by Amy Little
PRINCESS OF THE SEVEN SUNS TRILOGY
Book One: The Healer Princess
by
AMY LITTLE
Copyright © 2017 Amy Little-Lowe
All rights reserved. This work cannot be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, either in part or whole, without the copyright owner’s prior permission in writing. The moral right of Amy Little-Lowe to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
PRINCESS OF THE SEVEN SUNS
BOOK ONE
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter One
The towers of the imperial city of Karrum pierced the thick, grey clouds that massed overhead.
After five years of exile, Annika felt stirred by the majestic sight.
She had left as a girl of twelve, after a palace coup, accompanied by screams of the dying and bursts of fire lighting the dark night sky.
Her heart beat faster just thinking of that night.
The tallest towers in the city belonged to one or another of the great Houses: the Tigers, the Wolves, the Vultures, the Rams, and the Bears.
Annika felt a flush of pride, remembering that hers was the House of the Tiger, but the feeling quickly withered. That was all before – before she had been forced to leave the city. Before her father and sister had cut contact with her.
An escort of soldiers rode ahead and behind her, pushing their way through a throng of travelers. The grimy men and women clogged up the well-compacted, frozen earth of the highway that led to the city gates past a checkpoint, and gazed at the shouting soldiers with wary eyes. On one cart shivered a young boy, dressed in torn rags. The cart was drawn by a skeletal horse.
The sudden pity that she felt for the boy startled Annika from her thoughts.
As she rode her steed by the cart, Annika reached inside her saddle bag. She pulled out the first tunic she could find. It was her favorite and most expensive, spun from fine grey wool, with gold threads throughout. She hesitated for a second, then bent forward from the horse and threw it to the boy.
The boy fumbled with the tunic as he caught it. Then he uncertainly dragged it over himself. It was too large and covered him like a blanket.
Annika smiled at the sight.
“Let the seven suns shine on you,” the boy’s father called after her in a thick voice, pulling his hat off.
They rode faster now that they have passed the initial checkpoint, where most of the in-bound travelers were delayed. The open road leading to the gates stretched emptily before them.
Annika felt with satisfaction the wind on her face. She will be free in the city, she said to herself.
The gates to the city of Karrum loomed above them, ten meters high, with an arch that was crested by an enormous stone sculpture. The sculpture was of the head of a Memory Beast, a large, yak-like creature, with matted hair, two sharp horns, and eyes that looked remarkably human. In eons gone by, these animals were reputed to have had magical powers. The statue’s bulging eyes looked knowingly at each rider as they passed below.
“Is anyone meeting us?” Annika asked the captain of her escort, not daring to hope that her sister, or maybe even her father, would come to welcome her back.
Her father had sent her away five years earlier. Until he wrote to her, asking for her return, she had heard nothing from him. She also heard nothing from her sister.
This silence hurt more than she wanted to admit.
“Prince Zak of the House of the Wolf should be waiting inside the gates,” the captain replied.
The response startled her. Prince Zak’s and her Houses were bitter rivals for many centuries. In the coup five years earlier, they were on opposing sides.
And as for Zak…
Annika remembered him being as accomplished at breaking hearts as at leading armies. Zak was only five or six years older than she, which made him the youngest general in the Empire in quite a few generations. Unkind tongues said that the members of the Council appointed him to keep him out of Karrum and away from their wives.
Annika grimly smiled at the thought, and her naiveté at hoping that her sister or father would be there. While it was unusual for someone from the House of the Wolf to be meeting her, she did not suppose it would make any difference. She was beholden to no one.
The last five years had taught her that she can’t rely on anyone other than herself.
She now knew that she had taken the right decision on the way to the city: she would civilly greet her sister and father, then, as soon as she could, she would say her goodbyes and strike out on her own. This time, she would leave on her own terms.
It was difficult for her to contain the anxiousness, fear, and excitement with which the thoughts of the future filled her.
A hairy, brown auroch charged towards him.
Zak felt his heart hammer. He forced himself to stay relaxed. His eyes fixed on the beast’s sharp horns.
The auroch stared as though through him and gathered speed. The animal was less than a meter away. Its eyes were bloodshot.
At the last moment, Zak stepped sideways. He felt the beast’s fur brush his sleeve. He savored the elation.
It had been a dull morning, waiting at the gates.
The auroch’s handler ran after the animal. “You should’ve stopped it!”
Zak laughed.
The man’s red face looked like it was about to explode. In frustration, the man hefted a large halberd threateningly.
Zak almost imperceptibly changed his stance.
The man took in the move, then the leather-wrapped hilt of a sword tucked under Zak’s cloak, cursed, and then ran after the beast that had disappeared into a narrow alleyway.
Zak looked after him with disappointment, before his attention was drawn to a pretty young noble woman who passed through the gates. She was trailed by four bodyguards and six Memory Beasts laden with luggage. Could this be Princess Annika?
Mistaking his intent, the woman looked at him with a naked invite.
Unlikely to be the princess, thought Zak, losing interest.
The woman passed him with a withering glance.
She would have been a fine diversion, thought Zak, looking after her with a tinge of regret. But not today: he had a duty to fulfill. It was a rare semi-official engagement, since he’d resigned from the Imperial Army.
Not long after, another noblewoman rode in, followed by an armed escort in the House of the Tiger livery.
The young woman had an open face, with high cheekbones, grey eyes, a small, slightly upturned nose, and pale, smooth skin. She looked like Princess Cara, except for the wild, unrefined undercurrent in her features. Her eyes were slightly hooded, as though tired or, perhaps, bent on seduction.
Zak wondered what she would look like in the throes of passion. It took him a few seconds to shake off the thought, upon which he realized that before him was Princess Annika. He peeled away from the wall of the guardhouse, against which he had leaned, and strode across the narrow plaza. He emerged just before her.
The young woman saw him too late for a graceful stop. She reined in her steed. The animal roared up on to its hind legs. With a strangled cry, the princess came off. She landed in the mud with an ungainly splash.
Zak rushed in to help her.
The soldiers dismounted and stood between them, but as the captain nodded they stepped aside to let Zak through.
The woman sprung up off the ground,
refusing assistance. She was dressed in a plain grey tunic that was only adorned at the sides with black and dark orange slashes of her house, and wrapped over the top with a black mantle. Despite the looseness of the tunic, it clung to the outlines of her body. Zak took in the slim yet round hips, narrow waist, small firm chest. Despite himself, he could not look away.
The princess took the reins from a soldier and restrained her steed, with strength that could not have been expected from her slight form. Then she faced Zak, standing tall. She looked at him coldly.
The indifferent look stung Zak more than he thought possible. He kneeled, grateful that the protocol helped him disguise his pique.
Annika felt tense in the presence of the young man before her. She wondered why that was.
He was dressed simply, but tastefully, in a manner that betrayed little about him. He could have been a high ranking officer, or a noble from one of the Houses. His grip, when he took her hand, was strong. When he kissed her hand, his lips felt warm.
An unexpected tingling of pleasure raced up Annika’s arm. Then, all too soon, the sensation was over.
“Prince Zak, ready to serve you,” the man said.
Annika mumbled some half-forgotten formalities, feeling acutely uncomfortable at her lack of polish. All she could find were some words ,thanking him for meeting her at the gates.
“Don’t mention it. My morning was spent at these gates in happy anticipation.”
Annika wasn’t sure if he was mocking her. “Entirely unnecessary. Although it has been some years, I am still capable of making my way in this city, especially given the escort, and with the captain’s able assistance.”
Zak remained kneeling on the muddy flagstones.
“Rise,” she said. Then, she blushed at the sharpness of her voice. “Please.” Once he stood up, she added, quickly, “You may leave.” She was about to turn to mount her mare, but his words stopped her.
“Not yet. In any event, I don’t wish to.”
He was taller than any of the soldiers around, and certainly taller than her. She had to crane her neck up at him. That did not help her temper. “I should think in this case my wishes are all that matters!”
“I once thought likewise,” he drily said, dusting the dried mud that had gathered where he had knelt off his woolen leggings. “I had to let go of that notion some years back.”
His presence… it was akin to being next to a dangerous, wild creature. An electric charge seemed to hover in the air around him, somehow drawing her in. The attraction worried her. She filed these feelings away so she could review them later.
“I can’t say I am sorry to hear that,” she said, with irritation she did not bother hiding. She glared at him, then mounted her steed. Looking down on him, she demanded, “Our Houses are rivals, are they not?”
“You want to know why I am here?”
“Yes,” she allowed. “If your preference is to get to the point.”
“I sense we share that preference.”
His disarming smile was difficult to resist. Annika struggled but set her face in what she hoped was a grim scowl. “Must I wait on your response?”
“I have no choice but to risk incurring your further displeasure,” Zak said. “The Council has asked me to accompany you, princess. Hence neither of us has choice in this matter.” He took hold of her horse’s reins.
To her surprise, the stroppy animal, which had attempted to bite anyone who had dared to come close, let him.
At a loss for how to respond, Annika gave her horse an irritated kick.
The steed didn’t react, proceeding placidly and contentedly at the pace that Zak had set.
Beyond the gate-side plaza, the road separated into three wide avenues, leading to the lowlands, the old town, and the hills. The captain led them down the central avenue to the old town, where the Tiger castle stood out in the distance against the grey sky like a black, jagged cut-out that could be held in one hand. The road was wide enough for more than a dozen riders, while the sides of the avenue were festooned with white briar rose garlands. It was soon the Festival of the Winter Sun. The streets were filled with people, many of them dressed in their finest red and green robes, and the captain said something about turning off to the side streets to avoid the crush.
Annika recalled the excitement she had felt on preparing for past festivals with Cara, when they were both children. The recollection did not help her mood, and she shifted her attention to Zak, who easily kept pace with her on a horse loaned to him by a soldier. “Our Houses never have never gotten along,” Annika said to him.
She did not know why she said it. But if it was to needle her unwanted companion, her remark was wide off the mark.
“We don’t get to choose our families,” Zak simply replied.
She found herself thinking about his words. How often had she in her mind railed at her father and sister during the years of exile? How often had she wished she had come from a low-born household, for instance, that of a miller, a traveling merchant, or even a peasant – as long as she felt loved?
No, she certainly did not choose her family, nor, given the ease with which they had kept their distance, they her.
Zak looked at Annika while she thought.
She blushed, feeling the weight of his gaze, and was relieved when they soon turned off the avenue, making Zak fall back and let go of her reins.
Although the streets were narrower, to the captain’s audible frustration, they were no less crowded, and the riders had to travel in a single file. They came to a slightly wider bend.
Deciding to seize the opportunity to put more distance between her and Zak, Annika pressed the steed with her knees.
The horse bounded ahead, passed the soldiers, and then weaved through the carts and pedestrians without a pause. For Annika, the scenery blurred into a smudge of faces, dark small windows, smoke, and shouts of the food sellers. It was warmer inside the city than in the open fields, and soon, the horse’s sides rose and fell in a rapid succession. Steam was coming out of its nostrils. The animal tossed its head and then, suddenly, at the sound of a sharp command behind it, skid to a stop.
Annika cried out and just held on.
Zak rode up. Before she could spur her horse on again, he placed his hand on hers. “Annika,” he said.
The sound of her name on his lips for some reason made her heart beat faster.
“Beware,” he said. “There are those who would wish to hurt you. Riding ahead like this would give them a chance.”
“Are you stating your intentions?”
“No.”
There was no smile in his eyes now. She tossed her head in irritation. How did he manage to get under her skin so easily? “Shall I shout for my soldiers?”
“I doubt they can help you.” He indicated behind him. The soldiers were nowhere around.
A flash of surprise made her look around herself anew. She must have ridden far harder than she had realized.
“You are beautiful,” he said, observing her. “And headstrong. Just as I remember you, when we played together as children.”
His hand was still on hers, feeling warm, rough, comforting. It held her own hand and the reins tightly.
She could feel his strength draw her towards him like a physical pull. She wanted to reach out to him, to be closer. She did not want to escape his touch. She said to herself that she had to. “We hardly knew each other then. I don’t recall more than a handful of occasions on which our families came together.”
Half-heartedly she tried to shake his hand off. As he let go, she felt a tinge of regret and flicked the reins.
The horse refused to move.
She tried kicking it lightly. Whereas before, it would have flown at the slightest touch, now it merely neighed and stood its ground.
“It will not move without my command,” Zak said.
“Then say it!”
“Will you let me ride with you?”
“Are you holding me against my will
?” she asked, in disbelief.
“I’ve been asked to ensure your safe return, Annika. I am not used to failing.”
She reluctantly nodded assent, exerting all her will to remain calm.
He said a command, softly, and the horse trotted ahead at a moderate pace. The streets were wider now and he rode beside her, directing his horse with an easy grace.
Their knees brushed occasionally.
Annika found herself looking forward to the next physical contact between them. She did not like that thought. If she could not race ahead, perhaps slowing down was preferable to… this, whatever this was that she felt. “Let’s wait for the soldiers,” she said.
“Why?”
“You… seem to think this city is dangerous. I shouldn’t want to be ambushed.”
“I hope we are. It has been a slow day.” His eyes flashed.
Annika could see the dangerous sides of his nature now more clearly than before, just beneath the polished veneer. It was as though she riding by a crumbling precipice. She shivered and said, more to herself, “The House of the Wolf is not known for its peaceful tendencies.”
“Nor was the House of the Tiger built on charity. Many a valiant and bloody battle had been fought by your ancestors.”
“That may be true, but that concerns me not now. I feel little allegiance to my House.”
“Second Princess Annika, not a Tiger?” he said, skeptically.
“I’ve had no contact with my father and sister in five years,” she said.
“I can barely tolerate my father’s company, and I would ride an extra block to avoid my siblings,” Zak said. “I don’t think I’ve spoken to some of them in years. Yet I can’t deny who I am.”
They were so different, Annika thought.
Whatever valiant and bloody battles her House had fought in the past, hers would be a path of non-violence. She was going to heal people, she said to herself. To heal, and not to hurt, that was the basic difference between them.
She did not voice her thoughts, however. Keeping her thoughts to herself has become her nature, over the years.