Reign the Earth (The Elementae #1)(95)

I sighed. “I don’t know. Every time I imagine it, I feel uneasy. I think Kata’s plan to wait until after the baby is born is smarter, but we will never have so many men as we do in the desert. I feel like the moment I see Mother and Father, I’ll know what to do.”

He nodded. “They’re ready to eject the Trifectate. They can do that after we leave, if you prefer.”

He looked weary. “You aren’t sleeping well?” I asked.

He shook his head. “No. I thought it would be better once we left the capital, but the feeling grows far worse. When I do sleep, I dream of being buried alive. Being choked on dirt and earth and ash.”

Shivers ran over me. “You don’t think—my power—”

“No,” he said quickly. “No, the whole thing—it tastes of hate. And hate is not something in your heart, Shalia. Certainly not in your gift.”

“What can we do?” I asked him. “How can we stop it?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m hoping the visions will show me how to stop it, but I can’t control them. I can’t make them show me anything.”

I nudged my horse closer to his so I could take his hand. “And trying means you’re not sleeping.”

His shoulders lifted, and he squeezed his hand in mine. “I have to try.”

He let my hand go. “I wish we would move faster. I’m so desperate just to be there. It seems so long since we’ve been home,” I said.

Kairos’s smile was weak. “We’re nomadic, Shalia. We don’t really have a home.”

I grinned at him. “You know what I mean. Family. The whole clan gathered to celebrate.”

He nodded. “It will be wonderful.”

His expression fell quickly, though, and I could tell he was weary to the point of pain. Whatever these visions were, they were taking an awful toll on him.


By the seventh day, we were climbing higher into the mountains, and the air was growing dry and warm. We had eaten at the castle we’d stayed at during the night, but barely an hour into the ride my stomach twisted hard.

“Oh,” I yelped, dropping from my horse fast enough that I almost fell, voiding my stomach on the side of the road. The dirt was packed hard, and the mess splashed onto my dress and coat, and I even got a little in my hair.

“Shy?” Kairos said, helping me up.

I was staring at my hair. “I can’t—I thought we would make the desert by nightfall.” I felt suddenly and stupidly close to tears. “I don’t want them to see me with vomit in my hair. And on my dress,” I told him. “I hate being sick all the time.”

“I know,” he told me, putting his arm around my back.

“Ugh,” I said, bending over as I retched again. There wasn’t much more to come up, but it hurt, my body trying hard to expel things that weren’t there.

“My love?” I heard Calix ask behind me. “Are you all right?”

“She will be in a moment,” Kairos said, braiding my hair fast away from my face.

My stomach heaved again, and I straightened afterward, nodding. I rinsed my mouth with some water, staying close to Kairos like I might fall over. “I want to walk for a little while,” I told Calix.

“Love, you look like you’re about to pass out as it is,” he told me gently. “You should ride in the carriage.”

I clutched my stomach at the thought. “No, I think that will make it worse.”

He sighed, but nodded. “Very well.” He turned and shouted orders to his guards, that we would travel only as fast as I was walking. He kissed my temple, but he didn’t stay beside me, going instead to his carriage, calling one of his quaesitori to ride with him. Kairos stayed off his horse, and Galen and Zeph appeared behind me.

“Shouldn’t you be riding?” I asked, glancing at them.

Zeph stretched. “I feel like a walk. Don’t you, Commander?”

“Damned relief, if you ask me,” Galen said.

I shook my head, but smiled at them.

“Besides, I protect the Princess-in-Progress,” Zeph said, looking at my belly.

I covered the bump with my hands. “We don’t know it’s a girl,” I said, casting a wary glance at the carriage ahead. I didn’t think my husband would be pleased at the thought. “And that is not a real title.”

“It should be,” Zeph insisted.

“I’m very excited to see Zeph as the Baby Guard,” Kairos said. “I’ve never seen him frightened of something.”

Zeph looked offended. “I’m excellent with children,” he grumbled.

“You look like you’re excellent at eating children,” Kairos told him.

Galen laughed at this. “Children, maybe. But a baby? I can’t think you’d have any idea what to do with it.”

Zeph cast around as if taking on challengers. “I will be a formidable Baby Guard. This is not up for debate. And besides, the baby is a part of the queen, and I protect the queen. And I’m good at that, so I’ll be good at protecting the baby.”

I giggled. “I have no doubt, Zeph. You’ll probably be the first to give her a sword.”

Zeph lit up at this, but Galen shook his head. “Now, wait a moment, no sharp objects until she’s at least … thirteen.”