Page 15 of Daughter of the Ninth Line: Part Two

“As I was saying, there was a lot of literature about your family. They were once revered seers, did you know that?”

Now she was looking at me like I was stupid. “Of course I knew that. I lived up north, not in a cave on the side of a mountain. I can even read,” she said with mock amazement. I tried not to grin at her sarcasm. She was kind of cute when her heart wasn’t beating out of her chest like a scared bunny.

“As I was saying, people would come from all over Ebrus, putting aside decades of feuds, to talk to members of your family. To get their predictions.” I sucked on my back teeth thoughtfully. “Then somewhere around ten generations ago, the power started to dwindle.”

She rolled her eyes at me. “Really? Do tell me more about my own family history.”

I smirked. “Don’t you wonder why?”

She shook her head. “No. Every Line’s power has been dwindling over the last few centuries, and I wonder how much of the original reports of our powers were just exaggerations for the history books anyway.”

I didn’t tell her that the Third Line’s powers hadn’t dwindled at all. That perhaps my brothers and I were the strongest direct descendents of the Line in… well, ever. I also didn’t mention that Vox’s abilities were just as impressive, and if my brothers were to be believed, Yaron Vylan’s powers were equally as strong.

No, it seemed only the powers of the Lower Lines were dwindling, and I was neither the researcher nor the historian needed to figure out the whys and hows of that. That was for minds more academic than my own.

Turning to face her, I stared into her eyes. “Why are you here, Avalon Halhed?”

She raised an eyebrow at me like I was stupid. With any other person, I would’ve flexed my powers until they cowered under my domination, but I found the bravado hiding under Avalon’s soft exterior kind of endearing.

“The same reason we’re all here, Hayle Taeme.” Was she mocking me right now? “Ebrus’s conscription laws mean each Line has to send at least one conscript every year.”

That was true, but what made a man send his youngest daughter to Boellium War College? “But why you? If it was about training a fighter or garnering political influence, I know you have several older brothers. If it was just about sending a warm body to fulfil the conscript quota, I assume you have several dozen farm boys up in the wilds who’d like a chance to prove themselves in the Dawn Army. So why you? Why the youngest daughter of the Baron?”

Her jaw was tense, and I knew I’d struck a nerve. “What you don’t know—and can’t discover in the library’s history books—is that my father hates me. Sending me to Boellium was probably the happiest he’s been in decades.”

I hadn’t spent much time with Avalon, but even I knew that she was a kind person. She’d saved my damn mouse, after all. “I’m sure that’s not true. Maybe it feels like it right now because he sent you here, but I can’t imagine anyone hating you for no reason.”

She frowned at me, pain in her eyes. “Is murdering my mother a good enough reason?” she snapped, and with that, she slid from the rock beside me and marched back toward the college while I stared after her, dumbfounded.

She’d murdered her mother?

There had to be more to it than that, because unless she had an evil twin, there was a better chance of me being one of Baron Vylan’s illegitimate children than her being a murderer. Standing, I brushed the sand from my trousers. Something was not right with the Ninth Line, and I was going to figure out what it was.

The last thing I wanted to do tonight was go up to the First Line dorm for an Upper Lines party, but I was basically duty-bound to attend. If I didn’t go, the delicate balance of power in Boellium could shift.

Right now, Vox and I stood almost at an equilibrium. We both had enough people on our sides that we could go about our days without any kind of power struggle. But an entire party, this early in the year, with no Third Line representation? Well, Vox Vylan could whisper all sorts of lies in the ears of the new Upper Six conscripts, and the hierarchy could be redrawn overnight. It was an exhausting, petty juggling act that I loathed with my entire being.

Lucio was already dressed like he was planning to get laid and was waiting by the door when I emerged from my own room, proof of how long I’d been dragging my feet getting ready. Lucio tended to take forever to get his hair perfect in the mirror.

“Brother, we’re going to a party, not your execution. Cheer up,” he teased, slapping me on the back. I rolled my eyes and whistled for Braxus. While it was generally accepted that we wouldn’t bring our creature familiars to parties, no one was stopping me from bringing at least one of my hounds. They were as much a part of me as my own hand.

Braxus groaned, and I caught a smug emotion from Alucius, who was still curled up in front of the fireplace. “Sorry, Brax. If they weren’t such fucks, you could stay home and snuggle in front of the fire too. Unfortunately, I need you to watch my back.”

He sighed heavily, plodding toward the dorm door before me. However, as soon as he crossed the threshold, he was immediately on alert. Forever my bodyguard.

We walked up the stairs to the top floor, past the permanently locked and barred Second Line dorm. Even from the landing, I could tell the party was already in full swing. Whilethe First Line dorm didn’t have the same level of soundproofing as ours, the pounding music was still muffled pretty well.

It was the first party of the new conscript year, so the First Line appeared to have gone all out. There was alcohol flowing freely, and Lines mingling, and already, there were people fucking in the corners of the room.

The party had only been going for an hour.

The conscripts of Boellium worked hard, but they also played hard. For some, it was the first time they’d ever been outside their Line’s territory. I guess there was something to be said for extensive “networking,” especially the naked kind.

Lucio sniffed the drink he was handed by someone in the Fourth Line before handing it to me. I sniffed it too, our heightened senses able to pick up any note that wasn’t meant to be in the burning liquor.

“I’m going to see if I can convince Shay to dance with me.” Lucio wandered toward the enigmatic second-in-command for the First Line. He liked trying his luck with her, because for each other, they were both safe.

The Third Line had enough spies to know that Shay had absolutely no interest in Lucio romantically. He did not possess the right parts. But no one said it out loud, and Lucio didn’t want to get caught in the sticky tendrils of some scheming Upper Line female who wanted to marry their way into clout. So he made it known that he was only interested in Shay, and she played along, for whatever her reasons were.

---