Page 61 of The Song of Sunrise (The Prentice Teller #1)

A Meeting Misplaced

Atlys

“ T HE WINNER OF THE SUMMIT IS AKEMI NOX, CHAMPION OF LORD ATLYS OF TERRAGUARD!” the Commander’s voice booms across the auditorium. “That was an unexpected last trial. I think you would all agree.” The commentator slips into the background because nothing else matters.

I have to get to her.

The crowd around me erupts in chaos, but I only watch the projected screen. My Sunrise is lying still, unmoving. I saw her use Starwatcher magic. By the lack of reaction from the crowd, they must not have seen it or assumed the other champion channeled the Source and it backfired.

Across the aisle, the red-headed Jord champion is already stirring. Rage. Fire. Death.

He hurt her, so I will hurt him.

I rush toward the stage, not attempting to leash the darkness coiling around me.

Cadex grabs my arm, holding me back. “Atlys, you can’t.”

The theater rumbles, dust particles shaking loose. A few humans scream from the tremors.

“Atlys, listen to us. Cadex is right. Akemi won . We have to go straight into negotiations. Any other action could disqualify us from our advantage that Akemi worked so hard for us to have.” Damaris adds.

“Fuck negotiations!” My vision is tunneled on one person alone, and she is lying on the floor, hair disheveled, breathing but not moving. She looks so small.

“ Atlys ,” Damaris warns, not the voice of a friend, but the voice of the High General, one with Terraguard’s interests in mind.

Always Terraguard first. Damaris steps between me and the stage, arms crossed.

“It has been centuries since we’ve gotten this power in Treaty negotiations.

Think of your people. Think of Terraguard. ”

I try to remember the ancient underground city in the lower mantle of earth. The people within, glittering crystals, and towering stone infrastructure, but all I can think of is her.

“We must go. We have three minutes to get to the council chamber or our negotiation advantages will be voided. Look”—Cadex points to the projection of Akemi—“someone is already helping her.”

The projection above the stage shows a Moon’cher, Castor, helping her to stand. She’s awake, and my heart stumbles. The maze is already shifting back into an ornate stage. Sensing my gaze, she looks at me.

Are you okay? I ask, and she nods meekly. Stay strong, my love. I have to go. Meet at the springs tonight? She gives another nod in response right as Castor lifts her into his arms.

I growl and more darkness curls around me. I need to demolish something soon or I’m going to burst. All I want to do is hold Akemi in my arms and smell her delicious vanilla scent, but fucking duty calls.

Not caring to dampen my rage, I can feel the shadows around me curling from my back. My wings snap out, and I charge toward the negotiation room.

Damaris rolls their eyes and joins me.

“There we go,” Cadex mumbles, following after.

The room is not as I expected. The Elder Superior is shouting at a professor, arms flailing and cheeks reddening with temper.

“How did you manage to misidentify Cadet Nox?” He is shouting so loudly, his neck strains with veins.

Oh fuck. He knows.

They know.

“I… I,” the professor stutters.

“You teach Introduction to Talent, do you not Professor Novak?”

“Yes, I do.” Professor Novak’s head is tilted downward, hiding a furiously red blush.

“And as a part of your course, you assign each cadet into the factions, correct?”

“Yes, but—”

“And as a part of that test, you expose the cadets to each of the three stones. Am I correct?” Flecks of saliva fling from Markus’s mouth.

“Well, I only use the two stones because we haven’t had a Starwatcher in decades, so I—”

“So you took it upon yourself to break academic protocol for your own shortcut? You are dismissed from the Watch. All titles and accommodations will be stripped. If it was in my jurisdiction, I would take your channeling stones away as well.” Markus leans over the table, nose to nose with the other man.

The professor shudders. There is no worse fate than disconnecting from the Source.

Markus continues, “But seeing as it breaks our laws to separate a person from the Source after being connected for more than five years, you will get out with this one grace. Now get out of my sight before I change the laws myself!”

The professor runs out of the room.

Markus takes in a long breath and exhales before turning to face me.

He avoids looking at me directly. Most do when I wear the face of Ares, our warrior marks painted in ragged black edges across our faces.

Both Damaris and Cadex are also painted for war.

I tilt my head slightly, urging the beast within to stay calm. For now.

I walk toward the circular table in the center of the room, where a white-robed scholar from the Lux’Civitas sits, readying his quill and pen for the forthcoming amendments to the treaty.

From the mahogany tone of his skin and pointed ears, this scholar likely came from one of the northern Elven territories.

While the majority who wish to study the ways of Tellers or Scribes are humans, any species can join the order.

Perhaps more from the Underworld would go if they were allowed on the surface.

I retract my wings and sit. Markus sits across from me, the human delegation sitting in chairs along the edge of the room. Lord Clayoq and Lady Neda also take their respective seats at the table.

It takes all of me not to fucking rip out the neck of the Lux’Civitas scholar as he drones on about the history of the treaty, the current amendments, and rules for negotiations.

With each passing hour, my patience thins.

I need to know if Akemi is alright. We need to come up with a plan.

She isn’t safe now. Not if people recognized the magic she demonstrated in the task.

Especially not those old enough to remember the power of the Starwatchers.

Morning bleeds into the afternoon. Then afternoon to evening.

Finally , it’s time to make my proposals. I look to the scholar who already has his quill poised, awaiting my requests.

The room waits in anticipation like claws kept tucked just under knuckles, ready to strike.

“My demands are simple. Allow the citizens of the Underworld to go to the Surface during the day, in addition to the night hours, if they so wish. Terraguard citizens should also be allowed into Jord territory and the travel ban lifted. Lower the universal tax to neutralize equality across all three races. And last, I request a recurring annual residency for one Teller of my choosing in Terraguard, to learn our histories and stories and record as necessary.”

The Scribe stands with his hands crossed against his pristine white robes.

“Your requests have been heard and recorded by Laurio au’ Demonta and deemed within scope of the treaty bounds.

As noted by the New World Peace Treaty, the first royal delegate’s requests must be adhered to.

Do any members wish to challenge my acceptance of these amendments? ”

Markus sneers but stays silent.

Lady Neda tilts her head in acceptance.

Lord Clayoq nods.

Lord Rollo grunts but does not challenge. Ever since his championship win, he restricted travel between the Underworld territories. No humans or Elves cared to change this section of the treaty, not wanting to get involved in Underworld politics.

“There are no objections or challenges. It is agreed.” The Scribe sits and furiously scratches at the page until all my requests are recorded. “We will begin the next phase of our negotiations, after which we will have a three week grace period for the new laws to be transcribed formally.”

Three weeks and the magical contract keeping my people below the Surface will be broken.

They will be able to travel across the territory boundaries in Jord once more, hopefully opening up much needed trade between our courts.

For seventy-five years, I have been waiting for these words to be inked.

I should feel relief, but I just feel empty. At what cost was this achieved?

They know .

They know Akemi is a Starwatcher.

The meeting drags on and on as the other royal delegates negotiate on behalf of their territories. By the time the meeting ends, it’s well past midnight and Lady Neda of the River Tribe flooded the room twice, not taking her last place bargaining position well.

Lord Rollo of Jord and his Oksvakt stormed out after losing a trade route deal. Only Lord Clayoq and his Roc Riders standing calmly behind him seem to have maintained composure, this chaos nothing but a light breeze.

I’m one suppressed yawn away from walking out of this room stifled by too many inflated egos for a cold drink and a cigroot.

Fuck, I hate politics. But I keep my face statuesque and remain patient until the meeting is concluded.

I will not mess up the advantage Akemi granted me.

If there is one thing my wicked father taught me, it would be patience.

The meeting ends and I earthwalk to the springs, hoping Akemi wasn’t waiting for too long.

She is not there.

No scent remains whatsoever, like she never came.

I earthwalk to her room.

Only a faint scent remains, hers and her roommate’s.

I follow the trail outside, into the woods, and down a narrow pathway toward Olwythion. Drunken human Watchers and cadets are paired up in the woods, some are already stumbling back to their rooms.

Frustration mixed with dread sets in. She must have gone out with her friends, but something feels off. We had agreed to meet.

I earthwalk to Anita’s Tavern to find Ramona and Leaf dancing. Castor looks sullen at the bar. I charge forward and grab his collar. I can smell Akemi on him.

“Where is she?” I demand.

“Woah, woah, woah,” Leaf says, joining us, palms facing up. “Easy, easy.”

“Akemi left a while ago, went back to her room to rest. Said she still wasn’t feeling up to dancing after the healers patched her up,” Ramona offers.

Anger whips through my system so quickly, I can feel it setting my eyes aglow. “You let her leave here. Unaccompanied ?”

I look to Castor this time straight on. If we have one thing in common, it’s our feelings for Akemi.

“I offered, but she insisted she needed time alone in the fresh air or something like that,” he says, his words slightly slurred from drinking.

I release his collar and storm out of the tavern.

Ramona runs after me. “What’s wrong?”

“She wasn’t in your room.”

Ramona’s face blanches, white as the frozen ground around us. We are the only ones who know about Akemi’s true identity. Ramona left Akemi alone. Left a— now known —Starwatcher alone.

I turn on the spot and earthwalk to the path in the woods that leads back to the Watch. This time I pause and turn slowly, opening my senses. Where is she?

I smell blood.

Akemi’s blood.

My wings snap out in a rush of black smoke as I unleash a torrent of power.

Trees bend and crack, and the ground rumbles and shakes, eagerly pushing me forward beneath each step.

Assisting me. Sensing my urgency. For I am the earth, the layers of rocks beneath, and the core burning bright at its center.

I let myself burn.

There, on a tree, is a smear of blood. I fall to my knees and examine the ground. Wolf tracks.

No, ghosthound tracks.

No, no, no.

“ROLLO!” I scream and punch the ground so hard it cracks beneath my rage. Trees snap and buckle as the crevasse spreads. Even the moon hides behind the heavy clouds above.

He took her. A Starwatcher too important for him to pass up. So he brought her to the one place I cannot go until the treaty is officially notarized by the Lux’Civitas.

He took her to Jord, and there is nothing I can do about it for…

Three.

Fucking.

Weeks.