Page 4 of Daughter of the Ninth Line: Part One

In comparison, my table was empty. What felt like the collective gaze of the whole room on my back was a heavy weight as I placed my tray down and steadily began to eat. I didn’t meetanyone’s eyes, just held myself stiff and pretended they weren’t there at all.

The food was surprisingly good, some kind of thick stew full of vegetables and chunks of meat. I ate it slowly, hungry after so many days on the road, but not wanting to embarrass myself like the Twelfth Line conscripts.

The eyes on my face began to burn, and I chanced a quick look and fell straight into blue eyes, cold and sharp. Hair so dark, it seemed to absorb the light around him, perfectly curling up from his forehead like a wave, as if a wind had tousled it, even though there were no elements inside the building.

I didn’t need anyone to tell me that this was an Heir of the First Line. He screamed privilege, from his ridiculously unblemished skin to the way his body had the musculature of someone who’d had bountiful food forever. His sapphire eyes met mine, holding me almost unwillingly in his gaze. I was like a deer, caught in the light beam of a hunter.

I was prey to this man, inside these walls. I knew it in my bones.

He didn’t know me, though. I didn’t care what Line he emerged from—I refused to be prey. I was going to keep my head down, but I wouldn’t become a victim to do it. I kept my chin high as I dragged my gaze from his, hoping he didn’t know how the very action made a shiver run down my spine, and went back to slowly demolishing my stew.

By the time I looked up again, the room was mostly empty, and the Prince of Ebrus was gone.

Three

Hayle

The Ninth Line conscript had stood out like fleas on my cousin, Lucio. I’d noticed her immediately, first when she walked through the atrium and stared down my hounds, followed by Lucio’s war cat, then she’d been nearly impossible to miss as she stared down Vox Fucking Vylan.

Physically, she was unremarkable. The slightly too pale skin of the Ninth Line, with dark brown hair that was too unkempt to fall smoothly, but was thick and full. The fire in her eyes was something else, even if she was trying hard to stay under the radar like the rest of the Lower Lines.

Not that I blamed them. They could be the greatest warrior this school had ever seen, and the best rank they would ever achieve in our army was somewhere in the upper middle. Maybe Captain. They were here as troop fodder, not to jockey for influence like the rest of us. Because no matter how well you fought, when you were up against someone who had strong Line abilities—like Vox and his damn elemental strength—you may as well be one of the straw dummies we practiced against. I wasn’t saying it was right. It was just how the world worked, so it was best if they didn’t make waves and stayed in their own lane.

However, despite how hard she was trying to blend in, I knew this girl—thisnobody—from the Ninth Line was going to stir up trouble, and I was here for it.

I sent my hounds to find her, and they happily went. They had good instincts, and they liked her scent, according to Braxus. They liked that she’d saved the stolt from Elaine, Lucio’s war cat. There was no love lost between the hounds and the war cats. They would fight beside each other when it counted, but they bickered like a bunch of toddlers outside of their duties.

Alucius, Braxus’s mate and my second hound, sent me a snapshot through our connection of the girl in the training arena with the new recruits. She was around my age, not one of the usual fresh faces that the various Lines sent.

I wanted to know her story, and there was one sure source of information. Slipping from my own training exercises, I called down my raven, Quarry. I was one of the strongest beastmasters of our line. The Third Line was known for its affinity with animals; our strong connection with some of the most powerful predators in Ebrus made us a formidable foe for our enemies, thus demanding respect from the other Lines.

However, a Line-wide secret was that the direct members of the Taeme family could shift into animals themselves. Lucio was a wolf, but I was something even more fearsome. Something that hadn’t been seen in so long, our historians had needed to delve into the history books to confirm what they suspected.

Quarry swooped down and landed on my outstretched arm as I walked back toward the main building of Boellium. “Is Svenna in her office?” I asked him, and he made an affirmative grunt. I nodded my thanks as he flew back to whatever tree he was sitting in today, keeping watch on what was happening on the college grounds and even the surrounding island. I stomped through the courtyard, which was much quieter in comparisonto yesterday, though there was still blood in the crevices of the stone.

Alucius and Braxus had attacked a new recruit yesterday, permanently maiming him. I hadn’t interfered. The hounds had better instincts than most people, and whatever threat they thought he posed to me or our Line was probably true.

He was still alive, but he wouldn’t fuck with the Third Line again anytime soon.

Striding through the atrium, I entered the administration office, where Svenna was cursing at a ledger like it had personally insulted her grandmother. She’d once been one of the greatest warriors in the Dawn Army, and whatever punishment had led her to be stuck here in these four walls with only ledgers and students as foes was cruel. She was wildly unsuited to being a glorified secretary. It had nothing to do with the fact she only had one arm, and everything to do with the look she was giving me right now, like she wanted to set me on fire with her mind.

“What do you want, Taeme?”

I didn’t know what Line she was originally from, but all the leaders of Boellium War College gave up their Line allegiance to become devoted only to the Dawn Army and the college itself. I couldn’t imagine any role that would make me forsake my Line. They were my family. My life.

I gave her my most charming smile. “Maybe I just wanted to see you, Svenna?” I purred.

Svenna was scarred and had lost her arm in some battle or another, but beneath her constant scowl was what once would have been a fearsome beauty. Her blonde hair was cut shortish, but her blue eyes sparkled with intelligence and a ruthlessness that I found admirable.

“I was in the same class as your mother, and you piss me off more than a boil on my ass cheek. So spit it out, I’m busy.”

I laughed, dropping the pretense. “I want to know about the new girl from the Ninth Line.”

Svenna snorted. “Hardly a girl, Taeme. She’s basically a spinster, by your standards.”

I waved a hand. “You know what I mean. Who is she?”

Rolling her eyes in my direction, she slammed the ledger in front of her shut. “That’s none of your fucking business, Hayle Taeme. You want to know more about the Ninth Line conscript? Go and ask her yourself.”

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