“And have you found the woman whom you want to spend the rest of your life with, like eagles do?” The king’s wordssounded mocking, as if sharing your life with just one person was a joke beyond his comprehension.
“Not yet, no,” Aegir replied.
I knew I wasn’t his soulbound; he would have certainly told me by now if I were. And besides, the recognition of one’s other half—the burning desire of it—was almost instantaneous. Faern had told me that soulbounds cannot deliberately hurt one another, whereashehad once held an ice dagger to my neck, leaving me with a cold burn that marked my skin for days. Yet hearing Aegir confirm it made it a hundred times more real and a thousand times more painful. It stifled my hopeful wish, like a blanket does to a fire, that his god had made some sort of fixable mistake. But gods do not err. Black shadows suffocated my heart.
Perhaps it was for the better. I wouldn’t want to cut his life short anyway.
“Good. I was beginning to worry about you,” King Belzari said.
“Worry about me?”
“Yes. Of course worry about you. My men often tell me that they see you leaving and entering the castle glued to your servant. I was starting to think that your gods had chosen poorly for you.”
Nadya’s gaze fell over me, over my neck. And I couldn’t help but wonder if she could tell that the little scar came with an identical one hidden beneath the neckline of my dress.
“My god,” Aegir corrected. “Boreas commands my soul, Sylva, my body. And no, surely my god isn’tthatcruel. She’s just a lonely girl craving some attention, so I let her run around my feet.” That’s when I caved in. My broken eyes met Nadya’s. She gave me a small, pitiful smile.
“Good.” The king emphasised the word like he meant it.
The whooshing sound of sand being wielded grounded me back to my harsh reality. I could never forget it, the way the sand granules hiss and grit against each other. I knew it was King Belzari’s doing, he was a very powerful Sand Wielder after all. “Do you see, Lord, one granule, one tiny sand granule, and one would thinkuseless, insignificant.” The sound intensified, and I vividly imagined sand grains fiercely colliding in waves like a swarm of bees getting larger and impatient by the second. “But, when many granules come together, they become a death trap.Useful, significant.” A loud thud boomed, causing both of us to jerk. “Wield the granules wisely, force them to work together, and they become a formidable sandstone.” By that, I understood that the sound was a piece of sand-turned-to-stone, free-falling on the polished stone table. I wondered if Nadya, too, realised how that bang came about. “As I’m sure you’re already aware, the people of Ramel believe in power in numbers. We even have a saying for that in the Earthen tongue:Samia fin nimevi. We believe that our offspring are the biggest gift of life, and when a child is born as a Sand Wielder, it is the biggest blessing of all. Amfir has not blessed us with a Sand Wielder in over fifteen years now, but we still cherish our newborns.” The king let out an exaggerated exhale.
“Each. One. Purposeful,” the king bellowed, emphasising each word with equal attention. “Because when it comes to my family, Lord, it is my responsibility to oversee that the children my own daughters and sons sire are those from powerful bloodlines. Not just the physical ones, but political ones, too. All of my thirteen children and twenty-seven grandchildren are powerful. All born with a purpose in this world, where each child brings a benefit to our people.”
Were all the princes and princesses, the ones with companions and children, forced to do so through an organised proposal? A negotiation woven by their father. I wondered if anyof them were truly happy. I understood why Semuel chose to leave. He had to, for Faern.
The king continued. “A child that is not born out of lust or foolishlove, but out of sense and reason. Out of god’s will. My children know very well that lustful ones are considered as treason against the family and against our people, and would thereforenotbe accepted as royalty. Do you understand how important this is, Lord?” Ironic, I thought. Or perhaps hypocritical. To first say that all children are cherished and then say that a child born out of love and desire is disowned. The king didn’t allow Aegir to reply to his question; he quickly went on. “Therefore, Lord Aegir, the only way for me to propose a covenant with Silch, the only way for me to join you in battle, should the need arise, the only way this alliance could ever come to be, is for you to sire a child with one of my daughters.” I avoided Nadya’s gaze like a contagious illness. I did not want her to see my flushed face. “A child to be born with a purpose in this world. A child who would provide my people with the guarantee and security that Silch would no more turn its back on us.” I became immune to the lavender’s calming aura. I was far from being calm. The thought of its possibility felt non-existent.
“King Belzari, as much as such an offer is an honourable one, I have already guaranteed that the Wellspring Oasis will be a wellspring once more. I give you my word that we won’t turn our backs on you.”
His answer made me think that he was trying to get out of it, and despite talking about me like I was a street dog drooling at his feet, my treacherous heart felt a slight relief at that. But relief soon turned into anxiousness as the voice in the back of my head whispered to me in a raspy, chuckling tone,But who would choose a servant over a princess?
I argued with it.He rejected her! And last night, “Never,”he said, when I confessed I wanted to remain claimed by him.
The voice laughed, its creaks grating against my head.Thinking of you as his soulbound made him think of his god as cruel.
I squeezed my eyes shut at the heart-crushing words.
“You gave me your word, yes, but I will accept nothing less than for you to embrace and respect our ways, our culture, our beliefs. Look at your alliance with Sijar, born out of your Ice mother and Forest father. Don’t you see the similarity?”
“My mother and my father were married, more than that, and it is for that reason the strength of our alliance is of such magnitude.”
“Ah, but you are mistaken, Lord. It isyour ownexistence, your siblings’ existence that the alliance is of such magnitude. Your alliance is merely the product born out of your Silchan mother and Sijari father. Think about it, it remains as such even after their deaths.” The king half laughed. “Had myself or my people believed in the power of espousal, I would have offered my daughter’s hand in marriage. But you are on my Land, and on my Land, it is the flower that emerges and blooms from within the seed, our most sacred gift, Lord Hailin. Maryam, Yasmina, Eleanora, get in here!” the king shouted.
We heard the sound of a door creaking first, then we heard their tapping footfalls. I imagined the three of them—in their delicate perfection—gracefully walking towards Aegir. It fell silent for a while. My gaze remained lowered to my fidgeting hands.
“Look at them. My three beloved and beautiful daughters. All virgins, all eagerly waiting to provide a flower with a purpose for our people.”Yeah, right. I scoffed internally, knowing that Yasmina had been filled from both sides at least once in her life.
I imagined King Belzari gesturing to each of his three daughters. All dressed in the finest clothing, all beyond beautiful, as he proudly said their names.
“Eleanora.”
“Greetings, Lord Hailin.”
“Maryam.”
“Greetings, Lord Hailin.”
And that bitch. “Yasmina.”
