Forged in Frost and Fire (Book 1 in the Chronicles of Kings trilogy)

Chapter One

"Always," I said, "Did they let you have a day off or something?" I gestured to his hands which were less dirty than they normally were.

"Ma's birthday. My boss went easy on me because I've been working my ass off this past month all so I could have this one day." Marc was nearly twenty and had been working at his job for almost a year, but his boss still treated him like a child.

"Let me guess, he's going to make you stay late tomorrow though, right?" I wiggled my brows at him. I knew his boss, Marc's boss was like every boss here in Rame. Greedy people willing to suck every drop of work out of their employees. It didn't help that people were desperate for jobs, it made them even greedier. Just the other day I saw a woman openly refuse a man begging for work even though she had a 'Help Wanted' poster outside her shop.

"Obviously, Eira," he said, sighing loudly. "But what are you up to? You never come to the market this late."

"Darkness is a thiefs best cloak," I said, repeating what Tellie had told me so many times before. "I had to grab dinner." I wiggled the bag in front of his nose. "We thought we had enough but the soldiers did a raid today. Took everything we had stocked. You were at work."

"Figured," Marc said. "Ma sent a letter to me, told me to grab a loaf of anything I could find after my shift." He tucked his hands into his pockets.

"And did you succeed?"

He wiggled the bag on his back for me now. "Indeed. We'll be eating like kings tonight. Stale bread and cheese."

"I've got burnt bread and a bruised pear," I said. "I think I did better." We both chuckled at that. That was the thing about people living in Rame, we talked about what we didn't have. A lot. People like Marc and I made jokes, hiding behind the facade of humor and wry chuckles to fill the empty caverns in our bellies, ones that cramped and grumbled and were never, ever full. Other people simply complained, I doubted that was any better.

"Will you come down for a swim tomorrow?" Marc asked. "It'd be early in the morning, but we haven't done it in so long."

"A swim?" I said. "It's too cold." I wrapped my thin cloak, ridden with holes, tighter around myself for emphasis. It really was cold, the winter season was supposed to be ending, but for some reason it was sticking around longer this year. No one had any idea why. The scientists at the castle thousands of miles away were said to be as confused as we were. But they didn't care nearly as much, not when they were further south and lived in palaces with actual heat and food. People living like that found it easy to ignore their people living up north, in ramshackle villages. It didn't matter that we were the ones giving them soldiers to fight with in their stupid war they were too stubborn to give up on.

"Oh come on, Eira," he said, nudging my shoulder. "It'll be fun, and besides, I feel like we haven't hung out in forever."

"Because one of us has a job, remember?" I nudged his shoulder back and he smiled weakly. I wasn't jealous of Marc for snagging the job we had both been working towards. When we applied we knew they were looking for only one person. We both thought it was going to be neither of us, that they were going to pick another desperate villager, but they picked Marc. I was happy for him, really, at least it went to one of us and not someone else. Had I wished it went to me...of course. But Marc had a bigger family, more to care about. He deserved it more. I could never forget that flare of white, hot jealousy that coursed through me though when I heard. I'd never felt that way towards him until that day. I vowed to never feel that way again.

"Right. Well, if you do feel like coming, just tell me tonight. Throw rocks at my window or whatever."

"Ooo, how romantic," I said, letting out a low whistle. Marc and I had known each other since we were kids, but we had never once been romantic towards each other. We were both too stubborn to develop feelings. I once had a fleeting crush on him, but it dissolved quickly. He was too annoying. Too familiar. Liking him would be like liking a brother I could imagine.