There was such an excitement in town from May Day and the arrival of the Royal Guard that it was easy to sneak through the village unnoticed. All of the ladies in town, whether young or old, dragon-folk or human, it didn’t matter, they all crowded the meeting hall to check in with the sniffers and ogle the males in the Royal Guard. I’d never seen a sniffer before but I knew that they were a magical mix of dragon-folk and fae, with an uncanny knack for smelling magic. The Royal Guard was likely present to make sure things remained orderly. As much as I wanted to walk over and inspect their armor and look at the crest up close, I had to leave.
Cinder Village wasn’t in any way fortified. We had a front gate, but it was more of a formal entrance than something that would keep an army out. So instead of risking seeing someone at the front, especially Nathanial, and have them ask where I was going, I decided to slip out the side and head for the Great River. The giant body of water divided Embergate from our mortal enemy, Nightfall, and the festering queen who ruled there. She was an elitist that believed humans were blessed by the Maker, and anyone with magic was possessed by darkness. If she had it her way, the entirety of the Avalier realm would be purged of every magical creature and her “pure ones” would rule and multiply.
Shaking off my thoughts of the queen, I made my way to the side gate that was never monitored. Our village walls were thatch; I could cut my way through if need be. These walls were mostly for decoration or to keep muskrats out, not really to deter anyone from coming or going. As I approached the gate, ducking behind a row of huts I was happy to see that it was not only unmonitored, it was open.
Thank the Maker.
Taking one last look over my shoulder, I stepped through the gate and mentally prepared for the week-long journey.
“Where do you think you’re going?” a deep male voice called beside me.
I yelped, stumbling backwards, and nearly tripped over a bush as I turned to face the speaker. He wore a deep, black-hooded cloak that covered his face, but I could tell from the brief glimpse at the golden dragon insignia on his chest, and the fine metalwork of his armguards, that he was a member of the Drayken, the elite special operations team within the king’s Royal Guard. They were so powerful, I heard that they could light you on fire with a sneeze. Why were the Drayken here? Surely this was a task the regular Royal Guard could handle?
“H-h-hunting,” I stuttered.
“Women in Cinder hunt?” he asked, surprise in his tone.
“This woman does,” I shot back, and put a hand on my hip. How dare he assume I would be relegated to the kitchen or midwifery because of what was between my legs.
“You must not of heard—all women of child-bearing age are to be examined by the king’s sniffers,” he said. “And you look to be of child-bearing age to me.”
That last comment made my cheeks burn. I couldn’t see his gaze and yet I could feel his eyes on me. Did I lie and just tell him I was human? I was afraid that the rumors the Drayken guards could smell a lie might be true, but I also needed to get far away from here before the sniffers found me.
“Oh I heard. But I’m a human, so there is no need to—”
The schling of his blade made the words die in my throat.
“I smell a lie,” he growled.
Hades. It was true!
“Basically human,” I amended. But even that didn’t feel true anymore, not after what my mother had just told me. “Besides, I don’t want to get married and have children for a king,” I added. I did want marriage and children, but not with the king. I wanted Nathanial. But even as I thought it, my heart pinched to remember the way he gazed at Ruby with his hands tightly secured around her waist.
The Drayken guard barked out in laughter then, and as annoying as it was to be mocked, it was deep and throaty, and almost sounded like it had cobwebs inside of it, like he hadn’t laughed in a long time. It made my stomach warm.
“You would turn down the hand of the king?” He sounded shocked and intrigued at the same time.
I shrugged. “I like my life here. What would I do with a thousand jade stones? I can hunt and have all that I need here,” I said.
He stepped closer to me and I could feel his gaze on me even though I still had yet to see the color of his eyes or the shape of his nose. The heat of his body was like a radiating furnace, and I swallowed hard as he drew closer.
His head cocked to the side in his hood. “You’re telling me that if you were chosen as the next queen of Embergate, and given all the gold and jade and rubies in the realm, you would refuse?”
I was shaken from his question. I wouldn’t be chosen as the next queen, but if I were, would I want it? It was a good question to consider. I’d have anything I could ever ask for. I could take hot sandalwood baths daily, I would have an entire staff at my disposal, and my mother and sister would want for nothing. But also after what my mother had just told me and what I knew about the leaders in the village and all the stress they went through, I knew that being queen would be far too great of a responsibility for the simple life I loved.
I shook my head.
“With great duty comes great responsibility,” I told him, and his head tipped towards the ground as my words seemingly had an effect on him. “I would not want to trade my simple freedom for one of crushing obligation,” I said with finality.
“Crushing.” His voice was hollow, void of emotion. “It can be crushing at times.”
I frowned, about to ask him exactly how high of a position he held in the king’s elite Royal Guard, when he put his fingers to his lips and whistled loudly.
I flinched, and within seconds a dark-haired woman ran through the gate with her sword drawn, on alert.
Regina Wayfeather.
She was even more beautiful than I imagined. Wearing black skintight leather battle gear with black chainmail and black shoulder spaulders, her skin was the dark bronze common with the people who hailed from Grim Hollow, our biggest trading port in the realm, and on her cheeks were small patches of black dragon scales denoting her power over the magic. Her long braids hung halfway down her back and were interwoven with golden thread. She was a lethal hunter with a record of leading the king’s army in battle many times. She looked about twenty-five winters old, and two long, thin scars ran down the left side of her cheek. But that wasn’t what arrested me to the spot. It was her glowing yellow eyes. Her dragon power was engaged; small puffs of smoke leaked from her flaring nostrils.
“She was trying to escape,” the hooded male guard said. “Bring her to the sniffers. I can smell her magic from here.”
My stomach tightened. What? He could? I’d never displayed magic in my entire life. How was he able to tell such a thing? My mother said that my magic had been capped at birth, but now I wondered if it had slowly been opening up.
“Yes, my king,” Regina responded with a head bow and I froze, going stock still.
My king?
With his identity ousted, he pulled back the hood and I gazed upon his face.
King Drae Valdren.
I’d seen a painting of him that one time in Jade City but not up close. Not like this.
His jaw was stronger and nose sharper up close. His green eyes pierced through me with a quizzical gaze. His long black hair was braided and tied up, as well as shaved on the sides—the typical hairstyle of all the Drayken warriors.
“Your Highness.” I bowed my head and did an awkward curtsy at the same time, unsure what the protocol was. I’d just told him things I would not have mentioned had I known who he was.
Kill me now and feed me to the cougarins.
I was torn between my mother’s warning not to allow the sniffers to access me, and Regina and the king staring at me like they would breathe fire over me if I ran.
“I wasn’t running off, I was going on a hunting trip,” I told him as I raised my head.
A slight grin graced his lips for a half a second but then it was gone. “Sure you were.”
Regina sheathed her sword but her eyes did not cease their glowing. Opening her arm wide, she indicated I walk back into the village.
I nodded, stepping past the both of them, praying to the Maker that I wasn’t about to meet my end.
Maybe my mother had been misinformed, maybe the king smelled magic on me because he was the king and he could smell even the smallest amounts but it wouldn’t be enough to actually attract the sniffers. And if they did smell some magic on me, so what? Ninety percent of this village had magic—we were magical mutts. None of us were purebred like the king would be looking for.
Right?
Now I wasn’t sure. Was the highborn woman who’d birthed me really full-blooded?
I hoped not. For my sake, I hoped she’d snuck into Nightfall City and bedded a human man. I walked back into my village clutching the straps of my pack with white knuckles.
If anyone ever detected this magic in her child, that child would be killed.
My mother’s story of the highborn was looping in my mind. Maybe my mother was wrong. Maybe the woman was a raider and had stolen highborn clothing to appear as a noble. Then she’d taken drugs and made the whole story up.
“Why were you sneaking out?” Regina asked me, and I startled a little because I’d forgotten she was behind me.
“I was going hunting,” I pressed.
“Sure. The other girls in Grim Hollow ran off hunting too,” she said with a smile. “You pregnant? Got a boyfriend?”
My cheeks reddened at her insinuation.
“No, I just… I don’t want marriage and I like my life here.” There was truth in that, and so if she had the same abilities as her king, she would smell it. I did want marriage. Kids too. But not with a stranger and not for duty. I wanted to marry for love.
I peered back to see her smiling. “I don’t fancy marriage either,” she whispered. “Hard to find a man who will fall for a woman stronger than him.”
That caused a grin to grace my lips and I instantly liked her, letting my guard down. I knew I would like her based on the stories and gossip that came through town about her, but especially now that I’d met her.
“Arwen!” My mother’s shocked, slightly high-pitched shriek came from the alley.
I spun, my eyes widening. “It turns out that hunting trip will have to wait. I need to be inspected by the sniffers first,” I told her.
The alarm on her face was apparent to me but I hoped not Regina. “Oh. Well, let me accompany you, then.” She reached out her hand to take my pack and I unloaded it, grateful not to have the weight of it any longer.
My mind spun with what she must be thinking. She’d truly acted in fear for my life just a moment ago. I knew she must be freaking out about this. But maybe it would be okay. The sniffers would do their thing, leave all of the magicless women in Cinder Village behind, and be back on their way.
I wondered what anyone from the village would think about the king hiding just outside these gates. Why didn’t he come in? We’d never had a visit from the royal family before. Not as long as I had been alive. The people of Cinder would be honored to meet him and the fact that he hid outside caused anger to unfurl in my gut.
Did he hide because he was too good for the ashes of Cinder Village to grace his royal boots? He wasn’t too good to take the monthly truckloads of coal we dug out for Jade City. Not too good to take our women.
Before I knew it, we had reached the great hall. All of the barren and elder women were outside of it, and Regina had to step in front of me and ask them to move in order to make a path.
“They chose Kendal,” Naomie told me as I passed.
That surprised me. I’d thought she was too weak in power. She could light candles with her magic but that was about it.
My mother looked to Regina. “Oh, wonderful. We don’t even need to continue, then? He’s chosen?”
Regina turned and frowned at my mother. “He’s chosen many potential candidates across the realm, ma’am.” There was suspicion in Regina’s gaze. I wanted to tell my mother to cool it. She was going to make things harder for me if Regina thought I was hiding something.
“She’s nervous for me to meet the sniffer,” I explained to Regina. “We’ve never met one before and I heard it hurts?”
That wasn’t a lie. I had heard that the sniffing of magic was uncomfortable, even painful in some cases. I had no idea if it was true or not.
Regina’s posture relaxed. “Oh, ma’am, don’t worry, your daughter will not be harmed.”
“Oh thank goodness,” my mother said in a convincing tone, but I saw the pinched expression she wore. With that, we headed into the open double doors of the great hall.
When Regina turned her back to us, I met my mother’s gaze and gave her a look that indicated she needed to relax.
She nodded her head, biting at her lip.
“We’ve got one more!” Regina called over the murmuring voices.
I’d never seen the great hall so packed full of people. The child-bearing women of our village were here with their families, some of them even with their husbands. I didn’t think the king’s notice included married women. That was awful. What was the chosen queen supposed to do, leave her husband and family to have a second life in Jade City?
Did this man have no morals? He must need an heir badly to be assessing the magic of married women.
The people in the room parted and I made my way up the crowded aisle, feeling like every pair of eyes were on me.
Why did this need to be a public affair? I was nervous enough as it was without the entire town looking at me.
When the throng of people had finally thinned enough to give me a good view of the commotion, I gasped at the sight of the sniffers.
There were two of them, females with bright red hair, and skin so fair I could see the network of blue veins in their cheeks and neck. Twins, I realized, as I scanned their faces. Identical. They each wore a thick black leather eye mask that tied behind their heads and covered their blindness. The tips of their fae ears poked out of their hair, and they cocked their heads to the side in unison as I approached.
Kendal stood proudly behind them as the rest of the girls, rejects I suspected, hugged the walls and watched.
“Bring her to me,” one of the twins said, and I gulped. Many, many, rumors surrounded the sniffers. One was that they were born blind, which enhanced their sense of smell. Another was that they weren’t blind at all but that their mothers bound their sight with masks to force a magical smell enhancement.
Now that I saw the black leather masks, I wondered if the latter was true and what it would be like not to see anything your entire life by choice.
Regina nudged my back slightly and I steeled myself, looking back at my mother for one last glance.
I expected to see terror, but instead there was determination and the glint of steel in her hand.
Oh Hades.
