Glitches (Book 1)

Chapter 43: Saralee

Before I begin this next chapter, I want to thank all of you for getting me to #13 on the Hot 100 in Sci-Fi, 1.5K votes, and nearly 12K reads! Yay!

Okay, so there was only supposed to be one Saralee chapter, but the ending of chapter 39 was quite the cliffhanger and this little episode needs finishing up! It's a direct continuation of chapter 39, so if you need to reread that, feel free to do so.

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"Wh...what?" Selaeyah's jaw dropped as she stared at me in shock. Sophie too was looking from Sierra to her mother to me with horror, but her sister wore a nonchalant smirk that pleased me very much indeed. Good, I had always liked Sierra better anyway.

"You heard me right," I said icily, raising my arms and inflating my Aura. My expensive gossamer cape lifted slightly, billowing quite impressively in the breeze my swirling power made.

Blue walls rose around the shocked Valior twins and with a twist of my hand, I curved the Aural shields to form a dome that covered them.

"Bets, anyone?" Airel called out with a grin from his position at the back of the room.

"Bets, Prince Airel?" Selaeyah called out with fury. "My daughters are no lowly Kilaenaian warmatch contestants to be betted on!"

"Actually, Airel, that is a splendid idea!" I said with a flourish of my hand. I was actually quite fond of Kilaenas's elaborate warmatches, one might even call it a slight obsession. Most contestants were Rhenan slaves. Good, treating this like a warmatch would bring Selaeyah and her family even more ignominy and shame.

"Since we have Her Majesty's approval, I shall begin," Airel continued. "4000 duvats on Sophie. She has always been the better performer on training exams."

"Agreed, my Prince," Armetorius nodded from his seat beside me. "3500 duvats on Sophie."

"1000 duvats on Sophie!" called a lesser Iceheart from the back of the assembly. "2500 duvats on Sophie!" proclaimed another.

The air rang with the enthusiastic elites of Lessaenes calling out their bets. Every single one was on Sophie, based purely on her superior athletic ability and sharp decision making skills. Fools, every member of the sorry ruling class.

"10,000 duvats on Sierra!" I pronounced with authority, my words echoing off the frigid walls of Icicle Hall.

"You, my sister, are simply outrageous!" Airel yelled, his eyes widening with shock. "Will this be the first time our great Queen Saralee loses a bet?"

"Must I remind you that I am the Prototype? The very first Iceheart to Turn. I am the essence of perfection itself! I am never wrong!"

"Or so we thought," Airel wiggled his eyebrows tauntingly in a way that made me want to slap him across the cheek like we were children again.

"Oh, Airel," I rolled my eyes. "Unlike the rest of you idiots, I analyzed more than just their skills. Just watch."

I crossed my legs, my glittering high heels pinging against the immaculate floor. Being an experienced intimidator, I knew that the more comfortable I appeared, the more terrified Selaeyah and the twins would be.

"Begin!" I called, and the assembled Icehearts roared in approval as Sierra summoned her Aura from behind her, drawing it out into a whiplike shape and lunging at Sophie.

"No! Sierra!" Sophie whisper-yelled, thinking I couldn't hear. However, she had forgotten that as the Prototype, my senses were even sharper than the average Iceheart's.

"We're sisters! We shouldn't be doing this! Don't listen to her!"

"Sorry," Sierra grinned. "But I really want to be the next Chief Valior."