We were supposed to wear something nice to represent our village of Neverglade but easy to move in for The Sorting Rite. I put it on and tucked it into my dark brown trousers and stepped in front of the cracked mirror in my room. I pulled the leather belt off my side table and hooked it around my waist. Everyone said I looked like my maternal grandmother, Thora, when she was young, with the same light hair, high cheekbones, a button nose rather than straight and angular like my parents’, and warm ivory skin. She was gone now, but I missed her every day.
Next, I combed the boar-bristle brush through my waist-length, strawberry-blonde hair and took the time to style two braids down the sides of my head. Usually, I went for a simple tie at the nape of the neck, but I wanted to look pretty at The Rite. Doing something more intricate took my mind off what was to come too.
The wooden stairs squeaked with each step as I made my way down to our family shop, which took up the front half of our house. The fire in the hearth removed the chill from the crisp morning air. This was my haven, where I spent much of my time carving or whittling with my father. It was something we both enjoyed and could do in silence.
I drew the front window’s lavender curtains aside and swung open the metal shutters. Morning light shone in, and I closed my eyes, letting it warm my face.
A tag on the jewelry table caught my eye. An excited whirl in my stomach had me hurrying across the room. The tag was onthe set of bone earrings I’d made—Sold. It had taken me three weeks to carve stag antlers into decorative dragons. I’d inlaid amethyst I’d found mining in the nearby brook for the eyes. I’d be able to use the aclet coins to shop inside the city today. The exotic fabrics were said to be soft as butter, and the food rich and sweet.
I desperately wanted a warm slice of bread with melting butter and we’d been out of flour for weeks.
A quiet tap on the window made me jump and whirl, but no one was there.The sun is out, Aesira, I scolded myself. But after the previous night, I was bound to be skittish for a while.I hate vampires.
The front door opened, and the bell above it chimed.
My heart tumbled when he came through. It always did that when Kace was around. His light brown hair was pulled back into a low bun today, and his beard was trimmed short. I always liked his hair like that.
“What were you doing out so late last night?” he demanded, marching inside. His heavy boots hit louder with each step.
Here we go. “I was looking for something,” I said, defensively.
“Something?”
I didn’t want to have to explain myself to him, but I knew he wouldn’t drop it.
“Something for a dagger I’m carving.”
“That vampire was inches from grabbing hold of you,” he said, angrily.
“Trust me, I heard about how stupid and reckless I am already.”
He pursed his lips and shook his head, then found a wooden stool to sit on. At least he wouldn’t hold a grudge like Kayda probably would. Though Kayda would secretly forgive me ina couple days. We’d been inseparable when we were young. Sometimes I longed for those simpler times.
He still had on his brown leather armor chest piece, with thick sleeves and a neck guard that reached his chin. He must have come directly from the watch tower.
“Are you ready for the tests, Sira?”
He’d called me “Sira” since the day we finally spoke to each other after staring from afar for years. “Friends have nicknames and we’re going to be friends,” he’d said. “I might even marry you one day.” I didn’t believe him then. He was fourteen, and I was twelve.
“As much as I can be. It’s not like it really matters, anyway. I won’t be chosen. I don’t want to be one of them.” I sighed as the nervousness intensified. “Are you going to watch?” I asked, hopefully.
“Of course you won’t. You’ll come home. And I’ll be there. All clan leaders must.”
I already knew that, but he wasn’t a leader yet. “Even for a village as small as Neverglade, they expect the princeling to go?”
He chuckled. “I talked my father into letting me come because you’re part of The Rite this year.” He smiled, then it slowly faded. A strange tension hung in the air. “I didn’t know you could run so fast. Even faster than...”
He pulled his gaze from mine and stared out the window with a disturbed expression.
Faster than a vampire,I finished his thought. I was able to outrun my father, a grown man in his prime, at just nine years old. I remembered feeling so thrilled with myself until I saw the alarm on his face. His words echoed in my mind from that day—Never, never run that fast unless your life depends on it. Never show anyone.And I hadn’t until last night. I’d tried to bury that part of me that was different. I tried to pretend like it didn’t exist.
I swallowed hard and shrugged. “I was scared. Scared people run fast.”
He looked at me, apprehensive, a silent question hung in the air between us. Did I have any other abilities?
Before he could ask, I went on a rant, “We wait all our lives for The Sorting Rite, which is supposed to be some special privilege, but nothing ever comes of it for people like us. I don’t know why I even have to go. Those people inside the walls only care about us if we can be useful to them, otherwise, we’re the sheep they leave out here so they aren’t targeted. And no one from Neverglade has ever been ducai. It’s a waste of time.” I sounded bitter. I was.
My brother and Kace had gone to The Sorting Rite three years before and said the people walked the streets at night. I couldn’t even fathom it. I didn’t even fully know what the stars looked like because I had to run or hide, not look up.
