Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(15)

We were headed for the tunnel pass, a narrow road into the mountain that led to a wide, old land bridge thousands of feet above the river. I had never traveled far enough to know if this river came from the ocean to the west or perhaps from the same river that fed Jitra, but it rushed its way out to the eastern sea. The land bridge was the sole connection between the desert and the Bone Lands to the south. It was in the pass, somewhere in the darkness, that Torrin had died, fighting against Calix’s men.

The carriage tilted downhill, and I caught my breath as we pitched.

“You’re unused to carriages?” Danae asked. She sat across from me and my husband, her careful eyes regarding me.

I nodded. My stomach felt tight and stormy, and every bump and tilt reminded me of the pain from the night before. “We walk most places. We ride horses around the edge of the desert, where the sand is packed firm and their hooves can manage it. We are never so … enclosed.”

“Miserable but safer,” Calix said. “No random arrows flying at your head.”

I turned to look at my husband. “Does that happen often?”

Calix’s shoulder lifted and he reached for my hand, swiping his thumb over my knuckles. “People try. People fail. We will keep you safe, my love.”

I held his hand in both of mine, surprised by the endearment. Did he love me? Was I meant to love him already?

“Calix is being dramatic,” Danae said, looking to her brother. “The Three-Faced God will never let you be hurt, Shalia.” I looked at her and she looked away again.

“Will you tell me of your God?” I asked Danae. “I don’t know much of your religion.”

Danae’s smile was gentle. “What do you know?”

“That you three are the God incarnate, yes?”

She nodded, looking out the window again. “Yes. When I was born, the third child, my parents rejoiced,” she said, and her smile grew a little tighter. “My father said the Three-Faced God had told him that his three children were the God Made Human. That we would be the most powerful rulers the Bone Lands had ever seen.” She held out her hands in a triangle, pointing one of the ends at me. “With three faces, you can only ever see two, at the very most,” she told me. “The third will always be hidden. Calix, he is the face of truth and justice. Galen is the face of honor and strength. And I am the hidden face, the piece that separates honor and truth, and also binds them together always.”

Her fingers broke apart, the triangle gone, and she sat back.

“Is there such an incarnation in every generation?” I asked.

“No,” Calix said. “The Three-Faced God has ruled for many years, and we are his first blessed vessels.”

The carriage rolled into the pass at that moment, plunging us into darkness, and as I bumped and shifted against my husband, I wondered what kind of power it took to declare yourself a god.


Just after we cleared the pass, a heavy rainfall started, and out the carriage window, Kairos looked immensely pleased with himself. The army made camp in a field while we continued on to a keep that sat arched over the mountain road, ready to guard against an insurrection from the north. Desert men, I realized. This castle would defend the Bone Lands from clansmen.

We entered a courtyard to the left of the road, and there a full household of people stood to greet us. The head man rushed forward, eager to show his obeisance, but my husband stepped from the carriage, putting his hand inside for me to grasp. “All we require is a place to sleep tonight, Vestai Atalo. Certainly no such displays are necessary.” He paused a moment. “And we will collect your taxes before we leave in the morning. You have accrued a hefty sum, have you not?”

The man blanched a little. “Of course. But, Your Highness, the new queen—”

Calix beamed at this, sweeping aside to reveal me as I stepped out of the carriage. “Yes, Vestai, you are the first to lay your eyes on her beauty.”

The man bowed, touching his forehead once, twice, three times. “Your Highness,” he said to me.

I looked at Calix, unsure of how they acknowledged such supplication. He wasn’t looking at me, though; he was watching the man bow.

“Thank you,” I ventured.

He scuffled back and rose up, looking at me fully for the first time, his eyes running every which way over me like I was some immensely foreign thing.

Wanting to shrink from his study of me, I turned to my husband. He took my hand, leading me inside. “Send food to our chambers, Vestai,” Calix ordered. “And to the others, if they wish it, of course.”

The man was striding to keep ahead of my husband and lead him to our rooms. “Of course, Your Highness.”

The man opened a door for us, and Calix strode into the massive chamber without hesitation. My eyes were drawn helplessly upward to the ceiling, where tiny glass pieces had been affixed like stars. “Oh,” I gasped, turning to take it all in.

“One of the many wonders of this castle, Your Highness,” Vestai Atalo said. “It is said to grant blessings on those who sleep beneath these stars. A fitting chamber for a newly married couple.”

“Thank you, Vestai,” Calix said. He gestured toward the door, no longer bothering to acknowledge his host.

“Thank you—Vestai?” I asked, smiling at him.

He nodded. “My title, my queen. I am Atalo.”