“Hell no. I’ll be glad to see the day when the Etovians finally go where they belong.”
“Won’t we all.” Vale raised his glass of iskai. “To the new Duchissa. May Queen Azura grant her a long and prosperous reign.”
Zane lifted his glass. “To the Duchissa.”
Dali, Sector 4
Decemmensis-10, 817 cycles A.F.C.
Dramatic musicfrom Dali’s leading composers filled the Grand Ballroom, awakening a song in Kalie’s blood as she rushed away from Mother’s flock of courtiers. Mother’s solemn, lying voice drifted after her: “I thank Azura every minute that my daughter was returned to me safely…”
Kalie clenched her teeth. As she passed one of the round waterfalls gushing through the floor, crackling water obscured Mother’s voice.
Mother could still see her, though, so Kalie paused in a cluster of nobles. She’d only been able to escape by claiming a courtier was trying to get her attention.
Standing with the courtiers was no better than standing with Mother. With Mother, she had to smile through lies. With the nobles, she had to smile through somber condolences that twisted her heart.
She filtered out their words, focusing on the shades of colorful light shining on their elaborate clothes. The streak of teal on oneman’s shoulder came from the window showing Azura’s Creation, when the Queen of the Skies formed beings from the lifeforce of the turquoise seas. The deep blue on a woman’s iron-gray hair came from the stained glass window beside it, when the goddess descended through Azura’s Arch, an ancient gateway between the heavens of Eternal Dawn and the lands of the living.
“Your Majesty!”
Kalie jumped and spun around. Another courtier approached her, bowing deeply. Though she wouldn’t officially be crowned Duchissa for weeks, a sapphire diadem was woven into her crown braid, and the foreign title had been thrown her way hundreds of times.
“Pardon me for interrupting. I understand this is an inopportune moment, but I’d been hoping to discuss the Olympia-Hazelcrest trade treaty with you. Your aunt pledged her support, and of course I understand if you need time…”
Praying for strength, she looked heavenward. There was no strength to be found there, just an elaborately painted ceiling depicting millennia of royal history.
The man’s incessant chattering brought the pulsing in her skull back in full force. Exhaustion hung heavy in her bones and muddled her brain. Gods above, she craved sleep. There would be no rest for her, not while she had endless briefings and mountains of petitions to muddle through.
“Talk to the Major Governor,” she said, making a concerted effort not to yawn. “He’ll be able to give you a more concrete answer.”
As the man frowned, Kalie bit the inside of her cheek. Sending all her problems to Uncle Jerran wasn’t a particularly inspiring start to her reign, but she had no other options. He had decades of experience in every branch of government. As Akron had so bluntly implied, Uncle Jerran was a far more capable leader than she.
Mother had stopped watching her. With a sigh of relief, Kalie took her leave of the courtiers.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, she ducked into the shadow between two bronze pillars. Crackling waterfalls covered the walls behind her, and foamy spray ghosted over her skin. Kalie breathed in the strong scent of the ocean she so loved.
The music reached a climax, and the smooth, rhythmic vibrations in the singer’s voice soothed her, calming her worries and stresses. It was in the Old Language, Archaic Sauvena. She’d let her studies of it lapse in the cycles since Lexie was born, so she didn’t follow everything it was saying, but that made the music more beautiful.
“Your Majesty.”
The hair on the back of Kalie’s neck stood on end. She’d heard that voice hundreds of times before—husky with lust, soft with love, raging with the rare burst of anger—but never had she heard it this distant, this rigidly formal.
She turned, and her heart shattered all over again.
Her old friend Haeden stood on the left, but beside him?—
Julian.
Apologies rose to Kalie’s lips, but her mouth wouldn’t move.
Both bowed. As they rose, Julian’s tan face betrayed nothing. Opposite the insignia decorating his Dalian Skyforce uniform,Rykerwas stitched into the fabric. Her traitorous eyes roved over his well-muscled arms and his strong, capable hands that had once held her close. His baron’s signet ring glinted on his little finger.
Heat rushed to Kalie’s cheeks.
He looked nothing like the wiry, grinning teenager she’d left on one knee in a ballroom two cycles ago.
His eyes were devouring her, too. She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. She wasn’t the young teenager he’d fallen in love with, either.
