Page 6 of The Crimson Princess
“The Book of Lifechose me. That’s how it works. Those who are supposed to win, win. There is a reason for everything, remember? A purpose? I have to do it, or we look like hypocrites.”
“They all know the queen cannot serve as guardian.”
“I can. And you’re wrong. If I don’t do it, they’ll lash out at us both. You know it’s true.”
“The council—”
“Barely exists any longer. They cannot overrule the Book of Life. Neither can you without risking it turning on you.”
He grits his teeth and releases me, turning away from me, his hand rubbing the tension on the back of his neck, and his torment cuts through me. He doesn’t want me to leave, and it’s bittersweet confirmation that he cares for me. He loves me, but my destiny is set, and I am not meant to be by his side. “There will be a price to pay if we ignore the book,” I say. “And what if that price might be Satima?”
He whirls on me. “This was never supposed to happen!” The words quake from him and rattle the walls.
“I’ll be fine.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I know I have to do it.Youknow I have to do it.”
“You’ll serve. Five years. Half a cycle and no more. You are our queen. This, they will understand.”
“I have to serve my full ten years. Every guardian serves ten years. If I don’t, the gales will resent us both.”
His gaze rises skyward, the veins in his neck pulsing, before he lowers his gaze to mine. “I’ll visit often. And your shadow can cover when you visit me.”
Emotion balls in my chest and climbs through my body, and I’m all but quaking. “Yes,” I confirm. “Yes, but I need my daughter with me. She’ll spare another and be my shadow. Let that shadow go to the reserve list. Satima needs to train. She needs to understand what her gales go through."
“No,” he says, steel in his voice. “My daughter will not leave my side. And she’s no shadow.”
“She won’t stay, not without a fight. Not without hating you. She is the future queen and there is no better way for her to earn respect than to be the best warrior among us. And to have served just like her gales. This is how it has to be. We establish this now. I’ll reject my shadow. The book doesn’t require I have a shadow at all and I’m far more powerful than any guardian at any portal. I don’t require a shadow, but Satima needs training.”
His eyes glint with anger, but I feel the stab of pain in him. “You’re punishing me.”
I swallow hard, my throat raw. “No. You know me better than that.”
He closes the space between us and presses his hands to my face. “You’re punishing us both. I can’t go with you; you know that.”
“I do. I know.” My voice is low, barely audible.
I blink again, and I’m in the center of the ring. Somehow, a microphone is in my hand. “I will serve as guardian and Satima as my shadow, so that one of our gales is spared,” I say to the audience. My words are met with shouts of disapproval.
“This can’t happen!”
“No!”
“You can’t go! You are our queen.”
Killian raises his hand and silence follows.
“Your children,” I say, “your loved ones, compete, and if they are chosen by the Book of Life, they serve. I was chosen. If I do not serve, the consequences for our people could be many.”
Killian pries the microphone from my stiff hand. “Your queen will serve, but she will not vacate the throne. Queen Sophia will remain your queen and mine, as well.”
Chants of, “Queen Sophia,” fill the arena.
And so, it’s commanded by King Killian, the Book of Life, and the gales. I will serve as guardian to the most volatile portal in existence. And I do believe everything happens for a reason. This is my destiny and maybe, just maybe, the reason I was gifted with powers that outreach my natural born class.
Part Two:
