Page 38 of The Sun God's Prize
“I had thought you would like to reveal it yourself, Rae,” Romouth says with a faint smile.
“You were absolutely right.”Yiratille twirls in place, then cups my face again and kisses me on the lips, her mouth lingering.“Delivered right into my hands, after all other efforts failed.”Wait.She’s not surprised, not really.“How perfect.”
What does that mean?I catch my frown because I have to maintain her approval, if I can.But now I know that she’s somehow part of this.Did the dragon trigger some other plan that included this stranger?
“Well then,” the Rae says, turning to her stablemistresse, “let us leave our ladies to get settled while you and I discuss what this will mean for us.”She hooks her arm through Romouth’s, leading her toward the archway exit, though she glances back over her shoulder at me with a wicked smile.
And then, they are gone, and I’m alone in the silence to endure their stares.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt.Toss my hands.“Does it matter?”
“Of course not,” Brem says in a firm voice.“Fucking princess, my arse.”She snorts as the rest of them start and flinch.“I wonder if Romouth would let me bill as a Rae.”She prances in a little circle, sticking one hip out while the rest of them giggle, shocked and still shaken, but amused nonetheless.Does she not believe me, then?Brem meets my eyes, hers bright but guarded even as she goes on.“Maybe I could get one of those stupid fucking sun beam hats the crowds wear.”Now they are laughing, though it’s not really funny, I don’t think.They just need the means to shake off this discomfort.“Princess,” Brem says, scoffing even as her dark eyes tighten.“If you say so.”
Things settle then, the lot of them poking fun at me, teasing me relentlessly until I retreat to bed.But no one comes to join me, and I’m alone well into the night, needing to sleep but unable to close my eyes for long.
When she finally creeps in and curls up next to me, it’s with a tentativeness that makes me want to weep.
“I knew you were special,” Brem whispers in the dark.“Are you really…?”
“I am,” I say.And tell her everything.The whole story, not just how I got here, either, but right from the beginning.Being traded for power to a prince who didn’t love me, finding out about the other princesses, and that I had been manipulated.How I’d met Zenthris and Atlas and come through my mother’s betrayal of the Overking, of my father’s heritage, my mother’s death.I recount Vivenne’s betrayal and my flight after my escape from the cells under the Citadel with the Overprince and my rebel love, about the kinspark and meeting my father, the truth about Neem, even, and the magic of the dragons.I tell her about the kidnapping, my capture and loss to the drug that laid me low, until I stop at last, at the moment I killed Captain Lhanin, that Romouth purchased me from Vunoshe, the man I swear I’ll find again someday.
She gasps and murmurs and squeezes my hand through the story, but doesn’t interrupt aside from rather satisfying reactions.It takes a long time after I go silent for her to speak, but she does at last, soft and no longer tentative.
“I had hoped to keep you,” she says.“I knew I never could.I love you, Remi of Heald.Fucking princess or not.”
I laugh at that, choke on grief, and let her hold me when I can’t stop the tears that come.
I had no idea how freeing it would be to simply be held while I cry myself to sleep.
***
Chapter Nineteen
If the other women believe one way or the other, they choose to set aside how they feel, their connection to me renewed when I join them, Brem at my side, for our first meal of the day.Perhaps it’s the constant observation of the other fighters, the steadily growing weight of the impending battles tomorrow, but whatever their reasons for deciding I’m still one of them, they’ve done so as a group.
That alone makes me feel better, because it means the family we’ve built is stronger than I thought, and I hope will continue to hold long after I’m gone.
Hopefully, tomorrow.No, hope has nothing to do with it.One way or another, whether I have to break out, fight, kill, sneak or steal, I am free when the fighting is done.
We find a place in the large arena to stretch and limber up, a few of the stables sparring against others, though Brem cautions us over our meal against anything but observing.
“Don’t let them see what we’re capable of,” she says in a low, tense voice.“They underestimate us every year, and we will show them this time that their choice to do so will mean their deaths.”
Whether she means the men in general or a stable in particular, I’m not sure, but it’s obvious that the warriors of the male gender are much less reserved, tumbling and battering one another in shows of strength that have me snorting.I’m startled to note that the men of the Dome of Death are here, though I suppose I shouldn’t be, and spot the Zandish fighter watching me.
Interrupted from his approach by two huge and excited warriors who cut off his first attempt at speaking to me directly.
I don’t fight Carrigan’s massive hug, sweeping me from my feet, nor Onu’s matching one, my ribs protesting, even if I’m not.
“You made it!”I clasp both of their arms in turn, finding myself beaming at the pair, their joy at seeing me again heartwarming despite where we stand in the killing sands.
Will I be forced to end their lives tomorrow?
“We knew you’d make it to the Sun Dome,” Onu says.
“Save us a mealtime, Remi,” Carrigan tells me.
“We’re meant to try to kill one another,” I say, a helpless truth that.I’m not used to making friends with those I’m supposed to fight.War is cleaner that way.
