Truthfully, I didn’t know if I should feel relieved or frustrated or bewildered.
The human woman—Millie—had turned down my offer.
Who turns down aKyzaireof House Kaalium?I griped, turning from Vadyn to step toward the arched floor-to-ceiling window that overlooked Stellara. My whole wing of the keep overlooked Stellara. I much preferred this view to the one of the sea.
I hadn’t expected to be refused.
It’s for the best,I reasoned. Being intrigued by a human female—one without noble blood, presumably—was beneath me. As callous as that sounded, it was the truth.
“And there’s a report that just came in through the Coms,” Vadyn continued, either ignoring the dark, brooding mood that had descended in the room or perhaps he was entirely too used to it lately.
I couldn’t get that human female’s scent out of my mind.
“What is it?” I asked, distracted.
My keep backed up into the southern border of Stellara Forest. Every year, we had to cut down saplings that were attempting to encroach onto my property. I wondered if in a hundred years, Stellara would eat up my keep, so slowly and so deliberately that I hadn’t even seen it happening.
“A protest near the archives. About the South Road being built.”
“Vaan,” I cursed, feeling a tightness creep up the back of my neck.
“A small one,” Vadyn added. “Kaldur left just now to disband it.”
For his quick temper, my brother was surprisingly calm and levelheaded when it came to diplomatic and political matters such as these. Some residents of Erzos, specifically in Raana, were wary of the construction of the South Road, which would connect Erzos to the small villages on the outskirts of the territory before winding south, ending in Vyaan, Kaldur’s territory. Most were in support of it, reasoning that it would be a safer option from raiding parties for merchants and travelers, that it would be easier to sell and import goods to and from the South.
Some, however, thought it would bring an influx of new residents—including raiding parties—and that it would threaten the quiet life that this province was known for.
Erzos was the largest territory of the Kaalium by far, based purely on the spread of land. We were made up of small villages, spread along the coast and the forests and the mountains to the north. Our largest village was Erzan, the village closest to the ports.
Their fears weren’t unfounded. Erzan was already close to capacity. New homes would need to be built to support a growing population. More food would need to be caught from our seas and grown in our fields—or it would need to be imported.
But the Kylorr had always faced a weakening population. Females were rare. Males outnumbered them four to one. Our population was aging, growing older with each passing year, and was one of the oldest in the Kaalium. It was why we were opening up our borders to more and more residency contracts. Because weneededto.
An increase in population wouldn’t be unwelcome.
“I’ll leave right now,” I informed Vadyn, turning from the window and chucking Lesana’s letter into the fire smoldering in the hearth on my way out. I tried to shove the frustration from my mind. “If you see Thaine this morning, tell him we still need to discuss that import contract. I haven’t forgotten, even though he might hope I have.”
“I will,” Vadyn said, his face ever-patient and impassive.
* * *
The protestwassmall.And by the time I reached it, Kaldur had a wide grin on his face already, his hand clasped on the shoulder of the female that I knew was the most outspoken about the construction of the South Road. Marr was her name, from the coastal village of Savina. I’d spoken with her at length over the last few months, and simplyseeingher brought a sharp pinch between my shoulder blades.
“Marr,” I said, landing with a heavy thump next to her and my brother. “We had an agreement, did we not?”
The aging Kylorr female tilted her head back to meet my eyes.
“Everything is handled,” Kaldur said easily, shooting me a warning look disguised by a disarming smile. “She disbanded the protest already.”
I looked around the village’s center, noticing the Kylorr who lingered. It was a small square, cobbled with aging black stone, most cracked. On the north end lay the village’s shrine. To the south were the archives. To the east lay the ports—the salted breeze of which I could smell from here. To the west was the forested road to Raana, which resembled a smaller version of Laras with its pristine, glittering shops and steam cake carts on nearly every corner. It was where most of the noble Houses were located.
“You promised me,Kyzaire, that you wouldn’t be encouraging southerners to make their homes in Erzos,” Marr said, her tone nearly acerbic, which made my jaw set in stone. She forgot her place. “And then what do I hear? Another village is being built along the South Road, close to Erzan, minutes of a flight from here.”
“I made no such promise,” I said, the harsh clip of my tone and the cool glare in my gaze temporarily tying her tongue. “I made younopromises actually. Do you know why, Marr?”
“Kythel,” my brother warned. Since when washethe cooler head of the both of us?
I leaned down until I was eye level with the Kylorr female who had been nothing but a headache these last few months. “Because I don’t need your permission to build withinmyterritory. Do you understand?”
