#kgcountdown

How dare he.

“In through the nose, Cal.” When he looks up, our eyes locking across the stream, I give him a tiny, supporting nod. Out through the mouth. It’s just his own advice repeated back, but it soothes him all the same. He takes another step forward, then another and another, chest heaving with each steadying breath. And then he’s swimming […] and he eagerly springs out of the water. […] “S'cold,” he mumbles, shaking his head so he doesn’t have to look at us. His black hair sticks, plastered to one side of his silver-flushed face. Without thought, I brush it away, smoothing his hair back into a more dignified style. He holds my gaze all the while, looking pleasantly surprised by the action. Then it’s my turn to blush. We said no distractions.

In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don’t know if I’ll ever smile again.

“Why give him a choice at all? You said yourself, we need everyone we can get. If this Nix guy is half of what you are, we can’t afford to let him go.”The answer is so simple, and it cuts me to bone.“Because no one ever gave me a choice.”

“My name is Cameron Cole, and if you don’t mind, I’m going to be on my way.”

For all their differences, the two boys share a startling connection. They are both orphans, both abandoned, with no one but me to anchor them.

While the other girls wore silk dresses and a few had strange, gilded armor, Evangeline rises in an outfit of black leather. Jacket, pants, boots, all studded with hard silver. No, not silver. Iron. Silver is not so dull or hard. Her house cheers for her, all of them on their feet. She belongs to Ptolemus and the patriarch, but others cheer too, other families. They want her to be queen. She is the favorite.

You believe you are the masters of the world, but your reign as kings and gods is at an end. Until you recognize us as human, as equal, the fight will be at your door. Not on a battlefield but in your cities. In your streets. In your homes. You don’t see us, and so we are everywhere. And we will rise up, Red as the dawn.