30. Rorax
1.Weather
2.Foliage
3.Darkness
4.Fauna
5.Air
6.Ice
7.Fire
8.Life
9.Light
10.Water
11.Alloy
12.Death
Rorax ground her teeth together as she crumpled the edges of the paper in her hand.
Each Contestar stood in the Great Hall around the Guardian’s throne in a semi-circle. The Great Hall was deserted except for the Contestars, the Guardian, and Captain Lamonte—who had just handed the Contestars the order in which they were to be interviewed by the House Emissaries.
The girls around her whispered, all humming with excited energy as they compared their notes. Rorax stood alone and seethed.
Today was the day they would truly start selling themselves to the emissaries, attempting to prove they were worth their protection. This was the day the Contestars truly began building connections.
Rorax would have skipped the whole day just to preserve her peace of mind, but the Guardian had scribbled a note in the top left corner of the paper in red ink:
If you are reported missing from any of the interviews today, I
will carve the letters of your name into the bones of Jia’s spine.
The Guardian’s eyes rested on her, and Rorax felt them hot on her skin.
Rorax crossed her arms over her chest and tried to look bored before she finally glanced up to meet the Guardian’s gaze.
The Guardian gave Rorax a smug grin, as if she knew exactly how much Rorax wanted to rake her knife through her skin.
Rorax gave her a chilling smile back. The Guardian tilted her head in surprise for a fraction of a second before Enna and Briar, the blonde with the wicked scar down half of her face, stepped up to Rorax. “Who do ya have first?” Briar asked, snatching the paper out of Rorax’s fingers before she could hide it.
Rorax hissed as Briar chuckled and showed Enna the note. “Does the Guardian write ya many love notes like that, Greywood?”
“Gods,” Enna whispered. “That’s just cruel. She wouldn’t really do that, would she?”
Enna was interrupted as the Guardian clapped loudly, demanding their attention. “Girls, as you know, today are the interviews. The order in which you will arrive and where is listed next to the House. You’ll have half an hour with each House, with a lunch break after your sixth House.”
An excited murmur erupted from the group when the Contestars were dismissed. Rorax didn’t give the Guardian or the other girls another glance as she stomped out of the room, plotting the death and demise of the Guardian of the North.
“You seem very interesting, Rorax,” the House of Air Emissary said, straightening the papers in front of her before looking back up at Rorax. “And it’s impressive that you are so close to General Frostguard. I’ve only heard good things about her, as everyone did when she helped overthrow King Katalon.”
The Air Emissary, or Allurah, as she’d asked Rorax to call her when Rorax first arrived at her room, let out a heavy mournful sigh. “I would love to ask you to be our Contestar, but my king was very specific that he wants a Highborn if we do well enough in the Tournament of Houses tomorrow.” Allurah’s cheeks turned a little pink, as she picked up the tiny, blue gem on the necklace around her throat, running it up and down the chain nervously. “Even if your fighting prowess is admirable, the king and his advisors want someone who is already adept with their magick. I”m sorry. I know that sounds so . . . so shallow.”
Rorax gave her a tight-lipped smile. The House of Ice had always respected and valued her, but here where people valued elemental magic so much, she had never felt so lowly. It was almost word for word the same speech that each of the first four emissaries had already given her. No Lowborns. “It’s not. Don’t worry, I understand.”
“But I did see that fight between you and Isgra Torvik the other day! If we don’t manage to perform well in the Tournament of Houses, you would be our first choice of all the Lowborns.” Allurah gave her a warm, hopeful smile, before getting up and showing Rorax to the door.
“Good luck with the rest of your interviews today, Rorax,” Allurah said cheerfully, before closing the door in Rorax’s face.
Rorax stared at the door, gritting her teeth, talking herself down from breaking the door wide open and showing the emissary just how dangerous she could be.
Instead, she slid back a step, then another, then turned and slowly trudged down the corridor.
Thankfully, her next interview was with Kiniera.
A guard opened the door for Rorax when she got to Kiniera’s room, having to use his shoulder to break a thin line of ice that was forming around the door frame, and Rorax stepped into the room. Kiniera Kulltoug was seated at a table with two large glasses of iced tea in front of her. Rorax decided she’d never been so happy to see her old mentor in her life. One of the first people to train Rorax as a child, and then again when she had joined Sahana’s unit, Kiniera held more magick than anyone Rorax had ever met. It was always unknowingly leaking out of her, even now a thin sheen of ice crept up the walls and over the edges of the two drinking glasses on the table. But Rorax had grown up in Koppar, the capital of the House of Ice, and she was used to the cold.
Kiniera sat straight, watching Rorax approach with appraising eyes. She wore a long white robe, which made her skin look gaunter and paler than normal, accenting the purple bags under her eyes and the slightly gray hue to her skin. “Take a seat, Greywood. Get comfortable.”
Kiniera gave her a knowing smirk as Rorax slid heavily into her seat with a tired sigh. “How has it been going so far?”
“It’s been shit,” Rorax said as she reached forward to dump a spoonful of sugar into the iced tea in front of her before taking a long drink.
Three of the first five of Rorax’s interviews had ended in under fifteen minutes, which didn’t speak well for her chances of landing a Protectorate who could benefit her.
Rorax looked up into the pale, hollow-cheeked face of Kiniera Kulltoug over the rim of her cup. “How about yours?”
“Poorly as well.” Kiniera’s already pale lips went white as her mouth flattened with displeasure. “I need to pick a candidate that will serve as the House of Ice’s beacon of hope . . . but only just long enough for you to kill her.”
Rorax snorted and dipped the spoon back into her tea, trying to coax the dregs of sugar on the bottom of the cup to dissolve. “What did you think about the brunette, Enna, from Fauna? Or the small blonde smuggler from the House of Air? Briar?”
“I haven”t met with them yet. I met with all the Highborns, but I’m not terribly interested in any of them besides Isgra, and that’s only because Volla, The Torch, was an icon to the House of Ice.” Kiniera sighed, her shoulders slumping as she rotated her glass in her long, bony fingers. “Isgra resents us all, but she won’t say no to the strongest house in the Realms asking to be her Protectorate.”
Resentwas such a polite way to say that Isgra would love nothing more than to put all their heads on a spike.
Rorax huffed a laugh and took a long drink of her tea before setting her glass down and rubbing her thumb over the top of her bird ring. “Any other news or tidbits from Darras?”
Kiniera shook her head. “Your goals and only focus should be to gain a pledge from Death, Fire, or Darkness, preferably in that order.”
“Death might be off the table.” Rorax picked up her glass again and threw back the rest of her tea, then dropped it on the table with a clatter, trying not to think about the lieutenant. “But I’m going to Fire after this. Hopefully I can convince him to take a chance on me.”
Kiniera’s silvery white eyebrows furrowed, as though she couldn’t possibly understand how Rorax could have already alienated herself from Death this early. But Rorax kept her mouth shut, not offering any additional information.
“Well, Elios, the Emissary for House of Fire, has been digging around about you. I dropped enough pieces of intel to his sources that he should have put together you”re a Heilstorm, but I haven’t heard anything more from him. So, either he knows you”re a Heilstorm and wants to keep his findings a secret from the other emissaries, which would be a good sign for you, or he hasn’t pieced it together yet.” Kiniera’s lips pressed together again, as though the idea of Elios not connecting her hints would be very disappointing.
Rorax smirked at her current spymaster and old mentor. “Not everyone is as gifted as you, Kiniera.”
Kiniera waved her small hand, a tiny blush coloring her otherwise colorless cheeks. “Keep those charming words coming, Rorax, or you’ll never find a Protectorate at this rate.”
Rorax double-checked the number beside the big wooden door and rapped her knuckles against it and waited.
The door swung open, and she had to fight to keep her eyes from widening to the size of moons.
The most beautiful man Rorax had ever seen stood at the door.
He was like the sun. Bright, with an unnatural glow about him. His skin, a warm golden tan, contrasted perfectly with his golden blond hair. Unlike some of his counterparts who had interviewed her before, his body language was open and welcoming. He smiled wide and his beautiful blue eyes sparkled with kindness as they took her in.
Kindness.
Rorax took a step back and glanced at the number beside his door frame to triple-check she had the right door.
She squared her shoulders and hesitantly looked back up at the stunning man. “Um . . . hello. I’m Rorax Greywood and I’m here for my interview.”
“Hello, Rorax. My name is Elios Delgata, Emissary to the House of Fire. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Elios stuck his palm out to her, and Rorax took it, feeling the unnaturally warm, dry skin under hers as he gave her a friendly handshake. Elios stepped away from the door, motioning her inside his suite. “Come on—”
A door opened down the hall and a woman with mussed hair and shoes in one hand walked out. Her cheeks were pink, and she had that glorious glow of a girl who’d just been freshly fucked to an orgasm. Probably multiple orgasms.
Jealousy, green and hot pierced through Rorax’s chest. It had been weeks since her last orgasm that hadn”t been self-induced. Months. Now that she thought about it, it had been almost a year.
With a small, wistful sigh Rorax started to turn away from the girl, but then a tall man wearing nothing, but dark pants followed her into the hallway.
Instantly, all the jealousy Rorax felt toward the girl and her orgasm evaporated into nothing, instantly replaced with pity. The poor girl had been tricked into a dark spider”s dark web.
The girl lifted on tiptoe to give Lieutenant Dickbags a quick hug. He awkwardly patted her back with one tattooed hand and stepped back.
The girl disappeared, padding down the hallway barefoot, and the lieutenant turned to see Rorax and Elios watching him. He froze solid, his eyes flickering between them for a moment before focusing on Rorax.
Rorax’s mind shuttered when the lieutenant turned his bare-chested body to face her. He had on a pair of loose, low riding pants and her eyes greedily traced the gutters of his abdominal muscles up his laterals, over his square pecs, and across his thick trapezoids as she took in his exposed tattoos. Heat bloomed in her core.
She had to clamp her teeth into her tongue to keep from licking her lips. If only that body belonged to a man whose personality wasn’t so reminiscent of dirty dishwater.
“Lieutenant,” Elios said from behind her, breaking Rorax out of her perusal of the lieutenant’s upper body.
“Delgata,” the lieutenant nodded to the emissary, his dark eyes flickering to Elios before settling back on Rorax. “What are you doing up here?”
Elios opened his mouth to respond, but Rorax was faster. “That is none of your business, but I’m happy to see you’re trying out another outlet for your anger besides knocking sleeping girls out of trees, Lieutenant. We both know how well that ended for you last time.”
“Careful, Rorax, sounds like a little green monster wants to come out and play,” Ayres snorted, crossing his arms over his chest, and leaning against his door jam. He casually looked her up and down as his lip curled in disgust. “Jealousy isn’t a good look on you. Not that anything else would look good on you either.”
“I won’t be jealous at all if this new development means I might actually get a good night”s sleep.” Rorax tilted her head at him. “Tell that girl thank you for me, will you, Lieutenant? She is doing the gods’ work with all the charity she does. Tell me, Lieutenant, how does a pity fuck feel?”
Elios choked and the lieutenant moved off the doorjamb to take a few threatening steps closer.
“Come over here and find out?” Ayres smiled maliciously, and she had to fight a shiver of lust and fear from running down her spine. “I’ll stoop to your level to help work some of that bitterness out of you. If I can’t stomach it, I’ll even help you find someone stronger than me to do it.”
Rorax saw red, and she took the few remaining steps toward him, so they were toe to toe. Her knife trembled on her back, but she didn’t summon it. She didn’t want to behead anyone in the hallway, and definitely not in front of Elios.
So instead, she forced herself to smile up at the lieutenant. “I should just go to the brothel in Bafta to get it done. A whore never turned down anyone’s gold, and I would put it on your account since this was your idea. But I’ve heard a rumor that you owe them a small fortune since you’ve had to pay them to keep quiet about how small you are.”
She pointedly looked down at his crotch with pity, even though what she could see from his hastily buttoned pants was far from miniscule.
Behind her, Elios threw his head back and roared with laughter. The lieutenant glowered down at her, his eyes roaming over her face with something that looked a lot like hot loathing as Elios continued to chuckle behind them.
When Elios’s laughter subsided, she turned her back on the lieutenant to find Elios beaming at her. Elios waved her inside his room, and Rorax pushed past him without another glance at the lieutenant behind her.