Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(24)

“Yes,” he said, taking my chin and turning my face to him, kissing me in front of her. I tried to draw back, but he wouldn’t allow it.

“Why don’t you get settled in the carriage, my queen,” he said, finally releasing me.

I dropped my head to him, pulling away as Kairos strode into the room, carrying several long, furry animals tied to a branch. “Domina,” he said, bowing to her. “A gift for you, for your generosity. I’m told these pelts are very precious.”

She laughed, delighted, moving forward. “Oh my. Are these mink? Goodness, I didn’t even know we had any on this land.”

“My hawk is an accomplished hunter,” he explained. “And it goes against our ways to leave a host without a gift.”

She laughed again and thanked him, coming to kiss his cheek. He grinned, leading me out to the carriage while the domina took pains to fawn over my husband as well.

Galen was on his horse, looking stiff and tense, his face still pale though he was cleaned of blood. His eyes met mine for an instant, but they flicked away just as quickly.

Kairos helped me into the carriage, and I saw Danae sitting there, waiting for us. Her eyes looked up at me cautiously. “Yesterday,” she said. “I know you saw me kill that man.”

I sat beside her. “Yes,” I said.

“It’s best if you don’t speak of that to anyone,” she said, raising her chin in a way that reminded me of Calix.

“I thought not,” I said carefully. “And while I know what I saw, I don’t know what it meant.”

“Yes, you do,” she said, her voice sharp. “Princesses are supposed to be married, and instead, I was trained to be a killer. I became the hidden face in every way that matters,” she said bitterly.

“Danae—” I started, but she got up and switched sides of the carriage.

“It’s best you don’t speak of it in front of Calix,” she said, looking out the window.

“He doesn’t know?”

“Of course he knows,” she said, but she didn’t explain further. There were splotches of color on her pale cheeks, and she refused to look at me.

Silenced, I nodded, and Calix entered the carriage, nudging me over more to sit beside me on the seat. “Get on with it,” he shouted to the army. “We’ve lost a lot of time.”

I looked at her, and out the window at Galen, and thought of the things both siblings had asked me to keep from their brother. Calix’s hand captured my own, and his fingers caught mine, curling them over his, rearranging me around him until he was comfortable. I felt the eyes of this man-made God, my husband, move over me, and I thought of my own secrets too.

Three faces, and two wrapped themselves in lies and shadow so the third wouldn’t see the ways in which they defied him.





The Clever Brother

By the end of the fourth day we were closing in on the city, and my husband required both his siblings and me to ride in the carriage, ordering the army to part to let the carriage through so we could move more quickly. He wanted no stops to be made, no delays. It wasn’t long before we slanted up a steep road. When the carriage was on flat ground again, I heard a low boom and jumped.

“Gates,” Calix explained.

We were in a large courtyard of stone. It was pure white, smooth, and even, unlike anything I had seen, nothing like the rough stone of the desert, worn by sand and wind. The courtyard looked like it was as wide as Jitra itself, standing at the edges of the earth. In the distance on either side of us I saw water, blue and rolling, the whole mass of it captivating my attention.

“Danae, why don’t you escort my wife to her rooms. I have preparations to see to,” Calix said.

“Let Galen,” Danae said, and she got out of the carriage first.

“No,” Calix told her.

My eyes went from her to her brothers before I got ready to follow her, feeling shaky.

“Have you ever seen the ocean before?” Galen asked me, following my gaze.

I shook my head.

He nodded sagely. “You’ll like your rooms, then.”

I turned to look ahead of us. There were three long walkways arching over a pool of water to three separate buildings. They were all the exact same, huge palaces of white stone with smooth walls and sharp corners, a wide square base with a tall tower rising from the center. The entrance to each was an open archway several lengths taller than me, and I could see the guards from where I stood, their armor glinting in the sun, surprisingly pretty with the white stone.

“Very well,” Danae said. “Come with me.”

My cheeks burned, but when she looked at me, I saw more fear than annoyance in her gaze.

We started up the middle pathway and immediately the wind caught my dress, blowing it back from my legs. I shivered. “It’s so cold here,” I whispered to her.

“Only compared to the desert,” she said with a dismissive wave. “The seamstresses can make you something to keep you warm.”

We entered the archway, and the guards all snapped to attention in unison. We didn’t have much metal in the desert, and their armor called to me. It was beautiful, and noisy, and strange.

Danae moved quickly, leading me inside. The hallway was wide and airy, light filtering in from somewhere above us in little spots and flickers like the world was dancing around us. The hallway split, and she led me to the right, around what was possibly the base of the tower. We passed through a set of doors that opened without us indicating anything to the guards, and there I gasped.