“Like Yarah. Again, not a water queendom,” I pointed out.
“Leos are the most confident. They command attention. Everyone flocks to Leo for their flourishing performative arts, dancing included. My family had a travel stone they allowed me to use, and I trained there for nearly half my life under the most talented dancers, including those from the water territories.”
I couldn’t help but long for a life as she had described. “So why don’tyoudo it?” I suggested after a few moments. “Clearly you think I’m wasting your time. And you seem to know all the right moves to be successful.”
Annoyingly, I thought perhaps she was only doing this as a favor to Kole.
Yearning flickered in her eyes before she blinked it away. “I’m not qualified.”
“You’renot qualified? What am I then?”
“You fit the requirements that our founders established for this role long ago. You wouldn’t understand.”
It was clear I knew little of Serpentine’s origins, yet instead of teaching me about them, she was content to pester me with resentment. She held a prestigious position here. For a woman in a masculine kingdom, that was a rare accomplishment.
“It’s my hair, isn’t it?” I questioned, then after another thought added, “Is that where the reputation of immortality comes from? Because only women who look the same have assumed this position? If that’s the case, you could wear a wig or dye your hair. Paint your skin with golden clay?—”
“That would be a mirage. A lie. She has existed long before either you or I were born, serving as a beacon to both men and women who seek something more. Something better.”
“Surely if you wanted to, you could?—”
“All that matters is you get up here and do what you’re told. There cannot be any mistakes tomorrow night.”
I bent down for the glass of water perched at the edge of the platform, then paused. “Tomorrow night?”
With a sigh, she rubbed her forehead. “M… my superior demands it.”
“What about Yarah?”
The matron raised her arms. “Do you see Yarah anywhere?”
“Well, no, but you said?—”
“Tomorrow night. Understood?”
I swallowed past the lump in my throat. With only two weeks of training and rehearsing under my belt, we both knew I wasn’t ready. But I would have to be. “Understood.”
My steps were quick with determination to finish my deliveries before the sun set. I was exhausted from dancing, but I needed to return home eventually.
A shrill scream tore through the crowded street, upending me from my determined strides. I ran toward the sound and spotted a little girl sobbing from the ground. Blood trickled fromher kneecaps. The girl cried, immobile from her fall. No one took notice of the girl, even as a horse-drawn wagon barreled at her.
I sprinted to her. “Come on, little one!” I hauled her upright, but she was heavier than she looked.
Shit.
The wagon raced closer?—
A force slammed into me. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as blunt of a blow as a horse or the wagon. The girl and I were safely off the road, as if someone had simply plucked us up and set us aside in a single breath.
“Watch where you’re going!” the wagon’s driver roared at us with a red face.
“How about you watch whereyou’regoing!” I yelled back. “There arechildrenwalking here!”
I realized too late that whoever pulled me from the busy road had jerked me hard enough to drop my bag filled with delivery orders. Various vials spilled out onto the street. The tags with customer names and addresses remained intact, but the rest had shattered.
At least a dozen orders had been destroyed.
“No!” I dove back for the spilled contents. Black leather gloves gripped my underarms and lifted me as if I were a feather. “Get your hands off of me!” I protested against the stranger, kicking the air. “Put me down!”
