“Don’t let her hide fool you,” Cael warned, clomping down the dusty path spilling them from the foothills’ dense forest. “The bitch has a wicked bite.”
The unremarkable village they’d stayed in last night certainly hadn’t prepared Xenia for the city’s twinkling opulence. The crumbling inn with its tiny rooms and hearty fare had called to mind several establishments in Thalenn, the only differences being a near absence of humans and a growing concentration of magic. The thrumming buzz had zapped at Xenia’s skin, heightened by the drops of Cael’s own magic pulsing through her veins.
They’d wolfed down their dinner—seafood stew in a peppery red broth so deliciously spicy that Xenia ordered seconds—then gotten a few fitful hours of sleep in separate beds. They hadn’t spoken a word about Xenia taking Cael’s blood, nor the aftermath.
Thatkiss.
In the moment, she’d expected the toe-curling encounter to alter the fabric of their relationship. And was half-disappointed to find the seams stubbornly intact, not a frayed string or dropped stitch in sight.
Cael hadn’t even probed about her confession that he wasn’t her first kiss, that secret she’d been guarding for years. She’d never told a soul, not even Cass.
Xenia was only mildly bothered by their communication’s giant leap backwards, her bone-weary exhaustion overriding any discomfort she might’ve felt around him.
The path they now walked ran parallel to a smooth, double-lane roadway, and curvy vehicles in an eclectic rainbow of colors zoomed past them, rushing into and out of the city. So different from the lumbering, boxy vehicles in the colonies.
Windriders zipped overhead, speedier than the vehicles, and a few Beastrunners in their mammal forms—horses, camels, lions, a zebra, even an elephant—ambled along the path. Other than a few wary side-eyes, no one spared Cael and Xenia a second glance.
She tugged at the high collar of the formless, sky-blue dress Cael had purchased for her yesterday, baking in the heat but grateful for the long sleeves that hid her arms from the blistering sun.
“You remember our story?” Cael asked, his boots kicking up clouds of dust that clung to his leather pants.
“We came up with it last night,” Xenia scoffed. “You think I would’ve forgotten already?”
“Indulge me.”
Xenia sighed, then recited the story they’d invented together. “I’ve been purchased by a family in Akti to serve as a housemaid. They hired you to escort me to protect their investment. You lost your wing to a band of traffickers that attempted to steal me.”
“Good. The fewer details, the better. And keep your tattoo covered.”
“Iknow,” she seethed. “It’s almost fully faded anyway.”
“Rhamnos is crowded, but youwilldraw attention. The only humans who pass through these streets are legally purchased workers or those being sold off for much more nefarious purposes.”
“Didn’t the Accords make trafficking humans illegal?”
Cael shook his head, a bitter laugh piercing his lips. “The traffickers pay a cut to the Empire to look the other way.”
“Of course they do,” she murmured.
“We only need to stay out of trouble long enough for me to make contact with Ohan Stolia. He’s a yak bi-form from Brachos, an old acquaintance of my father’s. He owns one of Ethyrios’s largest shipping companies. He’ll be able to arrange safe passage for you back to the colonies.”
“And what if…what if I don’t want to go back?”
“Zee,” he said, his tone softening. “You can’t stay here. If what my father said is true, war is about to erupt across the continent. I won’t be able to protect you.”
“What willyoudo?” Xenia asked, her eyes glued to the dirt path, her heart lodged in her throat.
“I already told you. I’m going back home to Brachos. My duty is to my father now. To our allies and business partners. He’s…he’s arranged a match for me.”
A riotous storm brewed in Xenia’s stomach at the mention of war. And at the thought of Cael marrying someone else. “Is that what you want?”
“What I want doesn’t matter anymore,” he said, hanging his head and kicking at the rocks littering the path. “It’s what he’s always wanted for me. Fought me tooth and nail when I told him I wanted to be a Vasilikan. I’m lucky he even allowed me go to the colonies and prove myself as a Vestian. He was sure I’d either grow tired of it or fail. He was right.”
“Cael, you haven’t…” She was too exhausted to argue with him.
They walked in silence for the next twenty minutes as Rhamnos’s gleaming skyscrapers gobbled up the view.
Xenia craned her head, gawking like a tourist. She’d never in her life seen buildings this tall. Her head spun with vertigo as she imagined what it would be like to stand at the top of one. Wondered how far she’d be able to see from up there.
