald’s School for the Gifted is located next to the palace, so if you follow—”
Horse hooves thundered down the road, cutting off the guard’s directions. When I glanced over my shoulder, a small army of guards marched toward us, surrounding a bright red carriage. They flew the black-and-white striped flag of Sherda, a neighboring country.
The guard stood up straighter. “Pardon me, Miss Bora. I need to alert my superiors at once.”
“Do you think our new queen has arrived?” I asked.
“Almost certainly.” A look of shared excitement and anxiety passed between us.
As the guard stepped aside, I entered through the bronze gate. The town square spread out before me. Roads extended from a fountain with a statue of Holy Healer Noretho. The surface had frozen, and no water currently poured from the cup in the dead boy’s hands. Already, people were lining the road or running forward to stand on the fountain basin for a better look at the approaching procession. Feet pounded, and shouting filled the air. I decided to take advantage of my early arrival to claim a good spot directly in front of the road, next to the fountain. That was my second mistake.
Naturally, everyone was curious. The kingdom of Arahasnor had been under a cloud of uncertainty ever since the murder of the king, the queen, and a large swath of nobility by former Head Cardinal Jiang, a necromancer who had been hell-bent on destroying the city and taking power. Our only heir was a six-year-old princess, the king’s much younger sister, who’d been exiled for mysterious reasons when she was only a baby. Unofficially, everyone knew that the old childless queen had been removing a threat to her power. After the murders of the royal couple, it had taken a long time to negotiate the princess’s return from Sherda. Various rumors had been flying around the country: our queen-to-be was a kind and generous girl, she was a miniature tyrant who whipped her maids, she was slow in the head. In truth, no one knew anything about the child who would control our futures as soon as she came of age.
Chattering people packed tightly against me, and the dusty winter air made it hard to breathe as our exhales melded together in white puffs. Every last cobblestone of the town square had someone standingon it. I nearly got shoved straight into the road. I grabbed the statue’s arm to steady myself.
Foot guards came through the gate in two neat lines, with knights on horseback coming next. They wore white uniforms with black hats and gloves. Each sword scabbard was made of ebony lacquer. Gemstones jangled on the harnesses of the horses. The body odor of the crowd did not quite overpower the earthy scent of so many horses close together.
A crimson carriage rolled behind the knights, crunching over the light snow. It passed so close that I glimpsed a child through the window. Chestnut curls framed a pale face with a pointed nose. She must be the princess, for who else would ride in the carriage? But she had too many stress lines on her face for someone so young. Her brown eyes stared at me with a dead look I’d last seen in the blight refugees passing through my village. My heart pinched.
An exclamation came from inside the carriage, then the sound of a blow. The door popped open, and the princess tumbled out of the carriage.
My body moved faster than my brain. I leapt forward and caught the girl. We both crashed into the dirt sideways. With such a short fall, my gift was useless. I’d rolled slightly to tuck her head into my chest to protect her. My joints moaned in pain. The force of our fall was sure to leave a bruise on my shoulder and my left side.
I gazed up at the sun, stunned and slightly blinded. The princess’s whimpering brought me back to my senses. I stood up and set her on her feet. “Are you all right, kid—um—Your Highness?”
The cheering and applauding crowd drowned out my question. The princess gazed up at me with wide, frightened eyes. I’d been nervous she would take offense at a commoner touching her, even to save her from a nasty fall. But she looked more scared of me than I was of her. Then, to my surprise, she threw her arms around me and hugged me.
