115. Rorax
Ashort dragon ride later and Rorax returned to the Northern Castle with the harpy’s head in a blood-soaked linen sack. When she stood in front of the Guardian in the Great Hall, she pulled the head out and rolled it to the Guardian’s feet, next to the head that Isgra had already returned.
Dark, coagulated blood flicked up onto the Guardian’s dress and cheek, and the Guardian flinched, her lips curling. “Tell me, Contestar. Did the harpies say anything useful before their death? Or was it more of their useless drabble?”
“They said that one of them had been communicating with Koleti, who gave them permission to ‘expand their borders’.”
A disgusted smile crept over the Guardian’s mouth as she toed the head, pulling the jaw down and revealing the rows of the harpy’s long teeth. “I am not sad I will be passing this Koleti issue to someone else.”
Rorax resisted the urge to fist her hands at her sides as a feeling of indignation and abandonment rushed through her chest. “What will need to be done?”
“Someone will need to visit Koleti’s temple in Wymeria, remind him that the Guardians allow his creatures a small foothold in Illus, when they really all belong in hell.”
Rorax cracked her neck and didn’t look away from the Guardian.
One day, Rorax was going to kill her.
The Guardian had apologized to Rorax, had sent her a short note mentioning her regretful “outburst”, but it wasn’t enough. It had taken her nearly the full two weeks to completely heal her back, even with nearly constant treatments from Tressa. The amount of black salt the Guardian had used had lodged deeply into Rorax’s muscles and it had taken Tressa a long time to completely heal the wounds. They had multiple sessions where Tressa had to reopen Rorax’s skin to dig any remaining dark granules out. Worst of all, her matching tattoo of the ice dragon she had gotten with Raengar and Isolde was almost unrecognizable with how her scars now sliced it up.
Once they had completely removed the dark substance from Rorax, Tressa had left for home traveling back to the capital of the House of Life with another apology that she could not do more for her.
The Great Hall doors heaved open behind her, and Rorax turned on her heel to watch Enna pushed through.
Rorax looked at her friend up and down. There were no visible injuries on her, and she was completely empty-handed.
Why was she empty handed?
Had the harpies left her village before she’d even arrived?
The Guardian rose from her throne, her mouth pinched and her yellow eyes sharp. “Where is your harpy head?”
Enna stopped walking when she was alongside Rorax. She gave her a hello nod before turning to the Guardian. She swallowed hard but kept her back straight as she answered. “I decided to spare them.”
The Guardian blinked in confusion. “You . . . decided to spare them.”
“The harpy had children, four little girls and a son. So, I spared its life in exchange for its immediate departure,” Enna said. “I can go back and ensure that the harpy followed its word. There must be another way besides mindless slaughter.”
The silence that followed was thick, and Rorax’s stomach dropped. Enna had failed her trial. What did that mean?
“Mindless slaughter. You mean to tell me that . . . you let it live?” the Guardian asked in disbelief.
“Yes, I—”
Rorax could see the Guardian tremble in rage from where she stood, nearly fifteen feet away.
“THAT HARPY—” the Guardian shrieked, her voice so loud the windows around them shuddered and groaned, “—SLAUGHTERED THAT ENTIRE VILLAGE.”
The Guardian took one step forward, her fingers flashing between human digits and claws as she grappled for control of her power. Rorax fought the instinct to pull Enna behind her back when the Guardian’s fingers started to grow long nails made of ice.
“There are a lot of creatures that should inspire your pity, your mercy, but a harpy is no better than a lizard. It feels no love or warmth, has no sense of community or sentience beyond its own survival. It lives off the Gifted’s magickal blood, and it will continue to hunt our people until there are none left.” The Guardian raised her hand. She was still trembling, and Rorax could see the effort it took her to turn away from Enna and not attack her on sight. “Get this mongrel out of my sight before I rip her to shreds. In fact, I want all of you out of my sight. Get out.”
There were some unhappy murmurs, but eventually any of the bystanders that had been milling around in the hall filtered out.
Rorax turned to leave as well, but the Guardian erected a wall of air where Rorax tried to move, effectively blocking her way. “Not you. I must speak with you, Greywood.”
Guards shuffled forward and led Enna out of the hall. Once the doors were closed behind her, the Guardian relaxed a fraction and turned to Lamonte. “Find the harpy and its pups and put them down.”
Lamonte nodded once and disappeared out the hallway with his men.
The hall was empty when the Guardian turned to Rorax and pointed one claw tipped finger at her. “Ready yourself.”
Rorax could barely breathe. “What do you mean?”
“Before a Contestar can become the Guardian, there will be a vote on whether the Council of Houses accept her. Enna has failed this trial. Some of the Houses will not vote for her because of this.”
The words clanged through Rorax’s chest.
“What does that mean?”
“It means you need to ready yourself, Greywood, because my recommendation that Isgra Torvik is unfit to be the Guardian may no longer be enough.”
Rorax pushed out of the Great Hall and let her feet guide her back to her room.
Ready yourself.
Enna had failed the fifth trial. She had not been able to look past the surface of the harpies’ glamour and do what needed to be done. She had not protected the surrounding villages from a potential attack.
Ready yourself.
They needed to do something, to stage something. Something to prove to the Council of Houses that Enna was still worthy. Rorax turned the corner to the hallway of her room.
“Hello, Rorax.”
Rorax froze mid-step and snapped her head up to find Niels standing outside of his room.
“Niels.” Rorax looked Niels up and down impatiently. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done.”
Rorax huffed out a laugh.
“I also have a message for you. There is no subtle way to say this, but the Alloy King would rather spill the blood of thousands of the Realm’s soldiers than see the Spine Cleaver as the Guardian. He commands that you step down, or he will hunt you down. Torture you. Poison you if he has to. He is willing to start a war over this, Contestar.”
Rorax opened her mouth to respond, but movement distracted her.
Jia stepped out of the shadows behind her, two lethal-looking ice spears in her hands, and stepped subtly in front of Rorax. “There is now a witness to your threats against the House of Death’s Champion. Death has every right to call for blood against Alloy.”
Niels snarled. “Death would never survive a war against Alloy. They would crumble in days.”
Jia’s smile turned poisonous. “Tell me, Emissary, how long would Alloy survive against the House of Ice?” She turned her head to Rorax. “A week? Maybe two?”
Rorax grinned. “A few days maximum.”
Niels’s snarl all but melted away. “They have no claim.”
Jia turned back to Niels, her wicked grin growing. “They have every claim. Ice is Rorax’s Second House.”
Niels huffed his cheeks and scurried away.
Rorax rubbed her hands over her face. “You should have claimed a kill just then. I didn’t even know you were there.”
Jia grinned as her weapons melted into water in her hands. “As your new security unit, I try not to slack on my first day.”
“My security unit?”
“As a new potential Guardian, your Protectorates want a new security team on you. You’ll have coverage now every day.”
Irritation flickered in Rorax’s chest. A new potential Guardian? She hadn’t consented to this. They hadn’t even discussed what had happened with Enna yet or deliberated the ramifications, no decisions had been made. “On whose authority?”
“Ayres. And Kiniera.”
Rorax rolled her jaw and pushed past Jia.
Ayres, Kaiya, and Piers were in the library for their shift when Rorax pushed open the doors, Jia on Rorax’s heels as Rorax led her through the stacks and stalactites to her table.
“I have a security unit on me now?” Rorax snapped as Ayres looked up to see her.
Ayres stretched his hands above his head, and he uncurled himself lazily from his chair as Rorax stomped her way over to him.
Ayres opened his mouth to answer, but Jia cut him off.
“Niels threatened to kill Rorax if she didn’t step down. Threatened to poison her and threatened that the Alloy King would hunt her down and torture her.”
Ayres’s head snapped up to Jia’s, his jaw hard, his eyes bright red. “He said what?”
A shiver ran down Rorax’s spine and she moved to put herself in front of Jia, to silently tell her to shut the fuck up, but Jia just wrapped an arm around Rorax’s shoulders and shoved Ror back to wedge her way in front. Rorax scowled at the back of her head.
“Niels blatantly and openly threatened Ror, in the hallway right outside of the Great Hall,” Jia said to Ayres.
“Niels isn’t a threat.” Rorax ground out between her teeth to the back of Jia’s head. “He is a mongrel.”
“He is a threat, and he’s about to be an example.” Ayres stared down at Jia for a long moment before he nodded. “Thank you.”
Jia smirked. “Ror is very excited about our new arrangement.”
Ayres looked up at Ror with a resigned sigh. “Get used to it, Little Crow.”
“What do you think you’re doing?” Rorax hissed at him. “Enna is still our primary focus until the Guardian disqualifies her.”
Ayres sighed and sat back in his chair. “We need to think about what this means, for the future of the Realms. I don’t think that Enna is the best choice for the Guardianship anymore.”
“Well, I am sure she is the right choice. And it’s my life, my Choosing.”
Jia stiffened next to her, and Ayres looked up at her with mournful eyes. “We have a lot to think about. Until we hear back from the Guardian, you will have a guard at your side at all times. I’m not taking any chances. Understood? We can talk about it then.”
“Niels is dead.”
Alarmed, Rorax stared wide eyed at Jia who had just picked the lock and came to sit at the end of her bed. “What?”
“Niels is . . .” Jia yawned, stretching out on Rorax’s bedspread. “Ayres beheaded him. In front of the whole court.”
Rorax bolted from the room and down the hall. She threw open Ayres”s door without bothering to knock.
Ayres was sitting on the edge of his bed. He was shirtless, and his golden chain around his neck glinted in the warm light from the fireplace. His pants were undone but around his hips while he fiddled with a knife in his fingers. He looked up, startled as she slammed the door behind her.
“What the fuck did you do?” Rorax ignored how her body suddenly ached for him, ignoring his glorious torso with all the swirling tattoos, and glared at him.
He let out a long sigh, dropping the knife on his bed behind him and buckling up his new belt with lithe fingers before calmly looking at her. “Good morning, Rorax.”
“I asked, what did you do?”
“I killed him.” Ayres put his hands on his hips and smiled a cold, devilish smile at her that nearly derailed her anger.
“Why?”
He hesitated. “Niels threatening to kill you in a hallway full of people is unacceptable.”
“You just pitted me directly against the House of Alloy,” she snapped, shoving a finger at him.
Ayres leaned in closer, his heat invading her space. “If you, for one second, believed you weren’t already pitted against them, you’re a fool. It”s a matter of your security, Ror, to make sure that everyone here knows any threat against your life is a threat Death and Ice will take very seriously.”
Rorax gritted her teeth.
“However,” he said, running his fingers through the short length of his hair. “We need to run things by you. Communicate with you. And I’m sorry for that. Next time, you’ll be informed.”
Exasperated, Rorax turned to go. Ayres caught her wrist and tugged her into him, looping an arm around her waist and kissing her before she could pull away.