Page 11 of Wings of Ebony
“Na!” She bangs the ground, her eyes as wide as the moon on a cloudless night.
“Uhhh?”
“Na! Y’gi na.” She scowls, blocking the path between her evaluation deck and theBINDINGsign where Redhead and Crimson Girl exited to be Bound to magic.
“Na, Zruki. Na, Dwegini.” She turns to the Chancellor and her nostrils flare.“Na!”
She’s not feeling me. At all.
“Naaaa!” She hisses like a snake. I back up several steps and the crowd erupts in chatter. I can leave. I don’t wanna be here no way. Be sorted Zruki or whatever the hell the other option is. I spot my wannabe kin on the far end of the stage and he doesn’t move or speak, just chews his bottom lip.
The Chancellor’s eyes haven’t moved.
Still on me as he strokes his chin.
Stick Lady points at me like she did the others, but she points toward the exit. As inleave. I don’t get to be Bound, apparently. Does that mean I get to go home? Because that’d be great.
The crowd is harder to see as I descend the steps from the platform, backing up until I bump into something. “Oops,” I say. “Sorry.”
Papers spill on the ground and the noise on the platform dies down. The Sorter woman is in a tizzy, arguing with some military-type dude with a scar under his eye. He doesn’t look like he’s playing, but the way she’s shouting, she ain’t playing either. I turn my back on the commotion to a smiling face covered in freckles, unruly blond hair, and red square glasses.
“It’s fine.” She reshuffles the papers in her hand.
Was I supposed to bring paperwork to this thing?
“Don’t mind her,” she says, pointing at Stick Lady. “People say she smokes jpango leaves all day. Pretty sure her brain’s fried at this point. They say the only words she knows are ‘Zruki’ and ‘Dwegini.’ Which, for her job, covers it. So!” She snorts.
I look back at the old woman and needles prick my spine. “Nah, something tells me she knows much more than that.”
The girl shrugs. “Maybe. But don’t let her get to you. Even if she won’t sort you, you can probably still be Bound. You’re Ruler Aasim’sdaughter.”
Her words are sandpaper on my skin. “Oh no, it’s cool. I mean… wait, ruler?”
“I know you’re new around here,” she says. “Half-human and all. Gossip mill spreads fast. But youwantto be Bound. Trust me.”
“I mean, not really. For what? To play dress-up every day? What’s the point?”
She laughs, then stops when she realizes I’m foreal. “It’s so much more than that. The capabilities are wild. You’ll see.” She gestures at the air like she’s grasping for my name.
I let her.
I don’t know this girl.
She sticks out a hand. “Ajebria.”
Well, shoot… she’s being friendly as hell. “Ah-juh, what?”
“Just call me Bri. It’s what everyone calls me. If I had friends, that is… I mean…” She facepalms. “I prefer Bri. Sorry for being weird. I don’t talk to many… I mean I don’t have…”
“I’m Rue.” I offer dap and she stares, confused. I take her hand, ball it into a fist, and pound it on mine. “Dap.”
“Dap.” She slow nods.
“Dap.”
We laugh. “You saidRulerAasim… is he like…”
“You’re not serious. You have to be kiddi—” She must read my face because she changes her tone, quick. “Yeah.” She bats flyaways out of her face like they’re a flock of gnats. “Third in command around here. So not likeruler, ruler, but like real close to the top ruler. He works right under the Chancellor.”
