The Kingdoms of Evernow Box Set

by Heidi Catherine

  Yet regardless of her wishes, the sand kept falling and each grain that slid from one orb to the other brought her closer to her doom.

  Her whole life, she’d hidden herself away in the palace, complying with the laws and keeping her father and the Board happy. She’d never left the Round and could only imagine how the other people in the Capital lived, piecing together an image in her mind from the stories she overheard. Sharma didn’t seem too keen on answering her questions about it. Rani could only assume the part of her life she’d lived outside the Round hadn’t been happy. Which was sad because her life inside the Round didn’t seem particularly happy either.

  As the Emperor’s first-born child, she was the only child in the kingdom not to be raised in the Growing Center. She was also the only child in the kingdom to know one of her parents. The Registrar kept detailed records of genetic lines for the purpose of avoiding sirings within families, but otherwise this information was considered completely unnecessary. If you weren’t the child of the Emperor or Empress then what purpose was served by knowing who your parents were? This, of course, meant that there were no brothers or sisters or cousins or aunts, relationships that Rani knew existed just as she knew mammoths had once walked the dunes.

  Being raised in the palace was supposed to teach her to be a good leader. This system was flawed for two reasons. How could she lead people she knew nothing about? And how could complying with the Board’s every wish be considered leading at all?

  Rani opened her shutters and sat on the wide stone windowsill in exactly the way she wasn’t allowed to do. Usually, she only sat here at night when the Round was empty and nobody would see her. But more and more she’d come to think that nobody could see her anyway. She was an invisible girl. Her thoughts didn’t matter. Her wishes were never heard. Her tears were never seen. She was timid and weak, too frightened to stand up for what mattered, yet even more frightened about what would happen if she stayed still.

  She dangled her feet over the edge, thinking about how easy it would be to let herself fall. Her window was at the very top of the curved building. All she had to do was shuffle forward until she slipped. Then she’d feel the wind in her hair as she plummeted for a blissful few seconds, wiping out the certainty of the fate that lay ahead. Let the Chairman touch her body when it was cold and still. This kingdom would be better off without her, and she’d undoubtedly be better off without it.

  She looked down and saw the upturned face of a girl staring at her from the grass below. They locked eyes and the girl shook her head, mouthing the word ‘no’. Who was this girl who seemed to know what she was contemplating?

  “No,” the girl mouthed again.

  Rani withdrew her legs from the windowsill and tucked them underneath herself, checking to see if the girl was still watching. But her eyes were directed at the orbs now and it was if she’d never looked up and the moment they’d shared had never happened.

  The sand shifted through the orbs, reaching the point where half the sand from the topmost crystal had flown into the bottom. Even-time.

  The girl stood up and Rani watched her walk to the Conception Center. Even from this distance, Rani could sense her fear. It was in the hunch of her back, the slowness of her steps, and the downward direction of her gaze. It was the walk of a body that was being dragged toward its fate.

  Rani leaned forward, wanting to call out the word ‘no’ herself. The girl seemed too young and afraid to be forced into such an act. How could the Board have concluded that this was the solution to their population woes?

  A shudder ran through Rani as she imagined herself walking into the Conception Center in fourteen turns and she looked back down toward the ground below, its pull on her greater than ever. She untucked her legs and let her feet dangle once more.

  Just before the girl disappeared into the building, she stopped and turned her face upward once more to look at Rani. She held up her hand with her palm facing out.

  “Wait,” she mouthed.

  Rani found herself nodding, retreating back into her room and throwing herself on her bed.

  Who was that girl? And what did ‘wait’ mean? That letting herself fall from the window wasn’t such a bad idea, yet now wasn’t the time? Now seemed like the perfect time. Her life was over in fourteen turns anyway.

  She sat up and ground her teeth so hard she winced.

  Fourteen turns! Not now.

  She still had fourteen turns to live the life she’d been robbed of. Fourteen turns to fill her eyes with the world that lay outside that curved arch. Fourteen turns to find her voice and talk and laugh and maybe even dare to touch. Fourteen turns to track down that strange girl and ask her how she’d known she needed her help.

  It was like Rani had just been slapped awake. Her eyes were open, and she had fourteen turns to live an entire life.

  And when her fourteen turns were up, she knew what she was going to do.

  She’d wake up when the moon was high in the sky and sit on her windowsill with her feet dangling down and watch the timekeepers turn over the Orbs of Time.

  Then she was going to let herself fall.

  Instead of spending her remaining time afraid of the Board releasing her, it was time to release herself.

  The Emperor

  THE BEFORE

  Unable to settle after the Board meeting, the Emperor decided to volunteer at the Conception Center, not for concern of his kingdom’s dwindling population, but because he needed some relief. A distraction from what’d been a most eventful and frustrating day.

  Finally, Rani’s time had come. It’d been such a long wait. For a while, he’d thought maybe the Chairman was right in thinking there was a problem with her. However, everything was in working order. Soon, an heir would be sired.

  He cringed as he thought about who was to sire that heir and dreaded telling his daughter. She’d reacted badly enough when she’d thought the Chairman was just going to inspect her. With any luck, maybe Sharma would tell her first. He knew they talked. Sharma had saved him plenty of difficult conversations.

  He walked out of the main entrance to the palace, nodding at the servants who held the door for him, and stepped into the hot sun. A guard followed him into the Round, keeping several paces behind to give him the feeling of being alone.

  There were a number of people sitting on the lawn today, watching the time slip through the giant orbs as they ran their hands across the grass, marveling at the feel of it. Even the people who’d walked here together, sat alone, keeping a respectful distance.

  Guards roamed the Round, looking for any contact or sign there’d been contact in the past, ready to release anyone who broke the law.

  The Emperor walked around the circular lawn, quickening his pace as negative feelings built inside him. Rani was going to have to take these same steps in fourteen turns, although he imagined her steps would be far slower than his own. If only he could spare her from her fate, he would. But the Chairman had spoken and there was nothing that he could do, just like Sharma hadn’t had a choice in how she’d voted.

  He walked up the steps to the Conception Center, taking them two at a time and nodded at the workers who held the doors open for him. If they were surprised to see him so soon after his last visit they kept this well-hidden.

  Volunteers were required to arrive at even-time, men taking the door to the left and women to the right, after signing in with the Registrar.

  The Emperor tried not to notice the tear-stained faces of the women, preferring to concentrate on the men who were far more accepting of their duty to their kingdom.

  He nodded at the Registrar, who made a note in his book.

  “You just made it, Your Highness,” he said. “I’m closing the book until the next turn of the sand.”

  “Many volunteers on the list?” the Emperor asked, even though the result was of no consequence to him. He’d be selected as a sire no matter how many other hopefuls were waiting.

  The Registrar nodded. “I’ll
draw up the selection now. Please go ahead and await your call.”

  The Emperor went directly to the large reception room through the door on his left where a hundred seats had been generously spaced for the volunteers.

  He took one of the last remaining seats and reminded himself why he was here. The relief of a siring would be beneficial today. An Emperor couldn’t have too many children. Nobody had to know his needs were far more primal today.

  It was a tediously long wait and the Emperor wondered if perhaps it was the men who were worse off than the women who were busy readying themselves, not staring at walls as they bored themselves to death. Surely an exception could be made for the Emperor? Did he really have to endure this long wait?

  He yawned, his ears aching from the deafening silence. Speech was forbidden in here as they prepared their minds for the task ahead. Hopefully the selection wouldn’t take too much longer. At least he was guaranteed to be called. How must this feel for the men who’d come here for nothing? He’d heard there were a few men who’d turned up for hundreds of sirings and never been called, with others deemed more worthy by the Registrar.

  He needed to get this over with, so he could let go of some of his tension and move on with the task of informing his daughter of the outcome of today’s Board meeting.

  He rubbed his wrists, which were still sore from being bound behind his back during his last visit, only one turn of the sand ago. Surely the binding was unnecessary, especially with a Board member observing for any unnecessary contact? He’d change so many of these rules, if only he were given the chance.

  After what felt like eternity, the Registrar came into the room and cleared his throat, ready to deliver his speech.

  “We have twenty-seven sirings today. Thank you for serving your kingdom and volunteering your time. The list has been placed in the entrance hall. Please proceed in an orderly queue. His Royal Highness shall go first.”

  The men waited for the Emperor to stand and stride to the entrance hall, where he glanced at the top of the list to see the number he’d been assigned.

  Nine. Hopefully that was one of his favorite women. The Registrar knew who he liked and had never disappointed him so far.

  As he stared at the numbers on the list, all he could think of was that in fourteen turns of the sand his daughter would be a number. And the Chairman would be standing right where he was now, looking for his name next to her number.

  All his needs of only moments before left his body, draining out of him like the sand in the orbs. Was he any better than the vile Chairman? Had any of the women he’d been assigned to in the past wanted their sirings? He’d never really stopped to think about it from their point of view before. Now that he brought it to mind, their faces had always been turned and their eyes remained blank.

  But this was the way things had always been done. Well, not always. Ever since the Board had been appointed and the kingdom had been saved. Without this act, nobody here would’ve been born. There’d be nothing in the Capital except sand, blowing through on the hot winds of time.

  He blinked as he tried to push away the image of Rani bound to a table, her body shaking as it was prone to do, and tears pouring from her eyes that were so much like his own. She didn’t want this. She’d said she’d rather die than have the Chairman look at her. And now he planned to do so much more.

  His daughter was about to become a very unwilling number.

  Bile wound its way up his esophagus and he dry-retched, as the shame of his past actions became suddenly clear.

  He was no better than the Chairman. And here he’d been worrying about whether everything was in working order with Rani when all the time it was him. He was never going to be in working order again now he had that image of her in his mind.

  “Emperor, please proceed to room nine,” said the Registrar, studying him closely with a furrowed brow.

  “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I’m going to head back to the palace instead.”

  “As you wish,” said the Registrar, flipping open his book once more.

  He did wish. Not only that, he wished for so much more. His poor, sweet daughter.

  Rani

  THE BEFORE

  Rani dressed carefully, wrapping her veil around her head so only her eyes could be seen. She wore red, the color favored by most women in The Sands of Naar. Rani understood why now, more than ever. Blending in with the sand that surrounded them was a comfort. Who wanted to stand out in a kingdom like this?

  She slipped out of the palace using the servants’ door, not wanting the company of a guard today. Nobody gave her so much as a second glance. She could be anybody under her scarf and the long dress that swooshed around her ankles as she walked. Nobody would study her closely enough to notice the subtle yet intricate patterns woven through the fineness of her clothes, made from fabric fit only for a Princess.

  She made her way out to the Round, stepping onto the lawn, rather than walking around it as she’d normally do. It felt soft underneath the thin leather soles of her sandals. So much nicer than the marble floors of the palace. There were dozens of people sitting alone on the grass, watching the sand fall. She carefully wound her way between them, finding an empty space close to the entrance of the Conception Center.

  Rani had never sat on grass before. It felt cool and pricklier in places than she’d expected. She’d imagined it to feel like a cloud. When she fell from her window and got sent to the clouds, would they feel like this too? She hoped not.

  The men had started to emerge from the Conception Center, some smiling, others lost in thought, but all with an air of satisfaction.

  Bastards!

  Rani surprised herself with the venom of this word as it raced through her mind. Except what other word was there for it? How could these men violate the females of their kingdom like that? Just because something was the law, didn’t make it right.

  Was her father one of the bastards? When she was young, she couldn’t remember him attending regularly, but lately, she’d watched him from her window on a more and more frequent basis. What had changed and why would he continue to volunteer when he already had his heir and several spares in the Growing Center who’d be only too happy to take her place? Little did they know that soon one of them would get the chance to do exactly that.

  It was hard to think badly of her father. His affection toward her seemed to stretch beyond obligation. There was love in his eyes. And a good amount of pity at times. Like he wanted to save her, only didn’t know how. He was a good man, but like her, he lacked courage. Just because he was kind to her, did that make him a good person, if he wasn’t so kind to others?

  Soon the women would start emerging from the Conception Center. Rani knew they wouldn’t carry themselves with the same sense of satisfaction as the men. Their footsteps would be shuffled as they cast their eyes down. Humiliated, bruised, and ashamed. Alive on the outside. The possibility of life growing on the inside. And everything else about them dead. That was never going to be Rani.

  The first woman came out and adjusted her veil, the sleeve of her dress slipping down to reveal bruises on her wrist. Was struggling against her ties a reflex she couldn’t resist, or had she actually thought she had a chance of escape?

  As she descended the stairs, two more women followed, however, Rani didn’t pause to study them. Her eyes were glued to the door, watching for the girl who’d told her to wait.

  Three more women exited before she saw her.

  She was younger than Rani. Her time must’ve come early, the poor thing. She was wearing a long yellow dress, with a matching veil that covered her hair but not her face.

  Rani shifted her own veil to reveal a little more of her face, so the girl would recognize her. They made eye contact and Rani moved the veil back in place, certain the girl knew who she was.

  She waited as the girl went to the grass and sat down near Rani, as close as she could without drawing the attention of the guards who kept watch over them
all.

  Her eyes were glued to the orbs just like all those who surrounded them. Wet tears were falling in time with the sand, tracing their way down her face, as they dripped onto her lap. She didn’t make a sound or even move. The guards walking the perimeter of the Round would have no idea she was even upset. Not that there was a law against that. Yet.

  “Are you okay?” Rani asked, keeping her eyes on the orbs and her energy on the sad girl.

  “No,” came the quiet reply.

  Rani turned to the girl and shifted her veil once more, wanting to reveal more than just her eyes to this sad girl.

  “My name’s Rani,” she said.

  “I know who you are.” The girl wiped away her tears. “You’re the daughter of the Emperor. The Princess. I saw you at your window.”

  “What’s your name?” asked Rani, not ready to talk about that.

  “Azrael.” The girl bit down on her bottom lip and tucked her hands together on her lap.

  “How old are you?” Rani asked.

  “Seventeen Shinings.”

  Older than she thought. The same age as Rani, and as different lives as they’d led, they were both facing the same ordeal at the same age.

  Azrael glanced to the guards to see if they were being observed, then back at Rani. She pointed at the Conception Center. “It was my first time.”

  Rani’s hand went to her mouth, which she realized was hidden by her veil. “Was it awful?”

  Azrael nodded as a fresh set of tears burst from the corners of her eyes.

  Rani shuffled closer, surprising herself by wanting to put her hand on Azrael’s arm. But not only was that against the law, she doubted Azrael would want her touch. She’d been touched enough already.