Page 116 of Threaded
She thought she would be bothered by it, but really, all she felt was … ambivalence.
Until she remembered her promise to Ciana, that she had the power to create a better world than the one they currently had.
It would be hard to bring about a revolution when no one knew who she was.
Ryenne must’ve also noticed the shouts and cries around them. They quickened their pace until the street opened into a massive crossroad; the road forming a circle around an empty, grassy knoll. The whole of the square was ringed in buildings of tawny stone that were favored in Verith, the air stuffy with the feeling of people pressing in too close. The queen led them forward until they reached the knoll, and then brought the entire procession—which consisted of Ryenne, Mariah, Ksee, and the Ladies and Armatures of both courts—to a halt, the group falling into place as Ryenne raised her head and hands to address the crowd.
As Mariah moved Kodie to stand beside the queen’s white mare, the hairs along the back of her neck suddenly stood on edge, the magic in her soul unspooling and winding together into ropes of light in her veins. Her instincts, drilled into her by her father, were on edge and screaming, quickening her heart and sharpening her senses.
This place, no matter how safe Ryenne and Ksee claimed the city to be, was far too exposed for so many people important to Onita to stand together on display.
Ryenne spoke, not seeming to notice the threat Mariah felt pulsing in the air around her.
“People of Verith!”
A cheer roared up from the crowd, lemmings begging for attention from their queen. Ryenne waited a moment for the cacophony to die down before continuing, her voice strong and echoing around the square.
“Thank you all for coming today to celebrate a momentous time in our nation’s history, a moment which has only occurred nine times before.”
The cheers this time were deafening, and Mariah’s pulse ticked up faster.
Get this over with, Ryenne…
“Today, you are all being given the first opportunity to set your eyes upon the queen apparent, the next bearer of the Goddess’s magic, the one who will lead Onita into the new age of this world.” Ryenne turned her blue eyes on Mariah, and Mariah could’ve sworn she saw a hint of sadness in their depths.
Maybe she, like Ciana, was hopeful Mariah would be the one to right the wrongs that had been allowed to fester in their world for far too long.
Mariah worried for a moment that all these people were starting to put way too much faith in her.
“It is with the greatest honor and privilege that I present to you the Queen Apparent of Onita, the next Lady of Verith, Mariah Salis—”
A softwhishand athunkthrough the air cut Ryenne’s speech short, her words falling like heavy raindrops over stunned, silent ears as they all took in the scene playing out too slowly before them.
Before Mariah could even twist in Kodie’s saddle, Ryenne’s blood-curdling scream carved into the air like a knife.
Directly behind Mariah was one of Ryenne’s Armature, a dark-skinned, mountain of a man named Cedoric. He’d ridden behind the two women during the entire procession, seated upon a massive blood bay stallion, a great sword slung across his wide back and his dark eyes watchful. His presence was a comfort to Mariah as they’d paraded themselves through the exposed city streets.
Now, a thick arrow erupted from the center of his chest, its white fletching splattered with ruby-red blood. The sounds of his chokes and gurgles hammered against Mariah’s ears. He reached a hand to grip the shaft, his eyes wide, before darting his dark gaze to his queen, her heart-wrenching cries still ringing into the air.
Just then, something whizzed past Mariah’s head again, and a clang on thelunestairlight post beside her had Kodie rearing up, startled into movement. With a choking shriek, Mariah leaned forward and wrapped her hands around his neck, gripping him tightly to keep from slipping from her saddle and down his back. Her eyes shot over her shoulder to the post, to the grass beneath it, and she saw another white-fletched arrow lying there, stark against the rich green. Anotherwhish, and a third arrow embedded itself in the lawn at Kodie’s feet, this time just barely missing its mark.
Which, she realized with a sudden jolt, washer.
Kodie’s hooves slammed back down into the grass, his panicked snorts and whinnies stirring the other horses into a frenzy, as a fourth arrow blitzed again past Mariah, this time hitting a target behind her with another wetthudand a groan. Searing pain suddenly lanced through Mariah’s shoulder, racing down a bond in her mind that whispered of the sea, and with another cry she grabbed hold of Kodie’s reins, collecting him into her just like they’d practiced so many times, and whirled him around to meet Trefor’s blue-green gaze, his expression twisted in pain.
Trefor—kind, gentle, young, patient Trefor—who now had a massive arrow protruding from his left shoulder.
Mariah was nearly doubled over from the pain racing down their bond, her breaths gasping, and she frantically reached for that bridge between their souls.
She wasn’t sure exactly how she did it, but an instinct driven by self-preservation wrapped itself around the sea-green and gold bond connecting her to Trefor, slamming a wall down across the bridge. The second she severed their connection, the onslaught of pain finally ceasing, the only color she saw was red.
Mariah whipped her head up and twisted in her saddle, looking for the source of those arrows. Her eyes narrowed, and she scanned the roofline, threads of both gold and silver now snapped and spun through her veins and in the air around her. For the first time since that initial meeting with the Royals, when the uncontrolled brilliance of her magic had killed a man and blinded another, she gave in to the sweet pull and whisper of the magic. Its reins cut, those threads filled every fiber of her being, sharpening her vision and heightening her sense of smell, the sweet, metallic crisp of blood touching her nose and tongue.
Then, she saw it.
It was quick, but with her sharper vision, she somehow caught it. The flash of a black hooded figure, a quiver of white-fletched arrows strapped to their back, the sharp tip of a longbow. They sat atop one of the many buildings lining the square, the deep facade of the storefront offering the perfect slot of protection from the scouring eyes in the courtyard down below. Mariah’s rage burned hotter than an inferno as she wheeled Kodie again to face the rest of her Armature, Feran and Matheo already tending to Trefor.
The placement of that arrow, while deep in his flesh, didn’t appear to have struck anything vital. With quick attention from a healer, Mariah was sure enough he would live.