Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(41)

“You both went through this?” I asked them.

Zeph nodded, and Adria raised her chin. “Of course,” she said. “I was one of the finest pupils. I was chosen when I was fourteen.”

“You’re married?” I asked her.

She took a breath and held it, her body showing the tension of it, but she nodded. “Yes.”

“Zeph?” I asked.

His mouth twitched. “I didn’t exactly win a contest—but I wouldn’t have chosen a wife that way. I am not married, my queen.”

“Boys have the option to refuse?” I asked.

“As I said, it is a privilege, not a requirement.”

“So girls can also refuse?”

Adria’s mouth fell. “No,” she said. “We should attend to the practice, my queen.”

“So what do you mean, you didn’t win a contest?” I asked Zeph, ignoring her advice. “You’re in the army.”

“Yes,” he said, grinning. “And that is why I am the stuff of legends.”

“Oh, please,” Adria said. “You are just a brute.”

He chuckled.

I knew I shouldn’t take her bait, but Adria’s comment was still on my mind. “You wanted to refuse your match?” I asked her.

She stiffened. “He … wasn’t the one I was expecting to choose me,” she said carefully. “I was in love with someone else,” she admitted, her voice breath-soft as she looked away from me.

But Zeph made a huff of disbelief.

I looked to him, and Adria shook her head sadly. “Do not mock me,” she said, but the command had the tone of begging.

“You didn’t love him,” Zeph said. “You thought you would get him; there’s a difference.”

“Who?” I asked, looking between them.

“The commander,” Zeph said, and she looked to him, betrayed at the information as her face filled with color.

“How could you?” she snapped. “You’re a terrible bully, Zeph, you always have been.” She shook her head. “Besides, Galen knew—he knew what my father wanted for us. That was the plan, and I would have thought he would have had more consideration in refusing the wishes of the high vestai.”

Zeph shrugged. “There was no contract.”

Adria shook her head bitterly. “I don’t want to discuss this any longer.”

If only feelings were dictated by a contract, I wanted to tell her, but it couldn’t be said. Not to her, not in this court, perhaps not ever. “I’m sure Galen must have simply missed his opportunity with you, Adria. Especially since I know that my husband and I both have great respect for your father and his wishes. I can only imagine my husband must have taken him to task—privately—for such a slight.”

Her chin rose a little higher. “I suppose so, my queen.”

“Besides,” I told her with a smile, “these military men are all the same. They need clear, direct orders, or else they’re completely helpless. Isn’t that right, Zeph?”

He bowed his head. “My queen is wise beyond contradiction,” he said with a smile.

Adria nodded. “Quite so, my queen.” She met my eyes, a begrudging gratitude in her gaze, and it felt like a small measure of kinship between us.


After the boys finished their training, Galen offered to escort us back to the Tri Castles. When we got outside, he caught sight of one horse, and he turned sharply to the young man standing beside it.

“Where is the queen’s carriage?” he asked the groom.

“We didn’t take one,” Zeph told him.

“We walked,” Adria huffed. Galen looked to her, and she looked away from him.

Galen frowned. “You are aware you were attacked yesterday, my queen?”

I raised my chin. “Are you not confident in the abilities of your Saepia to protect me, Commander? I rather thought that was the point.”

“The point was not to use them to take unnecessary risks.”

“Precisely!” Adria said.

“Domina Viato,” Galen said. “You can take my horse back to the Tri Castles, and I will escort the queen.”

“But—” she protested, looking to me.

“I will manage without your services,” I told her. “And thank you for your assistance today. Now I know not to cut my hair.”

She smiled. “I would not recommend it. It was my pleasure, my queen. Shall I wait to attend to you at the Tri Castles?”

“No need. Thank you,” I told her.

She stood and mounted the horse, and Galen looked thoroughly confused as she rode out of sight. “You were thinking of cutting your hair?” he asked, walking down the steps.

I walked with him with a grin, and Zeph lumbered behind us. “No, of course not.”

Confused, Galen looked to Zeph, who shrugged.

I waited a moment, then opened my mouth and drew a breath. “Galen, may I ask you a question?”

He thought for a moment. “I can’t guarantee I’ll answer it, but yes, you may ask.”

“Calix mentioned a few strange things to me last night. One was something he’s mentioned before about a prophecy and now a trivatis. Do you know what that means?”

Slowly, Galen nodded. “Yes. There was a trivatis my mother favored—a holy man,” he explained at my look. “Like the man who crowned you. This trivatis received visions, he claimed from the Three-Faced God, and my mother put a lot of faith in them. Just before she died, he had a vision that Calix would meet his death at the hands of an Elementa. Calix called his powers sorcery and convinced my father to put him to death. That was the start of the powers being illegal in this country.”