Did he hide because he was too good for the ashes of Cinder Village to grace his royal boots? He wasn’t too good to take the monthly truckloads of coal we dug out for Jade City. Not too good to take our women.
Before I knew it, we had reached the great hall. All of the barren and elder women were outside of it, and Regina had to step in front of me and ask them to move in order to make a path.
“They chose Kendal,” Naomie told me as I passed.
That surprised me. I’d thought she was too weak in power. She could light candles with her magic but that was about it.
My mother looked to Regina. “Oh, wonderful. We don’t even need to continue, then? He’s chosen?”
Regina turned and frowned at my mother. “He’s chosen many potential candidates across the realm, ma’am.” There was suspicion in Regina’s gaze. I wanted to tell my mother to cool it. She was going to make things harder for me if Regina thought I was hiding something.
“She’s nervous for me to meet the sniffer,” I explained to Regina. “We’ve never met one before and I heard it hurts?”
That wasn’t a lie. I had heard that the sniffing of magic was uncomfortable, even painful in some cases. I had no idea if it was true or not.
Regina’s posture relaxed. “Oh, ma’am, don’t worry, your daughter will not be harmed.”
“Oh thank goodness,” my mother said in a convincing tone, but I saw the pinched expression she wore. With that, we headed into the open double doors of the great hall.
When Regina turned her back to us, I met my mother’s gaze and gave her a look that indicated she needed to relax.
She nodded her head, biting at her lip.
“We’ve got one more!” Regina called over the murmuring voices.
I’d never seen the great hall so packed full of people. The child-bearing women of our village were here with their families, some of them even with their husbands. I didn’t think the king’s notice included married women. That was awful. What was the chosen queen supposed to do, leave her husband and family to have a second life in Jade City?
Did this man have no morals? He must need an heir badly to be assessing the magic of married women.
The people in the room parted and I made my way up the crowded aisle, feeling like every pair of eyes were on me.
Why did this need to be a public affair? I was nervous enough as it was without the entire town looking at me.
When the throng of people had finally thinned enough to give me a good view of the commotion, I gasped at the sight of the sniffers.
There were two of them, females with bright red hair, and skin so fair I could see the network of blue veins in their cheeks and neck. Twins, I realized, as I scanned their faces. Identical. They each wore a thick black leather eye mask that tied behind their heads and covered their blindness. The tips of their fae ears poked out of their hair, and they cocked their heads to the side in unison as I approached.
Kendal stood proudly behind them as the rest of the girls, rejects I suspected, hugged the walls and watched.
“Bring her to me,” one of the twins said, and I gulped. Many, many, rumors surrounded the sniffers. One was that they were born blind, which enhanced their sense of smell. Another was that they weren’t blind at all but that their mothers bound their sight with masks to force a magical smell enhancement.
Now that I saw the black leather masks, I wondered if the latter was true and what it would be like not so see anything your entire life by choice.
Regina nudged my back slightly and I steeled myself, looking back at my mother for one last glance.
I expected to see terror, but instead there was determination and the glint of steel in her hand.
Oh Hades.
FOUR
My gaze narrowed in on the glint of steel in my mother’s hand. She had pulled my hunting knife from my pack! My eyes widened, my mouth going slack, but then I quickly fixed my face so that Regina wouldn’t see.
What the Maker was Mother intending to do with that? Stab the sniffers? My mom hadn’t killed a thing a day in her life, never even swatted a fly. This whole situation had turned her mad.
I stumbled forward, and without seeing me the sniffer reached out and laid a hand on my shoulder.
My heart pounded so hard in my chest I could feel it in my ears.
Another hand landed on my other shoulder, and I looked up to see the second sniffer.
As if they were one being, they both inhaled at the same time, tipping their heads back as if to devour my scent.
I flinched, feeling like my entire soul lay bare in that moment. Something, some magic caressed me then, slithering over my skin and worming into my chest. My breathing became ragged and they both smiled at the same time.