A River of Royal Blood by Amanda Joy

Author:Amanda Joy [Joy, Amanda]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2019-10-28T18:30:00+00:00

– II –

MARROW MAGICK

Bone bright, clean and white—

Teeth to shred your flesh—

Horns used to bore you through—

Power true as true.

—Child’s rhyme, of khimaer origin

CHAPTER 15

WE LEFT TERNAIN two days later, exactly six weeks before my nameday. The moon sat low on the horizon, and the distant glow of a coming sunrise diffused waves of amber and lilac across the sky.

Captain Anali, Prince Aketo, and the three other soldiers beside me in the boat were all obscure smudges watching the river for crocodiles. The rest of the guard, and my mother’s soldiers, had gone ahead last night, bringing horses and the rest of our supplies on the ferry. We would go straight north once we crossed the river, first passing through the Slender Forest and then riding along the edge of the Arym Plain, until we reached the highlands where Asrodei was located.

From our flat-hulled boat, the Palace rose like a pale mountain, casting the rest of the city in shadow. Without the sun lighting its mosaic facade, it seemed more fortress than Palace—its crenellated walls standing stark against gilt domes and crystal towers. At this distance the seams of Ternain were laid plain, whitewashed stone resting against colorful clay flats and the Palaces of noble houses made from carved marble and glass. Ternain was both ancient and ever new, a garden yearly growing more vibrant, more true.

By the time we crossed—gifting the riverman with a heavy bag of gold, and gratitude for his discretion—the sun had risen higher, filling the world with hazy pink-gold light. The only signs of life were water birds: scarlet ibis to match the river, and blue herons, their feathers unfurled like crepe skirts upon the water.

Already, there was peace here, before the city churned into motion.

The riverman docked at a wharf dipping precariously into the water and we walked through the Slender Forest, named so for its thin blue-green trees and the forest’s shape, only forty miles deep as it stretched along the river. We met in a clearing just a mile or so beyond the river.

Already there was an obvious divide in the camp. My mother’s fifteen guards stood together by the horse lines, packing their saddlebags. They were older than my guard, near middle age, and mostly men. My guards were still breaking down their tents from the previous night.

While Captain Anali set off to double-check supplies, I was left standing with Prince Aketo.

His dark curls hung loose about his shoulders, and his horns shined like obsidian beneath the sun. He’d dressed simply, in cotton breeches, a dark green tunic, and supple, well-worn boots. The trees around us suited him more than the Palace, and his presence held a weight I hadn’t seen when we first met. He seemed to carry who he was on his shoulders—a khimaer Prince in a world that didn’t want him—but instead of bending his spine, it bolstered him. I couldn’t help but envy his comfort, especially as buzzy sparks of anxiety stirred beneath my skin.

It

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