ONE
WINTER’S GRIP HAD NEARLY CLENCHED AROUND KAMDARIA.
Frost stretched its tendrils through all things, living or dead. Afternoons never melted through the chill like they had only weeks earlier. The ever-shortening days welcomed the cold, begging it to leave ice and stiff muscles in its wake.
It made tent living less than ideal.
For the second time that morning, Talise closed her eyes and sent a flood of fire through her veins. When she perfected the technique back the elite academy, she never expected it to use it so frequently.
While by the Vine Gate to steal the amulet, she had stayed with Claye’s family for two whole weeks. During that time, Kamdaria’s autumn had gone from pleasantly brisk to frighteningly frigid. The change had passed by her without much notice since she’d been sleeping inside a house with oil lamps that heated the air.
But the evening before, she and her friends had arrived back at camp with the rest of her soldiers. They hid deep in the mountains where even the wildlife seemed unenthusiastic about waking up to such cold mornings. Only one night on her cot brought a longing for the fluffy bed in her bedroom at the palace. The thought of being imprisoned marred the memory but not nearly as much as it should have.
She slipped an extra pair of socks over the first before reaching for her boots. She’d packed plenty of socks when she escaped the palace, but only the thin cotton kind. The weather had been so warm when she left, it hadn’t crossed her mind to bring thick woolen socks.
At least her fur-lined cloak shielded her from the biting wind when she finally peeked outside her tent. The hood provided enough warmth to soothe the chill that stung in her cheeks.
Nearby, a group of soldiers huddled over a fire, catching her attention immediately. After two weeks away from them, she was eager to see how her soldiers were doing.
“Princess,” one soldier said as she approached. The rest of them bowed their heads in unison.
She sat down on a chopped piece of tree trunk that stood almost as tall as a chair. It made for a decent stool. “How are all of you? I was worried Kessoku would find you, and now the weather is turning too.” Soft urgency fluttered inside her, but each icy breath that entered her mouth sent it whipping about swiftly. “Do you have everything you need?”
One of the soldiers leaned forward, his eyes rich with gratitude. “It is our honor to serve you.”
Talise remembered this soldier. He had been the first soldier she and Aaden tried to befriend when they were training the soldiers at the palace. He had teased them for taking so long to realize the soldiers were actual people. And during the masquerade ball, Talise had shaped an ice wall in front him to save his life from the attacking Kessoku.
“Thank you, Canyon.” She looked at each of them now, hoping her expression conveyed the sincerity within. “But I don’t want you to lack or be deprived because of me. We all left the palace suddenly. None of us knew how long we’d be gone, and I want to make sure you still …” The frosty air had crawled down her throat, making it difficult to swallow. “You still want to be here.”
“We do,” another soldier said with nod that bounced her long hair. The others around the fire nodded just as quickly. The second soldier smiled with a soft gleam in her eye. But then she bit into her bottom lip and shifted her eyes toward the fire. “But a few of us could use thicker blankets.”
Jumping straight to her feet, Talise gave a fervent nod. “I’ll speak to Rio immediately. He has a system for inventory, so it shouldn’t take us long to figure this out.”
They all sent gracious bows and thanks after Talise as she started wandering through the maze of tents. After a few minutes, she found Rio near the edge of camp in a tent with its flaps tied open. He stood over a flimsy table with Fyra and another soldier at his side.
Their heads bent low in a bow when they recognized her standing at the opening. Rio glanced toward a trunk on one side of the tent and stuffed a set of papers into his pocket. “You’re up earlier than I expected, Princess. Do you need breakfast?”
He gave a look to the soldier on his right who gave a hurried nod before moving to exit the tent.
Waving both hands in front of her, Talise stepped forward. “No, that’s not why I’m here.”
The other soldier gave a tentative glance back at Rio who nodded him on until he left the tent. She wanted to release a sigh knowing that soldier would now make sure her breakfast got cooked, but she didn’t. Some things about being princess were easier to just accept. No one ever understood why it made her uncomfortable.
Her attention moved back to Rio. “Some of the soldiers need more blankets. Do we have any to spare?”
One corner of Rio’s mouth tilted downward, not quite in a frown but still in a decidedly uncomfortable expression. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.”
The response sent her rocking back on her heels while a cold awareness swept over her. “Are we out of other things too, not just blankets?”
“We’ll make do, Your Highness,” Fyra said. Her eyes nearly shimmered as she offered an encouraging smile. “We all chose to be here with you. We’re not going to abandon you now.”
The words had the opposite effect to what had mostly likely been intended. Rather than improve her mood, Talise now felt like icy water was being forced down her throat, and she had no way to breathe.
“Do we have any money?” The question seemed insane even before it left her lips. When the emperor held her prisoner at the palace, she hadn’t been able to sneak out and hoard money from the treasury. She did have a few pouches of money with her when she escaped but not much.
The fear that they’d run out always lingered at the back of her mind, but things had been so busy since her escape from palace. Apparently, now the reckoning had come.
Rio straightened his back, putting on the soldier demeanor his training had produced. “We still have a little of the money you brought from the palace. But it’s my opinion we should use it for other things.”
“Like food.” Fyra pursed her lips as soon as the words came out. She focused intently on the table in front of her.
Pacing seemed like the only way to soften the thumping in Talise’s chest. Her boots tromped across the canvas tent floor, whisking up clouds of dust behind her. “Okay,” she said with a nod meant to reassure herself. “If we need the money for food, then let’s think of other ways to keep the soldiers warm. We can’t build fires inside the tents or they’ll burn down, but maybe everyone can sleep outside by fires instead. We can teach a few of the soldiers to sense the earth and water in fallen branches and logs. If they find ones with no living earth and no water inside, they’ll know those are the best for firewood. And maybe we can train some of the soldiers to shape water out of freshly chopped wood. That should make it easier for us to gather fuel.”
As soon as she started speaking, Fyra retrieved a small piece of parchment from the table and took note of Talise’s ideas.
“And what about the cities we’ve helped already?” Talise asked. “There might be families by the Smoke Gate who’d be willing to donate smoked meat for our soldiers. And people by the River Gate might have extra clothes or blankets they could spare.”