“What?” she snapped.
“Oh, your face,” was all Marelle said before she settled for her usual slight grin.
Irmela’s true daughter
, Violet thought bitterly.
Forial was their father’s second-in-command. He was a huge man and an accomplished warrior who almost never laughed. Violet paired him with Marelle at once.
Just because they could have the most quiet children in the world, who only laugh when I’m miserable.
Forial’s enlisting brought out several conflicting emotions in Violet. On the one hand, he
was
a powerful warrior and not having him compete for his fief lord’s daughters would have been embarrassing. On the other hand, Violet didn’t want him.
It’s not that I don’t like him
, she thought.
I just don’t want him to win me.
It was completely plausible, after all. They’d all seen him duel. Forial could win. He was certainly good enough. Honestly, Violet didn’t know which she feared more – Forial winning and picking
her
or Forial becoming the champion and picking
someone else
.
This is the worst day of my life
.
Then she saw Irmela’s face. It still observed her, calm and amused.
“No,” Violet said. “That was not it. Mother, you’re killing me.”
Irmela laughed. “I’m sorry, Violet, but I have to agree with Marelle. The look on your face...”
“
Will you two leave my face alone
!”
Violet knew she was being melodramatic, but she’d learned it was the only way to deal with her mother. Besides, she really,
really
wanted to know. And if Irmela wasn’t going to tell her, she’d find out from someone else. The Overlord would probably tell her, or not, if Irmela got to him first. Someone else then… Surely Forial would know who his competition was going to be.
“Oh, Violet,” her mother called to her. “I forgot to mention! The flagship of the Raider Prince has left the siege of Salinet. It looks like he’s coming too. Totally slipped my mind.”
Through Lavie’s excited questions, Violet’s mind just went a calming,
Ooooohhh
. Quickly followed by,
My mother really is a lesser demon.
She refused to give Irmela the satisfaction of reacting in any way. The Raider Prince! God was giving her a reward for having a mother like hers. She could barely think straight. But why should she? It was better than she could ever have imagined.
It was the first thing that managed to banish the memory she was trying to suppress, even for a moment.
Violet smiled, truly smiled.
She wasn’t going to be a prize. Oh no, she was going to be
the
prize.
CHAPTER THREE
Only debris and destruction surrounded the flagship when Reim arrived on the empty bridge ten minutes later. The lieutenant was the only one on board who could truly match him in combat – the pirate lord, of course, not the Prince. Reim was tall and slender for a warrior, but he made up for the lack of raw mass with his speed.
There were lines etched on the brow of his narrow face (mostly because of the Prince). They made him look older when he was being serious, but when he smiled the real him came through. Reim liked to say that the gray in his short black hair was the Prince’s fault too.
The crew was gone, sent to rest about two months before they’d expected to get real sleep. The Prince was lounging carelessly in his throne, a pleased smile on his lips. His second-in-command didn’t even spare him a glance and walked to the front window instead.
“What the fuck,” he said.
“Ah, Reim,” the Prince replied lazily. “Your ability to provide me with expert tactical observations is definitely the quality I value most in you.”
“You son of a bitch,” Reim said respectfully.
“She was everything but that, as you well know.”
Reim glared at him, but the Prince just smirked. As someone who hated being bored, he thoroughly appreciated Reim. His second-in-command could boast an utter lack of official respect – which the Prince didn’t care about anyway – and complete respect for his true self – which was all that mattered in the end. He was also unfazed by any and all troubles the Prince got them into, which were many.
Reim shrugged.
“Fine,” he said. “Now explain yourself.”
“I was in a hurry.”
“I didn’t know there was anything other than Salinet on our schedule.”
“There is now.”
“So what did you do?”
“Hacked into their systems and fired off a few plasma shots.”
Now Reim really glared. The Prince had always said Reim’s face was made to glare at him. He definitely had to do it often enough to wear it as a permanent expression.
“Dick move,” Reim said.
“
I was in a hurry
.”
“If it was so bloody easy for you to do, why have we been stuck in this miserable siege for all of three weeks?”
“I assure you, I had no intention of ending it like this,” the Prince said. “And it was extremely difficult, actually. I deserve praise here. I had to really, truly
try
.”
“Don’t expect any congratulations from me, you bastard.”
The Prince grinned. “I wasn’t, honestly.”
“What’s so sudden then that it made you destroy a quarter of the Salinet fleet?”
The rookie chose that moment to crawl out of whatever shadow he’d been standing in. Shaking, he edged forward, waiting for permission to speak. Reim growled in frustration while the Prince just laughed.
“Speak up, man,” he ordered. “How’s my beloved? And what is your name? I can’t keep calling you rookie. There will be a few more soon, no doubt.”
“
Beren
is fine, my Prince,” the man said hesitantly. “And it’s Sarto, my Prince.”
“Stop the ass-kissing,” Reim snapped to the Prince’s amusement. “He’s not your Prince. He’s the least prince-like being I’ve ever met.”
Sarto’s eyes flickered between them, unsure of where death might strike him. “Wh-what should I call him then?”
“The idiot he is,” Reim said.
While Sarto looked horrified, Reim turned to the Prince. “Now answer me. What’s so bloody urgent?”
“The Overlord’s daughters are up for a tournament,” he said. “He’s hosting the biggest event in living memory. Three of his own and four more.”
That
got Reim’s attention. The rookie’s too, it seemed. The Prince doubted either of them had ever even seen a
calaya
, but they certainly knew who the Overlord was. And they’d also heard of his miraculous six daughters.
Six bloody daughters
, the Prince thought.
Six
calaya
daughters
.
That man is trying to save the species singlehandedly. Bless him.
He didn’t think it was an unfair estimation.
Calayas
were rare. To have six in one family was as close to a miracle as it got. But no wonder if the rumors of Irmela’s beauty were anywhere close to the truth.
“Here, here,” he called them, flipping the screen on again. And there it was, the flash of violet. He had to force himself to focus – plenty of time to think on it later. Reim and Sarto came as if pulled by an invisible cord. The Prince knew Reim had quite a few things to say, but at the moment all three of them stared at the screen, mesmerized.
“Great year,” the Prince said and his voice lost some of its fake edge. He could swear Sarto actually winced, but the screen kept his eyes in place. One
calaya
was hard enough to bear, but there were seven of them there.
He didn’t need to point – the girls were noticeable enough. Though not clear to see, not really.
Calayas
usually wore long dresses and veils of all sorts to hide them from sight. Some who were already married didn’t bother, but the younger ones hid themselves from the world until their tournaments. Images of the
calayas
were even rarer than they themselves, but the glimpses were astonishing enough. For some reason, the elusiveness of their beauty made them all the more desirable.
“Seven of them,” he said, rising from his chair to stand at full height. Sarto almost stopped breathing, while Reim dropped his mocking act at once. The time for pretense and fooling around was over for a while. His voice dropped to its real, deep and dark tone. Those who had heard him speak like that were his for all of their lives. Reim had bowed to that voice, and so had all of the Raiders.
So would any unlucky soul that entered the Overlord’s tournament, and the girl who served as the prize.
Though the warriors competing would be many and good – very,
very
good, in fact – the Prince doubted any warrior who cared about his reputation could stand aside for this one. The tournaments were as rare as the
calayas
, and usually there were just two or three of them to be won. Four was enough to summon every Atreen clan capable of traveling the stars. But seven... Seven would bring something spectacular.
Not any seven
calayas,
but three of Irmela’s daughters. Her beauty was legendary. Even at poor angles and hidden by veils, the images of the three were stunning, the colored strands showing who they were. The men had been staring mutely for a whole minute now – no wonder poor
Beren
had suffered for it.
The Prince sent the image to the main screen. Almost life-sized, it even left him speechless for a moment. Slowly, he walked closer.
“Pearl and Halley,” he said. “Pearl is said to be a little firecracker. I hear she even joked about entering the tournament herself. If she’d win, she’d get to choose between
us
.”
His grin grew wider.
“I
like
her.” He went on. “Her sister, Halley – nicknamed Honey and as sweet as they get… I swear, if they raised her like that just so I’d get to say that, I’m going to kill someone. Poor girl.”
“Olive,” he went on. “Not much known about her. She’s been kept in such secrecy I didn’t even know she existed. But she’s pretty, no doubt.”
With every name he called, Sarto and Reim directed their eyes to the girl in question, just like he. The beauty of the
calayas
wasn’t to be underestimated, he thought with a bitter smile.
“And that’s Maige,” he said. “The only one known to already be rooting for someone. I hope it works out for them, I really do.”
That left the last three.
“And those are Irmela’s.”
All three of them stared, equal in that moment, if not in any other.
“Lavie – bright, happy, bubbly. We’ll see how long that lasts after the Overlord reveals what he has in store for the trials. I doubt he wants to give his daughters to someone who doesn’t bleed for them. Marelle. I hear she’s truly Irmela reborn. Doesn’t believe in the tournaments at all. I think she’s going to say as much.”
The Prince looked at the girl for a moment longer. “I admire that. Good for her.”
And finally, the last one, the one to blame for the wound in
Beren
’s side, and an older, more painful one. “And that leaves Violet.”
The name alone made his voice drop low and dangerous. From the corner of his eye, he could see Reim back down. The Prince wouldn’t get to hear whatever it was that he had wanted to say. Possibly it was better that way. Reim would only say something smart and fair, but he was in no mood for reason. In fact, the Prince was in the mood for more mischief.
“Set course for the tournament,” he ordered, returning to his fake self as easily as if he’d donned a cloak. He could see Reim rolling his eyes, but his second-in-command said nothing, as was his place – in that matter, at least.
Sarto started to leave, but the Prince barred his way. He could see the naked fear in the man’s eyes and didn’t blame him at all. He was well aware of what he had to have looked like, at last so close to his journey’s end.
“Not so fast,” he said. “Do you want to be even more useful, Sarto?”
“Yes, of course,” the man stuttered. “Whatever you wish, my Prince.”
Despite Reim’s joking, he didn’t mind being called by his title. As long as the rookie didn’t call him that when they reached their destination, everything was fine.
The Raider Prince bared his teeth in a wild grin. “Don’t be afraid now, I have a plan. How would you like to be me?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Violet was feeling a strange mixture of excitement and nausea.
Excitement, because the guests of the tournament – spectators, honor guests, former winners, young warriors looking to see what a tournament might hold for them, her fellow prizes, of course, and the champions – were arriving slowly, damnably slowly.
Oh, the champions indeed.
She was feeling nauseous because she had barely eaten or slept in the last week. Despite what Irmela thought, she really wasn’t doing it on purpose. The Raider Prince’s name alone had robbed her of her appetite and the need for sleep all at once.
My eyes will go puffy just from trying to see it all
, she thought.
Can’t miss it. Can’t miss anyone, I mean. Can’t miss HIM.
As the days went by, her family reacted to the upcoming event exactly as she’d thought they would. Lavie was overwhelmed and Marelle even more quiet than usual. The Overlord was too busy to really be seen, but his face was grim. Irmela got more sarcastic by the day and Violet… well, she was sizing up the competition – both on the arena and in the prize pool.
All the
calayas
had arrived and, so far, they were all in hiding. The revealing was to be the main attraction and the beginning of the tournament. But, as a prize herself, Violet had, of course, met them all. She liked Pearl, who had short fiery hair and pierced ears and who she considered to be her only rival. The gems in her ears made her truly look like a jewel and she had a temper just like Violet‘s. All the rest were a backdrop to them, of that she was certain. The only one she wasn’t so sure about was Olive, who no one had really seen. She kept herself covered, even from the others, but Violet had caught the flash of her dark caramel skin and impossibly deep black eyes. As much as she could tell, Olive was the prettiest of them by any objective opinion, but looks weren’t everything. She bored Violet to tears.