Chapter Nineteen
eady?” Gabriel asks, regal in his golden armor, his dark blond hair“R tied at the nape of his neck. This morning, he dragged me out of bed to train with him, stating I’d had more than enough time to recover from the first trial.
It’s been about a week, and Atlas visits me each day. Sometimes he stays for a while and sometimes only a few minutes. He sits by my side and talks to me, asking me questions about my life in Nostraza. He tells me about Aphelion, and I ask all the things I’ve always wanted to know about Ouranos.
He tells me about the rulers in each realm. Cyan, the king of Alluvion to the west, and Cedar, the king of The Woodlands to the east. He tells me The Aurora is in league with Tor and the Mountain Queen Bronte, as well as
D’Arcy, the Queen of Celestria. He shares his knowledge of each court’s Artefacts. The Stone of Tor, the Celestrian Diadem, the Alluvion Coral, and
The Woodlands Staff.
I soak up these bits of knowledge like water over dry sand. I’ve spent so many years in the dark. He tells me of the forgotten realm of Heart and its
fallen queen. Its lost Artefact—a crown with a blood-red stone. Her tainted realm is a black stain on the history of Ouranos.
What happened to her? I’d asked, and Atlas shook his head and told me not all magic in this world is meant to be touched by the Fae. That she’d almost destroyed everything on which we stood with her thirst for power.
After that, he touches my cheek, telling me I should get more rest. He doesn’t
kiss me again, a fact that leaves me bitterly disappointed. Perhaps he’s found one of the other Tributes more appealing.
Now Gabriel stands at my door, waiting to escort me to lunch with Madame Odell and the other Tributes. I wince as I tuck an errant curl behind my ear. If I thought Gabriel would take it easy on me because I was still healing, I was sorely mistaken. He worked me so hard this morning that I can already feel an ache settling in my muscles.
My hair has grown, though, reaching past my shoulders now. Mag took the opportunity to fuss with it as much as possible. While I preferred its natural wave, she’d twisted it into thick, glossy curls that I had to admit were rather lovely.
I catch Gabriel’s smirk through the mirror.
“What?” I ask, turning around to meet his gaze with narrowed eyes.
“Nothing,” he says. “It’s nice to see some meat on your bones. You don’t look like a walking corpse or like someone took a butcher knife to that hair.”
I roll my eyes. “You really know how to flatter a girl.” I toss my hair
again, fluffing it in the mirror, amazed at how smooth and shiny it is. “Callias is helping me grow it out,” I say. “It’s going to be down to my waist soon.” I glance at the mirror and then back at Gabriel. “Does Atlas like long hair?”
It’s Gabriel’s turn to roll his eyes. “Don’t tell me you’d change your appearance just to please him. That doesn’t seem like your style.”
“I wouldn’t,” I say. “But I might as well play to my strengths.”
Gabriel doesn’t respond, and I look back at him.
“Well?” I ask.
He shakes his head, his expression inscrutable. “Who are you, Lor?”
I frown and meet his questioning gaze. “I’m a prisoner from Nostraza. You know that. You’re the one who retrieved me.”
“Yes, but who are you? There is something more I haven’t quite figured out yet.”
I snort and shrug my shoulders, not meeting his eyes. “I think your imagination is running away with you, Captain.”
“Atlas is very interested in you,” he says, still studying me as though trying to peel back the layers of my skin.
I arch an eyebrow. “Why shouldn’t he be? What you mean is, how could he find me interesting when I’m surrounded by far more beautiful, educated, and cultured females? Why would a king be interested in prison scum like me?”
If I think Gabriel might feel bad that he’s insulted me, I’m entirely wrong.
“Yes, exactly,” he replies, nothing wavering in his expression. “No offense, but there doesn’t really seem to be anything that special about you. You’re pretty enough, but not compared to the others, and you’ve got a serious attitude problem. Atlas’s type is usually a little…less abrasive.”
I’m so startled by his complete honesty that I bark out a laugh.
“You’re a real asshole, you know that?” I say, stepping into my shoes and cinching my belt tight.
Gabriel shrugs his wide shoulders. “I just call it as I see it.”
“Can we go now?” I ask, after checking the mirror one last time and scrutinizing the scar on my cheek. Mag had insisted the healers try working
on it again, despite my protests, and called them in. I had sat perfectly still as they attempted to work their gifts, but the scar was resistant to their magic. I didn’t even try to keep my smile contained when they failed, and Mag looked so crestfallen you’d think someone had stolen her puppy. It was then I’d firmly told her I wouldn’t be doing that again.
We leave my room and stalk through the palace. I sigh as we near the
dining room, wondering what humiliation Madame Odell has in store for me today.
I’m the last to arrive, as usual, and I shoot Gabriel a dark look to remind him this is his fault. He lifts a casual shoulder that suggests he really doesn’t care, and I wonder if I can put in a request for a new warder who isn’t such a dick.
As usual, Apricia sits next to Madame Odell, her nose already so far up her ass it’s a wonder she hasn’t run out of air. Halo sits at the end and gives me a small smile as I slide into the seat next to her.
Across from me sits Tesni. Her deep brown skin is contrasted with a sheet of shiny silver hair that hangs down either side of her face. I nod, having
never spoken directly with her before.
After I sit down, food arrives, ushered out by servants on large golden platters. Today, everything is bite sized. There are creamy spreads and small black beads I learn are fish eggs piled on top of tiny round pieces of fried bread. Everything is delicious. I shudder at the notion of returning to the mess
hall in Nostraza, where everything tastes like sweat-soaked socks.
“Have you seen Marici?” I ask Halo, who gives me a grim nod.
“She’s been sent to purgatory,” she replies, popping a tiny cracker topped
with red jelly and creamy cheese into her mouth.
“Where?” I ask, remembering that Atlas said the eliminated Tributes
would be given a place of honor in Aphelion’s court. I pick up a small round toast topped with a curl of bright pink fish I’m told is called salmon. It has a dollop of white cream and a small sprig of green on top. I pop it into my mouth and can’t suppress my groan of appreciation.
Tesni giggles across the table from me, covering her mouth. When she notices me watching, she stops, straightening her shoulders, color darkening
her cheeks.
“It’s okay,” I say. “I know I’m a source of amusement. I don’t mind if you laugh, as long as you aren’t cruel about it.”
I’m not sure if it’s guilt in her eyes, but it clears away when she smiles, showing off her row of straight white teeth.
“Not at all. I think it’s delightful watching you experience all these new things. What a wonder to behold all this through fresh eyes.” She gestures to the table. “Sometimes I think we’re all far too jaded and definitely much too privileged to understand the wonders that surround us. You remind me that not everyone has it as good.”
I’m taken aback by her speech, surprised to hear such sentiments.
“Right,” I say, not entirely sure how to reply. “Exactly.” Tesni smiles again and takes a bite of her food.
I return my attention to Halo, remembering what she’d just told me. “What is purgatory?”
“Don’t you know?” she asks, her brows knitting together. “It’s a silly
nickname given to the state of fallen Tributes as they wait out the end of the
Trials.”
“And then what?”
“And then when the Sun Queen is chosen, they all become her handmaidens, destined to serve her forever.”
“Oh,” I say, not understanding the grim look on Halo’s face. “That doesn’t sound so bad?”
I think about my own fate if I lose. How I’ll return to my own personal pit of hell. They’ll probably make me finish out my sentence in the Hollow.
Becoming a lady’s maid hardly sounds like a punishment in comparison.
“No, I suppose not, except that most lady’s maids are eventually free to
marry and have families of their own,” Halo says. “However, a failed Tribute will never have that. Once she enters the Trials, she becomes the property of the king, whether she wins or loses. The only escape from that bond is death.”
Halo takes a long sip of her wine as if searching for strength at the bottom of her glass. Then she turns her dark, shining gaze on me. “Surely you know all this?”
I shake my head. “No. They didn’t tell me that.”
They didn’t tell me because that isn’t my fate if I lose. I’ll be tossed back to the wolves while the rest of the Tributes continue living in luxury. An eternal bond to the king may be a different kind of prison, but I’m having a hard time
feeling much sympathy.
“I’ve heard,” Tesni says from across the table, eavesdropping on our conversation, “that past kings have been known to take from the failed Tributes whenever they please. That they’re required to warm his bed.”
Halo and I both grimace while Tesni’s eyes shine. I can’t tell if she just
enjoys the idea of shocking us with this information or if she relishes the idea of sleeping with the king, even if she loses. I can’t imagine a future queen supporting this.
My heart sinks when I think of the way Atlas kissed me. Gabriel is right.
What could a male as glorious and beautiful as Atlas possibly see in me
beyond these other stunning Fae who surround me? He’s probably kissed them all that way.
“Has he kissed you?” I ask Tesni, leaning forward and lowering my voice.
Her eyes spread wide.
“No, he hasn’t. Has he kissed you?” I can feel the curious looks from a few more Fae at the end of our table as they catch wind of our conversation. Halo
also studies me, wariness carving into the lines of her face.
“He’s not supposed to kiss anyone before the end of the Trials,” Tesni says, her tone accusing.
“Of course he hasn’t,” I lie. “I was just wondering. That’s all.”
Tesni sits back, visibly relieved, and everyone else returns to the circles of their own discussions with that matter settled. I look around the table and catch the eye of Apricia. The corner of her mouth crooks up and the shift in her gaze suggests she’s trying to send me a message. One that’s coated in filth and doused in acid.
Atlas told me to keep our kiss quiet, and I wonder if he told the others the same. Apricia flips a lock of her hair over her shoulder, as usual, and I really
hope she doesn’t strain her neck. I feel like she’s trying to tell me she’s kissed him and is attempting to get under my skin. These court politics and games—I’m in way over my head, and I don’t know who to trust or believe.
After lunch, we’re offered a rare afternoon of respite from lessons or training.
Halo and I wander in the direction of the palace gardens. It turns out purgatory is less restrictive than it sounds, because Marici finds us a little while later. While I’m not entirely convinced that being bound to the king
forever is really such an honor, I still think these fallen Tributes could have it a lot worse.
“We’ve been friends since we were girls,” Halo says as we lounge in a circle on a patch of green grass. I lie on my back, my hands on my stomach and my face to the sky, soaking in the warm rays of the sun. “Our families wanted us to enter the Trials, but we never dreamed we both would make it.”
Halo and Marici exchange a cautious look I don’t understand.
Marici turns back to me. “Our families vacationed every summer together.
We’ve become very close over the years.”
I wonder what it would have been like to grow up that way. To have memories of family dinners and childhood friends and sprawling beach houses to idle away the days.
“What about you?” Halo asks. “What’s your family like? I mean…do you have family in The Umbra?” The question is careful, as though she’s not sure if she should ask. Momentary irritation flares at the idea of it being incomprehensible for someone like me to have a family. But maybe it’s not Halo’s fault. These Fae have clearly been coddled and sheltered from the realities of how the rest of the world lives.
“My parents are gone. The only people I have left in my life are my
brother and sister,” I say, deciding not to answer the question directly. They both give me a sad smile.
“I’m sorry,” Marici says. “That must be very hard.”
I shake my head and shrug. “You get used to it. It was a long time ago.”
We all fall silent for a moment, and Halo gives me a sly look. “Why did
you really ask Tesni if the king had kissed her earlier?”
“What?” Marici asks, her icy blue eyes widening into orbs of interest.
“I think the Final Tribute might be keeping something from us,” Halo says,
grinning and bumping her shoulder against Marici’s.
I lean up on my elbow, plucking a blade of grass and twisting it between
my fingers, avoiding their stares. “No reason,” I say, but even I can hear the false protest in it.
“Fess up,” Marici says, crossing her legs and leaning in. I look up at their faces, wary of their reactions, but there’s no jealousy or anger, only fascination. “Did he kiss you?”
I bite my bottom lip. “Maybe, a little.” They both squeal and clap their
hands together.
“What was it like?” Halo asks.
“It was…” I blow out a breath. “It was like being filled with the sun.”
There’s a snort of laughter from beyond the small clearing, followed by a chorus of snide laughter. Apricia, Hesperia, and Griane all emerge from behind a hedge from where they were clearly eavesdropping.
I sit up straight, my hackles rising at the cruel sneer Apricia tosses my way.
“As if the king would deign to kiss you,” Apricia says, her hands on her hips, looking down her nose.
“Jealous?” I ask, trying to maintain an outward show of calm. “He’s
probably not fond of kissing cold, dead fish.” I ease slowly to stand, clutching my locket in my fist.
“Please,” Apricia says, flipping her hair. “You’re a liar. Everyone knows that had he kissed you, it would only be out of pity.” She wrinkles her nose.
“Has he kissed you?” Halo asks innocently, her big eyes wide. I want to
kiss her when Apricia’s cheeks flush.
“Of course he has.” I notice Hesperia and Griane exchange a glance. “Not only that, he’s told me repeatedly I’m favored to win, both by himself and the
Sun Mirror. It’s basically a lock.” She checks her nails, and I wonder what her friends think about that. She’s just dismissed them as much as she has
me.
“So what does he have tattooed on his ribs, then?” I ask, plucking the question out of thin air. I have no idea if Atlas has a tattoo anywhere, but let her think I’ve seen enough of him to know.
Apricia blinks, her mouth flopping open and her eyes narrowing. I let out a derisive laugh and turn to address Halo and Marici, who stand behind me,
trying to contain their grins. “I thought so. Pathetic.” To twist the knife a little deeper, I look over my shoulder and say, “Losing to an Umbra rat. How embarrassing.”
With a smirk, I face Halo and Marici and widen my eyes to tell them we should probably get the fuck out of here immediately.
“You tramp!” Apricia yells, and pain bursts at the back of my head. She’s got a handful of my hair and yanks it so hard, I swear I feel the follicles pop.
Twisting myself under her arm, I wrench from her grip, panting heavily.
“You bitch!” I scream and crash into her, shoving her so she stumbles back and lands on the soft grass.
“Lor! Stop!” Halo cries. “Help! Someone help!”
Glaring at Apricia, I stalk towards her, and she scrambles back on her hands and feet.
“If you touch me, you’ll know the wrath of my father! He’s very powerful!”
“What’s he going to do, Apricia? Take all my gold and riches? Make me
live in a hovel where I won’t have enough to eat? Force me to work all day in some thankless job where I’m paid in scraps?” I take another step closer,
baring my teeth. “You forget, Tribute, I have absolutely fucking nothing to lose.”
Priming myself, I leap, but something snags me around the waist, jerking me back and hauling me away. I’m lifted off the ground by what I realize now is an arm, my legs flailing under me.
“Lor!” It’s Gabriel, and he sounds pissed. “Calm down!” He hisses it with such viciousness that I go limp in his hold. With his arm still cinched around my waist, he spins and carries me at his side like I’m a naughty rag doll.
After marching across the garden, he stops and drops me on the ground.
“Ow!” I say as my hip makes bruising contact with the hard earth.
“What is the matter with you?” He leans over me, his teeth gritted and his blue eyes flashing like tidal waves in the middle of a hurricane.
“She started it!” I point in the general direction of where we’ve just come from.
“That’s always your excuse. Do you know how to deal with anything without resorting to biting and scratching like a wild animal?”
I scramble up to stand, my anger now directed at him. “No, I don’t! I’ve lived through hell and this is all I know, okay? If there’s a better way, no one has ever taught me!”
Gabriel takes a step towards me and every instinct tells me to move back, but I stand my ground while he towers over me. “Oh poor little, Lor. So hard done by. Every time I think there might be a chance you’d make a decent queen for Atlas, you behave like a spoiled little child. You don’t deserve any of this.”
My chest is so tight that my breath is snipped into staccato notes. I glare at him, his words taking out a bite out of my pride.
Gabriel gives me one more look, hard enough to cut steel, and then turns
and walks away.
“Asshole!” I scream at his back, but he completely ignores me.
