Chapter 22
Rylee
“That’s out of line!” Kal pushes back from the table, standing up so quick you’d think he had his powers back. “Only a few families know the correct configuration—”
“And they’re in this room,” Baydel cuts him off. “If your Chosen doesn’t know the answer to this question, then the fault lies with you for not educating her properly.”
“We haven’t had time since the Athanry!” he snaps. “You can’t possibly mark this against her.”
“Kal.” Jullian says his son’s name with an affectionate plea, flashing him a look I can’t interpret.
Kal takes a breath, softening his tone. “The question is unfair.”
“Ruling a realm is hardly fair,” Baydel counters. “Sit down.”
Kal hesitates.
I reach up, smoothing my hand over his arm, urging him back into his seat next to me.
The tension in the room mounts, causing the powers inside me to press against the locked doors so hard, I feel like it may crack my bones.
I grit my teeth and keep the doors shut. I can’t attempt to use Pierce’s mind-reading abilities so he can show me the correct places on the map. Not now, after Kal’s reaction. They know I don’t have the answers.
And besides, the last thing I want is to use their powers in the presence of the kings. If they felt it, sensed it was in a place it didn’t belong? We’d really be done for.
Though, failing Margreet’s test doesn’t feel all that great, either.
I scoot my chair back before crossing the room. I do my best not to glare at the enforcer who hands me a quill and glass bottle of ink.
My skin tightens as I feel all eyes on me. I’m lost, totally unaware of how to properly complete this task. I dip the sharpened quill into the ink, my fingers trembling as I study the blank outlines on the map.
Maybe I can get lucky and guess. I’ve seen a map before, despite them being forbidden in the lower cities. Dukes love to display them on the walls of their studies, a place I equally love to steal from. But, after Kal’s reaction, I’m wondering if even they have a correct one.
I’ve traveled all over Lumathyst since the Choosing, so the cities are easy enough for me to decipher. I start there, if only to look busy while everyone watches, most of them waiting for me to fail.
It’s the unlabeled expanses of land across the seas that hit the hardest. The realms I’ve only heard of, never seen. Swallowing hard, I scribble Cardrayton over the spot closest to the Sapphire Cove. Axl told me a few stories from his travels there in the past.
I study the blank map. I can’t guess beyond this. That would make me look as foolish as I feel. I sigh, letting the quill drop to my side.
“Like most of us in the lower realms, I’ve never been given access to a comprehensive map. I cannot continue.” I hate that I’m admitting defeat, but better that than randomly placing names of realms I know little to nothing about.
Anger rises up like a flame brought to life in my chest. Another restriction against the lower classes, and for what? To keep us dependent on the kings. On those placed above us.
Margreet laughs so sharply, it echoes in the vast room.
She pretends to hastily cover her outburst, but I can see the victory in her eyes.
“Poor thing.” She delivers a haughty smile.
“So many spaces left blank.” She eyes the rest of the RAC.
“How can we expect her to rule if she can’t even get our basic geography correct? ”
I clench my teeth so hard it hurts.
“You’ve got me there,” I finally answer.
“As you know, I wasn’t raised like those of you in this room.
I’m from a lower city, and my education was limited.
If that’s the point you’re trying to prove, then you’ve certainly achieved it.
” I shrug. “Education can be remedied,” I continue, letting them all see the severity of that statement written in my features.
“And I intend to do that immediately. Unless you’d like to enlighten me now.
” I glance at Margreet, then wave to the map.
“It’s not our job to bring you up to speed,” Margreet practically hisses. “The princes should’ve ensured you understood the intricacies of the realm before they chose you. Or, perhaps, they should’ve chosen someone who wouldn’t need such coddling.”
My adrenaline slices through my veins. Oh, this one hates me. She doesn’t know a true thing about me, other than the princes chose me and I’m from a lower class, and she despises me for it.
I swallow the knot in my throat. “Are there any further questions on your history test, Margreet? Or are we free to go?”
Margreet gapes at me for a moment before looking to Baydel for guidance.
He dips his head. “You’re free to go. The Royal Authority Council will make note of your lack of knowledge. In the meantime, get a handle on the enhancements. And maybe think about trusting your Chosen with the secrets you’ve kept from her.”
Those words hit like a knife in a target, flooding me with questions. Why didn’t they tell me about the maps? Do they doubt me?
They are your mates, I remind myself. Kal gestures to the door, and I lead the Legends out of the room, Mirren, Ivy, and Layce following behind us.
They chose you.
I belong here.
I repeat the last phrase a few times to ground myself as we make our way into Jax’s room in the palace. I know we need to get out of the royal city to start digging into the enhancement issue, but right now, I need a second to think.
“Rylee,” Kal says the moment Jax’s door is closed and we’re all inside. “We haven’t had time. You just woke up, and then they dropped the list on us.”
“We didn’t intentionally not tell you,” Axl adds.
I take a deep, steadying breath before nodding to them. “I know,” I say and feel really good that I believe that. “I get it.”
“If we thought it pertinent to the circumstances of this damned list, we would’ve gone over geography,” Pierce says. “I should’ve known Margreet would pull some superiority-complex type of test.”
“She’s a fun one,” I say with enough sarcasm that Ivy and Layce laugh.
“She’s definitely not your biggest fan,” Layce says, taking a seat on one of the couches. Ivy settles next to her.
“Can’t really blame her, can we?” I smile at my friends.
“Sure, we can,” Ivy says with a smirk.
“She lost out on the chance of happiness with these four,” I say, motioning to my mates. “I’d be cross, too.”
“She wanted a crown,” Pierce says. “Not us.”
I scrunch my nose up at that. “Who wants a crown when I can have the four of you instead?”
“In addition to, not instead of,” Kal corrects. “You can have it all.”
“Pompous royals,” Ivy says, then shrugs. “No offense,” she adds, glancing at the Legends, who’ve spread throughout Jax’s room.
I’m still standing in the middle of them all, shaking my head.
“There’s so much to do. So, before you educate me”—I say the word with emphasis and roll my eyes—“on all the things I apparently need to know, starting with a proper map, I need to figure out some other things, too.”
Pierce’s eyebrows rise, intrigue radiating from his eyes.
Jax is silent and calm where he leans against the wall.
Axl and Kal settle in a couple of chairs near him.
“Like what?” Kal asks.
“A lot of things,” I say. “Practicing the powers with you four, definitely. Digging deeper into the strange deaths and the enhancement issue is a given. That needs to be cut off. But . . .” I sigh.
“I need to get back to the Ashlands, too. Not just because I want to check on the people there, but because of the terms of the Kings’ List. The new enhancement was likely tested in the Ashlands first, though I doubt any mysterious deaths have been investigated.
Plus, maybe there’s some clue I missed about Erin there.
” I doubt it. I searched for her for an entire year before I got Chosen, but it’s worth a shot.
“And if there is,” I continue, “that will help us with the Fader issue.”
“I was wondering when you’d want to go,” Jax says. “But I thought it would be under different circumstances.”
“Me too,” I admit. “I’d hoped to be returning in order to start elevating them.
We’re not there yet, and I know we have to be strategic about it.
We can’t do everything all at once. I get that.
Searching for information there will be a good reason to go back.
One that won’t raise questions from the kings.
Plus, it feels wrong to have been gone so long without checking on those I left behind. ”
“You did have other important things going on,” Ivy says.
“I know. You told me to make them fall for me.” I smile at the memory of her demands after I was Chosen.
“You rarely listen,” Ivy teases. “At least for once you did.”
“And then the whole Athanry incident.” I shake my head. “More issues to solve. Poison and Faders.”
Axl glances around at the company in the room, then sits up straighter. “Do you want us to make you a list? No one is taking notes.”
I laugh, the reaction drowning some of the heaviness. I love him for his ability to always bring light to a situation. “No,” I answer. “I need us all to be on the same page.”
“We’re with you,” Pierce says, the others nodding. “Always.”
I nod back. “Thank you.”
“We’ll figure it all out,” Kal assures me.
Mirren doesn’t voice her support, instead electing to pour a round of drinks. She hands them out, a sense of solidarity filling the room as she hands me a small crystal glass of amber liquid.
“One impossible situation at a time.” Ivy repeats the encouraging words she spoke to me at the Choosing, the ones that stopped me from spiraling, holding up her glass toward mine.
I clink my glass against hers, then Layce’s, before gesturing the cheers to the rest of the room. “One impossible situation at a time.”