Page 23 of Daughter of the Ninth Line, Part Three

Twenty-Two

Vox

W hile everyone was out training, I was sitting in Svenna’s gloomy office. The woman in question looked pissed as she paced back and forth. “What exactly did you want me to do about this, Vylan?”

I raised an eyebrow. Very few people would have the balls to speak to me that way. I could count them on one hand, really. “I didn’t want you to do anything. If you cast your mind back to fifteen minutes ago, you’ll remember that I asked to speak to Master Proxius.”

She huffed. “Wouldn’t we fucking all like that. Unfortunately, he had urgent business that took him away yesterday. Otherwise, he could deal with your… claims.”

I’d wanted to warn Master Proxius about my father sabotaging the drought relief.

I couldn’t in good conscience let him kill hundreds of people over his pride.

Hayle had said he’d told Baron Taeme, but that hadn’t gone so well.

I needed to warn someone who could speak openly, without it sounding like a political maneuver.

“I can’t let them starve for ego, Svenna. I thought you, of all people, would understand that.”

Defiance flashed in her eyes. “Don’t patronise me, Vylan. I do understand. And just like you, my hands are tied. I can speak to my contacts in the Dawn Army, but what good would that do? Do you know who the army answers to, for all its perceived neutrality?”

The question was rhetorical. We both knew they answered to the Baron of the First Line. The shadow king of this Goddess-forsaken rock we called home.

Appraising her, I watched for tells, for even the hint she’d run and tell my father about this. Because despite the fact that he was the one killing the citizens of Ebrus, I was the one committing treason. “Surely there’s an underground network we can utilize? I’m not an id?—”

A siren sounded, making my heart leap into my throat. Fuck. Had this conversation made it back to my father already?

A soldier ran into the room, his eyes wild. “Where is Master Proxius?” he demanded, and Svenna held back a snarl. Barely.

“Not here. What is it?”

“We’re under attack. There’s an army off the shores of Boemouthe.”

We both stared at him like he’d lost his mind. “The Dawn Army?”

The soldier was whipping his head back and forth so furiously, I was worried it would snap right off. “No. I don’t know the colors or banners. They just appeared out of nowhere.”

How could an invading army just appear from thin air?

Svenna cast me a quick glance, and then I was forgotten. “Use the announcement system to get all the conscripts back inside the walls. Now, Redford!” she snapped.

She rushed to one of the ledgers, hauling it down and opening up a small compartment behind it, pulling out maps.

She unfurled one on her desk, and I looked down at an image I’d never seen before.

A map in which Ebrus was tiny, surrounded by the ocean to the east, west and south, but with what looked like a giant sheet of permafrost to the north.

That wasn’t the surprising part, though. At the bottom of the map were other land masses, names printed neatly across them which were entirely foreign to me.

Bellineaux.

Ryland.

Ajix.

Veria.

None of those places meant anything to me. “What in the Goddess’s name is this?” I breathed, and Svenna looked at me with disappointment.

“I thought you were a stargazer, Vylan. Surely, with all your study of celestial space, you didn’t think we were the only people on this rock?

” She pointed to a country whose shape I knew well.

“Ebrus. History goes that during a catastrophic weather event, the ocean rose exponentially, wiping out half the landforms and life on the planet. Only the very top and very bottom of the globe survived. The ocean in between became uncrossable. No landmass survived in the space between. No islands. No atolls. Nothing but ocean. No boat could carry enough stores to make the distance, and why would they? There was basically nothing left up here but us, and we’re hardly worth the effort needed to cross.

We have no great resources. No gems or jewels. ”

“We have magic.”

She shrugged. “According to historical records, so did they. So they forgot us, and by extension, we forgot them. Only the maps and histories in the libraries, and here in Boellium, speak of the times before the great flood.” She ran her finger over the landmasses at the bottom.

“It could be one of these countries, but why?”

I shook my head; I definitely didn’t know.

Someone banged on Svenna’s door, and she straightened. Gone was the surly administrator and in her place was the warrior who’d once been the pride of the Dawn Army for decades. “Enter.”

There were several members of faculty here now, and not one of them seemed perturbed that I, a conscript, was there too. “Svenna, they’ve alighted on the beach. What do we do?”

There was a fire burning in her eyes now.

“Call for aid from Ovl and Eaglehoth. Get word to the Third Line, if possible. They might be our only form of communication. We’ll go down to the shore and see who the fuck dares to invade our island.

Someone better prepare the conscripts for the possibility of a fight. ”

They rushed off to do her bidding, following her orders. Clearly, no one else wanted the mantle of responsibility.

I needed to find Avalon and Hayle. I needed to warn Shay and the rest of my Line. But Svenna was strapping on armor like she was going to go out there alone, and that wasn’t going to happen.

I stared at the woman in front of me, one of the few people in this institution I respected. “I’m not letting you head out there alone.”

Svenna had the audacity to roll her eyes at me.

“You don’t let me do anything.” She strode out of the office and down through the atrium.

Hundreds of students were there, looking freaked out, their whispers like a consistent hum through the room.

Svenna paused. “We’re under siege. Listen to the instructors and stay within the walls.

” Then she moved quickly toward the exit.

Shay appeared at my side. “What’s going on?”

“Invading army, I think.”

She looked at me like I’d lost my mind. “Invading from where? How’d they get all the way to Boemouthe without anyone being any the wiser?”

I leaned in close. “In Svenna’s office is a map.

Go there now and copy it down. We’ll need it for later.

Then get together with the First Line and inform them of what’s happening.

I want them to be prepared, in case we have to fight.

Talk to Hayle or Lucio; tell them everything you know.

Now isn’t the time for Line squabbles.” I hesitated, lowering my voice. “Make sure Avalon is safe.”

Shay set her jaw as we made it to the doors of the atrium. “I’m going out there with you.”

Shaking my head, I tilted my chin back toward the office.

“Do as I ask. We aren’t going out there to swing dicks.

It’s just fact finding, and I promise to let Svenna speak.

Proxius is gone. She’s the best we have for a commander right now, until the Dawn Army mobilizes. ” I nudged her with my air. “Go, Shay.”

Glaring at me, she huffed. “If you die, I’m going to fucking piss on your corpse, Vox Vylan.”

I smiled reassuringly at her. “I’ll be safe, I promise.” I hurried to catch up with Svenna, who reached out her one arm as we made it to the gates.

“Stay here, Vylan. If anything happens to me, Boellium will need your strength.” I started to protest, and she quelled it with a look. “You can see me well enough through the gates, and we both know you have enough magic to put them down from here. So just fucking stay. ”

Clenching my jaw, I nodded and watched as she walked down the path toward the shore. She stayed in sight, like she’d said, but I was surprised when a young guy in a black-and-amber uniform climbed up the path from the beach, a smile on his face.

He spoke to her softly, but even stroking the wind toward me, I couldn’t hear what they were saying. I frowned when Svenna turned, though, leading them up toward the college.

What the fuck?

Svenna was smiling as they got to the gates, ushering them through. What the hell was she doing?

“Svenna?” I called, and she looked at me softly.

That wasn’t Svenna. She didn’t have a soft bone in her body.

I pulled my gun and pointed it at the intruder. Up close, he was beautiful, which was an odd thing to recognize about an enemy. He had hair that looked like spun gold, burnished skin, and eyes that were almost black.

“Stop,” I ordered, aiming the gun at his head. “I can kill you in the time it takes for you to blink. Who the fuck are you?”

The guy smiled, and it made me break out in a sweat that I hoped to the Goddess I kept hidden. “You first.”

“Vox Vylan, Heir to the First Line,” I replied haughtily.

The handsome guy laughed, like that was the greatest thing he’d ever heard.

He turned to the man following him, who shared his coloring but looked more like he’d been through a meat grinder.

“Did you hear that, Iker? First day here, and we already found the Heir to the throne.” The guy turned back to me.

“I wouldn’t want to be rude to the progeny of a man who would murder babies in their cribs.

Let me introduce myself. My name is Lierick Hanovan, Heir to the Second Line, and I think you should turn that gun toward yourself and shoot yourself in the heart. ”

As if he’d taken control of my hands, the gun began to turn.

Hanovan. The Second Line. It was impossible. They were all dead.

Lierick just smirked. “Not dead, my blood-soaked Prince. Just waiting. Welcome to the first day of the revolution. Unfortunately, it’ll also be your last.”

The gun was facing me now, and with my power hijacked by the person in front of me, I stood no chance at resisting as I pulled the trigger, propelling the bullet right into my own chest.

The last thing I saw as I fell to the ground was Avalon running toward me, her screams echoing around the courtyard like the wail of the spirit of death.