Starrlings 1: House of Fire

chapter 28

L U M I

She raised her head and waited, her whole body tense with nerves. Jinni glared at her. His eyes were pure black, and they were fixed straight on her. He let out a guttural huff from his throat, and then lowered his head, slightly.

"Better," Rita said.

Jinni let out a growl again in Rita's direction.

"He doesn't like when you speak Starg," Lumi murmured.

"Sorry?" the caval asked.

Lumi shook her head, then said in the Fire tongue, her eyes on Jinni, "You don't like Starg, do you, Jinni? You and me both, boy. We don't belong here, in this strange country. But we have each other, okay?"

Jinni flicked his tail in acknowledgement.

"Okay, keep speaking in Kaio to him," Rita said, in Starg, while stepping back. "He responds better to Kaio."

"We're going to be okay if we have each other, right, Jinni?" Lumi asked him, still speaking Kaio. Her voice was soft, like always, but that didn't matter with Jinni. His ears were more powerful than any human's. "You and me, together."

Jinni let out a satisfied huff, and then nudged forward, nosing against Lumi's arm in an affection gesture. As he did he stretched out his black wings, airing the feathers. Lumi breathed out. His wings were so huge.

"He's hungry," Rita said.

Lumi glanced backwards, to where another caval was walking forward with a long stick, pierced on the end with a dripping red piece of meat. Lumi almost reeled at the sight. She never ate meat, and she'd lived her life in comfort, away from the reality of death. She'd never even seen a kinntiger hunting. The meat on the stick repulsed her.

"It's on the stick so he doesn't bite your arm off," Rita explained.

Lumi stepped towards the trainer with the stick, and took the long piece of wood from him. She angled it towards Jinni, who stared hungrily at it.

"Breakfast, Jinni," Lumi said weakly, her voice trembling.

But as Jinni stepped forward, Lumi angled the meat away from him again. "Listen to me," she said. "You're my kinnling. I'm your starrling. We need to understand one another, okay? So I need to be able to talk to you, and you need to be able to talk to me, right?"

Jinni glared at her.

"So if you want breakfast, I need you to sit for me. Sit and wait."

Jinni flicked his tail impatiently, but then he lowered himself back onto his hind legs, and folded his wings back.

"Very good, boy," Lumi said. "Okay, you can take it now."

Lumi angled the stick back towards him, and within a second Jinni had launched into the air and latched onto the piece of meat. He ripped it off the stick with a strength Lumi hadn't anticipated, and she fell back, the stick falling onto the straw floor. Jinni ignored her, taking the meat and stalking off into a dark corner of the kinnhouse to eat.

"This is one of the most aggressive tigers I've ever seen," Rita said, holding out a hand to help Lumi up. Lumi took it, and the trainer hauled her to her feet. Lumi dusted straw off the back of her skirt. "It's typical of royalty to be handed a kinnling well beyond their means, with no idea how to handle it. At least here in Lombardia the kids get their kinnling younger."

"My grandmother thought this was the right tiger for me," Lumi said, trying to be defiant.

Rita rolled her eyes.

"I suggest you get up to the Old Building for your own breakfast."

But Lumi had no intention of joining the other school students for breakfast. She couldn't bear the idea of being amongst so many people who would stare at her. So she climbed onto one of the tall fences and watched as the streak of tigers tumbled into the yard to play.

Jinni and Yainni stuck together, playing with each other, and avoiding the rest of the tigers. Lumi was happy that Jinni and Yainni were so close, and had each other. They didn't look distressed, even with all of these new tigers around them.

"There you are."

The cold voice sent a chill down Lumi's spine, and she almost fell off the fence in surprise. Lumi turned around, to find her brother, flanked by two other boys, and Chiru.

Lumi jumped down. "Tai," she said. She glanced at his new friends, formidable looking boys, and then at Chiru, who wasn't even looking at Lumi, but was looking up at Tai as if he was the most beautiful boy in the world.

"My little sister has a habit of wandering off, and we wouldn't want her to get lost," Tai said. His Starg was crisply and perfectly accented. "Let's keep a closer eye on her, shall we?"

Lumi trembled. "I was just..." the words came out in the Fire tongue, and Tai narrowed his eyes.

"We're in Lombardia, little sister," he said. "Let's converse in Starg. Now, let's get breakfast."

Some part of Lumi was relieved - that she could follow her brother, and that she wouldn't be alone to go into the huge, noisy breakfast hall. But another part of her was disappointed - she'd enjoyed the brief moment she'd had to herself this morning, to watch the stars, and to bond with Jinni.

The hall was alive with the clattering of silver against ceramic, and the bubbling, excited voices of students. Tai led Lumi to a table and the two of them sat, while Tai directed his new friends to bring them breakfast. Then Tai and Lumi were alone.

"You shall not wander off again," Tai said, instantly switching back to their own language once his friends were gone. "I need to keep a close eye on you. To keep you safe."

"Yes, Tai," Lumi murmured.

"Stupid little mosquito," Tai muttered. "This school is teeming with people who would have you killed... you see that, surely? Look." Tai gestured to a table across from theirs, where a group of boys was talking, but glancing surreptitiously at Tai and Lumi.

"I didn't think..."

"No, of course you didn't think," Tai snapped. "That's my job, isn't it? You're just the pretty little bride, to be sold off to the highest bidder. Don't ever imagine you're anything more than that, my sweet."

Somewhere inside her, Lumi remembered her dreams of the fire army... of advancing through the ranks to General, like her aunt. But that was a distant memory of a dream, impossible now. Tai was right. She was a bride to be sold. A pawn to be played.

"I don't want to..." Lumi murmured, but she knew the words were useless, and she stopped her sentence.

But Tai had heard her. His dark eyes were trained on the room, surveying his enemies, but he spoke only to her.

"I know, sister," he said. "I know you don't want to marry the prince. Fear not. He will never have you. I will make sure of that."

• Author's Note •

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