Prologue #2
I scanned the room before the Priestels started their sequence. My parents sat on orange-colored cushions that were raised from the deep amethyst rugs, displaying their royalty. Smiles covered their aging, tanned faces.
Without much conscious effort, I began my sequence, silencing the few murmurs of people who lingered in the dark corners of the room. Despite my control, my eyes fluttered toward my betrothed.
Casimir.
My breath hitched as our eyes collided.
Did I make the right choice? My eyes darted to Casimir’s identical twin brother, Ezra.
Definitely.
The symphony of violins dropped into a deep sunder, and I followed the sequence I’d been studying for a couple of months, leaving oohs and ahhs in my wake. I’d always been talented at dancing, but I couldn’t help but feel that I was meant for something more.
Maybe something in politics.
That was exactly why I had made the right choice in choosing Casimir. My eyes were pulled to Ezra’s and narrowed. Though they were both twenty-one years old, Ezra reminded me of an old, grumpy man who was stuck in his old traditions. I wanted to vomit just thinking about it.
Although younger by just one minute, Casimir was the true opposite of Ezra and matched my love for Western ideology.
In the brief spurts of time over the years we’d spend together when our families weren’t at odds, Casimir shared intellectual conversations about theology and philosophy.
Ezra, on the other hand, ignored me half the time and refused to take me seriously.
It made my blood boil.
Ezra was the oldest twin, and that, unfortunately, meant Tehara was his once he turned thirty by default or if his father died before his time.
Casimir and Ezra Navon sat side by side. They had dark, thick, and wavy hair that matched their dark eyes.
Casimir caught my lingering gaze and winked at me.
My ears turned impossibly warm, and I had a sudden urge to flee the room, but I refocused on my last dance moves. The drums thundered until they lapsed along with a sweep of our arms, bending forward and bowing our upper bodies to the floor. The drums slowed, then stopped.
A wave of clapping filled the air, and I hid a smile at my performance.
“Rise, my daughter,” my father said.
I rose but kept my head bowed in respect.
“I have some exciting news to share with our friends and family. I welcome you, my only daughter, Eshe, and her newly betrothed.” My father waved his hand toward the twins. “Casimir.”
A wave of clapping flooded the room, but I didn’t hear any of it.
My eyes fell on Ezra and his reaction. The truth was, it should have been him.
Originally, those were the terms my father wanted to ensure security between the two families for years.
Over the years, there had been talk of marriage between us, but nothing was official until now, when my father gave me the choice.
Ezra’s eyes locked with mine, and my heart slammed against my ribcage, nearly taking my breath away. Even from where I stood, I noticed how they flickered and then hardened in the candlelit room.
Casimir rose from his seated position and walked over to me.
We smiled and faced my father together. I placed my hand in his extended arm as my father finished the announcement of our engagement.
My eyes studied Casimir’s face, and I wondered what his thoughts were.
He couldn’t have been surprised, especially after how many conversations we’d shared.
“—so let us celebrate,” my father finished, interrupting my thoughts.
Casimir squeezed my hand before we departed, and the celebration erupted, bringing forth a waft of smoke and laughter.
Overwhelmed with emotions, I searched for my brothers for some comfort and familiarity. My thoughts were distracted, and I hated Ezra all the more for it.
That boy did not deserve one more thought from my head.
Just the other day, while our families ate lunch out in the sands, I ate a fig, and Ezra noticed some on my lower lip.
His finger brushed it, but not without pressing my lip in first, and then he rebuked me for not knowing how to eat a fig properly.
I was thoroughly burned head to toe, and it wasn’t from the heat of the sun.
When I grew breathless running around the large room, squeezing past countless pestering family members and squinting through the thick swirling air, I stumbled upon Salazar.
“Well done, Eshe. I knew you would impress the people.” He smiled down at me.
“Thank you, Salazar.” I beamed back and raised my eyebrows. “Do you know where Kavid is?”
He paused for a moment, seemingly contemplating. “I saw him outdoors, in the gardens.”
“I’ll be back!” I shouted over my shoulder as I rushed toward the outdoors.
The floor-to-ceiling thin curtains glowed against the moonlight and flowed gracefully through the evening breeze as I stepped over the threshold onto the patio.
The fresh air filled my nostrils, and I was relieved to find that the storm had passed.
I stopped in my tracks when I heard Casimir’s voice floating nearby.
“She’s just so young.”
Without hesitation, I stepped to the side. Casimir was to my left, between high marble columns wrapped in burnt-orange fabric. He couldn’t see me, but I could hear him, and I pressed myself behind one of the columns.
“It doesn’t matter. Young, old, she’s still our enemy.” Ezra.
I made a puking face, but no one was there to witness it, so I rolled my eyes—mostly to myself. He got under my skin, and I couldn’t handle it.
Were they talking about our marriage? That I was too young? Sixteen was a perfectly normal age to be married, though my father insisted we wait a couple more years. My feet shuffled, but I pressed myself further and strained my ears.
“Remember why we’re here, brother. She won’t be our enemy for much longer,” Casimir whispered through the whiffs of spices.
“Family feuds never end,” Ezra grunted.
I searched my mind, wondering what their words could mean, but nothing came. Wasn’t tonight supposed to declare a truce and end all bloodshed?
Sour smoke filled the air, and I heard a sucking inhale. They were getting high. Juicy. What would my father think of this?
“What do you make of it all?” Casimir questioned. “We all thought you’d be the one engaged to her.”
“You think I care? That girl will burn faster than a dried stick in the sands. I’m relieved not to marry someone so childish. Good luck with her.” Ezra scoffed and inhaled another puff. “If you ever need help to tame her, you know where to find me.”
Casimir said something, but I couldn’t hear his words over the roaring in my head.
I was going to kill him. I squeezed my fists.
Before I could do anything, Casimir said, “Come on, let’s get out of here before it’s too late.” They continued past the marble column in the opposite direction and entered through another door to the side.
With heat coming out of my ears, I stepped back through the entrance to the large room. Relief passed through me when I found Yonam across the amethyst rugs, cozied between the crowd.
I waved my hand to get his attention. The jewelry that encircled my wrists glittered in the candlelight as I started toward him.
He was near the table that was covered in rice, spices, and dried meat.
Of course. I should have known. He was tempted by food and food alone.
But he’d tell me what to make of the conversation I overheard.
Yonam lifted his eyes and met mine. A smile formed on his lips—
BANG.
The crimson curtains plummeted forward from the walls as they crumbled into racing shards of limestone. Screams filled the room as the gold ceiling broke into a thousand pieces, and I glimpsed the starry night before a marble column dove toward me.
Yonam ran for me, but it was too late.
The towering column crashed forward and slammed into the next column, colliding. Sparks flew in all directions as I crouched, looking for shelter. A flash of gold fell from the sky. A sharp inhale, and I could smell the tang of blood in the air.
Where was my family?
Where was Yonam?
I needed to find—
Another explosion, and my body was flung against the marble column, and I felt my head crack.