Page 4 of Fearless

There is a swelling of shouts before the king silences them with reason alone. “Even still, our surrounding cities will not trade with us if we remain an Elite society. When my father began the Purging three decades past, Ilya cut ties with Dor, Tando, and Izram. They lost our recourses as much as we lost theirs, and this broken relationship will not be easily healed. These kingdoms now care very little for Elites.”

Warmth begins to pool in my chest, feeling so foreign I almost don’t recognize it to be hope. But I have witnessed the animosity of Dor alone, shared their loathing for Elites. Not because they possess powers, but because of how they treat those without. And after decades of self-righteous shunning, it will take quite the gesture of goodwill from Ilya to prompt peace.

I’m swaying on my feet again.

That gesture of goodwill isme.

I feel hazy, numb to the fate set before me. As an Ordinary, a united Ilya was all I ever hoped for. My home, a place where I no longer needed to pretend to be something I wasn’t in order to stay alive. But that skeptical, scrappy side of me says that Kitt couldn’t possibly want this. Not when his father did everything in his power to eradicate the Ordinaries.

“As for Paedyn Gray…” The sound of my name startles me back to an unsettling reality. “Her treason is not all that it seems. Our union will serve as a peace offering to the surrounding kingdoms. This show of faith will welcome Ordinaries back into Ilya, and therefore, entice our neighbors to reopen trade with welcoming Elites.” Kitt smiles tightly.“Our marriage will mark the beginning of my reign, and the strongest Ilya there has ever been.”

I’m picking apart every word, pulling at the syllables to make sense of them all. Then he turns toward me, every thought vanishing when he plucks that ring from its velvet box. There is a dizzying moment in which I think he might hear me swallow, might see the panic welling in my eyes.

That is when his gaze softens, and I see myself reflected in it.

Every fear, every bit of unease. He wears all of it and more. Because that ring in his shaking hand represents everything he was taught to hate. And yet, here he stands, going against the wishes of his beloved father in order to save this kingdom.

So, I let him raise my left hand between us. Let him see the willingness that smothers every worry. It is my turn to become the difference I always dreamed of being, even if the king’s reasonings do not resemble my own. He wishes only to salvage this kingdom by whatever means possible, while I offer him my hand for a united Ilya alone.

I am the sacrifice that Ordinaries have bled and died for.

I am the power they lack.

The ring trembles around my broken nail. His eyes flick to mine in quiet permission.

Every moment of my life has built up to this one. This one fleeting second of bravery.

I nod, and he pushes the ring down the length of my finger.

CHAPTER 2Kai

I thought I’d known torment until it wrapped around her finger.

No, torment is tangible, and it gleams atop her tanned skin.

I stare, unblinking, at the symbol my brother slid onto her finger. It is binding. It is infinite. It is my undoing.

A laugh threatens to slip past my numb lips. It’s not as though she hadn’t promised to be my ruin, hadn’t already become my demise. She is the single most destructive thing I have ever desired, and yet, it is the diamond on her finger that will destroy me.

I watch Paedyn through the gaps of a gawking crowd, just as I will for the rest of my life. I’ll be forced to spend my days at her service but never at her side. In her shadow but never truly seen. In love with a girl I’d have bowed to long before she became my queen.

Kitt steps aside, allowing the court full view of his betrothed. Short hair whispers atop her shoulders with each slow turn of her head. Silver meets tanned skin, gliding across the scar trailing her neck until the torn skin gleams like the sharp end of a blade. Her blue eyes cut through the crowd, searching and swift and so unsure.

I step behind one of the many marble pillars framing the room, avoiding her piercing gaze for perhaps the first time. I’ve been nothing but willing when it comes to drowning in those ocean eyes. But now, I can’t fathom drowning if she is not the anchor I’m sinking with.

Questions fly around the room, each one teetering on an accusation. I blend into the chaos, listening as the court voices my very own confusion. Because this was the last decree I ever thought would form on Kitt’s lips. And he hadn’t even bothered to inform me of it.

I roll my neck, practically feeling that indifferent mask of the Enforcer melting away from the rage simmering beneath. The abilities of every person in this room begin to press down on me, begging to be unleashed. Anger is too dangerous an emotion to let myself feel. It dulls my senses and heightens my Wielder ability until all I know is the power pulsing beneath my skin.

But I have no one to blame but myself. I did this to her, to us, to each moment I spent hoping she would be the center of every one to follow.

I am the monster who hunted her down. I am the beast who delivered her to this doom. And I am afraid I’ll become so much worse when I’m no longer striving to deserve her.

A man shouts beside my ear, waving a hand so obnoxiously that I contemplate breaking it. Better yet, maybe I’ll borrow his Blazer ability and singe that wagging tongue from his mouth.

Fortunately for the man, Kitt’s voice swells over the echoing shouts before I get the chance to do anything rash. “I will answer all your questions in a formal meeting to come. Following that, we will announce our engagement to the surrounding kingdoms.”

Engagement.

---