Realm of the Sun

Chapter 9

Solarie was up right at dawn, scribbling away at her desk as she furiously wrote her letter home.

Everyday, Solarie had penned a letter to be delivered to her house back in her small town, Taizhi. She wrote of the tales of the beauty of the palace, but unfortunately, had to keep one little lie in her letters.

Her family couldn't know.

As part of her deal with the king, who had made her sign a very long piece of paper to officiate the deal, she was unable to tell her family that their entire lineage may or may not have been Elite's themselves. Her simple cover was just an elevated invitation to do metal work at the palace, the perfect excuse to not hangout at the workshop or with Orion anymore. She was working intelligence, or something along the lines of that- she couldn't come home because she was working on top-secret projects for the crown. Not necessarily false, but not the kind of project her family might think she was working on.

Ah, yes, because I'm posing as Nicholas' third cousin who just got abandoned and raised among variens who suspiciously aren't speaking up about their child being taken away from them.

"Solarie, we have a problem. Breakfast table, now." Solarie heard Roza's voice from down the hall, yelling and nagging her to get down to their impromptu meeting area. How long had she been sitting at her desk, hunched over like a shrimp? If they were calling her to the breakfast table, it must be past regular morning serving time by now. Had she really been so worked up over a simple letter home?

She dropped her pen onto the desk, crumpling and scraping the letter she had worked on for the past few hours. Why couldn't she figure out what to say? What was so hard about slightly obscuring the truth, when it guaranteed her family's safety? The king had promised that he would deliver a stipend to her mother for every month she remained at the palace, including one as soon as she started her cover. Yet Solarie never received letters back, only empty envelopes with no return address on them.

Solarie sighed, and begrudgingly made her way downstairs, to the breakfast table. On occasion, she would mix up her lefts and rights, turns and stairs, but over the last few days she committed to memorizing all of the halls and passages within the palace. Today was a good day- she made it to the breakfast table with few detours.

Nobody came to greet her, except Roza's cold scowl. "Finally. We can start now."

In an impromptu meeting place, an impromptu council was meeting. Nicholas, Yue, Sylas, Jin, Roza, and Gwen had all gathered around the table. Jin waved happily. Nobody else did.

Solarie silently sat herself at the table, in between Jin and Sylas. Of course, Nicholas was seated at the head of the table, with his general and lieutenant general at his sides. Yue sat next to Roza, twiddling her thumbs as she was lost in her own world of whimsy.

Roza stood up. "We have a problem. Solarie has to go public."

"What?" Solarie asked, standing up in surprise. She was completely taken aback- this was not part of the deal. She was supposed to stay hidden, and maybe participate in the prophecy if she had to. She was supposed to stay in the shadows.

"You heard right. Due to unforeseen circumstances and what our intelligence unit has gathered, the rebels are planning an attack soon. We've devised a plan so that we can detain some of them- whenever they attack the palace, they always leave before we can capture one. So," Roza gestured to Solarie and Nicholas. "You two are making a public appearance."

Nicholas stood up too. "I beg your pardon? I can't help but feel like my father would inform me of such change." he said, appalled.

"Me too. I was told by the king himself to keep quiet." Solarie added.