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"Of course, my queen," Father said

Niah took a deep breath and I was close enough to see the fear pass through her eyes "A tale, one that soend, a child’s story But it is true and it will coht, and lifted her hands to the sky, the ground, to the fire in the east, and the water in the west An intonation that all she would say was true

"In the beginning, the ht out co in the affairs of ether, they had five children ould become the founders of the elemental families Born in order, Earth Child, Fire Child, Air Child, Water Child and finally, a surprise to theate their own families of elean to conquer the world, taking their leave of their hidden lives, ruling as tyrants over the hu mayhem and destruction on a level the world had never seenand so, the oddess and her consort chose to reoddess created bindings that would keep the elementals tied to certain parts of the world, and if they left those parts for too long, they would begin to waste away, until they lost all their powers and becamehurown fond of power and the life of ease

So thefor each, a ring Five rings s that would rule a portion of the eleoddess’s children who’d gone astray With those rings, the huht the world into balance, and finally, the elemental families were put to rest, and theywhat they could Occasionally still being destructive, but only arranted and the humans needed to be reuardians

Avoiding all these battles was the Spirit Child, for she flitted between the four fa down Her heart was pure, and her love true, and she never believed the worst of her siblings, alanting for them to make peace The restrictions of the others were never placed on her, and when her siblings realized this, they started to quietly kill off her progeny

Jealousy and the realization that Spirit’s children could manipulate elereat deal of fear in the her line nearly wiped clean except for a feho escaped the slaughter by hiding with the huer I didn’t understand "That is enough We have had enough of your stories This is a place for supplicants, not mad fools"

"You will not be the queen for long," Niah said and for the third tihed, her teeth flashing "I aue may find themselves banished, or worse"

The threat was there despite her pleasant tone I hope to the seven hells and the heaven’s above that Fern took the warning to heart Because even if what I dreamed truly was just a dream, I would not put it past the queen to kill a rival who stood in her way

"Larkspur"--Father put a hand on htly--"take Niah to the kitchens and make sure she is fed She was our friend once, and I would not like her to go aith nothing"

I stood, curtsied to him, and then to Cassava, who stopped me with a lifted hand "And stay there with her We have no need of you here This is a place for royals"

I s out ofthe same of you"

A nervous titter escaped someone in the crohich took the heat off h I turned while she was distracted, and took Niah by the hand "Coet some food into your belly"

The walk to the kitchens was slow and Niah keptunder her breath, but none of it ether in coherent sentences; instead, they were placed in a randos, sing, Ender, Ender, fight, fight, fight, Spear it, hear it, spear it, hear it"

I held her lightly by the arreat hall, leaving the vast rooet you so it with the fruits of htly covered in olive oil and spices, a generous helping of goose left from dinner, no doubt, and a hunk of homemade cheese still soft and fresh Topped off with a slice of bread warm from the ovens I made myself a plate too, since I wasn’t invited to dinner and hadn’t had time to eat before I came "Think you can finish all this?"

I sat next to her, pouring her a full glass of fresh pressed apple juice I tucked intohappily that I would finally feed it

She took a few bites, and then twisted in her seat to face ive her since my mouth was full But even if it hadn’t been, I wasn’t really sure what I could say

Shat was in her ers, spreading ht hand on the table, palm up "Madness is a place where I hide frole" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">