Triton's Prophecy Page 2

  Her words seemed to cover the room in a shocked silence. A moment later, Rafe pushed past me and walked out. I stared at the tense posture of his back, at the fists closed at his sides as perhaps the only telling sign that he was truly upset.

  My aunt sniffed again. “You should not allow him the liberty of even being near you.”

  “Enough!” The words ripped from my throat instead of my father’s. It caused my aunt’s eyes to widen with surprise, and she pressed her fingers to her chest as if my words had offended her delicate sensibilities. “How dare you come in here and disrespect a future Son of Triton in such a way?”

  “My word, child. How dare you speak to me that—”

  “Be quiet! Gods, you’re the most frustrating woman I know! You are classist and rude. You may not like the fact that I am here, that I was chosen, but you will deal with it. See, you may think your words and opinions as valuable as the oracles, but they are not. So, please, stop embarrassing yourself and the Solandis family with your tantrums and go home.”

  Tears swelled into her eyes, but I refused to let myself give into that manipulation. It was a constant in our home, and it always had me yielding like I was to blame for every little thing. It hurt, chipped away small bits of my soul each time.

  And I was done.

  My father clamped a hand on her shoulder. “I’ll escort you to the docks.”

  She shook him off angrily. “Don’t bother,” she snapped. “I can go there myself.” And she whirled away in a swirl of skirts and marched away.

  As soon as she was gone, my father swept his gaze around the room. “Move along everyone. Now.”

  With conspiratorial murmurs, one by one everyone began filing out. Ambrose and Maksim hesitated at my sides until it was the four of us alone.

  My father eyed them suspiciously.

  “Papa, these are Ambrose and Maksim Tallis. They’re friends of mine from school.”

  If he recognized their family name, he gave no indication in the hard marble of his features. “Gentlemen,” he murmured. Then his eyes were taking me in. I stood straight, aware of the assessing flicker of his gaze, and worried at what he would find in mine. “I apologize for your aunt’s behavior. She has come unhinged since you were chosen. I will try to control her better.”

  “I don’t think anyone can really control what Aunty Clarity does.”

  The air between us seemed a bit stuffy and I couldn’t quite place why. But then his gaze strayed to where Rafe had been standing behind me, and I felt heat crawl up my neck and bloom across my cheeks.

  “The three of you should get going. Your instructions await.” He stepped forward and pressed his palms on my shoulders, an expression of warmth overtaking his face. “I’ll see you soon, Guppy.”

  Chapter Two

  Rafe

  My father always used to tell me that the smartest thing to do in the face of a fight was to walk away. But I figured that advice had gotten him killed, and so I’d not take it. Besides, I was a changed man. I’d changed the moment I’d seen the blood splatter against the floors of our home and the place go up in flames.

  The Academy had forged a new Rafe Zemir, leaving the old one behind. I hadn’t always been this way; brooding, as Calliope said. I had never cared about anything. I was as cautious as the life of traitors to the gods warranted, but I’d been happy.

  I’d smiled.

  Walking away from Calliope’s aunt had likely made me seem guilty. I was. I was a traitor to their Gods, sometimes even to my own. But I had adapted, doing what had to be done to protect my family from the same type of violent death that had befallen our parents.

  So, I’d walked away so that no one could read the truth in my eyes or in my body. That I was a traitor to what I was training for, that I didn’t deserve to be chosen, that I didn’t even know why the fuck I’d been chosen.

  Besides, it was easier to avoid Calliope than to face her after that disaster. I admitted, it had hurt when she hadn’t stood up for me. After what we’d shared, the secrets I’d told her… I’d given up bits and pieces of myself because my heart said I could trust her. But how could I trust someone who didn’t stick up for me while others threw their venom at my face?

  Perhaps I didn’t deserve her words of kindness and that was precisely why she couldn’t muster them. Because she knew exactly what I and my family still were.

  Maybe the idea of a traitor bedding her wasn’t really appealing at all.

  I tried to ignore the hurt those thoughts brought, but it wiggled itself inside me to stay.

  Fuck.

  The crowds around the docks were crushing, suffocating. Atlanteans pressed around from almost every angle, framing the single pathway that led down to the anchored boats, big and small. The crowds cheered for the Sons-in-training as they would for the actual Sons, like they were heroes already instead of fucking assholes.

  For a brief moment, I basked in those cries of joy as if they were meant for me. I was so used to disdain, to hatred, and prejudice that it was hard to imagine anything other than that. But for a single fucking moment I let myself believe that they were cheering for me.

  “Rafe! Rafe! Rafe!”

  The old me would have smiled.

  “Rafe! Rafe! Rafe!”

  My eyes jolted open—when had I closed them?—because the voice that was screaming was a voice I recognized as well as my own soul.

  I turned towards the crowd and saw my sister shoving her way through to the front, waving her hand to capture my attention. My eyes widened. What was Ana doing here? I looked behind her and found the kids filing close behind her. With one hand she held our baby brother tightly to her chest.

  I rushed to meet her, wrapping her tightly in my arms. The children surrounded me, and I felt the assault of little hands and fingers over my legs and thighs. A moment later, I pulled away and cupped her cheek in my palm.

  “What are you doing here, Ana?” I demanded. It was too crowded and the children could be jostled or harmed.

  Her bright blue eyes filled with tears I knew she wouldn’t shed. The sight crippled me. Ana didn’t cry. Ana was strong and fierce. Even with her expression slightly broken, I could see her fight to put the pieces back together again.

  “What’s happened?” Rage ripped through my chest. I’d kill them. I’d kill whoever made my strongest sibling cry.

  “I—I—”

  “Gods’ sake, Ana. Tell me!” I wanted to shake her but refrained from being such a brute.

  She took in a shuddering breath. “Oh, Rafe! The land owner came to the house about a week ago.” She juggled Harold in her arms as if she meant to soothe him, even though he wasn’t crying. “He said having traitors on his property threatens a blight on his land and threatened to throw us from our home.”

  My teeth grinded together. Since our family had been brutally slaughtered, our possessions had been taken from us. We’d been forced to rely on the charity of others, and then it had only been after I’d been selected to attend Triton’s Academy.

  We had no property and rented from a rich, older man. My siblings were living in a shack with torn walls and a broken ceiling. It was awful, yet it was better than nothing. At least Ana knew how to hunt, garden, and start fires. They would not go hungry.

  “He can’t do that!”

  She gave me a stern look and seemed older than her years. “He can and he will unless…” She broke off, biting her bottom lip, but I didn’t mistake the trembling. There were things she just couldn’t hide from me.

  A bad feeling roiled in my gut. “Unless. What?”

  She swallowed. “He said he would give us better accommodations, fix up the shack for us, if I agreed to become his mistress.”

  The words hit me like a blow to the fucking head. I almost staggered backwards. I wanted to rage, to throw my fists and fight, to scream, to kill.

  “You’re fourteen.”

  The landowner was forty-six at least.

  “I’ll fucking kill him.”

  “Rafe! Watch your language.” She pressed Harold to her chest, one palm covering his ear.

  “I’m serious. I’ll kill him for even insinuating it. He didn’t touch you, did he?” I’d cut him up and hide him where no one could find his remains.

  Her face flushed.

  My eyes narrowed. “He did.”

  “He grabbed my hand and looked at my chest, brother. That’s all.”

  “Then he will lose his hand before I take his eyes.”

  “Stop it, Rafe. Besides… I am going to accept.”

  Those words froze me entirely. I took her in, holding my breath. Her body trembled. She was fighting so hard to be brave, but I knew, I knew, she wanted to break down and beg for my help. It fucking tore me apart to know that I couldn’t protect her from the Academy. I thought my being there would keep her safe. I barely considered men like that landowner preying on her because in my mind that hadn’t ever been a possibility. They could kill our parents, burn down our home, leave us orphans. But to prey on the children? It was a disgusting, new low.

  And I was fucking useless to do anything.

  So Ana thought this was the only way to keep the children safe.

  “You will not.”

  “It makes sense to accept. H-He will give us a better home. It’s better than being thrown from the shack. You know what the colder months are like in Tinos. We will never survive it.”

  “No, Ana. I won’t allow it!”

  She tilted her chin up in defiance. “I’m sorry, brother, but you cannot stop me.”

  Fucking useless. She was as stubborn as I was.

  “I’ll drop out of the Academy.”

  Ana staggered back, pulling the children closer to her body. They clung to us both, keeping us tethered together. Her glare turned accusatory. “You can’t do that!”

  “I will if it keeps you away from him. I’ll do anything to protect you.”

  She stepped closer and gripped the front of my chlamys in her fists. “You have to stay at the Academy, Rafe. It’s the only chance we have—”

  I grabbed her shoulders and shook her lightly. “If giving up the Academy means I get to protect you, I will do anything. Do you hear me, Ana? Anything!”

  “Get out of my way, you big brute!”

  Someone shoved up against me, catching me off guard and nearly sending me falling onto my siblings. I turned and glared at the owner of that grating voice. She stopped in the middle of the docks to glare at me and stare haughtily down at me, even in her short stature.

  Calliope’s aunt’s eyes strayed to Ana’s and the children surrounding her. She sneered. “Are these your ilk?” I could hear the disdain literally dripping from her voice.

  I assumed a protective stance around them. The old woman was crazed and capable of anything. “They’re my siblings and cousins,” I told her. “Can’t you just leave us be? They’re too young to hear you spout your hatred.”

  The old woman placed her fingers against her chest and assumed a perfectly offended expression. “How dare you?! Rude!”

  “Rafe?” Ana’s voice was strong with apprehension.

  The old woman’s eyes snapped to my sister and held for a moment before traveling down to the form of Harold in her arms. The old woman’s gaze softened.

  “He’s too skinny. A healthy child should be plump and round.” She glared at me like I was to blame. I knew I was, and I shouldn’t care about the comments of some old lady, but they pierced deeply.

  “All due respect, ma’am, but this is what poverty does, and I’ll not have you call my brother a brute again.” Ana clutched Harold tighter to her chest as if to shield him from her.

  Calliope’s aunt snorted. “You have a mouth on you for one so young. What’s your name?”

  My sister straightened, as regal as a true lady. “Ana Zemir, ma’am.”

  The woman set her hand in her chin and observed my sister. It made my defenses rise. She was staring at her like she was a cabbage at a marketplace. In fact, she was staring at all the children that way as well. Taking in their poor, old tunics and belts, the sandals clasped on their feet that were fraying at the edges…

  It hurt to see them like this and not be able to do anything about it.

  Finally, the old woman tsked and shook her head. “Losing your heathen parents has obviously been perilous to your growth. More perilous, I think, it would have been to be raised by barbarians. No, no, no. This won’t do. You are all young yet and need a firm hand and guidance. I can’t, in good conscience, allow you to walk away and risk you following in the same misguided footsteps of your parents. As a Gods fearing woman, I feel it is my Atlantean duty to convert you.”

  I blinked and didn’t let myself feel a moment’s worth of offense. I could tell Ana didn’t either. Being the sons and daughters of traitors had prepared us for all manner of insults, even those disguised as kindness.

  “Well, it is decided. You will come to the Solandis estate, and I will groom you to become true Atlanteans.”

  I stuttered. “Wh—you can’t! We—that is—”

  She slashed a glare in my direction. “I am a charitable woman, Mr. Zemir. My fool of a brother-in-law has allowed my niece to be snatched from under me, and so I am all alone in such a big house. You have no home—do not bother trying to deny it, I heard your conversation—and these children are in desperate need of help. As a richer lady of Syros and being related to General Solandis, I have a duty to help those less fortunate.”

  “We could never accept such kindness, ma’am,” Ana said smoothly.

  The woman waved her comments away with a flutter of her wrinkled fingers. “It will not be for free, of course.”

  Of course not.

  An image of that sweaty, old landowner approaching my sister invaded my thoughts, and I had to force myself to shove it away. I frowned at the old woman. Surely she wouldn’t ask for something so atrocious?

  “Every Gods’ Day you are to accompany me to the Temple of the Gods and sit through sermon. You will learn the ways of lords and ladies and receive the education you obviously lack. I will reform you all, and perhaps it will inspire other secret heathens and old god worshipers to change their ways as well.”

  My hands tightened into fists. This was a bad fucking idea. I felt it in my gut. But what was the other option? To allow my sister to become someone’s mistress, to drop out of the Academy?

  I could say what I wanted about the Academy and about their gods, but the truth was, I liked what I was learning. It made me stronger.

  I loved my siblings more, but what kind of life did I have to offer them that wasn’t drenched in poverty?

  I stared at Calliope’s aunt, at the golden jewels around her neck and wrists, the rich fabric of her dress. If I allowed them to go with her, they would have the luxury they deserved.

  At what cost? What would she want once it was all done? Was it worth it? Torn between two decisions, I took a breath, not knowing what to say.

  If they went to the Temple every Gods’ day, they wouldn’t be betraying our Gods any more than we already had. After our parents had been murdered, we had vowed to not celebrate any holiday or even whisper their names. We had strayed from them to survive, but we still kept them alive in our souls. The children were young and impressionable; the teachings would stick.

  But in the end, did it matter what Gods anyone worshipped? Wasn’t that why I was so angry? They had discriminated us over our different beliefs and condemned us to die.

  I wouldn’t let my own pride and sense of hopelessness land them the same fate as our family.

  My eyes met Ana’s. She was looking warily at the older woman, but I could see the hope in her young eyes. She was being offered what she’d always wanted in life. An education, gowns, freedom from fear.

  And this was their chance.

  My eyes met hers. Do you want to, Ana?

  She shifted her weight from side to side. It’s almost too good to be true, but—

  I stared at her harder. Do you want to?

  She dropped her gaze to Harold and our cousins. For the good of the children, yes.

  “Fine,” I growled.

  The old woman smiled broadly. “Well, then. Let us be off. Do not worry for whatever clothes or items you may have. I’ll not have you tainting the Solandis estate with fleas or lice. Come along, now.” She turned away haughtily and started walking to a large wooden boat intricately carved with a flourished hand.

  “What a rude cow,” Ana murmured under her breath.

  I turned sharply to her. “Behave, Ana. She is offering her home to the lot of you, and we should be grateful.”

  “Oh, I am. But I am not sure if I have the strength to deal with so much insult.”

  “You will have to bear with it, Ana.” I cupped her cheek, looking at her tenderly. “I am sorry I cannot do more for you. We shouldn’t have to stoop to the charity of others.”

  She made an impatient noise. “Nonsense, Rafe. there’s no shame in asking for help.”

  I smiled. Ever wise, my sister.

  “Come along!” the woman screeched from across the docks.

  I pulled her and the children into my embrace. “Do as she says and attend service with her.”

  Ana’s eyes flashed in a brief moment of pain that she quickly masked. It hurt.

  One day, I wanted to promise, the world will be different. When that day comes, we will celebrate our Gods openly for the whole world to see. And there will be peace and no more condemnation.

  That day will not be today.

  “Hurry up now, heathens!”

  And probably not tomorrow.

  I kissed her forehead. “Good luck.”

  But that day would soon come.

  Chapter Three

  Zathrian

  The armbands slid against my palms, the smooth leather chilling my senses. I welcomed the chill, hoping it would chase away the heat from my body. More specifically, the heat Calliope Solandis provoked within me.