Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(63)

The next day, we entered the City of Three, and people were waiting for us, shouting and throwing flowers in front of our horses, the delicate blooms bright and whole for a moment before the horses crushed them beneath our weight.





Give Up

When we reached the Tri Castles and dismounted, I stretched with a yawn, smiling. “Zeph or Theron, could we go to the mill? I’d like to see how things are faring in my absence.”

Zeph nodded. “I’ll escort you, my queen.”

“Would you like to come, Kai?”

“Not unless you need me,” he said, dismounting and kissing my cheek. Osmost yelled but didn’t come down from the skies. “I will see you tonight.”

Nodding, I glanced around for Adria. She wasn’t there, and I didn’t feel like I should have to call her to attend to me, so I didn’t.

“You don’t wish to rest, my queen?” Zeph asked.

I stretched my arms out and yawned. “Skies, no. I’m desperate for a walk. I only wish the mill was farther away.”

He grinned. “You’re a very strange queen.”

I knew this wasn’t a rebuke, so I smiled and shrugged.

The stone underfoot, the fresh air in my lungs—it felt good. It wasn’t enough to shake the darkness of the days in the communes from my heart, but it felt good.

When we reached the mill, the ground rumbled and vibrated beneath my feet. Walking out to the back, I saw the lines moving fast, growing shorter. My effort was helping. It was doing something.

I went inside, and to my surprise, I didn’t see only the plain linen and cotton dresses. I saw blue and pink and silver silks, shiny hair, and soft, silly slippers.

The pounding stopped as the women saw me. It was Domina Thessaly, and Adria beside her, who first came over to me. They came forward and bowed, and the rest of the women bowed behind them.

“My queen,” Domina Thessaly said. “Welcome.”

“What is going on here?” I asked her.

She looked over her shoulder. “The women of the court would like to help ease the suffering of our people.”

My breath caught. It wasn’t a joke, or something they were doing to mock me. I could see it on their faces—they wanted to help. Or at the very least, they wanted to be seen helping. Which for my purposes was much the same thing.

“Thank you,” I told them, pressing my hand to my heart. I inclined my head to them, and I heard them all rush to bow at the gesture. “By all means,” I said. “Let us continue.”

My heart swelled with emotion, and I felt threads running near my fingertips. I struggled to breathe slowly, trying not to disrupt them, and it occurred to me that I had to practice my abilities, or happiness here would be a very dangerous thing indeed.


The next morning, I had the luxury of waking alone, but instead of a husband, I found a note on the floor by the balcony. Kairos told me. Meet me in the garden.

I tossed the note into the fire, calling the ishru to dress me and leaving the chamber as fast as I could.

Zeph was waiting outside my door, and I smiled. “Morning, my queen,” he greeted me.

“Good morning. Zeph, can you take me to this garden I’ve heard so much about?”

“The Royal Garden?” he asked.

“I believe so.”

He gestured forward. “Right this way, my queen.”

He led me through the castle, and then out the courtyard and down a sloping road that curled under the castle, pointing out the army’s barracks and training grounds and a road that he said led to a small beach under the cliff.

When we arrived at a thick green hedge, two guards stood by a break in it. They bowed to me.

“Why is this garden guarded?” I asked them.

“It was a favorite retreat of the former queen,” Zeph told me softly. “Ever since her death, the king has kept it as she wanted it.”

“The king was married before?” I asked, and then realized my error. “His mother,” I murmured. “Who cares for it?”

“There are gardeners, my queen,” one of the guards said, dropping his head to me.

“Are they currently at work?” I asked, panic striking me.

“No, my queen. We can keep them out, if you wish.”

“Yes,” I said. “And, Zeph, would you mind staying here? The garden is guarded anyway, and I should like a little time alone, I think.” This must have been why Kata suggested such a place. She would have known I could be here unguarded.

He hesitated, then nodded. “Yes, my queen. I will remain here. If you need me, shout.”

I turned and took a deep breath, and went into the garden.

The two thick green hedges continued on inside, forming a wide pathway. It turned, and still the walkway continued. It turned again, and there it opened, onto a wide square with roses and dense beds of flowers with a stone bench in the center. I left the square, following the hedge on the other side of it to another walkway. This one turned twice and led to a large fountain.

The next room in the hedges had a line of three trees, so large and leafy that they shaded the whole space between the hedge, and their roots grew up knotted from the ground. A long, narrow fountain burbled with a bench near it, birds dashing to and fro.

“Shy,” whispered Rian, appearing from around the hedge.