He scrubs a hand over his jaw as if I hadn’t spoken. “The Barrin Mountains have always been neutral territory, but Javed wanted to claim it, for his own reasons. The Everlean king refused to cede, saying it was protected land.” Roshan glances at me, the lines around his eyes and mouth furrowed in thought. “I believe my brother eventually hoped to use you to take the territory by force, which is why an army of Scavs is still stationed in the northern Dustlands, near Deadman’s Canyon.”
“General Vogon’s army,” I murmur, remembering the leader of the Scavs who had been very lucid when he’d tried to take my power before Morvarid had killed him. “Why there, though? The gulch is bottomless and the mountains are impassable.”
“My brother had many secrets, least of which was that cursed canyon and whatever the god he served demanded.”
A shiver creeps up my spine. “God?”
“Fero.” The cavalier way he says it leaves me cold. But abruptly, as if the impulsive explanation is over, Roshan turns away without another word, halting to glance over his shoulder. “Which brings me back to my original point: setting foot in the arena is forbidden for everyone, including you, for your own safety, until we understand what that thing means to Everlea and its king. Do not defy me. I forbid it, Suraya.”
I forget my concerns, my anger rising at his implacable tone. Heforbidsit?
Balling my heating palms, I force my face to remain neutral as Roshan walks away, effectively ending any discussion—visible murderous thoughts might be seen as treason, after all—and count to ten in my head before peering at my silent armed contingent.
“Don’t crowd me. I don’t want to hurt any of you accidentally.”
They won’t listen. They’re all following the directives of the king to the letter, and even if it means getting singed by the Starkeeper, they’ll take the risk. Implicit obedience is a thing, and clearly the king expects the same from me.
Well, he can jump off the highest cliff in Oryndhr for all I care.
As we descend the staircase, I spot a familiar face marching toward us. My irritation dissipates as I wave Clem over with a smile. “Please tell me you’re part of the guard I’ve been favored with this morning, though this is grunt work for the great General Clem Jinn.”
She grins back, her face lighting up. “Hardly! And today I am.”
“Truly?” I ask with delighted surprise.
“I just got back from Xersten, and I needed some down time.”
My curiosity spikes, knowing that city’s proximity to the canyon Roshan was just speaking about. “What’s in Xersten?”
“You know I have to report to the king first,” she says, and I swallow a sigh at her unyielding loyalty.
As we enter the courtyard, I can’t even appreciate the lush scent of the blooming flowers or the sight of a clear blue sky or hear any birdsong. In fact, all I can hear is the rhythmic stomping of a dozen pairs of feet in my wake. I lean in toward Clem with a scowl. “Tell me you don’t think all of this is ridiculous.”
She doesn’t even have to ask what I’m talking about, glancing at the stone-faced men and women on our heels. “He’s protective, and after what has happened, don’t you think he should be?”
My scowl deepens. “Obsessive is more like it. You’d think I was made of jadu or something.”
Clem belts out an amused laugh. “You kind of are. The only true magical source in all of Oryndhr, and you wonder why he safeguards you like the crown jewels.”
“You know what I mean.” I shake my head, feeling my irritation rise, if only because she’s hit the nail on the head. “And I’m not a thing to be owned or guarded. I’m someone who survived long before he came alongwithoutmagic. He treats me like I can’t make any decisions about my own bodily safety for myself.” I wiggle my fingers in front of her face. “As if I can’t take care of my enemies with a single thought. He’s suffocating me, Clem. I’m not one of his soldiers, expected to obey his orders like gospel.”
“You mean like me?” she jokes.
I falter. “No, that’s not what I...”
“I’m only teasing, Sura. I know my place, and yes, I do follow the king’s command.”
I frown at her. “Even if you don’t agree with it?”
“It’s not my place to question what’s best for the realm.”
“How can you say that, Clem?” I ask, keeping my voice low in spite of my disbelief at her blasé response. “He’s not infallible. He’s a man whowillmake mistakes. He made them as the leader of the Dahaka, remember?” Grimacing, I shake my head. “And what’s best for the realm isn’t what’s best forme.”
My friend eyes me thoughtfully, gaze flicking over my clenched jaw and balled fists, and then back up to my hair, where the iridescent strands are glowing slightly in between the darker ones. “Perhaps I used the wrong words earlier. Put yourself in his shoes,” she says with a sympathetic shrug. “He’s lost everyone he called family, not that his stepmother and his half brother could even be considered that, and he doesn’t want to lose you. You mean too much to him, Sura.”
“He’s going to lose me if he continues to be a controlling ass,” I mutter through my teeth as the guards direct our entourage toward the third tower instead of the second, where I usually train. “He forbade me from going to the arena, can you believe that?”
“If he did, he probably has an excellent reason for it,” she says, patting my arm and then narrowing her eyes at someone in the distance. “Excuse me for a second. I need to check in with Hamid.”
