Free The Other Side of Truth (The Marked Ones Trilogy Book 3) by Alicia Kat Vancil Page A

Chancellarius of Karalia, you became the future chancellar .” I ran my hand back through my hair, and leaned a little closer to him, whispering the rest. “Which basically means you now outrank me, Roy, and pretty much everyone else in all of Karalia who isn’t a Galathea.”
    “Oh,” Patrick said on a heavy breath. “So what you’re saying is, I have to walk in this procession whether I want to or not?”
    “Unless you want everyone digging into your personal life more than they already are, then yeah, you do.”

    NUALLA

    A s I walked out of The Embassy building and into the courtyard, the heavy ceremonial uchikake kimono dragging across the ground, it really sunk in that without Alex, I was all alone. Because even though Loraly was the cellarius , she actually held no real power, and thus walked behind me in the procession. I was now the future ruler of Karalia, and the realization of what that really meant was finally starting to settle in.
    So many little girls dreamt of being a princess. They’d fantasize about the castles, and the pretty dresses, and the balls. But what it really meant to be a princess—to be the future ruler of a kingdom—was that one day, the fate of thousands of people would be placed in your hands. And failure would mean that people would die.
    But I wasn’t quite there yet. Today I only had to make a speech. However, other than yelling at the former Grand Council, I hadn’t actually ever had to make a public speech of any kind. Not really. Not unless you counted the Oath. And so naturally, despite the fact that my head was held high, I felt a lot like I might throw up at any moment.
    As I reached the steps leading up to the memorial platform, I paused. The formal kimono I was wearing was already down to the floor, but the ceremonial uchikake kimono extended back easily a good two feet. Swallowing hard, I lifted my foot up onto the first step, and then felt someone beside me. I looked over at Travis, and he looked back at me for a heartbeat before he offered me his arm. I wasn’t sure if it was protocol or not, but the uchikake kimono was unfamiliarly heavy, and I really didn’t want to accidentally step on it and fall flat on my face in front of everyone. So I took his arm, and we walked up the remaining steps together.
    As we reached the top of the stone platform I broke away from Travis, and walked to the podium that had been placed in the center of it. I looked down at the tablet resting on the podium and swallowed hard, and then I looked out at the people— my people.
    Roughly three thousand people had been invited to witness the award ceremony. And really, it didn’t sound like that big of a number until they were all staring at you. Waiting for you to say something profound and moving. Or at the very least not embarrass the frak out of them.
    I took a deep breath, and then I looked out over the crowd to a point in the distance just over the farthest person’s head.
    “There are those who pledge their lives to protect us. Those valiant few who daily make that bargain with the gods to place their lives on the scales. To offer up their lives in collateral for the lives of others. And sometimes those lives are claimed, and we lose those brave souls, and we honor them for their sacrifice. But they know when they get up each morning that death is the risk that stalks their waking hours. It is the contract—the bargain—they have made.
    “But it is those who make this bargain in a heartbeat, who toss their lives onto the scales without prior notice, that we honor with this pendant,” I said as I looked away from the crowd, and gestured to the pendant resting on a small blue velvet pillow on a pedestal next to me.
    The Pendant of Valor—a physical embodiment of Karalia’s greatest honor—was a silver, eight-pointed, interlocking star pendant with a brilliant blue sapphire at its center attached to the bottom of a thick, royal-blue grosgrain ribbon. I could only remember it