Finn touched the keypad, the button indicating the ground level lighting up, and then the familiar whirl of the elevator filled the space as we shot down eighty-two floors. Only once we exited the building through the sliding glass doors did his words fully register. “Every evening?” I bit out in horror as the words played on repeat in my mind. “Who does he think he is? Every evening?”
“The King of Solis Quarter.” Finn’s wry laugh fell flat as we stared down the sidewalk of the street, cars rushing past.
“I can’t do it. I just . . .” My voice caught as I processed his demands, and I couldn’t hold back the sob that rose at the thought. “I can’t take having to see him every night.”
I could have once, but not now. Not since that bargain mark first appeared across my skin. A mark that bound me to him.
Forever.
Finn sighed beside me, pulling me into his large frame as he tugged me close. The scent of smoke and sand flooded mysenses as his chest rumbled while he spoke. “We’ll make it through, darling. Just like every other time.”
I didn’t say anything, just mutely nodded against Finn as my arms tightened around him, and I drew strength from my closest friend—the only person in all of Solis who had been with me through everything.
2
RAELYNA
Wind whippedand howled while the summer sands cut across my skin as I made my way through the towering buildings in the Nox District. I was used to the brutal strength of the desert winds during summer, but for some reason, this season had been worse.
The lights flickered, then changed—the neon glow indicating it was safe to cross. I found myself wishing more than anything that I could be flying through the night skies right now, gliding on drafts of wind as I soared high above the skyscrapers lining the streets. But I’d learned over a century ago that you don’t fly when the desert sands roll through the city. A flight in sandy skies meant enduring the unending terror of small speckles of sand assaulting you for the next few weeks.
It was an excruciating ordeal, a painstaking process of removing each small grain of sand that had embedded itself between your feathers. I had cried for an entire week after my first flight during a sandy sky, unable to get rid of the infernal itch from sand grating my feathers wrongly.
I shuddered just thinking of calling on my wings in this weather, before I tugged my hood lower than usual. I hurriedthrough the district, making my way to the outer wall. The towering limestone slabs had been raised far before my time. Over the years, apartments and townhomes had been built into the outer edge of The Wall. Now, The Wall was used not only to keep those from other Quarters out (or to keep us in, depending on who you asked), but also to house citizens of Solis.
Most citizens of Solis preferred to live in the newly constructed skyscrapers in the center of the Quarter, which meant The Wall was inhabited by those with lower affinity markings—those who couldn’t afford the astronomical rent payments.
In addition, all members of the Royal Solis Guard were assigned living quarters along the Outer Wall, meaning my family had lived by the western side of The Wall ever since my own father had become a Solis Guard. My parents had moved us into a townhome when I was younger and while I would always consider it my home, I had moved into my own apartment unit a few blocks down along The Wall a decade or so after my markings appeared.
I used to have fond memories of spending time with members of the RSG—times when they’d felt like family. However, that felt like a lifetime ago. It hadn’t been that way since my father had passed away over a decade ago, and since my middle sister’s marking day had gone awry. Now, I stayed far away from the RSG—from any association with the royal family—when it could be helped.
I ducked into an alcove as a strong gust of sandy wind tore down the street. The doorman standing watch outside the alcove glared at me, his eyes narrowing in on my visible forearm even in the low light from the apartment complex. My left forearm, the one that was expected to always be visible in public, the arm that bore my markings.
“Get a move on,” he snapped, annoyance coating his words. “We don’t welcome lowers here.”
I sighed heavily, dipping my head even further as I left the alcove, another strong wind racing through the streets. My forearm itched as minuscule granules of sand prickled at the exposed expanse of flesh, and I wished, for the millionth time in my hundred and twenty-nine years of existence, that I could hide the markings on my skin.
A singular mark in black ink that highlighted my elemental affinity marked me as a lower affinity. I stared down at the triangle inked into my skin, at the upward-curved line inside it marking me as a water affinity. The mark dictated what districts I could live in and what jobs I could work. All based solely on my magical abilities. On my affinities that appeared on my Marking Day. Our markings lie dormant under our skin for two decades before they are revealed, each unique to that person, regardless of your family or status.
In Solis, your Marking Day decided everything—where you lived, what you were worth, what jobs you could hold—that could change your fate forever.
Most citizens of Solis Quarter had one, maybe two, elemental affinities: water, fire, or earth. It was rare to have all three elements. It was even rarer to receive an aetherial affinity mark. Aetherial affinities didn’t need nature to use their magic. They were the healers, the linguists, the seers, the illustratio—who could shield—and, most rare of all, the vitas—those who could control life and death. Those were the abilities the king sought out. To my knowledge, an angel born with a vitas affinity hadn’t been born in Solis since before The Wall went up.
On my arm, the black mark for the water affinity stood out, stark against my softly golden skin. I was a lower. Marked by only one elemental affinity, I could hardly even muster enough water to fill my drinking glass.Pathetic, really.
My steps quickened as the Outer Wall came into sight, and I sped up, anxious to stop by and see my youngest sister before picking up a shift at our family bar—the Tilted Tavern. Withhurried steps, I crossed the street before taking the stairs up to my family’s townhome on The Wall.
I stepped into the elevator, pressing the button for the ninth floor as the machine whirled to life and I shot upward to the unit. When The Wall had been refortified, the royal family had designed it to provide additional housing—mainly for the guards, at first. The units were identical in shape and size, with only one main hallway on each floor.
When the doors finally slid open, I stepped into the beige-colored hallway, making my way toward my family’s home. The overhead lights flickered, a bright white light casting over the hall as I stopped in front of Unit 1437. Lifting my palm, I pressed my fingertips against the sensor by the door. I felt the light heat as the sensors read my fingerprint, then waited until the familiardingrang out and the door clicked open, announcing my arrival. No sooner had I stepped into the space than a familiar shriek of excitement rang through the air.
“Raelyna!” my youngest sister, Kira, exclaimed as she leapt off the couch. “It’s been three days.”
“Miss me?” I teased as I tugged my sister into a hug. I pulled back slightly, studying her, a near-identical mirror of my own reflection, with golden skin that darkened in the sun, unruly dark brown curls, and soft sea-glass hazel eyes. The only difference between us, other than our stark age contrast, was the scattering of freckles I had dusted over my nose and cheekbones.
“Something like that,” Kira replied. “It’s lonely here. With mom always at the Tilted Tavern now that dad’s gone and Orela working there as well . . . the house feels so empty. But you know that . . .” Her words faded.
And I did, seeing as I too helped pull shifts at the tavern multiple times a week.
