114. Jia
Jia looked up from a scroll she’d been assigned to read as Milla and Cannon hurried through the stacks of books towards her. Something about their stiff gait and serious demeanor made Jia’s stomach tighten with trepidation. Kaiya sat across from Jia with her back to them, but when she heard them approaching Kaiya twisted around.
“Enna failed to kill her harpy,” Milla snapped.
Jia blinked. What?
“What did you just say?” Kaiya asked slowly.
“Enna didn’t kill her harpy. She said she couldn’t. She wanted to ‘save them’,” Milla explained, quoting Enna’s words with her fingers.
As Milla’s words sunk in, relief made Jia’s limbs heavy. Thank K??n. She could stop pretending that she thought Enna would be the better Guardian over Rorax. She could start pushing people towards Rorax. Because Rorax was the better option. It was no longer just an opinion. With a Pit War looming over them, she was the only option.
“Where are they?” Jia asked.
“Rorax and Enna are in the Great Hall with the Guardian now.”
“This changes nothing,” Kaiya snapped, pushing up from her seat.
Jia stood up, too, her hands curled into fists at her side. “This changes everything.”
Jia was vibrating with anger and the now solidified knowledge that Enna would never be the Guardian. She was going to use this; take every inch this blunder allowed her.
“She is still the better choice than Rorax,” said Kaiya.
Gods, but that wasn’t true, and now Jia had proof. “Enna can’t protect us,” Jia hissed, coming around the table and looking into Kaiya’s cold brown eyes. “Rorax can.”
“You don’t know that.” Kaiya reached up and pushed Jia’s shoulders, rocking her back a few steps.
Jia shoved her back viciously. “Yes. I do. Don’t touch me, Whitethorn.”
Kaiya took one step closer, her beautiful face twisted up in anger. She was in Jia’s face before Milla wrenched Kaiya back a few steps.
Milla squeezed between their chests, forcing them both back with a hard push. “Stop it, both of you. Until we hear from the Guardian, we don’t know if Enna is disqualified or not. Until then, nothing has been decided.”
“And what if she has been disqualified?” Jia asked. “That leaves us with the option of Rorax or Isgra.”
Milla rubbed circles into her temples. “If Enna gets disqualified . . . then we move forward with Rorax. Isgra is under Alloy influence.”
A muscle in Kaiya’s jaw popped as she glowered down at Jia. “She hasn’t been disqualified.”
“Even if she hasn’t, do you honestly still believe she’s the best option?” Jia asked, raising her arms in exasperation. “She couldn’t kill a harpy. How is she supposed to defend your people in a Pit War, for K??n’s sake?”
Kaiya looked like she was about to breathe fire, but Jia didn’t have time to argue with her. She turned to Milla. “We need a protection unit on Rorax at all times. This just escalated. Rorax’s safety needs to be a priority. Alloy will be coming after her harder than ever.”
Jia should just kill Enna. She should just put a shard of ice straight through her heart and save everyone the dilemma. She wasn’t conspiring with Rorax, so the magick wouldn’t kill her. And then Rorax would have Ice, Death, and at the very least Fire, Weather, and Air at her back as well. Maybe even more protection once Kiniera got fully on board and started using her connections.
More footsteps approached the table, and almost like Jia had summoned her, Kiniera and Ayres joined them.
“I am renouncing Isgra as the House of Ice’s Contestar and naming ourselves as Rorax’s second house. It’s time,” Kiniera said, coming to a stop in front of Milla. Jia sagged a bit in relief. After the deaths of Stella and Briar, their houses chose to back Isgra and Enna. Both had all the protection a Contestar could want. As it stood, Isgra had Ice as her head House, with Alloy, Dark, Light, Water and Foliage as supporting Houses. Enna had Fire as her head House with Life, Air, Weather, and Fauna. Rorax had only Death.
“I can put a soldier on her.” Kiniera turned to Jia. “You go. You’ll have the first watch when Rorax returns. Her situation has changed, and she’ll receive the news better from a friend than she would from one of my other soldiers.”
Jia nodded her agreement, feeling Kaiya’s hot glare on her back. “Done.”