Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(39)

I glanced at Zeph, and he glowered at her in return.

She looked at me, pausing as she walked. “I don’t mean to be disrespectful; I know that you haven’t been here before, and I just want to make sure you know of our ways,” she told me. “I am your attendant, after all, and no one wishes to displease the king.”

I recoiled a little, unsure if this was meant as a threat or some kind of bait to get me to speak ill of my husband. “We will walk,” was all I said to her.

She bowed to me. “Of course, my queen.”

As Adria, Zeph, and I left the Tri Castles, the recognition from people was instant—even in their clothes, my skin was so different from anyone’s in the Bone Lands. A few had a warm yellow tone to their skin, but nothing like my and Kairos’s rich brown. Still, not many people were in the streets, and those who were there barely raised their eyes to me as they moved quickly past.

We passed a large building with a low rumbling noise coming from it that shook the ground a little, and Zeph nodded to a man in uniform as we walked by. “What’s that?” I asked.

“A grain mill,” he told me. He pointed to a long wall that ran out behind the building as far as I could see. “Grain gets sent on the road, and men grind the grain to make flour.”

I nodded once, and as we walked farther, we saw long lines of weary-looking women and children standing at the back of the mill. I frowned, looking at Zeph.

He raised his shoulders. “They are waiting for their grain allowance.”

“Is there not enough grain?” I asked. “The fields looked so healthy on our way down here.”

“There’s enough grain,” he said. “But not the men to grind it.”

“Where are the men?” I asked.

“Serving as soldiers,” Adria said, cutting a glare to Zeph. “Or building ships and armor in the communes. Skilled men are sent away.”

“And why can the women not work?” I asked, looking over the lines. The women were thin and bedraggled, clutching their children.

Adria looked like she had bitten something sour. “Oh no. Women cannot work.”

“Why not?”

She shook her head. “Well, first of all, it would surely interfere with childbirth.”

I looked at the mill thoughtfully. Grinding grain could not be so much more difficult than carrying tents, and women did that up until they gave birth in the desert. “When they are close, perhaps, but not while they are with child.”

“But it’s … unsuitable. The Three-Faced God does not like women to be so … active. Like walking,” she added, raising her chin.

Unsuitable. Perhaps this was what Danae had meant when she said she wasn’t the princess she was supposed to be. We walked past, but the sight of the mill stayed long in my mind as we approached our destination.

The Erudium was in the center of town, past the factories and far from the water and the docks. It was the very heart of the city. New, like most of the city, it was massive, white and square and tall, with giant swaths of white fabric that dragged my eyes upward. Uniformed men stood guard out front, like this place held all the treasures of the kingdom.

They let us in, and I watched as the Erudium guards all lined up behind Zeph. Adria breezed in, and I followed her. She led me into a wide, deep room that reminded me of a place in Jitra that had been formed by rock and used for public speeches. This was man-made, the rings where people could sit or stand perfectly spaced, growing ever wider as they rose up.

The room was full of children. Women, not dressed like the women of court but in sturdier red garments that covered more skin and had many cloth ties, stood along the aisles, perfect end pieces to the rows of children.

No one so much as twitched as I was led forward, down a staircase to a platform. A chair on it was set off to the side, and Adria gestured for me to sit.

As my bottom touched the chair, the entire crowd stood up, chins raised, chests pushed forward, and they sang.


Three Faces of the God

To watch over and protect me

Three Faces of the God

To see all the good that’s in me


I will be powerful, righteous, and true

I will stand tall for my country

The Bone Lands will rise anew

And my brothers and sisters will be free

In one motion, they all sat down and stared at me.

I stared back, my heart beating faster.

“My queen?” Adria murmured behind me.

I turned.

“I believe the king told them you would address them. Explain what happened yesterday,” she told me.

I nodded and stood.

They all stood with me.

“Sit,” I said, and they immediately sat.

“How many of you were in the castles yesterday?” I asked. Slowly, about twenty of the hundred or so children in the room raised their hands. One of them was Aero, and he smiled when I looked at him.

“I’m sure it was frightening,” I said, and several heads nodded. “They were trying to scare you.”

“I wasn’t scared!” shouted a boy, standing up. “I only wished for a sword in my hand to gut them like fish!”

The children cheered at this, and I waited for them to quiet. “I was frightened,” I told him, and this brought total silence to the room. “I wasn’t sure if they meant to kill me. I wasn’t sure if I would die the day I became your queen.”