Page 77 of The Scarlet Star

The clouds in Xerxes’s mind swallowed him for a moment as he recalled how he’d stood across from Ryn in the tower last evening. How he’d stumbled over his thick throat and had shared things with her he’d never shared with anyone. And how,in the end, she asked for permission to leave as soon as she’d dealt with his voices.

“So, you’ll let me go? Once you’re cured?”

She was a prisoner here, Xerxes knew that. It had been obvious since the day they met at the palace wall. She’d always been trying to run away.

But he’d been convinced something had changed. It was the way she’d looked down at him in the Abandoned Temple. The way she’d mouthed those words.

“I like you.”

He couldn’t stop hearing them, putting a voice to them, even though he’d only seen it with his eyes.

No one liked him. Xerxes was incapable of being liked in any of his forms—or so he’d believed until that moment. He’d lost count of how many people despised him, were disappointed in him, wished he’d move out of their way. No one in the kingdom of Per-Sianalikedhim.

Just Ryn.

But the Intelligentsia would execute Ryn on the spot if she was caught alone with another man while she was a Heartstealer. Xerxes swallowed, hoping she wouldn’t be that foolish. Trying not to imagine it if she was.

“Your Majesty.”

Three Intelligentsia glided across the atrium toward him. “We can’t seem to find Damon. I don’t suppose you know where he is?” The way Yelenos asked made Xerxes worried the sage knew exactly where Damon was.

Xerxes’s fingertips grew ice cold. He wondered if his skin was glistening.

“I do,” he lied. “Go back to your mediations. I’ll go get him for you.”

A moment passed where no one spoke, and there was a lot of staring. Maids and guards exchanged pleasantries at the far endof the atrium. Carts were pushed past by attendants serving tea. Though it was all exactly as it should be, nothing about it felt normal.

Finally, Yelenos smiled and dipped his head. “Your kindness knows no bounds, Your Majesty.” The Intelligentsia trio turned and drifted back across the atrium.

The Folke guard at Xerxes’s side moved to leave, but Xerxes grabbed his arm. “Folke—I mean—Matthias,” he said in a hushed voice. The red-cheeked fellow looked at Xerxes in question. “We must find Ryn before anyone else does. Do you understand? Move through the palace as fast as you’re able—checkeveryroom.”

“Why, Your Majesty?” Matthias whispered back. “What’s the urgency?”

Xerxes watched the Intelligentsia disappear through the arch in the direction of their Room of Knowledge. The sun was setting outside, pushing shadows into the atrium.

“She’s in danger right now,” Xerxes said.

21

RYN

The sun was so bright in the morning, it woke Ryn from a deep sleep. She squinted at the light crawling into her eyes and rolled over to drift off again. But Heva poked her nose.

That was the start of what should have been a simple day.

The maidens suffered through a long meeting with the organizers during which Ryn stood behind the others and tried not to doze off. They were given a strict list of rules and toldto spend the day preparing for the senses trial. A middle-aged Intelligentsia showed up to the meeting minutes before it should have ended and warned the maidens tostick to their senses. He couldn’t have made it more obvious he wanted none of the maidens to touch the King, apart from Calliope. Calliope had a gloating smile like she knew a secret. The girl had been strangely quiet for the last day or two, so it was an unexpected turn of attitude.

Taste. That was the sense Ryn chose. She didn’t have many skills in comparison to noble maidens, but she knew how to bake an apple pie better than most women twice her age.

The kitchens were busy—the staff spent the morning trying to re-bake the cookies they’d lost. Ryn listened to the stories floating through the kitchen as she dragged her hot pie from the oven, filling the air with the fragrance of sweet apples and crisp crust.

She should have baked more than one pie; a few to taste test would have been smart. But she didn’t bother wasting her time, knowing that regardless of what skill she came up with for the senses trial, Xerxes probably wouldn’t notice since he’d made it clear he didn’t want to go. Adding the right amount of sugar wouldn’t miraculously make him change his mind.

So, Ryn decided to make better use of her time. She trained in her room with Heva for the afternoon. She watched Heva closely, studying her moves and mimicking them. Ryn got several good hits in, and for the first time since the guardswoman had started showing her how to swing a sword, Heva hadn’t succeeded in landing a single strike on Ryn.

When Ryn lifted El’s sword, music floated into her ears; a quiet hum lifting off the metal, moving with the weapon. When she looked at it with her spirit eyes, she saw it glow bright enough to light the darkest corners of her room.

“I should take my sword with me,” she said to Heva. “To the senses trial. I think I can convince Marcan to weave it into my outfit again.”

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