“The smart thing to do would be to go home and sleep.”
We all turned to see my mother step out of the shadows.I’d quite forgotten she was here, but she must have been waiting quietly for our conversation to finish.Now she gestured to the large water clock on the other side of the throne room.It measured time by how much water had drained from one chamber into the next.“It’s almost dawn,” my mother pointed out.“The Zulenii will travel today and arrive sometime tomorrow.If I were you, I would rest, eat and train.His travel weariness will be to your benefit.”
“Yes, Lady Aine,” my sisters murmured.I had no doubt a few of them didn’t much care for my mother, but it was hard to argue when she made a good point.
My sisters dispersed at that point, leaving the throne room.My mother and I made to follow, just as Lord Ashe returned.“Lady Mara, I hoped you would still be here.Your father requests your presence.”I glanced at my mother, but she shook her head to indicate she knew no more than I.
“Yes, my lord,” I said after a moment’s hesitation.I accompanied him behind the king’s dais, where a door led to my father’s private chambers.Behind me, I heard the patter of feet and glanced over my shoulder to see the two she-wolves right behind me.I tensed, never comfortable being close to the large, deadly animals, though I held them in awe.Lord Ashe opened the door to the king’s private chamber, and the wolves pushed past me.Sometimes my siblings and I jokingly referred to this chamber as the wolves’ den.That never felt truer than right now.
Chapter Three
Inside the wolves’den, my father sat at a gleaming wood table in the center of the room.Four red-cushioned chairs flanked each side, and one chair occupied the end of the table.My father sat in this chair, which looked almost like a throne.Its high wooden back was intricately carved into designs resembling vines.The posts on either side of the chair’s top rail were made to resemble wolf heads, and though I could not see them now, I knew the feet of the chair were in the form of large paws.In the middle of the table, a vase of precious tertanium held a bunch of low-stalked red flowers.
The wolves had settled before the hearth and languidly licked their fur.I wondered why my father had not seated himself in one of the comfortable chairs or couches near the hearth.Instead, Lord Ashe gestured for me to sit in the chair to my father’s right.My mother sat beside me and Lord Ashe sat on my father’s left.
“Thank you for joining us, Mara,” the king said.
“I’m honored to be here, Papa.”I was honored and also a little nervous.I was accustomed to the king behaving formally when all of us were gathered in the throne room, but now that we were alone, I had thought he might revert to behaving as my father.But I sat with the king, not my papa.
“I think it time we had an important discussion,” the king proclaimed.
“Do you think that’s necessary?”my mother asked.No one save my mother and perhaps Queen Nahla would have dared question the king so.Across from me, Lord Ashe made a disapproving face.Lord Ashe was one of the few men in the kingdom who did not have facial hair.The lines on either side of his mouth deepened when he frowned.
“In light of recent intelligence, I do think it necessary,” the king said.“Lord Ashe, would you please begin?”
“Yes, sire.”
Lord Ashe folded his hands before him.“I am certain word of the arrival of a party from Zulen must have come as a surprise, Lady Mara.No doubt you thought that kingdom had been completely overtaken by the Hollows.”
“Yes, that's what I was told.”That’s what we had all been told.When we’d trained for patrol, the instructors told us all the neighboring kingdoms had fallen to the Hollows, and we were the only people left to ward off the unholy monsters.I’d never had reason to doubt the veracity of this claim as everyone I ever met who returned from the Barrier said the land on the other side swarmed with Hollows.The Hollows who tested the Barrier and approached it were often dressed in clothing of the other kingdoms.The Barrier soldiers said the sheer number of Hollows they saw at times were indications of just how many people from neighboring kingdoms had fallen to the Hollows, that those other kingdoms must have been overrun.Only our tradition of training to be warriors had saved us.
“What you were told was true,” Lord Ashe said.“But we have reason to believe there are some settlements in Zulen and even as far as Rhenia where people have survived.Your father sent out exploratory missions years ago, and those soldiers reported seeing evidence of human civilizations.”
Lord Ashe paused a moment for me to digest what he said.Thoughts flew through my head like moths circling a flame.I struggled to make sense of the contradictions I was presented.I had been taught—we had all been taught—no other kingdoms survived.Lord Ashe said that was true, but then he offered evidence to the contrary.It could not be simultaneously true that no people outside our kingdom had survived and scouts who had traveled to other kingdoms had found evidence of settlements where people had survived.
But this was not the first time I had encountered such contradictions.When I’d been younger, I would point out the faulty logic of these sorts of statements.But over the years, I’d been told to trust the king, made to understand that my logic was false and I was confused.So I must be confused now.
