Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(14)

“And so you take no responsibility for it?” I asked. “You are commander now. You have been for a long time.”

“Would that make it easier?” he asked, and his voice was low, and harsh, and totally arresting. “You lost a brother. Your family sacrificed you in a marriage to buy peace. Would it make it easier to blame me and not my brother?”

My breath stopped in my chest. The light flickered over us, making our shadows move even though we were still. “I chose this marriage,” I told him. “I know why I did—and that has everything to do with the number of names on this wall,” I said sharply. “I didn’t come down here for company—or an argument. I wanted to say good-bye to my brother.”

The flame crackled on the wall as we looked at each other for a long moment. “Of course,” he said finally. “My queen. Forgive me if I spoke out of turn.”

I raised my chin and made for the stairs, hoping he wouldn’t follow me. I took a last look at the names on the wall and prayed that my sacrifice would leave blank spaces there where my kinsmen would live instead of die.

When I looked back, Galen’s head was still bent, and I liked the idea that a queen had replaced the pitiful girl from the night before whose courage had failed her when it came time to finish what she’d started.





Blessed Vessels

I returned to my rooms to find a storm of people there, women packing and men moving things, desert people and Tri guards alike. My husband should have been swarmed by people, given gifts and blessings by my clan, but he stood alone, his hands folded neatly behind his back.

“Where were you?” he asked as I drew close, kissing my cheek sweetly.

“Walking,” I said. “Saying good-bye.”

He nodded once. “In the future, I would prefer not to wake up alone.”

I looked at him, trying to determine if this was a command or an intimacy, something he was sharing with me. “Of course,” I said. “Have the clansmen already gone?” I asked.

He thought, and then nodded. “Oh, you mean the ones bearing gifts? I had my servants take them. Your family has not arrived yet.”

Embarrassment flushed over my face. Those gifts were meant to be a clan’s blessing on the newly married couple—he had turned them away, and I wasn’t sure if I should tell him so. “Are the horses ready?”

“The carriage is.”

“A carriage? Through the pass?” I asked.

He looked at me. “Yes. You, Danae, and I will ride in the carriage. Galen will defend us from horseback.”

“Defend us?” I asked.

“Your Highness, Shalia,” Kairos greeted us as he walked in with Mother and Father, bowing to the king. And me, I suppose. He straightened without being bidden and kissed my cheek, and Osmost swooped in to sit on his shoulder.

“She is your Highness now too,” Calix said stiffly.

Kairos’s hand stilled on my arm, but he gave my husband a bright, teasing grin. “Little sisters can never be high to big brothers,” he told him. “Besides, I’m still a son of the desert, and she is queen of the Bone Lands now. But more importantly, it’s going to rain,” he said, a sly smile on his face.

I caught my breath.

Calix scowled. “Why does it matter if it’s going to rain?” he asked.

My father heard this and came closer to us, his giant scimitar on his hip. “It’s going to rain, Kairos?” he asked.

Kairos nodded.

“You’ll have to go with them,” my father said. “Lead them through the pass.”

“This is not necessary,” Calix said, glaring at Kairos, who was trying to restrain his smile and utterly failing. “And we don’t have room in the carriage.”

“I have my own horse,” Kairos said.

“The pass gets very dangerous in the rain,” I told Calix gently. “And I haven’t traveled it enough to help the way Kai could.”

“Yes,” Kairos said cheerfully. “And to repay me for my gallant service, I happily accept an invitation to your castle to stay with my sister,” he added, looking at my husband.

Color rose in Calix’s cheeks, and his mouth drew tight. “A guide would be most welcome. But unfortunately we will have to leave you at the end of the pass; it won’t be necessary to join us for the whole journey.”

Kairos’s smile grew tighter. “I’m sure it would be a comfort to my sister. Clans are very close; it would be difficult for her without any family around.”

“She’s my queen,” Calix said. “I will be her comfort.”

“Kairos attending Shalia is an excellent idea,” my father said with a single, authoritative nod.

“Please,” I said. “I’d like him to come with us.”

My husband’s face froze for a moment, and then he smiled at me. “Of course, wife.” He pulled me close, kissing me.

Father made some sort of growling noise at a man kissing his daughter in front of him, and by the time Calix released me, Kairos and my father had turned to gather Kairos’s things. I tried to pull away, but Calix gripped my hip. “Change into fresh clothes,” he said, looking at my robes from the day before. “And don’t contradict me.”


The first part of our carriage ride was over wide and easy terrain along the mountain ridge. Rising with the land, I could see the desert to the left, burning gold until the sight shimmered and blurred on the horizon, and the craggy, impassable mountains on the right.