“Bad form?Me? You’re unbelievable.” She turned to leave, her braid swishing over her shoulder. I breathed a sigh of relief as she—“By the way, whydidn’tyou warn me?”
I sighed. So close. I’d beenso closeto ridding her from my room. Having anyone here, in my space, was too much.
She lingered at my door. “How it would sound.”
A beat passed as her words registered. The death and drowning of Cyrene. “You went through a trial yourself. Your own, in fact. Your father and aunt?—”
“Yes,” she said, shutting her eyes tightly. “But their deaths were atmyhand, bymyblade. I was able to ensure their end was swift. They didn’tdrown.”
It wasn’t until the Age of Libra, nearly four thousand years ago, that a more humane approach was adopted during the familial sacrifices. Chosens could opt to kill their blood relatives however they saw fit—without intervention from another—and their deaths would still be accepted by the Astrals.
“I assumed you knew what would happen.”
“Yes, but hearing Cyrene suffer like that was horrible, Raithe. I’ll hear that for the rest of my life.”
“You learn to live with it.” Sort of. There were times I still heard a phantom scream in the bath, belonging to the fallen princesses.
“It’s our sworn duty to protect that woman, yet we had to stand there and listen…” Felaf shook her head at me. “Is that what I must become too?”
“Become what?”
“Like you.” She paused. “Detached. From everything, everyone.”
I ignored her words, true as they were. “We are guardians. Our dutyisto remain detached, remember?” By the time I’d left the Isles, Felaf and I had barely crossed paths.
“None of my training included anything about living in complete isolation or operating without compassion. The life of a Chosen is lonely, andyes, we must adhere to our oaths, but that doesn’t mean we can’t share the burden of our responsibilities and forgo friendships entirely?—”
I held my gloved hand up to stop her. “Since when were we talking about friendships?”
She peered up at me, unfazed. “Is it because of the lashings? Is that why you ignore me?”
I suppressed a groan. “Felaf?—”
“You know I… Wait a minute. Why have you been packing clothes?” She peered around my shoulder and gasped. “Why is your sleeping gear out? You’releavingat a time like this?”
“Another princess won’t be Chosen for ten months at least. Keep the palace safe while I’m gone. Ensure the topaz’s protection.”
“Where the fuck are you going?”
“On holiday.”
Felaf barked a laugh. “You, on holiday?”
“Weren’t you just on your way out?”
“She’s very likely to kill you,” she said, not a trace of humor to be found. “She’ll make me do it.”
She could try. “I’m Chosen, she’s not. There are limits to her power. She can’t kill us without answering to the other courts.”
“These are unprecedented times, Raithe. I wouldn’t test her. And what about me?”
“What about you?”
“I…” She shifted on her feet, her bravado dissipating. “We need to train, remember? Like I said earlier.”
“Alekko can help you prepare for the tournament.”
“Not just for the Elemental Tournament. For being a guardian. You learned from the best, fromHector.”
