The Anthem of the Imperial Beasts

I

THE NEW BOOTS WOULD BE great for the autumn if I could afford them, that was. I didn't have a pair of shoes that wouldn't be scuffed for the season, but when I'd delved my hand into the pocket and felt a few coins, the desire to buy them vanished into nothing.

I couldn't spend the remaining coins I'd earned from my last piano performance. What if I needed them for something more important than a pair of new shoes?

The vendor noticed the direction of my stare and lifted the boots off the stand. "Five shillings. It used to cost six. For a beautiful girl I give a discount."

He flashed me a toothless smile, and I repressed my disgust.

"Maybe next time."

I turned and resumed my amble.

"Are you sure?" he called behind me. "There might be no next time!"

Pretending not to hear it, I didn't slow my pace.

Today had kicked off terribly enough. I didn't have time dealing with lousy vendors, nor walking through the market in the first place, which I had done anyway. It would be surprising if I left it without spending at least a coin.

Although the sun was a warm and tender touch on my skin, it didn't content me as it once had. Last year, I would have smiled since the summer was my favourite season and warm days like this were Gods' blessing, but now the increasing heat of the sun constantly reminded me that my younger sister, Gen, would be offered at the offering of the Summer Solstice.

"Elynn!"

I slightly started as two girls looped their arms through mine. I wasn't surprised to find Alise to my left and Irisa to my right, as per usual.

"Shall we go shopping for the dresses?" Alise asked.

"Yes, dresses!" Irisa exclaimed in joy. "It's the perfect afternoon for it. I heard the shopkeeper had received new models this morning."

"Yes, Elynn, let's go. You should have bought one a long time ago, and the wedding is just around the corner."

The wedding. The mere thought of it made my stomach churn.

"Not today." I managed a pleasant voice. "I have other plans."

Alise brushed off her flaxen hair. "Oh, come on. If you're always so busy, when are you planning to buy a gown? I'm sure Chase has a suit already and a bride not having an outfit selected before her husband? Shameful."

Irisa nodded. "Very shameful."

Alise and Irisa might have been born with the same souls, but when it came to their looks, they were the opposites. Irisa possessed much darker features than Alise, who looked like she hadn't seen the sun in years. But it was the start of the summer, and the season was pretty hot in the Mortal Region.

They were pretty girls, as long as it concerned their outside. Gen liked to call them two-faced nuisances, which wasn't polite, but it emphasised their true colours.

"Well?" Alise prompted.

Yesterday, I'd told my mum that I was going to check the wedding gowns today, perhaps buy one, and that was my plan until Kris had told me more books were going to be delivered from the city's library tomorrow. More books meant more chances to find a solution that could save Gen from the annual offering to the Empire of Beasts.

Kris and I had been supposed to go to the library together this morning, but as I'd woken up on a couch hugging a sketchbook like a teddy bear, I found no one in the cottage. Gen had gone to summer school while Kristian hadn't even bothered waiting for me. Now, since I'd awoken in the afternoon, I didn't have time for any shopping as I had to go to the library before all the new books were taken.

"I'm sorry, but—"

The loud clatter of hoofs interrupted me, and a horse halted before us, drawing the attention of the people nearby. I craned my neck, but the sun shining dazzlingly bright behind the rider made it hard to identify them. It wasn't until they dismounted the horse, I saw who it was.

A man dressed in brown tossed his head, and his light brown hair slid off the side of his sun-kissed face.

"Good afternoon, Chase," the girls said in the same cloying tone, almost purring like kittens.

He didn't acknowledge them with anything more than a curt nod as his emerald eyes landed on me.

I gulped.

"Hello, Ely."

It was strange to see my fiancé in the town on Friday. Especially in the morning... or afternoon. To me, it still felt like morning, as it hadn't even been an hour since I was awake.

I forced a smile. "I thought you were going for a hunt?"

After all, he was hunting every day but somehow still found time for me in the evenings. Covertly, I pleaded with the Gods that he would be so busy, he would forget about his fiancée and leave me be for at least one day. Alas, he never did.

"You told me you'd be buying a gown today and that you need money for it." He pulled out something from his pocket. A pouch. "Here. Buy the most pretty one and make sure it undoes easily."

I paid no attention to the queasy feeling clutching my stomach whilst taking the pouch. "Thank you."

"Also, I'm departing for a weekend."

I stifled a cry of joy once a relief surged my chest at the sound of such fantastic news.

"Where are you going?" I pretended to be sincerely interested in the reason for his absence.

"It doesn't matter where I'm going, Ely." A few lines appeared between his bushy eyebrows. "All that matters is that I expect to find you dressed up well at my manor on Monday morning."

Again, my stomach twisted. I swallowed, smiling like an obedient soon-to-be wife I was. "Of course." I then inhaled surreptitiously, just to add another full of lie sentence not to grant him with suspicion. "I'll be waiting for you, my darling."

The appearance of his pleased smile attested I'd said exactly what he wanted to hear. Without uttering farewell, he turned to the horse and mounted him. Chase directed him towards the sun and rode away, accompanied by townies' admiring stares, until he and his horse were gone out of sight.

I almost heaved a sigh of relief, conscious of how his mere presence had made the muscles of my body strained, but I couldn't when another two pairs of eyes were watching me.

"He's so handsome," Alise claimed. "You're so lucky, Elynn."

Irisa nodded a few times enthusiastically. "So, so lucky."

Lucky.

Perhaps I was lucky. Lucky that some man had proposed to a girl with shortcomings as it was rare for a man to covet a wife with no useful skills that a woman was expected to have if she wanted to marry someday. Cooking, gardening, taking care of the home when her husband wasn't around wasn't something I was born to do, and I'd already tried those things, failing at each one of them.

I'm lucky. I had to repeat to myself that or else I might bail when the wedding day came. I ignored my inner voice, which I kept hushing or pushing to the back of my mind perpetually, for I couldn't bear it to say:

But Chase is not the man you felt in your trance, Elynn.