Serpent's Daughter (Four Kingdoms #1) ✓

10. Love Letters

Nova poked at her mental walls, growing impatient. She clicked her tongue, and Nova shifted. The medium-sized bird nearly took up the entire opening of the window. Her brilliant yellow, gold, and orange feathers gleamed in the sunlight.

Sephirah reached to tie the letter on Nova's thin legs when a sharp whistle came from the training grounds. She groaned, throwing her body back in the seat so hard it nearly toppled over. She'd completely forgotten the early training session she had with her mother. She hastily shoved the rolled-up letter into her tall black boots.

"If you don't hurry, you're going to be late." Her brother was sticking his head out of the window. Nova's feathers mixed in with his wild hair.

"Move it." Sephirah pushed Zeid away as Nova flew from her perch, returning to the castle wall. Zeid grinned when he noticed her intentions as she climbed onto the round table.

A scholar walked past the many bookshelves surrounding them, giving her an appalled expression. She forced a bubble of laughter down her throat.

She ignored the growing audience of scholars behind her as she balanced her black boots on the windowsill, peering down at the training grounds. They were three floors up, and heatwaves in the air made the ground appear hazy. Nova let out an encouraging note as her mother, Empress Ianthe, walked through the warriors who paused their drills to salute her.

Empress Ianthe wore her usual training outfit: a sleeveless red tunic tucked into black puffy pants cuffed at the ankle. A long crimson intricate braid shifted as her mother moved towards a large white circle in the middle of the courtyard.

Sephirah grinned as adrenaline flooded her veins. Excitement soon followed as she leaped from the window. Her stomach jumped upwards into her throat as her heart sped up. Zeid whooped from above her, and she laughed, the wind snatching the sound upwards. The soft dirt of the ground approached rapidly, and she bent her knees, preparing to absorb the shock of her fall.

She landed, tucking her body into a tight ball. The sky flipped upside down three times as she rolled into a stance, jogging briskly to her mother, who watched her approach.

"You're late," Empress Ianthe said as she ran her hands down the sides of her pants. Her molten gold eyes narrowed.

"That depends on how you look at it." Sephirah held up a finger, wagging it back and forth, a silver ring flashed in the light. "You never clarified the position of the sun. You only said morning. I consider this an unholy hour to be quite frank. I've outdone myself by coming at all."

"Stubborn bull." Her mother's face cracked into a grin. "If you win, I'll allow you to have a rest day tomorrow."

Sephirah smiled. Empress Ianthe was strict in her fighting lessons and once a month, they would train together for five consecutive days. Sparring with her mother usually ended with an aching body, and healers going in and out of her room for half of the day. An opportunity to rest was something Sephirah refused to pass up.

"Hey! You forgot something," a voice shouted from the shadowed open walkway near the castle. Sephirah turned at Zeid's voice, grinning as she watched her long boomerang twisting towards her in the air. She reached out her hand, fingers nimbly finding the leather band on one of the ends.

She rotated with the momentum of her weapon, bending her arm so that it slammed into the dirt with a loud thud. The tanned boomerang dug a few inches into the ground from the impact.

"Thanks," Sephirah shouted over her shoulder. Nova flew through the sky, her feathers shining brightly against the clear blue sky. Sephirah's eyes glowed red as she sent her bird a message.