City of Solis (Beta Read)

Chapter 3

Today was just as bleak as yesterday. The puddles on the road turned into rivers down the drain. I didn’t mind it much. The weather reflected the same tempest I felt inside. Resa mimicked with her emerald gown what I should be doing with the skirts of my dress. I looked down at the material sloshing in the water as I stepped. Reluctantly, I lifted the velvet skirt before proceeding up the steps. I once again passed the decaying plants of the council building. My Dad let me step into Ambrosia by myself on my tenth birthday. Armed with my hunting knife, bow, and two years' worth of knowledge about the woods. I remembered the pit of fear when I navigated the logs and bushes alone. I had my arrows pointed at a doe, one so young it still had the speckles of white along its back. Nearly the same size as me. The wide brown eyes waiting for something to happen past the tip of the arrow.

Today, the building didn't smell of mistreatment and neglect. The entry had been dusted. The normal dirty and worn rug was replaced with a fresh, elegant, amber patterned one. On the entryway table, a vase, stuffed with bunches of deep purple flowers. I recognized the aroma. It was the same smell at my mother’s funeral and at my father’s. I didn’t capture the name of them. I only remembered placing it on the dirt to say goodbye. Today, Resa said nothing before sending me off. She only gave me a warm smile. And a kiss on the cheek. And when she stepped aside, the doors opened for me.

I had been so focused on aiming at the deer I didn’t realize I was being surrounded by a pack of wolves until I heard the low growl from the underbrush. The panic that seized me then was similar to the one now. I pulled at my fingers as I strode through the entryway. The intolerable click of my heels against the marble echoed past the seated council members. The room had been rearranged, as they sat at a table my chair had been moved, alone and before them. Resa would’ve told me to sit pretty, as I did, with the little confidence I possessed. My damp strands of hair dripped over my chest. While I sat isolated feet away from them, the marbled fireplace warmed their backs and casted a fiery light between them.

I couldn’t count all the wolves pressing in at the time, I was so scared. All I could then was lower my bow as they snarled and licked at their lips. But right now, I could count four.

Neheve sat in the middle, head held the highest. Dress as red as the rubbies she wore around her neck. Her lips were stained the same crimson color. Normally, she wore her long black hair up and in a slick bun. But today, it was freefalling past her waist and tossed over her shoulder. Fin sat beside her, eyes on me and fist held on the table. Tyron wriggled in his seat, much like a kid when they were ready to leave the dinner table. This trial was merely to satisfy the law. There wasn’t a fair amount of people to be present to vote in my favor. All it took was two hands, and that would be the last of my involvement. I had lost the moment I stepped inside, just as I had lost the moment I saw those wolves. 

“We’re called in regarding Ehlea Barrin Adler and her involvement in the council,” Neheve started.

The moment before the wolves charged had been the scariest. I couldn’t anticipate exactly when they would lurch. I made slow movements even my breath became inaudible, “Its my proposition, she no longer cast vote in discussions pertaining to the middle war, as her involvement may be clouded by poor judgment,” It was impossible not the hear her in the nearly empty room, but my ears started ringing. I stared only at her finger and the giant gem on it.

“Do you have a defense?” Neheve’s fingers started tapping on the table, a sound much like the sound of my boots hitting the forest floor as I ran for my life. I wasn’t prepared then, and I wasn’t prepared now. Resa sat with me as I scribbled words on a paper, I was supposed to recite them now. But my throat was dry. I’m over my fathers death, I thought about him every day and exactly what it would take to bring him back. I’m capable of making my own decisions, including what is best for the four territories, I didn’t know how to stop the war or where to even start. Arguing for a spot I was forced into didn’t feel worth it. Maybe choosing a side was the answer, and I didn’t have the heart to do so.