Realm of the Sun

Chapter 15

Solarie could hardly breathe with the knot in her chest.

After thinking it over late at night with Sylas, who was running on caffeine but refused to give any to Solarie, Solarie had thought up a new plan of action. All she had to worry about was pitching it successfully to Roza. Now that she would be heading to Nebesa with her tutor, she was a bit concerned that she might die on that journey from the constant blizzards up there and was certain that she should pitch it to her as soon as possible. They were set to leave in a few hours; she had called a last-minute morning breakfast council for this purpose.

Irena and Grace were accompanying her, trying to calm her nerves. "I don't know, girls," Solarie whispered as the trio walked down the corridor. "Roza is a bit scary. I can't predict how she'll react."

Irena scoffed. "If you think Roza's scary, just wait till you meet her girlfriend. Roza's always drunk half the time anyway."

Grace covered her mouth in shock.

"I'm sorry," Solarie said in disbelief. "Girlfriend?"

The extent of what Irena had said finally reached her. "Oh. Well, last year, there was this rumour that she was involved with General Gwendolyn Ng from House Arachnos. It was this whole thing, and almost everyone knew about it. The rumours got shut down when they saw Roza send her to the infirmary though. It's just a running joke around the palace now."

"Was this the week I went home? Gods, why do I always miss the best times for palace gossip?" Grace whined fruitlessly.

Solarie continued walking. "Wait." Solarie paused, pondering Irena's words. "What do you mean she's always drunk?"

"That's an easy answer," Grace stepped in. "At one point she got so fed up with the younger Elites she started drinking more often. Apparently when she went out for her first legal drink, her whole party was shocked when she just downed the drink like that." She snapped her fingers to emphasize the point.

"Wait, wait, wait, slow down. I've already met Gwen. What the hell is going on around here?" Solarie tried to extract more information from the girls.

"You need to hang out with us more often," Irena nudged her shoulder. "We have eyes everywhere."

Grace grinned. "They're mostly Ashlee's eyes and ears, but some of the servants share tidbits here and there." She stopped right before the doors. "End of the line. Good luck, Solarie. Try not to freeze to death in Nebesa." Both girls skipped off back to where they came from, and Solarie was forced to actually face the council, minus Jin who was beginning to show up less and less frequently to their morning meetings. Something about the king requesting him, he said. She took a deep breath, and pushed open the doors.

It was just a few hours before breakfast serving time, meaning they could actually use the table without icky bits of food or warmed seats.

"Solarie, care to explain why you woke us all up early to attend a last-minute breakfast council?" Roza said, slightly annoyed. The Storm Witch was already dressed for their trip to Nebesa, if the fuzzy blue coat and knee-high warming boots were any indicator.

Gwen folded her arms across her chest. "Yes, do go on. I have to fill out paperwork because I killed somebody inside the palace. I can't believe I'm the person who has to endure the torture even though they're the one who's currently sitting in a morgue." A few slightly confused and concerned glances made their way to Gwen's face, but she paid no attention to it.

"Alright, well, I have a plan that might win us the war against Sötèt." Whatever came out of Solarie's mouth was a lot less confident than what she had envisioned in her head.