Setti pranced restlessly as I guided him to a stop. Adrenaline coursed through me, ramming my heart against my ribs. My skin hummed as the eather throbbed in response, sending a series of shivers across the back of my head and over the nape of my neck. Somehow, I managed to keep my voice steady, even as dread, anticipation, and fear collided. “I want to speak with the Commander of the Rise.”
“Who the hell are you to make such a demand?” another guard yelled as I opened my senses, letting them stretch toward the guards.
“Perhaps they do not see the crests on the shields,” Kieran murmured, and Emil’s shield muffled his snort. “Or you should’ve worn your crown.” A pause. “Like I suggested.”
The crown was where it belonged, beside the one meant for the King.
My hand tightened on the reins. “Tell your commander that the Queen of Atlantia wishes to speak with him.”
The guards’ shock was an icy splash against the roof of my mouth. “Bullshit,” one of them exclaimed, but I also sensed great unease. They recognized the white of my clothing and what that symbolized. They had to know we were coming. “No Queen would be stupid enough to march right up to our gates.”
Kieran glanced over at me, his brows raised.
“Perhaps none would be so daring,” I suggested.
“Nah. You ain’t no Queen. Just two Atlantian bastards and one Atlantian bitch,” the light-haired guard said.
“At some point,” Emil said under his breath, “I hope we kill that one.”
The snap of the bowstring was deafening, silencing my response.
Kieran moved quickly, his reflexes far more honed than any mortal’s. He lifted his shield within the span of a heartbeat. The arrow smacked off its surface.
“They shot at you!” I exclaimed.
“Yes, I’m aware of that.” Kieran lowered his shield.
My head swung back to the Rise, anger building. “Do that again, and you will not like what happens.”
“Stupid bitch.” The guard laughed, reaching for another arrow. “What are you going to do?”
“Stop!” A guard raced across the battlement, grabbing the archer’s arm. He yanked the arrow from his hand. “You jackass,” he said as the guard pulled his arm free. “If that’s really her, it’ll be your head on a spike.”
If he fired another arrow, he wouldn’t live long enough to be impaled to any spike.
“I want to speak to the commander,” I repeated.
“You have my attention,” a voice boomed a second before a man appeared at the top of the Rise, the white mantle flowing from his shoulders a symbol of his position. “I’m Commander Forsyth.”
“Well, look at that,” Kieran said. “He came with friends.”
He’d arrived with a lot of his friends. Dozens of archers rushed the battlement, arrows at the ready.
“The Queen of Atlantia?” Forsyth dropped a booted foot on the edge of the Rise and leaned forward, resting an arm on his bent knee. “I heard rumors you were in Massene. Not sure I believe it then or now.”
When I wore the veil of the Maiden, no one knew that I was scarred. But after I went missing, news of my appearance traveled far as a means of identification. From their position, it was unlikely they were able to see my scars, especially since they had faded a bit after my Ascension.
“That’s her,” one of the newcomers said, an archer farther down the battlement. “I was here the night she damaged the Rise. I know her voice. Never will forget it.”
“Looks like you left an impression,” Kieran commented.
I had a feeling I would leave another as wind whirled through the meadow, carrying the stench of the city. “Then you know what I’m capable of.”
Forsyth abandoned his relaxed pose, standing straight. “I know what you are. You’ve got these people in here believing you’ve come to either free or terrorize them. Caused quite a bit of drama by spreading the word, telling them they needed to leave the protection of the Ascended. Because of you, many of them will die in the streets they called home. Because of your lies.”
The essence flared once more. I concentrated on the commander, letting my senses reach him. What I tasted was the same as I’d felt when I passed our soldiers before riding for Oak Ambler. Salty resolve.
“You would think that the Duke himself would be out here, defending his people,” Kieran countered.
“The Ascended honor the gods by refusing the sunlight,” Forsyth shot back. “But you, being of a godless kingdom, wouldn’t understand that.”