When we returned to the room, Calix stood there, smiling at me. I wiped my tears away, standing up straight, feeling a new kind of power rushing in my veins.
“Those two,” Calix said. He pointed at me and Iona.
We looked at each other as they brought us forward. Calix locked me into the manacles from the ceiling and drew my arms up again. “You look thin, wife,” he said. “Not enjoying your stay here?”
I drew a breath and shut my eyes.
“Don’t worry,” he said, his breath close to my ear. “You won’t be here much longer.”
I opened my eyes as I heard Iona’s whimper. They tied her down to the table, and she looked at me, breathing rapidly, blinking back tears.
“Shalia, it’s time for you to present your power. I hear you’ve become quite close with her, yes? I knew I could count on you to make friends, even in a place like this. So just know that every bit of pain she’s about to feel will be your fault. Unless, of course, you want to show your power.”
Iona looked up at the ceiling, and I glared at Calix. “I am not responsible for your choices, Calix,” I told him. “You masquerade as a leader, but a leader would take responsibility for his choices. He would save people, not hurt them.”
“Really?” Calix asked, smiling. “You’re naive, Shalia. You have so many grand thoughts of leadership, but peace is always bought with death. Safety is inherently at odds with freedom. And you know nothing of what sacrifices leadership demands until you have fought for the lives of your people. You know nothing of what it takes to lead.” He turned to his quaesitori. “Begin.”
One of the men approached Iona with a small vial in his hand. Another came to the other side and blocked my view of her, holding a cloth and arranging it on her face.
She tried to buck and fight, but they held her tight.
“What are you doing?” I cried. “Calix, what are you doing to her?”
He didn’t answer me.
She whimpered and cried, kicking her legs, but they opened the vial.
“Calix!” I yelled.
“Do it!” Calix snapped.
With only a glance at him, they dripped something onto her eye.
She screamed, a guttural, tortured noise, for barely a moment before her body went limp.
“Do the other eye too,” Calix said. “Unless you want to show me something, Shalia?”
Desperate, I curled my fingers, trying to call up the threads, and I yelled out in frustration as the quaesitori switched places, opening her other eye.
The power is always there, she had told me.
Like my heart. Whether I liked it or not, even if it was shattered in my chest, my heart was still there. It wasn’t as easy as saying I didn’t know how to love anymore. The thought of my child, still growing inside me, was enough to make me believe that.
I shut my eyes and thought of her. My tiny girl, my little survivor.
My power had always been my ability to care for people. To love people, even in the bleakest of situations. Calix could say what he wanted, but that was truly what it meant to lead—to love people when they didn’t deserve it, to love people when it wasn’t in your best interest.
I would not let Iona die.
Like a thunderclap, the threads rushed back to my fingers. I tugged, and the chains tore out of the ceiling. The ground trembled and shook, and the quaesitori capped whatever dangerous liquid they held. My chains fell from me as cracks ran over the ceiling, and my husband turned to me, an evil light in his eyes.
“I knew it!” he crowed. “You see? I’m always right, wife. I will always be able to force you to show this filthy side of yourself.”
“I’ll be honest, Calix,” I told him, holding my hands wide. “I don’t know how well I can control this. You might want to run.”
I pushed my hands at the doors, and some of them unlatched, but most shattered on their hinges. The other Elementae stumbled to the doorways. Someone ran for Iona, but most stayed where they were.
Calix started laughing. “Magnificent!” he crowed. “You are a fine specimen, aren’t you? And you know, I considered what you said—what happens if I don’t ever find the elixir? If I can’t ever re-create it? Now I have my own answer to your little power. Danae!” he shouted.
A chunk of rock ripped free of the ceiling, and with a gasp I pushed it out of the way so it wouldn’t hurt the others. As I put it safely down, Danae came out of the hallway. Her eyes were sunken and shadowed, and I saw bruises so dark her skin looked black spread wide around stitched cuts in her arms.
I stared at Calix, and suddenly the experiments, the cuts, the disappearing blood, and the dead girl made a stunning amount of sense. “You didn’t. You couldn’t.”
He went to Danae, smiling at her for a moment. “Kill her. Meet us back at the City of Three,” he said before disappearing into the tunnel behind her.
“Danae,” I said.
She held up her hands, and fire wrapped around her fingers. “He made me one of you,” she said, her voice choked. “He made me one of you so I have the power to stop you. To keep him safe.” She swallowed. “He made me into the thing he hates most.”
“Danae, please,” I told her. “Your power is new; you won’t be able to control it. You have to stay calm or you’ll kill all of us.”
“Don’t tell me to stay calm!” she screamed, and fire shot from her palms, running over her arms as if flames were bleeding from her cuts. One of the others dove over Iona’s body to cover her. “Galen—Galen turned from him years ago. But I have always loved him—he’s my oldest brother!” she yelled. Her hands dropped, and the fire stopped flowing from them, but it raged out of control around us without anything to burn. She fell to her knees, covering her face. “My mother—my mother told me that he just needed someone to love him. That I had to love him after she was gone. And no matter what he did, I loved him. I did whatever he wanted. I protected him. I killed for him,” she cried.
I called up dirt and dust and rubble, trying to tamp out the flames, but they just grew.
“Get out of here!” I screamed at the others. I couldn’t see them. Fire was all around me, encircling Danae and me, forcing us closer together.
I could hear noises coming from beyond the fire, but I couldn’t see through its glaring light enough to know what was happening. Someone screamed.
Coming forward, I knelt beside Danae. I pulled her into my arms, and fire burst from her hands. Crying out, I jumped back from her. The cave was thick with smoke, and I didn’t think we could survive much longer.
Shaking, I touched Danae’s face. “Come back to me,” I told her. “Please, Danae—I love you. Galen loves you. No matter what, Calix did this because he trusts you more than anyone.”
She didn’t move, didn’t look at me. The fire was burning closer to me, searing my back, and I cried out, shaking her. “Danae, please!”
Something cool rushed over me, so intense it hurt for the first stinging moment. Then I was drenched in water, and water was flying through the air, swirling around the fire and fighting it back, containing it.
The smoke began to clear from the cave, and I saw Iona sitting on the table, clutching another one of the girls, and both their hands were outstretched.
Beyond them, I saw men in black uniforms filling the tunnel. I gasped—I thought we were in the mountains, with few guards. I hadn’t imagined contending with an army. I took a breath, turning, ready to fight back.
And then I saw Galen, and Kairos broke from the crowd, Kata and Rian behind him, and they ran for me.
As Kairos caught me in his arms, I saw that the men’s uniforms also had a green dragon on them. Not the Trifectate. “The Resistance?” I asked, staring at Galen over Kai’s shoulder.
“Put her down,” Kata ordered Kairos sternly. He did, and Rian and he both began chattering as Kata put her hands on me.
“Quiet!” Kata barked, closing her eyes.
“Kata, the others need you. Iona, they did something to her eye—”
“Stop,” she commanded. “I can heal you all.”
Her power rushed through me, healing my burns, and her eyes opened.
“Oh, Shalia,” she breathed.
The boys looked at each other. “What?” Rian demanded, his arm going tight on my waist. “She’s going to be all right, isn’t she? We just—Great Skies, tell me we got here in time.”
“She’s going to be a mother,” Kata whispered. She looked at me. “Did you know? That the baby’s alive?”
I nodded. “Just,” I whispered.
Rian crushed me to him in a strong hug, and I felt Kairos wrap his arms around us both.
We were the last of our clan. The knowledge struck me hard, like a blow, and I squeezed them tighter to me.
After a long moment, I pulled away from them and turned to where Galen was kneeling, holding Danae limp in his arms. Wiping my face, I came over to them. “What happened?”
“She passed out,” he said softly, looking at her. He touched her arms and the cuts there. “What did he do to my sister?” he whispered.
“I’ll explain,” I said. “But we should get her out of here. We should all get out of here.”
He nodded, standing. He turned to the gathered force of the Resistance, calling them forward, and to my shock, they answered.
The Resistance—they were Galen’s men.
Feeling dizzy and stunned, my eyes dropped to his chest. There, in careful stitching, was a green dragon.
“You …,” I managed, but I couldn’t form the words.
The soldiers took Danae’s small, slight body and started walking out of the cave. Other men were helping the Elementae as Kata healed them, and Galen glanced at me, swallowing.
He looked down. “Yes,” he said, lifting his shoulders. “When my brother became king and named me commander, I realized that if I did what he asked, I would be committing terrible sins, and those acts would be on both our souls. And I knew that if I could play both sides of the coin, I’d be able to stop him before he went too far. So I started the Resistance. And when I needed someone else to be its face, I asked your brother.”
I twisted around, and Rian was watching us, his arms crossed. He nodded once. I turned back to Galen, my mouth open but no words emerging.
Galen held up his hands. “I couldn’t tell you, Shalia. It wasn’t safe for you to know. I’m so sorry about that.”
“You … I called you a coward,” I realized.
His hands fell. “Fighting backdoor battles and lying to my brother’s face doesn’t quite make me a hero, Shalia. You weren’t wrong. And I was a fool to think he could ever be redeemed.” He stepped forward and raised his hand, then halted, looking at me. He swallowed again and touched my cheek. “Let’s get you out of here,” he whispered.
I nodded.
When we emerged from the cave, the fresh air was staggering. I shivered, and Galen looked at me. “I’ll get you a blanket,” he told me. “We don’t have far to walk.”
He was only gone a moment, but when he returned, Rian was already beside me and took the blanket from his hands, glaring at Galen.
Galen sighed as Rian draped it around me, putting his arm around my shoulders. “Rian,” he said.
“No,” Rian snapped. “You and I will have a very serious discussion later. Not now.”
“About what?” I demanded.
Rian shook his head, rubbing my shoulder. “Come,” he said. “You need food, and rest. Do you want me to carry you?”
I pulled away from him, crossing my arms over the blanket. “Of course not,” I told him.
Kairos appeared on my other side with a smile. “Calix will never be able to take away the fact that she is desert born, Rian.” Osmost called out above us, and Kairos tracked him with his eyes. “We need to move. There are soldiers on their way.”
The Resistance had brought about twenty men, and they walked ahead of us and behind, some helping the Elementae to walk. Rian wouldn’t stray more than a foot from me, and Galen stayed ahead, glancing back at me every few moments.
We walked for more than a mile through the forest and trees until an inn appeared in front of us. Rian touched my arm, pointing to the roof. “See?” he asked.
For a long moment I didn’t see anything, but then I saw a small green dragon on the lowest shingle of the roof.
“Any place with that symbol is loyal,” he said. “Only green. We’ve put other colors around as false signals. Just green—remember that.”
I nodded, but caught his arm. “We’re staying here? We’re so close to the … Calix will know where to find us, Rian.”
“He won’t be looking. We’ve captured the guards and the quaesitori. Calix had already left for the Tri City; with no one to tell him otherwise, he won’t have a reason to come back for at least two days, and we’ll be gone by morning,” Galen said. His eyes met mine more meaningfully. “You’ll be safe here.”
Rian grunted, shifting to block Galen from my gaze.
The innkeeper and his wife walked outside, giving Rian and Galen grave nods as they held open the door, looking around as we all went inside quickly.
Rian brought me to a room, and a few moments later Galen knocked on the door.
“No,” Rian growled, standing between us as Galen opened the door, a pile of clothes in his hands. “You’re not seeing her right now.”
“Rian,” I said.
“Rian, please,” Galen said.
“Absolutely not!” he snapped, his hands curling to fists. “Are you going to tell me putting your hands all over her was some brotherly display?”
“No,” Galen said calmly, shaking his head. “I love Shalia, Rian. I’m in love with her.”
Heat filled my face, but Rian was slightly less happy to hear this. Before I even knew what he was doing, he launched his fist against Galen’s jaw.
“Rian!” I shrieked as Galen reeled.
Kairos slid into the doorway, pausing for barely a second before grabbing Rian, twisting, and pushing him outside the room. “Move, Kairos!” Rian bellowed.
“Oh please,” Kairos snapped, crossing his arms. “Let them talk.”
“He dishonored our—”
“Shut it,” Kairos said, pushing him back. “We need to talk about the plan for tomorrow anyway. She wants to talk to him, and you will respect that.”
“You knew about this?” Rian demanded. “You lied to me?”
Kairos gave an exaggerated sigh, pushing Rian toward the stairs. “After all the misery of the past few days, Rian, you have a spectacular ability to focus on the inconsequential.” Kairos turned back and winked at me before he shut the door.
Shaking my head, I went and sat on the bed with a sigh.
Slowly, Galen came and sat, his body almost a foot from mine. His hand was beside his knee, not near me, but after hearing those words, after all the horrors of the past few days, I wanted to touch him. I slowly reached across the space, edging my fingers over his.
He looked up at me and sucked in a breath as he turned his palm over, lacing our fingers together. “You’re sure this is all right?” he whispered.
“Holding hands?” I asked.
He looked down, his throat working. “If you don’t want to be touched, I’d understand. I’d respect that.”
I curled my fingers tighter on his.
“How is Danae?” I asked.
A muscle in his jaw flared. “She’s still asleep. I don’t even understand how Calix could have done this to her.”
“The blood,” I said softly. “He probably tried it more than once—he tried draining a girl of all her blood, and that must not have worked. I don’t know how he got it to work, but a girl—Dara, that girl from the communes, the one I thought—” I shook my head. “She died. And then Danae had her power.”
His fingers squeezed mine. “I know what he’s done in those experiments, Shalia,” he whispered, his voice rough. “I’ve been imagining—” He stopped his words abruptly.
I slid closer to him. “No,” I breathed, and even that called up tears. “He thought it would be more effective to hurt people and make me watch.”
His arm let go of my fingers to curl around me, pulling me against him, holding me so tight that every time we breathed we inched apart, only to be brought close again when we exhaled. “Kata said your baby’s alive?” he asked.
I nodded, and tears slipped down my cheeks. “My miracle girl.”
His hand moved down my side, coming between us to touch my stomach. “You’re the miracle, Shalia.”
I covered his hand with my own. “What happens next?” I asked, trying to swallow all the things I felt with his big hand covering my tiny, hidden child.
“We have to get you out of the Trifectate’s reach,” he said.
I shook my head. “We need to go to the desert first. I need to make sure my people are safe.”
“You broke the land bridge,” he told me. “We can’t cross into the desert.”
“Calix will think that,” I said. “But I’m sure I can find a way.”
He nodded.
“What will we do about Calix?” I asked.
“It is time he was deposed,” he said, looking to me. “And you are carrying his child.”
I pulled back. “You want my daughter to be queen? An infant who hasn’t even been born?”
He nodded. “With you as the regent. Yes. If we want there to be as little bloodshed as possible, we have to install a legitimate heir to replace Calix.”
“We would still need an army,” I said.
“Yes,” he said, his hand stroking my back.
I looked at him. “You could be king, couldn’t you?”
“No,” he said. “It’s either a legitimate heir or the crown reverts to the vestai.”
“I will consider it,” I told him. I took his hand from my cheek and clasped it in both of mine. “My family—the bodies—” I stopped, shaking my head.
“Burned,” he whispered, holding me tight. “According to desert custom, yes?”
I nodded, pulling back. “Which you know, because you’ve known my brother. For years.”
He sighed. “Yes.”
I stood from the bed. “So even when we met in the desert—you knew him. You knew about me.” My breath caught. “Did you know about the veil?” I asked.
He stood, frowning. “No,” he said. “Of course not. And I knew you existed, but truly, does it seem like Rian gave me any opportunity to know you? Of course he didn’t.”
I rubbed my forehead. “Then what were you doing? The whole time—did you follow me in Jitra? Did you—all those times you defended me, you were doing it for him. I can only imagine he made you promise to protect me.” My hand slipped to my chest, covering my heart, trying to keep something safe in there.
To my surprise, he chuckled, and I looked to him, his green eyes bright, his face unamused. “You think I could know you, touch you,” he said, his voice slowing, “kiss you, and have any of those things be about your brother?”
Beneath my fingers, my heart sped up again. “Earlier, you said …” My words left me.
His head tilted, but then he smiled, a rare, precious smile. “That I love you,” he said. “That I’m in love with you.”
I nodded.
“I thought you knew that already,” he said, his voice soft against my skin.
Slowly, I shook my head.
He came closer to me, pulling me into his arms. “That’s despite your brother. And mine,” he said. “Not because of them. I couldn’t help loving you.”
Releasing a deep breath, I felt my body melt against his. Tight, and close, and sheltered, just feeling each breath fill my chest and leave again. “I love you too,” I whispered to him.
He went still against me. I looked into his face, and his throat was working wildly, but the rest of him was frozen and wide-eyed. “You do?” he asked.
I touched his cheek, the stubble rough against my fingers, then the soft patch of his cheek above it. His face showed the proof of his bravery, of his valor, his heart. I touched the scar on his eyebrow, and the one beneath his eye, where the stubble didn’t grow. I trailed a finger over his craggy nose and touched his bottom lip. “I love you,” I told him again. “Every bit of you.”
He pulled me closer, pressing kisses to my cheek, my ear, my neck, murmuring so softly against my skin that I wasn’t even sure what he said, but I knew what it meant. I knew that it made me feel safe and alive for the first time in months, and it made my heart feel swollen and even a little painful, to feel so loved when so many pieces of my heart were gone.
I felt the threads brush against my fingers, close and hesitant, desperate to believe that we could love each other.
“You’ve been through so much, Shalia,” he said softly in my ear. “You need to rest.”
Again, I nodded, and he started to pull away. “Please,” I said. “Please don’t go.”
“Rian has been my closest friend for years. I treasure his friendship. I want to respect his wishes.”
Tugging at his shirt, I shook my head. “That’s not the same thing as not wanting to stay,” I murmured.
“No,” he allowed. “But you do need to rest.”
“I think it would be easier if you’re here,” I told him. “I don’t … I don’t want to be alone.”
He stared at me for long moments, but then he eased us down, letting me lie in the bed before he fitted his body to curve around my back. I turned over, holding our clasped hands between us, feeling his breath warm on my cheek. He put his other arm around me, drawing me a little closer. I nodded, and his nose brushed my skin. “Sleep, my love,” he whispered. “I’ll always watch over you.”
I didn’t sleep long, but I had never felt as warm and safe as I did when I woke, Galen’s body and scent and breath surrounding me. Loving me.
As soon as I stirred, his beautiful green eyes opened, and his nose brushed mine. “You need more rest than that,” he whispered.
“I’m hungry,” I said back. “And I want to check on the others.”
He nodded, his eyes meeting mine in a way that made me feel warmer, shivering to life. He brushed my cheek, and looked at my mouth for a brief second before he moved slowly closer, touching my lips. I pressed forward to meet his mouth. It didn’t feel rushed or illicit like our other kiss.
When my cousin Cora married, her father gave her a home in Jitra. The night before her wedding I couldn’t find her, and I searched the whole house. When I still couldn’t find her, I went to her new home. It was empty, but she was there, sweeping the stone floors.
“What are you doing?” I had asked her.
She stopped, looking at me. She looked at the broom for a long moment. “I needed to make sure that there was room,” she told me. “I just needed to clear room for him.” She touched her heart, and then kept sweeping, and I always thought she meant something more than making room for his belongings.
As Galen kissed me, gentle and soft, I felt my heart opening, swelling, clearing some kind of room for him to come in and stay.