“Because Maryn’s not a Chosen, Felaf, even though she pretends to be,” I whispered. “She was hand-selected by Queen Auden’s barons as an advisor. An advisor was never meant to serve as queen regent for this long.”
She matched my quick strides up the main staircase. “Are you sure it’s only Maryn you have a problem with?”
I glanced sidelong at her.
“I only meant you’re the great Raithe Katsaros, the youngest guardian ever Chosen!” She spread her hands before her in a grand demonstration. “You won an Elemental Tournament thesameyear you were Chosen. I have so much to learn from you still, yet it seems like you’d rather be anywhere else than here. Anywhere else but around me.”
“I’m not a ‘great’ anything, Felaf. I’m a guardian, doing my duty.” I picked up the pace until finally reaching my chamber. Felaf paid no attention to my door as I attempted to close it behind me, inserting herself into my room.
My skin itched in discomfort at her presence. This was my true sanctuary, where everything was orderly and exactly to my liking—the only place I could call mine. I breathed through my nose impatiently, searching for my travel gear while trying to ignore her pacing at my back.
“With Cyrene gone, we’ll have more spare time together. It would mean a lot if I could train with you instead of being forced to punish you,” she said.
Deep down, I knew Felaf took no pleasure in her lashings the way Maryn did when she ordered them. Felaf’s strength matched my own, therefore only she could inflict pain to the extent Maryn desired. Shame prevented me from sharing the partial nature of my disobedience. I would do whatever it took to protect this queendom, yes, but a darkness in me also craved the pain.
I deserved that pain more than I deserved my Athenian blades, my title as champion of the Elemental Tournament, and more than my position as a guardian. I would never be absolved from my past, no matter how much I pretended to forget it.
“Whoa!” Felaf exclaimed, rushing to my bookshelf. “These carvings are incredible and so lifelike.” She held up a scorpion figurine made of wood, its tail raised and poised to strike. “Are these from the city?” She studied the dozen others along theshelf. “Considering what they say about scorpions, you must believe Scorpio is always near you.”
“That’s only for real scorpions,” I corrected her tensely. I wanted her to stop touching my things and leave everything in its place, undisturbed.
“Not according to my family,” she said almost fondly. “My mother believed any sign of a scorpion, even a figure such as this, meant Scorpio was always nearby to watch over us. After she died—before I was Chosen—my father believed their presence was an omen, rather than a sign of protection.”
I swiped the carving from her hand and gently set it back on the bookshelf in the same position she’d moved it from. I hadn’t intended on starting a collection. My ventures into the city often left me buying trinkets on my way home. Chosens received a modest salary. Considering food and lodging were covered by the palace, it allowed us to save enough Tin—Scorpio’s official currency—for more personal expenses. It was the least I could do to help the struggling merchants.
Most shops that weren’t essential in nature couldn’t afford to keep operating, and very rarely were artisans found in the streets anymore. Nearly half of the queendom’s farmers and fishers were gone, their lands and lakes decimated by the drought. Larger skylands still had some reserves of water, forcing rural dwellers to flock to the cities and beg to be let into the Barons’ Districts.
It was only a matter of time before the water reserves stored in the sediment of the skylands dried up entirely. Some still remained in the bedrock beneath the palace, but the water shipments from the queens of Cancer and Pisces to our cities were hardly sustainable.
Every second I wasted here meant another life lost. Unprotected. Exploited.
“Hello? Raithe?”
In the whirlwind speed at which I rummaged through my clothes, packing for my trip to Gemini, I finally acknowledged Felaf. Her arms were folded across her black leather uniform, the feminine version to mine that conformed to her toned arms and legs with a blackened metal breastplate. “Yes?”
She leaned against the bookshelf. I cringed, wishing she wouldn’t have such careless regard for it. “Isaid, you haven’t asked how I’m doing yet.”
Was this a trick question?
She flailed her arms in exasperation. “Listening to our Chosen queen die? The explosion? This was my first crisis situation as a guardian, Raithe. A big fucking deal. It wasnothinglike those training exercises on the Martial Isles, but?—”
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I said. Tension coated my body. I needed her to leave me in peace so I could pack and get the fuck out of here. “It was a gruesome day for everyone.”
“And how did I do on such agruesomeday?”
“Fine, Felaf. You did fine.”
“Fine,” she said dubiously. “That’s it? No feedback on how to improve?”
“Look, I’m not your superior. We’re…” I struggled to find the right word. “Comrades.”
“Well,comradeshelp each other out. Comrades talk to one another.”
“I went through the same training that you did on the Martial Isles. You were even a general for a few years, were you not? That alone is basic guardian preparation.”
“Yes, butyouweren’t a general, captain, or commander before becoming Chosen. And you had someone like Hector to learn from.” I fought against a flinch at his name. “One day, I want to be?—”
“I get it. You aspire to be the greatest.” I gestured toward my door. “You want a lesson? Refrain from profanity when we’re in the debrief room. Everything gets transcribed, and it’s bad form.”
