Page 68 of To Kill a King
“You know, when you complete your training, you could stay, with us.”
She blinked. “Here?” She had to admit, the offer was tempting—to live in a town full of untouched beauty and serenity, where she could eat exotic foods all day and not worry about Malkov finding her or killing everyone she loved. A light feeling spread through her chest, bringing a smile to her face.
At least until the summer solstice, when not completing her Irrevocable Vow would kill both her and Elessan. She shook her head as the warmth evaporated, leaving ice crystals in its place. “Thanks for the offer. I’d love to. But I have responsibilities to my people back home.”
Lindir dropped his head as his shoulders slumped. “I understand. Still, think on it?” The hope in his expression shattered her heart. If only…
She nodded. The proposition would probably be in her thoughts constantly, driving an invisible blade between her ribs as summer approached. “I will.”
Pushing himself up to stand, Lindir held out his hand. “Would you like a tour of the market?”
Aliya let him pull her to her feet. “You have a market?”
He laughed. “Of course. It’s by the river, to make it easy for the merchants to unload. Come on, I’ll show you.”
Chapter 14
Zadé - Two hundred years ago
Zadé Brightleaf blinked as the sun crested the hills behind her, casting shadows across the field below. Smoke from the campfires over the ridge clogged her nose and burned her eyes. But the wind, like her militia, was at her back. The same couldn’t be said for the humans on the opposite side. Being downwind was advantageous in certain situations; a battlefield wasn’t one of them.
She smiled. At least the other army had both smoke and sunlight to their disadvantage, just as she’d planned. Lady Cressida Brightleaf was finally learning to heed Zadé’s advice.
Footsteps sounded on the first of the fallen leaves behind her as Roland Enorathil, King of the Sun Elves, stepped up beside her. His stylized headdress cast a long shadow in the morning light, but then, as his other portions attested, royals were all about excess. More appropriate to court than battle, the headwear would only serve to make him a target when the two armies met. Unlike Cress, Roland was too proud to take suggestions from a half-breed, so she didn’t bother.
She was fortunate the moon elves had no such thing as royalty. Cress, and a few other renowned scholars, were about as close as they got. Rule by birth rather than merit…what a stupid idea. But then, that was part of the humans’ problem, too. Most of the soldiers across the way were likely as unexcited to be there as hers.
If only their king was less ambitious in his attempts to acquire more territory. The Cerels had been salivating over the elven lands for far too long. This generation of royals were more violent and aggressive in their annexing of territory than previous ones, and they’d finally pushed the elves too far.
Today, the humans would pay for their king’s hubris. She’d see to it.
Roland studied the army on the far side of the valley, not deigning to glance at Zadé. “Where’s your aunt? She should be here.”
Unlike Roland, Cress had more important things to do than stand at the top of the hill before a battle and look important. That said, so did she. Yet, of the two of them, she’d drawn the short stick and had to stand here and placate the sun elf king.
Ugh. Politics. If she’d known Cress was going to pull rank so soon after promoting her, Zadé might have thought twice about accepting. Dealing with the sun elves and their ridiculous obsession with law, proper procedure, and reputation regardless of reason was enough to give her a headache.
Zadé nodded to the hillock on her right. “The humans sent a raiding party. Cressida took Vaeri Adnorin and a handful of others to deal with them.”
He grunted. “Sometimes I wonder,” he said, more to himself than her, “what they’re thinking. They have hardly any decent mages, and their weapons are inferior to ours. Why throw their resources away on such a futile endeavor?”
Zadé didn’t answer. There was no point—no one understood how human minds worked.
He peeked at her from the corner of his eyes. “Will it be today, do you think?”
She nodded and pointed south. “They’ll send a few more raiding parties out, testing our defenses, probably through the ravines down there. Killing time until the sun won’t be directly in their eyes, then they’ll charge.”
“We should move while we have the advantage.”
It was about time.
She saluted. “The army will march on your orders, Your Majesty. We may, however, want to order a small advance force to clear the gulches to the south, lest we find ourselves flanked.”
“Make it so, Zadé.”
She raised her eyebrow and glanced at him. “Me?”
“Well, your aunt just promoted you to General, right? Go take care of it, General.” He looked pointedly at her, then to the south.