Chapter 17
Talon
The food wasn’t bad. It wasn’t what I was used to, but all the flavors complemented each other. Salty and sweet, tangy and fresh, savory and herbal. I didn’t feel overly full when I finished my food like I usually did at our own feasts, but it made me wonder if I’d be hungry again in an hour.
The food wasn’t the only difference between our feasts and this one.
Ours were formal affairs with heavily decorated tables, porcelain plates, and silver utensils.
We ate quietly, the conversations kept to the person next to us, in a polite murmur.
We had music, but it, too, was quiet and reserved.
Only the elite nobles were invited by the emperor, in contrast to the massive crowd present here.
All around me, the Children of Earth spoke loudly, boisterously, and it was clear by their smiles and laughter that they were enjoying the food and each other.
The music, once it began, was almost primal, with drums that throbbed through my body, the beat swimming in my blood.
Many were dancing, and it was nothing like our controlled synchronized movements.
Their bodies followed the music, moving in time to it until they shone with sweat and their cheeks were flushed.
Why are they thrashing around like that? Neo asked, his sharp eyes darting rapidly to keep up with them. Are they convulsing?
No, I thought back with an inward grin, they’re dancing.
Dancing, he said, disapproval clear in his thoughts.
I tended to agree with him, but then the First Daughter and her cousin joined the others.
Everyone else made room for them, and I soon understood why, as they had their horses dancing with them.
Hoofbeats followed the drums, slow at first, the girls weaving through their horses with graceful, almost hypnotic movements. I couldn’t look away.
The tempo increased, faster and faster, and the girls and the horses kept pace, until Zara and Mariyah seemed in danger of being trampled by flinty hooves.
The girls laughed, joining hands as their feet moved to the beat of the drum, hips swaying, too, in ways that would have made the stiff court ladies of the palace frown darkly.
It captivated me, my plate forgotten in my lap.
And then the music swelled, the voices of the singers crying out all at once, and the horses reared.
Zara and Mariyah vaulted beneath them, nearly bashing their temples on flashing hooves, and I stood so suddenly my plate fell to the ground.
How would I explain the future empress’s skull being bashed in on her last night with her people?
But Zara twisted easily away, laughing as she did so.
There was a wildness within her that I knew would be tested when we returned to the palace.
I thought of the austere ladies, the somber colors, the polite, murmured conversations.
I thought of my cousin, with his frequent changes in mood, the times when he was deeply depressive and reclusive, or when he was easily angered.
And then I thought of his ally, Ozul, who I had a feeling wouldn’t simply vanish to wherever he’d come from now that this treaty was in place.
I knew, even if my cousin didn’t, that their goals weren’t the same.
I almost feel sorry for her, I told Neo. She doesn’t even know what she’s walking into.
She’ll just have to toughen up if she isn’t already, Neo said, as usual without sympathy. The palace is uncomfortable for all of us—except maybe the emperor’s most favored nobles.
This was true enough, but still, it seemed sad that the emperor would break her.
He broke all his favorite things, and I knew this girl, this First Daughter who was once his enemy, would be impossible for him to resist. Some children destroyed their toys because they were naturally too rough or because they had a mean streak, but Altair was different.
He broke them before his father could use them against him.
I remembered a summer when we were still young enough to like each other, when my mother brought him a soft toy eagle she’d made herself from wool and eagle feathers.
I’d seen the look on his face when she gave it to him: wonder and disbelief.
Not because he didn’t have toys of his own—he did. But because she’d made it just for him.
He’d carried that thing around until it was filthy, and then one day, his father saw him clutching it tight to his chest.
You’re too old for stuffed toys, he had said, the derision clear even to my young ears.
Aunt Luscinia made it for me, Altair had replied, his voice hesitant even as he gripped the toy harder.
You don’t see Talon running around with a stuffed toy like a pathetic excuse for a boy.
I do have one Mama made me, I had said, flinching as my uncle whirled on me. I sleep with it at night.
His lip had curled, but he didn’t respond to that—he didn’t like the narrative that I was presenting: that it was normal for boys our age to have stuffed toys.
Then hand it over, Altair, and I’ll put it in your room for you.
No one wants to see the future emperor running around the palace clutching a stuffed animal.
They’ll think something is wrong with your brain, Son.
To my surprise, Altair had shaken his head. No.
What did you say? my uncle had asked in that dangerous tone of voice that made me freeze like a rabbit.
I won’t let you have it, Altair said, and before his father could snatch it from him, Altair set his teeth and ripped the stuffed eagle to pieces. Tears were streaming down his face, though it was contorted in anger, and I watched in silent horror as feathers and wool littered the floor.
It wasn’t until I was much older that I understood. Altair had ripped his beloved toy apart so that his father couldn’t do it. He’d rather it be by his hand than be forced to watch his father do that to something he loved.
I didn’t want anyone to suffer the same fate, not even the First Daughter.
And just because Altair’s father was no longer alive didn’t mean she couldn’t be used against him.
I won’t stay at the palace long, then, I thought to myself. I wouldn’t be able to watch the light go from her eyes, the color from her cheeks—this girl who had bested me as a warrior, whom I couldn’t help but respect.
In the morning, though, I would do my duty and bring her back to the palace, to the emperor whose only real concern about her was whether or not she was beautiful.
Unfortunately for her, she was—a wild, untamed sort of beauty that was as fierce as a sudden storm on the plains.
It would be better for her if she were unremarkable, because then my cousin wouldn’t want to keep her close to him for all to see.
I knew as soon as she arrived, and he got a look at her, she’d be dressed like a doll, everything that made her who she was stripped away, until she wore the drab but elegant clothing favored by the court.
I would go and tell the emperor that there were others here with the power to control the wind, though I had seen no proof of this myself—nor demanded any.
Like the Children of Earth, I wanted an end to this war.
Bringing the First Daughter back only to have her assassinated by one of Altair’s advisers would only plunge us back into war.
They were clever to request a safeguard for her, because honestly, the palace court couldn’t be trusted.
I hope you would not be so sympathetic to her if she had crippled my wings, Neo said, his tone wry.
I would pity anyone having to spend time in that court.
Sometimes, I even pitied the emperor himself.
He didn’t get to be the way he was by living a happy, carefree life, and in many ways, the court reflected what he’d been through in his childhood.
What he was still going through with the memory of his father.
But as I watched Zara throw her arms around her cousin, laughing as the music ended, I could only think, I’m sorry.
The next morning, after Neo returned from hunting, I went to the pavilion of the Queen of All Queens.
The other riders had gone on ahead, to bring word that the peace treaty had been signed, and I was alone.
Outside the tent, the same warrior who had accompanied the queen and First Daughter before waited outside, her eyes narrowed as she looked at me.
I kept my expression carefully blank, though I wanted to glare back at her.
Everyone here wore every emotion they had on their faces for the world to see.
She may as well have said, I hate you. I hate that the First Daughter will be going with you.
“I’m here for the future empress,” I said, and maybe I was pettier than I thought, because I knew she wouldn’t like me calling her that.
She added a slight curl to her lip to accompany her glare. “I’ll let the First Daughter know. Wait here.”
They made me wait for quite a while, until I had to suppress the urge to shift from one foot to the other.
When they finally emerged, Zara carried a heavily tooled leather bag in one hand, as well as her bow and arrows strung across her back.
She wore a slim leather breastplate studded with aquamarine gemstones and a flowing skirt that was cut down the middle to reveal leather leggings and boots beneath.
Her horse was on her right, and her cousin Mariyah and mother on her left.
Zara’s and Mariyah’s eyes were so red it looked as though they’d stayed up all night crying.
Something twisted inside me, but I didn’t let it rise to the surface.
Pity wouldn’t make her feel any better, especially from me.
Zara embraced her cousin first before turning to her mother, who whispered something to her and held her tightly. A black mare came forward then, too, and Zara bent her head to touch foreheads, one hand on the mare’s cheek.
“May the Earth Mother keep you and guide you,” her mother said, holding her hand out in blessing.
“I love you all,” Zara said, her voice wavering. “This isn’t goodbye forever.”
But I could see it in her face that was too easy to read. She believed it was. I couldn’t tell her any differently. Even as empress, she would be subject to the whims of the emperor.
They said their goodbyes one last time, and then she and her horse stepped toward me. “Neo is waiting for us at the edge of camp,” I said, and she nodded.
Lines of people waited for her, holding their hands out as she passed by. “Bless you, First Daughter,” they said, or, “Thank you for bringing us peace.”
She touched everyone who held their hand out to her, sometimes stopping for a few moments to speak with them, and I tried to stay patient, but we had far to travel. I took hold of her arm and guided her away. “We must go now. We have already delayed too long.”
She pulled free in the next instant, her eyes flashing at me. “I can see Neo from here. I don’t need your guidance.”
And then she turned to her horse and was astride in the next breath. She kept her gaze forward after that and wouldn’t look at me again, though she continued to stop to speak to the people who had come to see her off.
When we arrived at Neo’s side, I waited for her to dismount. After a few breaths, I realized she had no intention of getting off her horse. “We will get there faster if we fly.”
Her whole body went tense, and she slowly turned to me. “What about Shazeera?”
I nodded toward Neo. “He’s strong enough to carry us all.”
“Yes, but how?”
I thought it would have been obvious, so the question took me by surprise. “You will ride on Neo’s back with me, and your horse will be carried in his claws.”
“His claws,” she repeated, her face rapidly losing color.
“Yes.”
“No.”
I turned to face her fully. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”
“I mean, no, I will not subject my horse to such a terrifying thing. How could you even ask us to endure that?”
Did she think Neo would puncture her horse with his talons? She must know that her horse could not travel as swiftly as Neo. Her reaction baffled me. “She won’t be injured in any way. It’s much faster to fly, and eventually, when we reach the mountains, it’s the only way to the palace.”
“It doesn’t matter if she’ll be injured—you don’t see how it would be frightening to be held in the claws of a predator? We can figure out what to do then, but for now, I want to leave this camp the way I came into it. On horseback.”
I stared at her in silence, hoping she’d see reason, but her stubbornness was powerful to behold. She merely stared back at me, arms crossed over her chest. I could see that we would waste more time arguing than if she were to ride.
“Fine, but the second you can’t keep up, you’re both being flown the rest of the way.”
She nodded, chin tilted up, a picture of stubborn pride as the mare cantered away.
How long do you think they’ll last? Neo asked as I leaped onto his back and settled just behind his wing joints.
An hour at most.
His laughter went through my mind. That’s assuming I don’t fly as fast as I’m able.
I almost agreed with him—that after her stubbornness, she deserved to be taught a lesson—but then I remembered where we were going. At the palace, she’d be faced with nothing but lessons.
Just fly your normal traveling speed. Let her hold on to her pride while she can.
It would be broken soon enough.