Elias rolled his shoulders and grinned at the four catgirls watching from a distance. One of them blushed furiously and tapped her companion on the shoulder. The companion shook her head, and the blushing girl turned heel and marched away in the opposite direction.

  Excellent. One less bystander to worry about, and it placed their immediate threat in the center.

  “Good morning, ladies.” Elias kept his smile steady and his demeanor lax. He faced the woman at their center, and Melly stayed to his left as he’d instructed. He could feel one angry pair of eyes in the shadows to his right, the other to his left.

  The woman who concerned him most wore a leather vest that cut off above her abdomen, trimmed with tiny golden beads. Her trousers blossomed around her legs, and leather boots hugged her calves. A scimitar hung at her side, and her fingers lingered near its handle. Her eyes were narrowed and her chin held high, and her dark hair was pulled back into a tight braid. She wore the expression of a halino itching for a fight; her ears slanted backward, and her tail ticked in a slow rhythm between her ankles.

  The bystander hiding to their right wore a similar vest, though her pants were exchanged for skirts, and the golden chains around her ankles had caught the light as she moved between houses. Without them, Elias would not have seen her. She carried daggers in both hands and was careful to keep to the darkest recesses between buildings.

  “Melly?” the young woman on the left asked. Her hands writhed beneath her chest, and her smile was unsure. Her loose white silks were a similar style to Melly’s turquoise green attire—[Civilian Mode], it seemed, as Ai had called it. Her eyes lingered on Elias’s face for only a moment before searching the ground. “Is this the new man?”

  “Yes. Ananya, Nihal, Mehar,” Melly gestured to each in turn as she said their names, “this is Elias.” She smiled easily, despite what Elias had told her just moments before. He was impressed, even the wandering troupes that passed through Clan Khopyé could not give such convincing performances as Melly.

  “He is like us!” Mehar exclaimed, pointing to his ears, then his tail. Her long, violet robes swirled around her feet and ended high on her throat, bedecked in golden trinkets and delicate threads. Sparkling gemstones dangled from her ears, and golden bracelets clinked together around her wrists. A First Shell resident, he presumed. “Saoirse has blessed us with one of our own!”

  “You are kind to say so. We will see if Queen Naeemah agrees,” Elias replied. The sooner they knew his and Melly’s intentions, the better.

  Melly nodded. “Elias and I thought that a formal introduction to the queen would be for the best. After that, he’ll have more time to spend with the rest of us.”

  Nihal, the woman at the center, stepped forward. “And what will you say your intentions for Rājadhānī are, Elias?” She said his name like a curse.

  It was difficult to tell if she was fond of Magni’s rule or against it. The hiding woman’s anklets caught a sliver of light as she slithered closer, and his gaze flicked to the right. She vanished behind a grouping of barrels.

  “Seeing as I so recently arrived, that is impossible for me to answer just yet.” His grip tightened around the handle of his spear. “Tell me, Nihal, if all went according to your wishes, how do you imagine Ichi Island’s future?”

  Nihal blinked. She wasn’t expecting the question. Her gaze moved to Ananya, then Mehar, and her hand curled around the scimitar’s handle. Elias had hoped to diffuse the situation, but instead, he’d cornered her. Predators did not react well in corners.

  “I-I wish we could all live in peace,” Ananya said suddenly. She shared many of Elias’s colors—long white hair braided over one shoulder, bright blue eyes, and skin kissed by the sun. Her cheeks pinked, and she looked down at her fingers steepled at her chest. “That includes the women and kittens of the Third Shell. My mother remembers a time when Rājadhānī was united, and I want to know a time like that, too.”

  Mehar gestured to Ananya, then met Elias’s unwavering gaze. “I agree. Our king was generous to us, but the First and Second Shells did not realize how poorly the conditions in the Third Shell had become. We were assured that the Ejderha protected everyone.” She crossed her right arm over her chest, clasping her left elbow. “I did not realize…not until I saw the kittens…”

  “We deserve what we were promised,” Melly agreed as Mehar’s words trailed. “All of us.”

  “Yes! Exactly!” Mehar brightened, and her ears twitched forward.

  Nihal’s expression darkened. “But murderers run free in our streets. Anger and vengeance from the Third Shell are palpable, and they have no idea what to do with the queen’s generosity beyond taking advantage of it.” She slowly shook her head, keeping her piercing red eyes on Elias. They were unsettling. “We lost our king. Our protection. Our livelihoods.”

  A hair’s width of the blade at Nihal’s side appeared above its sheath. Elias laid his left hand heavily on her right shoulder, letting his fingertips sink into her skin. It would take some effort on her part, but if she did decide to ignore his warning and pull the rest of her blade free, he could swipe the point of his spear across her throat and end the fight in one quick motion. “Nihal. I will act as quickly as I can. But I need time to assess the situation first, as any leader would. Do you disagree?”

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  A tense moment that felt like centuries passed between them. Ananya and Mehar watched with wide eyes, and Melly’s left hand had vanished inside of her [Cat Pack]. Despite his height over Nihal, fighting a group on his own would still prove challenging. Thankfully, he was not alone if it came to blows.

  “I suppose so.” The sharp steel vanished back inside its sheath. Nihal looked to the right and gave a nearly imperceptible nod, then drummed her fingers across her heart. A casual onlooker wouldn’t have caught the gesture, instead grouping it with one of the hundreds of twitches and uncalculated movements made by the living. But Elias had organized his clan through countless battles, and predetermined signals saved lives.

  He loosened his grip on her shoulder and lowered his arm. “Would you three do us the honor of escorting us to the queen?” Even with the temporary disengagement, Elias did not want his or Melly’s backs readily available to Nihal or her companion.

  “O-oh! That would be our honor!” Ananya exclaimed. She looked at Mehar and Nihal.

  “Of course we will.” Mehar looked at Nihal’s deepening frown. “Right, Nihal?”

  Good. Make it impossible for Nihal to say no.

  Melly tipped her head to the side. “We would feel much better with your company. Especially an experienced [Rogue] like you, Nihal.”

  Was [Rogue] another Class? Elias set the thought aside to ask Melly at a later time.

  Ananya turned to Nihal and touched her lips. “On the topic of experienced [Rogue]s, I thought I saw Mona with you this morning. Would she be willing to join us? It would be most unfortunate if something were to happen to Elias on the way to the queen.”

  Elias swallowed his smile.

  “Ah, yes. Mona needed to purchase a few spices from Reem,” Nihal explained while her tail painted rapid patterns in the air. “She should be able to find me here.”

  Mona’s glittering anklets appeared from behind the barrel, then darkened as she vanished down the alley. She emerged on the opposite side of the building in the bright sunlight and jogged toward their group with an uneasy smile.

  “Do all [Rogue]s prefer the shadows?” Elias leaned forward and murmured low enough for only Nihal to hear.

  Nihal’s eyes snapped to his, and surprise passed over her features. She recovered quickly and greeted Mona as if she hadn’t been watching their every movement.

  “Good morning, Mona. This is Elias. We’re taking him to meet Queen Naeemah,” Melly said. “We would appreciate your assistance.”

  “Certainly.” Mona’s tone was flat despite her grin.

  “We are in your debt. Show us the way?” Elias gestured for the girls to lead on. The presence at their left had vanished; he hoped from a lack of interest or at a sign from Nihal. Still, with Nihal and Mona leading the charge, it gave him the advantage of their backs and should discourage an ambush.

  Nihal and Mona reluctantly turned away and started walking. Their first few strides were long, adding enough distance that Elias would have had to lunge with his spear. Melly had explained that the Ejderha were no more, and Ananya and Mehar hadn’t addressed Nihal as such, but Elias had to wonder. These women had combat training, were clever in how they maneuvered, and Nihal’s disdain toward the Third Shell leaned into the prior king’s narrative.

  As they traveled through the Second Shell, more eyes and whispers followed. Melly, Ananya, and Mehar deflected the innocently curious from delaying their journey with calm dismissals and promises of later introductions. Nihal’s tail moved in the same strict patterns and kept one hand to her chest. Elias caught sight of at least four more women in the shadows, and Mona joined Nihal in her subtle signaling.

  The razed wall that had so recently separated the Second and First Shells swarmed with catgirls in all manner of cleanliness and attire hauling chunks of debris to nearby fires monitored and tended to by women with heavy hammers and sweat on their brows. Kits joined them, lifting any pieces their tiny hands could handle and following their mothers to the fires. They’d cleared away a path approximately a furlong wide and equally as deep, but it was a small chunk of the monumental amount of work ahead of them.

  “You said there’s one additional wall like this, correct?” Elias asked Melly as they passed between the workers.

  “Yes. It’s been demolished like this one, but we haven’t had a chance to start clearing the rubble yet.”

  He hummed his reply. Were there more catgirls on the island who could help them clear? Did they have the resources to immediately support such an endeavor? Otherwise, this was a project that could take decades.

  Only a few of the women lifted their eyes from their work to see Elias, murmuring the news to nearby ears before returning to the debris. By the time they reached the First Shell, it seemed they’d lost interest in him, which was for the better.

  The extravagance in buildings, statues, and decoration took Elias aback. He had assumed a slight improvement from the Second Shell, which was already crafted like a paradise, but the extensive canals, painted tiles, and opulent buildings may as well have been a separate country.

  Six more women in leather armor openly brandished their weapons and approached from all sides. Elias’s grip tightened around his spear, and Melly stepped closer to him.

  “Mona? What’s going on?” Ananya murmured.

  “We’re protecting the First Shell,” Mona replied.

  Ananya and Mehar exchanged uncomfortable looks and slowed their steps until they flanked Elias and Melly.

  “Nihal? Who is this?” A woman with black hair in dozens of tight braids stopped in front of Nihal and gestured toward Elias with her spear.

  “Ichi Island’s new man, Captain Valiqa,” Nihal replied. She lowered her voice and murmured unintelligible words.

  “Captain?” Melly whispered.

  Valiqa grinned, her pearl-white teeth glowing against her ebony skin. She turned and motioned for the others to stand aside, then looked at Elias. “Speak with Naeemah, then. Afterward, I implore you to come speak with me.”

  Her refusal to grant Naeemah a title, the malicious gleam in her eye, and the power she held over her cohorts…

  Rājadhānī is truly on the brink of rebellion.

  Volume One is out now on eBook, Kindle Unlimited, Paperback, and Audible! , , , and are available on eBook, Kindle Unlimited, and Paperback.

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