Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(18)

Her shoulders lifted. “But no one could ever really discipline Calix anyway. From a very young age, he wasn’t just a prince, he was a god. It changes things.” Her shoulders dropped back down. “And then he became a king, and his will became his undeniable asset. It might have been the only thing protecting me and my brother when foreign kings and even our own vestai would have taken the crown away. And our lives, I’m sure.”

“Was his early reign so difficult?” I asked her, quieting my voice.

She nodded. “It has taken a long time to achieve peace. For all of us.” She laughed, a sharp, short sound. “But yes, being the younger sibling of a god is complicated.”

“But you and your brother are also gods, aren’t you?” I asked.

She looked at me. “Yes. But the faces of the God are never entirely equal.” She shook her head.

“Don’t bore her, Danae,” Galen said, riding up the column to Danae’s side.

“I’m not bored,” I assured him. “You were raised very differently from us, it seems.”

Galen’s jaw worked, but Kairos chuckled. “Yes, well, having older brothers upon older cousins upon uncles means someone is generally willing to thump some discipline into you.” Kai laughed. “Though it’s the girls who are the worst. All that pinching.”

“You must be an accomplished fighter,” Galen said to Kairos. “You should teach me how to wield those scimitars.”

Kairos shrugged and held out his arm, and Osmost swooped, making Galen jump. Osmost grabbed Kai’s covered wrist, then hopped to his shoulder, opening his mouth and giving Kairos an affectionate kik-kik-kik noise that almost sounded like he was laughing. “Me? I’m not much of a fighter,” Kairos said, his smile turning sly. “When you have four older brothers who could pound you into the ground, you learn different skills.” Kairos held out his hand with a thick leather glove to guard against the bird’s claws, and Osmost jumped to it, letting Kairos bring him in close to pet his feathers as Osmost glared at Galen. “But a scimitar is just a big sword, really. Watch out for the pointy parts.”

I expected Galen to be insulted, but instead his eyes narrowed at Kairos, and I wondered if he understood the truth—with four older brothers who could pound anyone into the ground, Kairos was by far the most dangerous.

Osmost’s head cocked, and Kairos winced as his claws dug in. Osmost leaped into flight, winging fast and high, and Kairos reined in his horse. “Stop,” he said sharply, looking around. “Shalia, go there,” he said, pointing to a break in the rocky wall on one side of the road.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The hawk’s letting me know there’s danger,” he told me.

“What kind?” Galen asked.

“He’s a hawk,” Kairos snapped. “He’s not specific.”

“Go with your sister,” Galen ordered. I still hadn’t moved, and I looked to Kairos, who didn’t come closer. “I’m not leaving her alone by the side of the road.”

Kairos nodded at this, wheeling his horse over to me. No sooner did he turn than a cry rose up, and men started flooding out of the trees around the road. My horse reared, but I held on, locating a break in the rocks and urging him toward it as Kairos followed close behind, shouting at me.

I practically leaped off the horse to get lower and deeper into the small space, and Kairos moved in front of me, his gleaming scimitar drawn as another row of guards closed off the break in the rock.

Beyond the guards, men were rushing at each other, but they all seemed to look the same, their uniforms indistinguishable to my eyes. I didn’t know how the soldiers could tell good from bad.

And then a man came perilously close to the line of guards, and I saw a green dragon stitched onto his coat.

And the dragon looked frighteningly like the symbol for my family.

Then I saw only red as a knife slashed across his throat and blood poured out. He fell, and Danae stood behind him with a knife in her hand.

She met my eyes for a moment, and I saw no fear there, no hesitation.

“Shalia, back!” Kairos yelled, and I saw the guards fighting, someone breaking through and raising his sword to my brother.

Kairos was a force to be reckoned with when he had a blade in his hands, but it didn’t calm the fear rising in my chest. The dust from the road rose with the fervor of so many moving bodies, and it was hard to tell who was coming for whom.

The man Kairos was fighting fell, but two more sprang on him. In wartime, desert men carried two scimitars—and knew what to do with them—but Kairos was only wearing one today.

They set upon him viciously, and his sword flashed as he fought them both off.

Then a third appeared, brandishing a knife and heading for my brother.

“Kai!” I screamed, launching forward, everything else vanishing in my need to protect him.

Kairos turned as the man made his move, and one of the others raised his sword.

A cracking sound boomed above me, and I looked away from Kairos to see where it came from. Then the mountain moved, blocking out the light as a boulder sheared off the rock overhead and came crashing down.

Kairos dropped his scimitar and dove for me, hitting my body and dragging me down as the rock crashed, too large to get into our small corner. Everything shuddered, and more rocks swept down over us as the boulder slammed into the road, stilling before it rolled and fell off the other side.