Future Dreams Read Free Page A

what we’ve discussed. Remember, you always have a family to come home to.”

 
    Chapter 3

    Jame paused as they stepped from the tunnel that burrowed into the southern wall of Emor, the only city in Emoria, carved from a horseshoe shaped canyon high in the Phytian Mountains. The natural caves and shelters that pocked the white rock bluffs of the canyon had been artfully fashioned into residences and shops.
    A cobblestone square filled the bottom of the canyon, concealing the stream bed that flowed through the valley. Jame had always enjoyed performing the spring maintenance of the shallow wells that were used to access this water and fortifying the dammed lake further up the stream that protected the city from all but the most severe floods.
    At that time of the evening, in the gray dusk, Emor was quiet. She used to know every stone of the city. Why does it look strangely foreign now?
    “As you can see, nothing’s changed.” Argis sauntered into the square.
    Jame frowned at Argis’s back but decided not to say anything. Maybe she was just tired after traveling all day. She knew she was hungry.
    They walked across the square to the double wooden doors of the palace. Jame couldn’t describe what she felt as she looked up at the towering walls of stone, painted with bright murals of legendary Emorans and speckled with lights flickering behind quartz windows. She was glad to see her home again and she looked forward to visiting with her family and friends, but she knew she was just visiting. Her life lay somewhere else until she had to return as queen.
    “I’ll go on ahead and let the queen know you’re here,” Tas said when they entered the main hall of the palace with its cascading walls of etched stone soaring up to the top of the bluff.
    Jame caught the conspiratorial look that passed between her old friends and realized that Tas thought that she and Argis wanted to spend some time alone before the evening meal. She and Argis had deepened their relationship during her last prolonged visit two years earlier but she had drifted away from it as she became immersed in her new position as assistant arbiter. Now face to face with Argis again, she wasn’t sure how she felt about the taciturn warrior.
    “Welcome home, my princess.”
    “Poylin.” Jame hugged a slender scout and ruffled her unruly sand-colored hair. “You have your scout braid.”
    “Yeah.” Poylin grinned. “Now Olet can’t tease me anymore.”
    “About not having a braid, at least.” Jame ducked Poylin’s playful swipe.
    Several other women greeted Jame and she laughed and talked with each of them. Maybe coming home wasn’t so bad . She stepped on the wide curve cut into the stone and lined with torches and trudged up the steep incline to the next floor and the next curve.
    She glanced at Argis, who was scowling at something. She looked down the corridor and grinned as Sark, Queen Jyak’s right hand, strode to her. She looked back at Argis, who was still scowling. What’s that all about?
    “My princess,” Sark said. “We’re all so happy you could make it home.”
    “I’m happy to be here,” Jame said. “You’re looking better than the last time I saw you.”
    Sark held out her arm. “It’s all healed and good as new.”
    “That’s good to hear.” Jame glanced at Argis and was surprised to see the scowl still in place.
    “I’ll let you get settled in,” Sark said. “See you at evening meal.”
    Jame walked up the next curve carved out of the wall to a short corridor with just two doors on either side of it. The quiet contrasted with the other floors of the palace, reminding her that these rooms were for her to fill with her own family. When she was ready to settle down.
    Jame paused outside the door of her chamber and thought of the countless times she had crossed that threshold and had taken sweet refuge within.
    Argis, seemingly oblivious to Jame’s mental trips into the land of ambivalence, pushed open the door. Warm