exception. In exchange, he retrieved you.”
The answer she gives seems overly simple, and with what I’ve come to know about Wade, it doesn’t ring true.
“He doesn’t come across as the begging type,” I say.
“Then you clearly don’t know what he was running from,” she replies with bite in her voice. “Whatever you think Wade to be, understand that he is a man without conscience who has done many unspeakable things to stay alive for as long as he has. His ruthlessness is part of the reason I chose him for the important task of finding you. That should have been obvious to you the moment he put a knife to your throat.”
The conviction with which she speaks stuns me to the point that I can’t bring myself to argue with her even though my mind is screaming at me to stand up for Wade. Maybe it’s because of everything that Minerva told me about the rangers, but I want to believe that the goodness I saw in Wade wasn’t just a lie so that I would trust him and do what he said.
“Let me start by asking you something,” Anastasia continues, seeing that she has momentarily quelled the fire within me. “What do you think the stars are?”
The question strikes me as completely unrelated to our conversation, but the process of answering it forces me to clear my mind.
“I’ve heard it said that they are distant flames in the heavens.”
“An interesting way of putting it,” Anastasia muses. “That would make them no different than the blue sun that gives this world daylight. Would you not imagine then that those distant fires have worlds of their own that bask in their glow?”
I smile briefly at what she is implying. The stars have intrigued me since childhood. I had many ideas on what they were, but the priests refused to give me anything but vague answers.
“So there are other worlds like this one,” I conclude.
“Yes,” she says, “but not quite like this one. There is no easy way to put it, so I will be blunt. Every few years, something strange happens, something beyond explanation. When the three suns perfectly align with our world, some connection is created between us and other worlds in the heavens. As this happens, creatures, people, and all kinds of life are pulled from those worlds into the plains, never to return.”
Anastasia studies me for a moment, perhaps to judge whether or not I am grasping what she is saying, but I give no reaction. It’s not necessarily that I’m completely overwhelmed by what she has revealed since everything else I’ve been hearing has built up to it, like when Minerva said that no one chooses to come here. Still, it is a lot to take in, just like Wade said.
“How is that possible?” I marvel.
“It doesn’t matter,” she replies. “That is simply how things are, which brings me to what you carry with you.”
She eyes my bag where the animal-skin pouch is, but I remain intent on keeping my father’s promise.
“Does the name Eliana mean anything to you?” I ask coyly.
“No,” she answers confused.
Upon hearing that, I am about to tell her that what I carry is not meant for her, but something inside me tells me that it might not be safe to be so confrontational.
“You don’t trust me, do you?” she comments.
The first thought that comes to mind is to lie, to tell her that I’m still a little stunned by everything, but it’s true, I don’t trust her.
“No,” I reply.
“That’s wise of you,” she says to my surprise. “This world is filled with such chaos, only a fool would so freely hand out her trust without testing it first. I want you to trust me, so let me at least tell you what it is that you have in your possession.”
With those few words, Anastasia disarms my skepticism, at least temporarily. If she means to earn my trust, conceding that I have plenty of reasons not to trust her is a good start.
“You carry with you a world stone,” she explains. “One is formed each time our world is connected to another, the very instant that the three suns come into alignment with us.”
The Festival of Three Suns immediately comes to mind. This must be why the Warrior Cult goes down into the plains.
“What makes the world stones so sought after?”
“Each contains immense power, power that can be harnessed in many different ways, including tearing the foundations of your city from the sunlit pedestal it rests upon.”
This makes perfect sense of the garb of secrecy in which the Warrior Cult acts. My father once told me that the key to Kalepo’s happiness and prosperity is ignorance to the evils in the plains. By securing each new world stone, Kalepo’s rulers ensure the safety of its people.
“But if that’s true, why would my father risk sending one down here with me?”
“Because he saw the flood of destruction that is slowly sweeping over the plains. Your father was not a heartless man, not like the many rulers before him. He knew that with the power of a world stone, Sanctuary could become a safe bastion for all who seek shelter. Unfortunately, neither he nor your mother could convince your warriors of that noble cause, but they didn’t have to. All they needed was you.”
With this revelation, countless memories fly across my mind as I try to reinterpret everything my father ever said to me about why I was born, what purpose my life would have since my exodus from Kalepo was inevitable. This must have been what he meant when he said that my life was finally beginning.
I am left speechless. Anastasia recognizes this and gives me a long minute to put it all together, but to my chagrin, our conversation is interrupted by the same soldier who escorted me here, who rushes hastily into the room.
“I’m sorry to intrude, but you asked to be informed the moment your guests arrived,” he says to her.
“Good,” she replies. “I apologize, Kaela, but we’re going to have to finish this conversation tomorrow. Jasper will take you to a room where you can rest for the night. Someone will come and get you in the morning.”
Jasper leads me down the hallway that Anastasia came out of when we first met. Before we get too far, she yells back to me.
“And don’t forget to bring your secret treasure with you.”
The room Jasper finds for me has an elegant bed. I stand at its edge and fall backwards onto it, basking in the simple pleasure of a firm mattress and feathered pillow. Yet despite my fatigue, I remain restless as I try to reconcile my thoughts with how I feel. There is an illusiveness to Anastasia that makes me want to question what she said, though the whole narrative fits so well with the story of my life that I can’t help but believe her.
After what seems like hours, I come to accept that sleep is impossible for me right now, so I sit up and look around. An oil lantern provides the room with a charming orange glow, but beyond that, the room is very plain. I’ll need to go for a walk if I want to distract myself and not go crazy.
I feel insecure about leaving at first, worried that Anastasia will get upset if she finds out, but I think it would be good for me to orient myself and get comfortable in Sanctuary. Plus, she’s the one who needs to earn my trust, not the other way around.
As I wander, I find that the halls and rooms in this area are completely unoccupied. Remembering the throne, I imagine that this part of Sanctuary must have once been used as a palace of some sort, one that now separates Anastasia from the rest of the people. It seems a bit excessive since there aren’t even any guards about to protect her, but maybe Anastasia just likes her space.
Things remain quiet and still for a while as I get an idea of how the palace is laid out, but then I hear two voices at the end of a long hallway. I slowly creep down it and carefully peek my head around the corner to find Anastasia and Severin talking at the far side of a large room lit with torches. They speak for some time about the raids on the canyon outposts, but with such vagueness that I’m not able to learn anything new. It sounds like Severin really has no idea just who attacked them. Then the conversation abruptly shifts to me.
“The princess isn’t how I expected her to be,” Sev
erin remarks.
“That’s what I keep hearing,” Anastasia replies, almost like she’s bothered by it. “Wade said the same thing, that there is something about her. Like a light wandering in darkness.”
She trails off toward the end, turning her attention my way as I duck my head back out of view.
“You can come out, Kaela,” she calls, not with the scorn I expect but as though she anticipated me joining them.
“A princess and a spy,” she continues as I approach. “You’re more resourceful than I imagined you’d be.”
Her tone is so warm that I don’t know what to make of it, causing me to just stare at her blankly.
“I’m sorry for being so terse with you earlier, but there is a lot on my mind that is troubling me, as you can imagine depending on how long you’ve been listening in.”
She then looks at Severin, who speaks as if on cue.
“I’m actually kind of glad you’re here,” he says. “I was meaning to tell you, we’d like to leave a guard outside your room, someone to keep you safe and escort you wherever you want to go while you’re here in Sanctuary. Is that okay?”
“Yeah,” I reply, confident I have little choice in the matter.
The kindness with which they speak bothers me more than the brusqueness that they had used earlier in the day. It comes across as disingenuous just when I was starting to acclimate to Anastasia’s more direct nature. Maybe I’m being paranoid, but the fact that she didn’t seem to recognize the