And her goal too. She was still poor, but maybe as a patrol leader, Tristan could have more say in who they recruited and who was sponsored.
Veronyka knew it was a long shot, but if they were going to be doing all this extra training anyway . . . wasn’t it worth trying?
“How long do you think the commander wants us to work together?” she asked, an idea forming in the back of her mind. They’d arrived at the stables, Veronyka opening the gate to guide Wind back inside, while Tristan undid the latch to the fenced area where the dogs slept.
Closing it behind the hound, he followed her into the stables, a frown on his face. “I don’t know. Probably until his next inspection. He attends our lessons once a month, so maybe by his next visit he’ll decide if I’ve been sufficiently punished,” he said, smirking slightly at the last word, as if the idea was laughable now. It made her smile too. “Why?”
As Veronyka removed Wind’s saddle and placed it on the rack, Tristan picked up a brush and started grooming the animal. He seemed to do it absently, as if helping her with her chores wasn’t something he had to think about.
“No reason,” she said, removing Wind’s bridle. Tristan continued to frown at her, so she shrugged as she said, “It’ll be a good opportunity, that’s all.”
Tristan stopped brushing to stare at her over the animal’s back. “Opportunity for what?”
“To prove him wrong.”
When Pyraean Queen Elysia (9 BE–37 AE) set her sights on expanding into the valley, she knew that alliances, not conquests, were the best way to protect her people and their future. With four royal sisters eligible for marriage, as well as herself, she intended to secure such treaties through wedlock.
The “Five Brides” have often been credited as crucial to the founding of the empire, for it was through these matches that they were able to unify many of the lesser kingdoms in a peaceful fashion. Hence Queen Elysia became known as the Peacemaker.
While her sisters married for duty and for position in this new world, it is said that Elysia herself married for love. When she and her sisters flew to Ferro to undergo peace negotiations with King Damian, they discovered that he was under attack by the neighboring Stellan kingdom of Rolland.
They traveled with haste to the battlefield, where King Damian and King Rol were locked in combat. When Queen Elysia landed among them, her four sisters beside her, the battle ground to a halt—none in the valley had ever seen such a sight as flaming firebirds with fierce, beautiful women astride them, descending like fallen stars.
As the soldiers on either side began to scatter, Queen Elysia faced the two kings. King Damian bowed at the sight of her, showing the respect that was her due. King Rol, on the other hand, took advantage of the moment of distraction and stabbed King Damian in the back. Before he could finish the job, Queen Elysia lunged forward, blocking his blade with her obsidian dagger. When Rol tried to run, the youngest of the sisters, Princess Darya, put an arrow in his chest. Though there would be decades of strife between the Stellan kings and Pyraean queens, many trace their enmity back to this solitary event in history.
As King Damian stood face-to-face with Queen Elysia, it was clear that he saw more than just a fiery warrior queen—he saw his future bride.
—“The Reign of Queen Elysia the Peacemaker,” from The Early Years of the Golden Empire by Winry, High Priestess of Mori, published 79 AE
It is a fact of life that one must kill or be killed. Rule or be ruled. Win or lose.
- CHAPTER 20 -
SEV
FOR SEV’S PART IN the llama’s death, he was given a week of latrine duty. The disparity in the punishments between him and Kade was enough to ensure that whatever anger Kade held toward him before his botched escape, it would now be tenfold. Word had also traveled along the convoy, blaming Sev for the delay and the extra-hard afternoon’s march, and so curses and mutters followed him wherever he went, coming from servants and soldiers alike.
One benefit of marching until midnight was that Trix didn’t confront him until the following evening.
Sev was hunched over and sweating as he dug the latrine, the activity a convenient outlet for his pent-up frustration. The steady thump and scrape of the shovel hitting the packed earth drowned out all his thoughts.