by Cayla Kluver
“Home for dinner,” she relented.
It was midafternoon, which did not give me much time to enjoy my stolen freedom, but the fresh, crisp air was a blessing in and of itself. I meandered along the shop fronts lining the main street in the Market District, dodging the traffic of horses, wagons, soldiers and pedestrians, until the sound of frantic stamping and snorting drew my notice. I pushed through the crowd and into a deserted alley, where the owner of the nearby balm shop tied his horse. Indeed, someone’s mount was there, still saddled, its reins tied so securely to a post that its desperate efforts to free its head were apt to break its neck.
“Whoa,” I murmured, trying to calm the animal enough to set it loose, not wanting it to come to harm.
I gripped the reins, but the horse, its eyes wild with fear, snapped its head back, catching my hand in the leather strap, and I inhaled sharply from the sting. How long had the poor thing been out here? My senses on full alert, I glanced behind me at the busy street, weighing my options. Seeing no one, I hoisted up my skirt, and unsheathed the dagger I had kept. The instant I cut the reins, the horse bolted past me, almost knocking me over. Its owner would not be happy, but at least the animal would live to see another day.
It wasn’t until someone clamped an arm around my waist, seizing the knife, that I realized I was no longer alone. So much for having reliable senses.
“Well, aren’t you just incorrigible?”
Imprisonment or execution was the punishment for bearing weapons in this new Hytanica. The dagger itself was a small loss, but I had to get away. I brought my elbow back, my mother’s reluctance to let me leave the house flashing like lightning in my brain. If I were arrested, killed, she would never forgive herself, even though she would bear no fault.
“Empress, the bruises you’ve given me are too many to count!”
I whirled around, dismayed that I had not succeeded in getting the Cokyrian to release me, at the same time recognizing the voice and the curse. Saadi pushed me against the side of the shop, leaning in so close to me that I could feel his breath upon my cheek, and his pale blue eyes stared me into submission.
“I can’t call you a horse thief for what you just did,” he told me, glancing after the gelding. “At least, not a very good horse thief. But I can, and I must, bring you in for this little utensil of yours. Some niece of the captain you are.”
“Are you going to take me to your sister?” I spat, and he grimaced, contemplating me for an instant before disregarding the barb. Gripping me by the upper arm, he hauled me toward the thoroughfare.
“Come on. To the Bastion.”
Though my question about Rava appeared to have had its intended effect, I was numb with fear. What if he did take me to her? Rava had been the one to order me lashed for my failed prank, she’d been the one to inflict punishment upon Steldor. It seemed no one could exert control over her, a thought that made me ill.
The nearer we came to our destination, the more rapidly my heart beat, and by the time we reached the palace gates, I was again fighting Saadi.
“Let…me…go!” I howled, unexpectedly pulling out of his grasp, but one of the Cokyrian sentries caught me, laughing at my plight.
“Need some help, Saadi?” the burly man offered, shoving me back at my captor, who was rather slight in comparison to his comrade.
“No,” Saadi grumbled and the sentry moved ahead to open the gates for us.
As we passed through, the large man called, “Rava is at the city headquarters, minding the peacekeeping force. If you were looking for her, that is.”
“I wasn’t.” Even though my circumstances were inarguably bleak, a wave of relief washed over me. She, at least, would not be the one to show me the error of my ways.
We entered the austere palace—which as the Bastion lacked its former magnificence, the Cokyrians favoring practicality over beauty in the province—and Saadi asked the set of guards in the Grand Entry where he could find the commander.
“In there,” one of the women said, pointing toward my uncle’s office.
“Is he alone?” Saadi seemed reluctant to interrupt his superior’s schedule.
“The former Captain of the Guard and the Grand Provost are with him.”
My horizons kept getting darker and darker. The moment Cannan learned of my offense, he would set me drowning in woe.
Saadi studied me as though evaluating my worth, then opted to try his luck. He led me to the door and knocked. We didn’t have long to wait before the captain called for us to enter.
Queen Alera and Cannan rose from their chairs as we came through the door, Commander Narian already on his feet. All eyes fell on me, and I bowed my head to examine the floor, combating the urge to run. Not only would I be caught if I tried to flee, adding to my humiliation, but success would gain me nothing. Cannan knew by now that I’d done something. If only I’d gotten away earlier.
“Report,” Narian ordered, umbrage in his tone. He did not appreciate the lack of respect Saadi was displaying by coming straight to him.
Saadi pulled my dagger from somewhere on his belt, flipping it around to hand it to his commanding officer.
“I caught her with this illegal weapon on the street, sir. Considering the interest you took in her welfare last time, I thought it best this matter be brought directly to you.”
“A good decision,” Narian said, examining the knife. “Now return to your post.”
Saadi gave a deferential nod to him and, to my surprise, a slight bow to Queen Alera before departing.
In the silence that briefly reigned, Cannan’s gaze fell upon me, unwavering, unwelcoming and especially dark considering the reprimand he’d given me in the barn. I was in so much trouble.
“Where did you get this?” Narian asked, and my attention snapped from my uncle to the Cokyrian commander, who was brandishing my dagger. Which of them was the fiercer opponent? I didn’t speak, afraid to find out, certain this was how a cornered animal felt.
“Shaselle, from whom did you obtain that weapon?” It was Queen Alera addressing me now, her voice softer, kinder, but I hardly looked at her, for she was not where the problem lay.
When I still did not answer, Narian turned to Cannan. “You tell us then.”
“I have no more knowledge than do you,” the former captain said, not outwardly disturbed by the fact that my conduct had brought him under suspicion.
“I need to know how she came by this dagger,” Narian said more forcefully, but I knew he was wasting his breath. Cannan was not about to be intimidated—certainly not by a young man of my age, regardless of whatever mythical powers he possessed. “These have been outlawed and removed from Hytanican hands. No young girl could wrangle one. Not unless she had access to some that were kept from my soldiers. Not unless she was the captain’s niece.”
“My answer remains the same,” Cannan replied, unflappable as ever. “I suggest you stop accusing me.”
A silent challenge passed between the powerful men, to be interrupted by the Queen, who spoke but one word—the Cokyrian commander’s name. He looked to her more quickly than I would have believed possible, and his demeanor changed along with his focus, becoming softer, more cooperative.
“May I see the dagger?” she asked.
Without demanding a reason, he passed her the blade. Perhaps she had more influence than I thought.
She perused the weapon with a crease in her brow. “I think I recognize this.”
/>
“You do?” Narian sounded skeptical, while I was flabbergasted, and Cannan’s eyebrows lifted ever so slightly.
“I believe this was Lord Baelic’s. It must have been missed by the Cokyrians sweeping his home. A house of Hytanican women—they might not have been thorough.” She paused and met my gaze. “This is your father’s, is it not, Shaselle?”
I started nodding before I could even process what was happening. Was she mistaken? Did she actually believe the weapon had belonged to my papa? Or was she trying to help me? Whatever the case, I wasn’t about to argue with her, seizing the excuse and hoping it would be good enough to save me, at least from Cokyrian punishment.
Narian scrutinized both me and the Queen with eyes so deeply blue I could not break away from them. I was glad he was no longer questioning me, for those eyes made me want to tell him everything. At the same time, those eyes revealed something to me. Was he in love with Alera?
“Is this true?” Narian asked, his question directed to Cannan.
My uncle shrugged. “I can’t be certain, but the make of the blade would have met my brother’s favor. He had a great many weapons—your soldiers could easily have missed one. I trust Alera’s memory if she says she saw it on Baelic’s person.”
I held my breath in the tense interlude that followed. Alera looked earnestly at Narian, the Cokyrian commander considered, and my uncle maintained his facade of naïveté. He and Papa had shared a passion for weaponry—a common affliction among men in military families—and there was no chance he believed the blade in question had belonged to his brother, not when he’d been apprised of every dagger, bow and sword in my father’s collection.
Narian stepped forward to retrieve the knife from Alera, then trained his attention once more on me.
“I warned you before to keep out of trouble. No one is invulnerable. Go, but I’m retaining your father’s weapon.”
He tucked the dagger into his belt and departed, leaving me quaking. My uncle was perhaps impervious to intimidation by the commander, but I was not.
The Queen watched him go with a strange expression, then Cannan came toward me, taking my arm and escorting me from his office. We passed the guards in the Grand Entry and entered the courtyard, walking along the white stone path now infamously scorched from Rava’s flag burning.
“I beg of you, Shaselle,” he hissed when we reached the gates. “Go home and stay there. I cannot be worried about you now.” He didn’t sound angry, just agitated, so perhaps I would survive this, after all. “I’ll come and discuss this with you later, but right now I need to know that you’re home and safe.”
“Yes, Uncle,” I said, not sure what frightened me more—the prospect of an enraged Cannan, or this collected, apprehensive captain.
He escorted me through the gates before releasing me, then turned and strode back toward the palace. Confused and unnerved, I rubbed my upper arm where several people had roughly grabbed me today. I knew Cannan would have taken me home if he hadn’t been concerned about affairs with Narian and the Queen. Unable to judge what damage I had done, I could only hope I hadn’t somehow destroyed their plans, or put Narian back on their scent.
With these uneasy thoughts urging me onward, I hurried toward home, praying I would make it in time for dinner and thereby avoid having to answer to my mother. That was the only way my day could get worse. I was forced to adjust that conclusion, however, when I spotted Saadi loitering nearby. The moment he laid eyes on me, I knew he’d been waiting for me, and I groaned. Why couldn’t he leave me alone?
“Shaselle!” he called, coming toward me.
I gritted my teeth, knowing I could not escape. The traffic on the thoroughfare had thinned, as was generally the case at this time of day, no longer providing the cover I needed to dart past him. He came abreast of me, but I didn’t slow or acknowledge him.
“I’m glad I caught you,” he said, and in my peripheral vision, I could see him smoothing that damn bronze hair forward, an impossible task, for as always it kinked upward at the midpoint of his hairline.
“Can’t say the same.”
“I didn’t take you to my sister.” He sounded like this small mercy should be eliciting gratitude from me.
“I realize that.”
Saadi exhaled, baffled and exasperated. “How can you be angry with me?”
I halted and stared at him in disbelief. “I’m not! You’re the Cokyrian soldier who arrested me when I broke the law. Our relationship ends there. It would be a waste of my time to be angry with you.”
“That’s it?” he said, eyebrows rising, and I was sure I detected disappointment. “I thought… I don’t know. I thought you were angry with me before, for not having mentioned I’m Rava’s brother. Weren’t you?”
“No,” I lied.
I still didn’t understand why it upset me to know that this annoying tag-along was related to the woman I hated with such intensity that my insides burned. But there was no reason to complicate things by letting him know the truth.
“Well, I saved you today, didn’t I? Just like I saved you before. You walked out of the Bastion free, without a scratch, and if any Cokyrian but me had caught you with that dagger, you might be drawn and quartered by now.”
“You didn’t save me from that butcher,” I said irritably. “But you’re right. About today, I mean.” I could sense his satisfaction, which irritated me all the more. “So accept my thanks, but stay away from me. We’re not friends, you know.”
I was nearing my neighborhood and didn’t want anyone to see me with him. He stepped in front of me, forcing me to stop.
“We’re not friends yet. But you’ve thought about it. And you just thanked me.”
“Are you delusional?”
“No. You just said thank you to the faceless Cokyrian soldier who arrested you.”
“Don’t you ever stop?” I demanded, trying in vain to move around him.
“I haven’t even started.”
“What does that mean?”
There was silence as Saadi glanced up and down the street. “I want to know where you got that dagger. Or at least what story you told.”
“Why don’t you ask Commander Narian? The two of you seemed fairly close.”
“Quit making jokes.”
“I haven’t made a single one.”
“Well?”
“It was my father’s,” I said, clinging to the lie Queen Alera had provided, whether by mistake or not.
“Oh.” This seemed to take Saadi aback.
“And now, because of you, I don’t have it anymore.” I knew I was pressing my luck, but I wanted to make him feel bad.
“I’m sorry,” he muttered, seeming sincere enough.
Thinking I had maybe, finally, succeeded in getting him to leave me alone, I stepped around him.
“Shaselle?”
I stopped again, without the slightest idea why.
“Your father—what was he like?”
The question shocked me; I also wasn’t sure I could answer it without crying. But Saadi appeared so genuinely interested that I couldn’t disregard him.
“You have no right to ask me that,” I answered out of principle. “But for your information, he was the strongest, bravest, kindest and best-humored man I ever knew. And none of it was because he took what was handed to him.”
For the second time, I attempted a dramatic departure.
“Shaselle?”
“What now?” I incredu
lously exclaimed.
“Do you have plans tomorrow?”
“What?”
“I have a day off duty. We could—”
“No!” I shouted. “What is this? You expect me to spend a day with you, a Cokyrian—a Cokyrian I can’t stand?”
“Yes,” he affirmed, despite my outburst.
I laughed in disbelief. “I won’t. This is ridiculous. You’re ridiculous. Enjoy your time off duty with your own kind.”
Turning, I sprinted down the street, and though he called after me yet again, I ignored him. As I neared my house, I glanced behind once or twice to assure myself he wasn’t following. He was nowhere in sight.
I reached the security of my home just in time for dinner, and just in time to cut off Mother’s growing displeasure—the first step in her progression to anger. I smiled at her, hurried to wash, and was a perfect lady throughout the meal. Afterward I retired to my room, picking a book from my shelf to occupy me until my eyes drooped. Instead of words on pages, however, I kept seeing Saadi’s face—his clear blue eyes, that irritating hair, those freckles across his nose that made me lose willpower.
What if I had offended him earlier? He had only asked to spend time with me, and I had mocked him. But he was Cokyrian. It was ludicrous for him to be pursuing my company. It was dangerous for me to be in his. And that, I suddenly realized, was part of the reason I very much wanted to be with him. Saadi aggravated me, confused me, scared me, and yet I could no longer deny that he intrigued me in a way no one else ever had.
CHAPTER NINETEEN:
CAUSE TO CELEBRATE
ALERA
The morning following Shaselle’s arrest and release, I descended the Grand Staircase to the entry hall below and was drawn toward the antechamber by raised voices. I entered to find one of my worst nightmares unfolding—Steldor and Narian were in heated argument, both seeming to have discounted where they were and who might overhear. They stood opposite one another across the room from me, Steldor likely having come from Cannan’s office, while Narian had probably been passing through on his way to the Hearing Hall. I stared transfixed, not knowing what they were arguing about, but certain they would not appreciate my interference.
