Shaking off my thoughts of the queen, I made my way to the side gate that was never monitored. Our village walls were thatch; I could cut my way through if need be. These walls were mostly for decoration or to keep muskrats out, not really to deter anyone from coming or going. As I approached the gate, ducking behind a row of huts I was happy to see that it was not only unmonitored, it was open.
Thank the Maker.
Taking one last look over my shoulder, I stepped through the gate and mentally prepared for the week-long journey.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a deep male voice called beside me.
I yelped, stumbling backwards, and nearly tripped over a bush as I turned to face the speaker. He wore a deep, black-hooded cloak that covered his face, but I could tell from the brief glimpse at the golden dragon insignia on his chest, and the fine metalwork of his armguards, that he was a member of the Drayken, the elite special operations team within the king’s Royal Guard. They were so powerful, I heard that they could light you on fire with a sneeze. Why were the Drayken here? Surely this was a task the regular Royal Guard could handle?
“H-h-hunting,” I stuttered.
“Women in Cinder hunt?” he asked, surprise in his tone.
“This woman does,” I shot back, and put a hand on my hip. How dare he assume I would be relegated to the kitchen or midwifery because of what was between my legs.
“You must not of heard—all women of child-bearing age are to be examined by the king’s sniffers,” he said. “And you look to be of child-bearing age to me.”
That last comment made my cheeks burn. I couldn’t see his gaze and yet I could feel his eyes on me. Did I lie and just tell him I was human? I was afraid that the rumors the Drayken guards could smell a lie might be true, but I also needed to get far away from here before the sniffers found me.
“Oh I heard. But I’m a human, so there is no need to—”
The schling of his blade made the words die in my throat.
“I smell a lie,” he growled.
Hades. It was true!
“Basically human,” I amended. But even that didn’t feel true anymore, not after what my mother had just told me. “Besides, I don’t want to get married and have children for a king,” I added. I did want marriage and children, but not with the king. I wanted Nathanial. But even as I thought it, my heart pinched to remember the way he gazed at Ruby with his hands tightly secured around her waist.
The Drayken guard barked out in laughter then, and as annoying as it was to be mocked, it was deep and throaty, and almost sounded like it had cobwebs inside of it, like he hadn’t laughed in a long time. It made my stomach warm.
“You would turn down the hand of the king?” He sounded shocked and intrigued at the same time.
I shrugged. “I like my life here. What would I do with a thousand jade stones? I can hunt and have all that I need here,” I said.
He stepped closer to me and I could feel his gaze on me even though I still had yet to see the color of his eyes or the shape of his nose. The heat of his body was like a radiating furnace, and I swallowed hard as he drew closer.
His head cocked to the side in his hood. “You’re telling me that if you were chosen as the next queen of Embergate, and given all the gold and jade and rubies in the realm, you would refuse?”
I was shaken from his question. I wouldn’t be chosen as the next queen, but if I were, would I want it? It was a good question to consider. I’d have anything I could ever ask for. I could take hot sandalwood baths daily, I would have an entire staff at my disposal, and my mother and sister would want for nothing. But also after what my mother had just told me and what I knew about the leaders in the village and all the stress they went through, I knew that being queen would be far too great of a responsibility for the simple life I loved.
I shook my head.
“With great duty comes great responsibility,” I told him, and his head tipped towards the ground as my words seemingly had an effect on him. “I would not want to trade my simple freedom for one of crushing obligation,” I said with finality.
“Crushing.” His voice was hollow, void of emotion. “It can be crushing at times.”
I frowned, about to ask him exactly how high of a position he held in the king’s elite Royal Guard, when he put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly.
I flinched, and within seconds a dark-haired woman ran through the gate with her sword drawn, on alert.
Regina Wayfeather.
She was even more beautiful than I imagined. Wearing black skintight leather battle gear with black chainmail and black shoulder spaulders, her skin was the dark bronze common with the people who hailed from Grim Hollow, our biggest trading port in the realm, and on her cheeks were small patches of black dragon scales denoting her power over the magic. Her long braids hung halfway down her back and were interwoven with golden thread. She was a lethal hunter with a record of leading the king’s army in battle many times. She looked about twenty-five winters old, and two long, thin scars ran down the left side of her cheek. But that wasn’t what arrested me to the spot. It was her glowing yellow eyes. Her dragon power was engaged; small puffs of smoke leaked from her flaring nostrils.