This continent. The words stuck out to Vi like an absent compass rose on a map.
“And where are you from?” Vi asked, trying to keep her voice light. “You have the bright blue eyes of a Southerner.” So blue they almost had hints of purple.
“I am from the south of Mhashan,” she answered easily. “Right along the border. Some Southern blood made it into my family tree.”
“I see.” Vi didn’t trust those unnaturally colored eyes, full of suspicious knowing. But for now, Vi put the sense behind her. She had other things to focus on—like getting a moment with Fiera to discuss the sword.
They stepped out into the royal stables and continued out toward the drawbridge that connected the castle to the city. However, before they could depart, an Imperial soldier blocked their way.
“Your highness, do you require a guard detail into the city today?”
“I already have my guards,” Fiera motioned to Vi and Zira.
Even though Fiera’s unspoken dismissal was clear, the soldier didn’t move. “The Emperor has insisted that you are to be protected at all times.”
“And I have told you that I will be. And I am quite able to protect myself, thank you.” Fiera patted the steel sword on her hip and looked the man up and down. “I’d venture I was training long before you ever even saw a sword.”
He pursed his lips together but managed to squeeze out, “This is an order from the Emperor.”
“And I am the future Empress,” Fiera retorted. “I wish to go out into my city without a pack of soldiers around me. The war is over, sir, and the people should know it.”
“The city is unsafe.”
“What do you know of the city?” Zira asked, a lazy grin on her face. “I think her highness and all her advisors have a clear sense of just how dangerous it is or isn’t.”
“Now, stand aside,” Fiera ordered firmly. “If the Emperor has a problem, he’ll take it up with me.”
“Yes, your highness.” The soldier finally relented and stepped aside. Vi could feel him and the others in his squadron watching as the four women passed.
“Do you think it’s actually dangerous?” Denja asked.
“They’re Southern. Judging by their sunburnt cheeks, they’ll likely try and claim the sun itself is dangerous,” Zira remarked dryly.
Fiera let out a low chuckle. “Perhaps, for soldiers, the city poses some threat. But I want the people to see me among them without Southerners surrounding me. To know that the Mhashan they once knew has not vanished, regardless of its name—and that I am still with them, regardless of mine.”
After a beat of what felt like companionable silence, Vi cleared her throat. “Speaking of Mhashan,” she began delicately. “The Knights of Jadar…”
“Don’t start sounding like Twintle,” Ziera muttered with a roll of her eyes. “The man is relentless.”
“Of course he is. He’s one of the last living commanders of the Knights.” Fiera sighed heavily. “It was an honor he doesn’t want to see stripped.”
Vi’s stomach flipped on the thought and settled the wrong way. She couldn’t recall Lord Twintle in any of her readings or discussions, but that didn’t make him unimportant. From this point on, in Vi’s world, the Knights had devolved into a shadowy, separatist organization that stood against her family.
“I don’t wish to speak about the Knights a moment longer. That is my burden and decision. No need to cloud our otherwise good day with it.” The note of finality in Fiera’s voice brooked no protest. “Denja, can you please outline our goal for this excursion?”
“Certainly, your highness. There are new stores for grains and other supplies brought in by the Empire around where the old wall used to be…”
Vi tried to pay attention to the conversation with half an ear, but her eyes were on the houses around them. The dictates of martial law were being lifted bit by bit; citizens were getting a few more hours each day to be about. But this hour was not one of them, and the city felt like a ghost town.
She glanced over her shoulder, unable to shake the perpetual feeling of someone watching them. The silence in a city so large was eerie—an unwelcome fifth companion.
Slowing, Vi caught Zira’s eye and the woman adjusted her pace until the two of them were side by side. Denja and Fiera took the lead, talking about current stocks and trade. Vi kept her voice hushed.
“Zira, do you feel like someone is watching us?”
“I feel like a thousand someones are watching us.” Zira looked to the upper floors of the buildings around them. Vi saw a curtain abruptly close in one of the windows. “But that is the point of this, as our princess has decreed.”
“Yes but…” Vi couldn’t put her finger on the uneasy feeling that crackled up her spine like the phantom sensation of the red magic of an evil god. It was akin to the nervous energy she’d felt before sailing into Adela’s stronghold. “I can’t shake the feeling thatsomethingis about to happen.”
