Vyns and Rook were waiting in the sitting area of my residence when we returned.
“Everything okay?” Vyns asked. “Your spirit was… agitated for a while.”
“She was hot and bothered is what she was,” Rook muttered to Vyns. Then to me, “I’ve tried to tell the angel that you and Bayn must have really hit it off, given the sexy thoughts you were thinking.”
Heat rushed to my face.
Yup, they all knew.
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
Rook shrugged. “If he’s going to be one of us, then it’s probably a good thing you find him sexy. Even if he’s also… frustrating.”
“How much of my thoughts did you get?” I asked, curious.
“Ever since the arena… I’ve been getting most of them.”
Oh.
I may have blushed even deeper.
“But… everything’s good, he agreed to your terms?” Vyns asked.
I nodded. “Yup, all settled. He’s going to go get the titans on board and assuming he does, I guess I’m getting married… far sooner than I ever thought I would.”
I gave a terrified smile.
“You’ll be a beautiful bride,” Zora said, looking up from her paperwork, which was scattered around the large sitting room. “Also, there’s going to be another, bigger meeting today. You’re going to be front and center, so if you want help figuring out what you’re going to say, we should talk.”
Thank you, Zora.
“Yes, please!” I hurried to her side so I didn’t have to lookany of my guys in the face after everything they knew happened with Bayn.
The guys all stayed close though. Vyns relaxed, still on the mend. Rook paced, full of agitated energy, then decided to help Zora and I write my speech. Koar stood close, a comforting and silent presence.
And my other guy… was far away. My bond with Myel strained with the distance between us. I also felt Myel’s undulating emotions, a bit of fear — but not too much, he was okay for now — mixed with excitement and a growing eager confidence. Something had changed in him or had started to. He didn’t seem as much like the dejected, uncertain man who’d left here last night. That helped me not to worry too much about him and focus on this speech.
Today’s meeting would be a lot bigger than yesterday’s. It would be in the Great Hall, also known as Anadendyra Hall. That wasn’t intimidating at all, having to give a speech in a hall named after my family beforeeveryoneon campus. This was my chance to tell them what they were fighting for, to help them understand the new world I wanted to build, equal and free for all.
Again… no pressure.
We worked furiously for the rest of the morning and I was too nervous to eat any lunch so we worked through lunch as well, right up until the mid-afternoon meeting time.
Then we all headed over to the Great Hall. As we did, a growing group formed around us, following us. An excited — if also nervous — hubbub rose up from them as we paraded across campus.
I’d tried to comprehend the vastness of responsibility I’d have when I became queen. But it was only as I made my way into that massive hall, filled withtens of thousandsofpeople, all focused on me, that I began to understand the overwhelming depth of my obligation and duty to these people.
A cold terror gripped me, and I stuttered to a stop, frozen in place.
I couldn’t do this.
But Ihadto do this.
Hell, all I was doing was giving a speech. How much harder would things get when I was making decisions which would impact people’s lives? For now, I wasn’t much more than a figurehead, a focus, an ideal. Eventually I’d have to fight a war, then somehow make good on all the promises I was about to make. Maybe that’s what scared me, the things I was saying. Could I make them happen? The words seemed easy to say but following through… suddenly that seemed nearly impossible.
“You can do this,” Koar whispered to me.
“Don’t think about how you’re going to help them,” Rook murmured from my other side. “Think about how much they need help. Theyneedthis Izzy. Theywantthis desperately. Right now, all you have to be is a symbol of hope. Give them hope for a better future and you’ll have won today.”
