Page 50 of The Scarlet Star

Cool evening wind rippled over his warm flesh. Dusk was sweeping in. He’d grow hungry soon and would need to visit thebasement. But even his precious pears wouldn’t be enough of a remedy for the things he was facing today.

Xerxes felt a war coming. It was in the air, like a prophecy woven within the magic. And though there were many things to worry about, what he feared the most was what might happen if his voices were still in control of him when the war came.

14

RYN

Rumours rose in the palace that the Folke had gone into an intense period of training. No one offered an explanation why. Heva was excluded since she was a Heartstealer guardswoman, but even with her asking around, none of the Folke knew or admitted exactly what it was that had sent the leaders into such a frenzy.

Ryn spent her morning in the Abandoned Temple, resting in El’s quiet presence. After that, she went with Heva and six Folke to visit the First Temple. Geovani’s teaching had been of old Adriel miracles that left Ryn with a buzz in her stomach.The woman spoke of seas being parted, of fire falling from the heavens, and of manna coming from the sky to feed the Adriel people when they were hungry—all by the power of the God Original. Ryn wasn’t aware how many hours had passed until Heva interrupted and said they needed to get back.

“Bye, Ryn!” Nebulin, the youngest priestess, blew a kiss and accidentally let go of a butterfly she’d been nurturing all day. She chased it through the temple until Seeda flung the front door open and let it be free.

Ryn’s Folke guards wore disguises now, posing as a band of travellers. It worked—few people noticed them on the journey back. They pulled off their cloaks and travel bags as they came into the palace, and organizers were there to receive them.

Ryn smoothed down her ruffled hair on her way to her room. She slowed her steps when she recognized Calliope’s voice drifting from the largest set of maidens’ rooms above the crackling fireplace inside.

“He turned me away last night.” It was said in a hushed state, barely a whisper.

Heva glanced back at Ryn in question when she didn’t follow, and Ryn waved her forward. The guardswoman shrugged and went into Ryn’s chambers alone, likely to find a snack after she’d complained the whole walk back that they’d missed lunch.

Ryn silently leaned against the wall outside Calliope’s door.

“What do you mean, he turned you away last night?” Calliope’s artist asked with an edge. The artist’s voice was scratchy—the opposite of Calliope’s. Calliope’s voice was pretty, like smooth music.

“I mean, after you got me all dressed up for my scheduled evening with the King, he wouldn’t see me,” Calliope said. “We only getoneevening with the King. So naturally, I’m enraged.”

Ryn’s eyes widened.

Aneveningwith the King? What did that mean? She almost covered her ears and fled from her hiding place, but the artist spoke again and Ryn couldn’t help herself. She leaned toward the doorway, keeping a flat hand on the wall for balance.

“So, you’re saying first the King refused to spend an evening with Ulita, and then he refused to spend an evening with you? What’s gotten into him? Is he really crazy like the rumours say?”

Calliope made a tsking sound. “Obviously he’s lost his mind. Didn’t you see him in the courtyard that day? I was lucky to be the only maiden he didn’t face off with in that state.”

In the courtyard. When Xerxes had driven the maidens outside with a sword and demanded they fight him. Ryn remembered every second.

She relaxed against the wall. She wasn’t even aware there were scheduled times for evening visits, or what exactly an ‘evening visit’ entailed, but what did it matter if Xerxes wasn’t interested in meeting the maidens at all?

She pulled off the wall and turned toward her quarters.

“It’s not that unusual for him. My uncle is Intelligentsia, remember? He told me King Xerxes never once went within three feet of his last wife.” For someone with a pretty voice, Calliope’s laugh was ugly and cruel when she let it out. “Not even on their wedding day.”

Ryn stopped walking.

The artist made a scoffing sound. “He must have really disliked her if he went straight from avoiding her all the time tokilling—”

“Hush!” Calliope’s voice was loud this time.

Ryn clasped her hands together. She wasn’t sure what bothered her more—Calliope’s gossip, the idea of an evening visit with the King, or the reminder that Xerxes had… had…

Ryn’s chest tightened. Somehow, she’d forgotten Xerxes had killed his first wife. In the moments between him catching herred-handed in the gardens and showing up to rescue her, she’d started to see him as a boy stranded on an island in this palace. Not as the heartless young man who once did something so unthinkable.

For days now, she’d wrestled with whether she should tell Xerxes his life was in danger. The truth was, she wanted to tell him. She didn’t want to watch a stranded person die. She wasn’t even sure when her mind had changed about that.

But that meant she’d be the one to assassinate the King in the end—if Kai got what he wanted.

“What do I do?” Ryn whispered into the hallway. She looked up at the ceiling when there was no answer. “I’m asking you, El. What do I do?”

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