Chapter 24 #4
I shouldn’t have been surprised that Altair confessed this to her.
There was something about Zara that was calm and trustworthy, like you could tell her anything—any dark secret—and she wouldn’t judge you for it.
But the fact that he had grated on me more than I expected.
“The previous emperor was a very hard man, and his treatment of Altair took its toll on him. It made him desperate to surpass him as emperor.”
“I can understand the need to live up to a parent’s expectations,” she said. “Though my mother was always supportive and kind. She always thought I would inherit her healing abilities. No one expected me to have the power to call the wind.”
“It’s not an ability that’s passed down in your family?”
She hesitated. “No—not on my mother’s side at least.”
I turned what she said over in my mind, examining it. I had assumed her father was one of the Children of Earth, but this suggested otherwise. “And what of the others who have manifested this power? The ones you warned us would retaliate should anything happen to you?”
She shifted from foot to foot. “We’re not sure of this power’s origin. As we told you before at the peace treaty signing, it manifested in response to the war.”
She looked uncomfortable, which I found curious.
What secrets were they hiding about this wind power?
Besides the fact that I didn’t quite believe there were many with the same power—despite their efforts to convince me.
But before I could decide if I should question her further or not, the noise of the crowd increased tenfold.
We had finally arrived at the race, even though the press of people was still so thick I couldn’t see. Instead of following the people down closer to the start of the track, I led Zara and her mare higher—not just for a better view, but to be in a stronger position to protect her.
“I don’t understand,” Zara said as she dismounted so her horse could haul herself up the steep incline. “Where’s the track?”
“Down there,” I said, with a nod toward the screaming crowd.
She walked to the very edge of the ledge we’d claimed, and looked down. I stepped next to her so that my body would prevent her from falling. “I don’t see anything.”
I followed her gaze. I could see the shifting, colorful crowd down below, and the riders mounting their goats.
The beasts pranced and tossed their heads, some even butting heads, the sound echoing like a crack of thunder before the riders could pull them apart.
They all stood on a natural outcropping that was relatively flat, but below them was the rocky mountainside and the tops of the evergreen trees.
I leaned closer to her. “The mountain is the track.”
Her eyes widened as she glanced up at me. “Seriously? They’re going to race down the mountain?”
She’d reacted exactly like I expected, and I arched a brow at her teasingly. “Where else would mountain goats race?”
“That’s a good point,” she said, moving to sit on the edge, swinging her legs while her horse watched from behind her.
I sat beside her, at a respectful distance, though my body kept leaning closer to her without my permission.
Baz, Kestrel, and Zamir spread out behind us, eyes constantly roving for potential threats. “How will we see who wins?”
“We won’t be able to see that, but we’ll see the beginning, which is what everyone is here for. It’s when they all plunge over the edge.”
Zara shared a long look with her horse. “That brings up memories.”
“It’s a good way to break a leg,” I said.
Zara let out a quiet laugh. “That’s what I told Shazeera when we galloped down the mountainside.”
I looked at her in surprise. “Why were you galloping down a mountain?”
She glanced at her horse again, like she was sorry she’d said anything, but I was far too curious to let it go.
“It was in the Ridgeline Foothills, nothing as steep as this,” she said, and even this raised my eyebrows.
The foothills were outside of the Children’s territory.
“We were being chased by a giant eagle—a mother defending her nest—and the only way we could escape was by going over the edge. Shazeera never faltered, but still, I wasn’t sure we’d make it. ”
There were so many things in what she said that raised questions in me that I didn’t know where to start. So I went with the most unbelievable. “You saw a wild eagle?”
“You seem surprised.”
“I am, considering how dangerous wild eagles are, especially when defending their nests. I thought the Children of Earth did anything they could to avoid them.” Imagining this scenario had my muscles tensing again. It could have been disastrous—why would she risk such a thing?
She and her mare shared a look. “We do. It was a chance encounter—I didn’t go looking for it.”
“Still pretty reckless.”
She looked introspective for a moment and then seemed to decide to tell me more. “Sometimes I would go where the wind called me,” she admitted. “And at least the wild eagles tend to not eat our horses—unlike your aerial cavalry.”
Far below us, the crowd had quieted, waiting for the horn to sound and signal the beginning of the race.
“Neo would never do that. He doesn’t like the taste of horseflesh.”
“That’s wonderful,” she said with a nod and more than a little sarcasm. “That’s what keeps me from eating Zephyrians, too, you know. I know I won’t like the taste of your flesh. That’s the only thing stopping me from killing and eating you.”
I barely suppressed a laugh at her sardonic tone. “I’m thankful you’re not a meat eater, because you seem to be bloodthirsty,” I deadpanned.
She shot me a baleful glance before returning her attention to the race. The master of the race held a curved ram’s horn to his mouth, and as everyone leaned forward as one, he blew into it, the sound deep and long, echoing over the mountain.
Beside me, Zara gasped as the racers leaped down the mountain, the goats in free fall, their strong legs connecting with the rock for only a moment before launching into the air again, moving continuously downward.
We wouldn’t be able to watch for long, as they were racing beneath the cover of trees, but the riders and their mounts jockeyed each other for the best position. One goat leaped high to avoid the hooves of another and ended up tangled in the branches of a tree.
All too soon they’d disappeared beneath the cover of the forest, where even from our lofty position we couldn’t see them.
“That was incredible,” Zara said, a little breathlessly. There were high spots of color on her cheeks, and her eyes danced. For a moment, her beauty captivated me into a stupor.
“I haven’t watched a race in years,” I said as I watched the crowd still craning their necks for a glimpse at the racers.
“Too busy?” she asked, the question clearly loaded by the look in her eyes.
“Neo isn’t a fan of land races,” I said.
“Shazeera and I love to race. There’s none faster.”
“On land, maybe,” I said with a grin. I wondered if she loved thrilling things as much as I did. Maybe that was why she’d seemed so fearless when Neo and I had flown her to the palace for the first time.
“She was faster than that wild eagle.”
“That reminds me,” I said, and the teasingly smug look on her face disappeared. “Why were you in the foothills in the first place?”
There was a heavy pause, and then she said, much too flippantly, “I like to explore.”
I was sure that wasn’t the whole truth, and my instincts were telling me that the reason she had been trespassing was important to know. But I could also tell by the stiff set of her shoulders that she wasn’t going to tell me.
But that was fine with me. I could be patient.
After the race, we took a leisurely walk back to the upper pasture.
Zara was quiet until we had returned, and I quickly realized it was because she didn’t want to be overheard.
After a quick glance over her shoulder at Baz, Zamir, and Kestrel, she said in a low voice, “Your Eagle Riders you’ve chosen as guards—you trust them, right? ”
“With my life,” I told her sincerely.
She nodded like she expected me to say that, and then said, “I didn’t want to bring this up when we were in Naharu because I wanted the chance to escape it for a little while, but I spoke to the emperor about that shadowy creature.”
My muscles coiled with tension as I imagined how that conversation went.
Altair had become increasingly sensitive when I brought up Ozul, quickly shutting down and refusing to communicate about it.
I forced my breathing to come in slow, measured inhales, though my instincts told me that she had been in very real danger.
“What did you say to him?” I asked carefully.
“I told him about the shadows I saw, and that I think they possessed Lady Corvina and Lady Starling. I asked him what Ozul was.” She kept one hand on Shazeera’s neck, as if needing comfort. I wanted to reach out and touch her, but I kept my hands to myself. “He said only that he was a sorcerer.”
“A demonic sorcerer,” I said, my tone coming out in a growl.
“He spoke of wanting to expand the empire beyond this continent—to conquer other nations,” she said tightly, and her beautiful face looked anguished.
“Just when I thought we were at peace, now he’s talking of more war.
Will my own people be forced to take up arms when we have only just now found peace?
It would mean my own sacrifice for this peace treaty was useless.
How can I stand aside while he brings death and destruction to another nation? ”
The fact that she trusted me enough to tell me these things made my chest feel heavy. “Altair expressed the same ambitions to me. He isn’t satisfied with the conquering of this continent.”
“I asked him what Ozul would want in exchange for his help, but he wouldn’t answer.” Her amber eyes met mine. “I’m afraid whatever it is, the price is too high.”
I steeled myself to tell her the terrible truth of what Altair and the creature planned to do, but we were interrupted by the sudden approach of Sergeant Falcon, one of the youngest officers in the aerial cavalry.
“Commander,” he said after saluting me, “I have been asked to pass on a message to you by the head steward. He would like to meet with you as soon as possible; he says he has important information on the disappearances of the staff.”
I hesitated, glancing at Zara.
“We will guard the First Daughter, Commander,” Baz said.
“Go,” she said, as if she could sense my reluctance to leave her under the protection of anyone else. “I’m going back to my room anyway.”
I nodded, but before I could walk away, she reached out and touched my arm. “Thank you for showing me Naharu.”
I took hold of her warm hand and bowed over it. “It was my pleasure,” I said, meeting her gaze. Her pupils widened before I finally dragged myself away.
This growing attraction to Zara was a dangerous thing. In only two weeks, she would marry the emperor. I was assigned to protect her as my future empress. Letting myself imagine her in any other way was borderline suicidal.
But when I thought about the threat on her life—a blind rage filled me. And I knew. I knew this was more than a passing attraction. I cared too much already.
She was in more danger here than she’d ever been on the plains, even during wartime.