Page 23 of Daughter of the Ninth Line: Part One

Lunderov, of the Seventh Line—a small island Barony that sat in the middle of the Alutian Sea, almost directly between my home of Hamor and the western parts of Ebrus—offered to transport the goods from the eastern side of the country to the west, cutting weeks off the transport times. The Seventh Line had seafaring magic, and you could get from Hamor to the seaports of Teneby in four days.

Not everyone offered assistance—most notably the Fourth Line, whose very magic was the weather and could break the drought in a week, and the First Line, who were just asshats. However, almost everyone from Fifth Line down offered aid.

Vox Vylan looked tense as he left, which gave me a little satisfaction. If Vox was an asshole, then his father was a power-hungry megalomaniac. But he was powerful in magic, and no one could stand against him or his Line.

Baron Abaster came over and shook my father’s hand. “We appreciate you speaking up. Your position definitely influenced the outcome of today.”

Father’s eyes slipped to mine, and I could see pride there. “Of course. We are all one country; divisions help no one.”

They began talking about trades and logistics, and I wanted to shed my human skin and run. We would head back to Hamor tonight, and then I’d be on the ferry back to Boellium War College by the end of the week. I’d run all the way there if I had to; it had been a long time since I’d run with my hounds.

The more I thought about it, the more the idea excited me. That freedom to run and hunt had been denied to me for far too long. There were no good places to flex my skills on the tiny island of Boemouthe. If I didn’t want all the Lines knowing our powers, I had to stay constrained in my human skin.

I transmitted the idea to Alucius and Braxus, getting their enthusiastic approval, if the tail wagging was anything to go by. Decision made, I waited until my father was done with politics and we were in our carriage home.

We both sat in silence for a moment, lost in our thoughts, before my father broke it. “You’re heading back to Boellium in the morning then?”

I was no longer surprised about what my father knew. He’d been this way my whole life, always far more knowledgeable than he should be.

“Yes. I thought I might run back with my hounds. It’s been too long since the beast has been able to stretch its legs.”

My father arched a brow at me. “And it has nothing to do with the girl from the Ninth Line back at the college?”

I clenched my back teeth and shot a glare at my hounds. Braxus huffed, and Alucius glared right back. They both protested in my mind that it wasn’t them, and I reached out and scratched their heads in apology. I shouldn’t have doubted them. They were loyal to our family, but to me first and foremost.

My father had his own animal spies. It could have been a mouse in the kitchen, or a kestrel from above who’d seen me mooning over Avalon Halhed.

Taking in a deep breath, I steeled my spine, then raised my eyes to meet my father’s piercing gaze. “Avalon is my Soul Tie. My other half. She calls to me in a way I don’t understand, but she’smine.”

My father stared at me for a long time, his eyes a blazing gold. His gaze had disconcerted many men before, but it was the same gaze that had watched me learn to shift forms, to ride a horse, to wield a sword. I knew beneath it was a love so deep that he’d lay down his life for me.

Finally, he nodded once. “When you choose to bring her home, we’ll be excited to meet your Tie.”

And that was it. No censure. No edict that she wasn’t good enough.

It was what separated us from the other Lines, what made our people so loyal. Family came first, and the honor of the Line came second. And every single person who was the Third Line was family to the Taemes.

We were as loyal as we were fierce.

I knew politically, this was a setback for the family. We couldn’t create bonds through my marriage anymore, and allying with the northerners was not beneficial to us at all. Besides, I’d barely held myself back from ripping off Baron Halhed’s skull already, after what Avalon had told me of him. I couldn’t make myself ally with him if I tried. So Avalon wouldbring nothing to the strength of the Third Line, not politically at least.

But to me, and to my family, it wouldn’t matter. A Soul Tie was something greater than marriage, something greater than even magic. It was the very hands of fate that made us for one another, and it was so rare that the last Tie had been my grandparents. It was respected and revered. The Line would cope without marrying me off to some Fifth Line golden child or First Line debutante.

A sea falcon slammed into our carriage with uncanny precision, coming to rest on the bench seat beside my father. Zephyr was my father’s eye in the sky. The sea falcon was as familiar to me as my own beasts and had been a constant in our household for as long as I could remember.

Whatever Zephyr was telling my father had him frowning, before he looked at me. My heart stilled in my chest. He flicked his fingers, and the horses slowed. There was no groom or driver. The horses pulled the carriage out of loyalty to my father.

“There has been an issue at Boellium. Someone attacked your Soul Tie, although Lucio was there to stop it. Quarry was injured.” I was already jumping from the carriage before my father had even finished. He leaned out the door, shouting at my retreating back, “Do not changeuntil you reach the Mistwoods, Hayle. I mean it.”

The Mistwoods were the edge of the Third Line lands, and the dense forest meant we could shift unseen. I held up my hand in acknowledgement, and took off through the trees. My hounds were already running alongside me. It would take me an hour to make it to the Mistwoods on human feet, then an entire day to get to Ovl if I ran as a beast.

I didn’t care. I’d swim the whole way to Boemouthe if I had to, and if anyone in that forsaken place had hurt my Soul Tie, I would burn the place to the fucking ground in retribution.

Fifteen

Avalon

“My poor, sweet hero. Do you want some more steak?”

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