“Sorry, kiddo,” I say, swinging my arm around her shoulders. “Guess you’re just going to have to accept that your big sister is bad with time. How was school today?”
“It was fine,” she says in a clipped tone, clearly mulling over something.
“Fine?” I tease. “Well, if we’re paying all this money for fine, we can probably switch you back to school in Eastern and?—”
“Meryn,” she whines in annoyance.
I raise my hands. “Sorry! But really, what’s going on?”
Saela sighs as we make our way down the cobblestones, heading toward the busier streets that lead into the Central Market. “We were talking about the war with Astreona in history class today.”
“Ah,” I say. “Siphon stuff?”
She nods, lips pressed together in a tight line. Saela went through a period when she was little where she was having awful nightmares about Siphons. Even though she never metour father, the knowledge of his death has loomed over her childhood, shaped every part of her existence.
“Some kids were talking about how the Siphons feed on regular humans, like suck our blood to stay alive, and it seemed like they thought it was, I don’t know, cool or something.” Her face flushes with anger. “I don’t think it’s cool,” she adds quietly.
I tighten my arm around her shoulders. “You know, I’m sure you’re not the only person in your class who has lost a parent or loved one in the war. There were probably other kids who felt the same way.”
She nods. “Half of us have. But the teacher made it seem like…” Saela stops in her tracks and looks up at me, dark brown eyes wide with worry. “Are we losing?”
“I don’t really know,” I tell her honestly.
The war has been going on for five hundred years, but between our country’s Bonded and their direwolves and Astreona’s Siphon strength, it’s rare for either side to take much ground. And we all know what would happen if Astreona won—the Siphons would hunt down every last human and drain us.
“But here in Sturmfrost, we’re as far away from the front as you can get in the entire kingdom of Nocturna. If you’re safe anywhere, it’s here.”
The words are like dust in my mouth. She and I both know it’s a lie; one of her friends was kidnappedlast night.
“Come on,” I say, slipping my arm off her shoulders and grabbing her hand to tug her toward the market. “I know just the thing to cheer you up.”
While every quarter has their own market square, Central’s is the biggest shopping area in the entire city, filled with everything from fishmongers and bakeries to specialty perfume stores. There even used to be a jewelry store here, but that was decades ago, before everyone was encouraged to give extra funds to the war effort in the name of patriotism.
Saela and I like to window shop on our way home, our daily ritual. We daydream about what sweets we would buy if we could.
We head straight to our favorite window display at Diersing’s Bakery. Saela sighs, staring into the bakery display and pointing to a glistening pastry topped with deep purple fruit.
“I think I’d take one of those plum cakes.”
“Noted,” I tell her, thinking again about her approaching nameday. This would be a pleasant surprise, and I have the extra money that Lee gave me after the fight last night. My skin flushes at the thought of him, and how our night got cut short. Thankfully, he’s due back from the castle in a couple of days, and I can see him again.
Before I can offer my own fantasy bakery order, there’s a commotion behind us. Saela and I turn. A crowd has amassed around the square.
“What’s going on?” I ask a man nearby.
“Bonded,” he says. “Riding through.”
What? Why would the Bonded be coming throughhere?
The Bonded are the king’s most elite forces, soldiers who have mental bonds with massive, fearsome direwolves. They ride the wolves into battle and, rumor has it, the riders can even tap into the magic that the direwolves wield.
It’s rare that they ever set foot in the commoner side of Sturmfrost, other than coming and going from the front—but even then, they usually skirt around the edges. Their part of the city is on the other side of the castle, bordering the mountain range from which their fearsome direwolves hail.
Saela looks up at me, eyes sparking with excitement. “Can we go watch?”
She’s obsessed with the idea of the Bonded. I can’t totally blame her—super hot warriors riding mystical beasts andwielding mysterious magic? It’s intriguing, if you can set aside the extreme and punishing classism.
I sigh and then grab her hand. I would do literally anything to see this kid smile. “Fine, but stay by my side.” Then I tug her behind me through the crowd, elbowing my way to a spot at the front of the square.
