Ravenous Innocence: Tritan Evolution, Book I

He's been tasked to hunt me down and dress me in chains—a mission he relishes, for with one taste of my lips he knows what I am. What I might be capable of...

I wasn’t supposed to be here.
Wasn’t allowed to walk amongst my fellow citizens, enjoying the beautiful, sunny day. I’d been forbidden to stroll through the over-crowded market, unattended and unprotected. To do as I wished without the express permission of my father—and the accompanying escort—was to invite dire, world-altering consequences.
It wasn’t safe.
I smiled, soaking up the sun and watched a jewelry merchant hawk his wares. Watched as he snared the attention of a tall, willowy woman, seizing her elbow before she could pass his display. Tugging, he pulled her into the shade beneath his tent and the flapping azure awning, thumb stroking the pale skin of her upper arm. Directing her gaze to follow a trinket with his free hand, he bedazzled her with glittering stones and polished silver that danced in the shadowed half-light.
I pressed my palm to the pendant perched on my breastbone, torn. As of yet, I hadn’t actually done anything deserving of consequences. Had, in fact, done nothing but watch, enthralled by the market’s chaos. Thrilled by the colors and scents of the Tritan people, I watched from the sidelines. Pretending I was just another face in a sea of silver-blonde, Tritan heads, to whom words like ‘consequences’ and ‘unsafe’ did not apply.
But I wasn’t one of them, blood or not.
My fingers tightened around my pendant, considering as the precious, ugly stone glittered in the sun, tossing distinct shades of blue, green, and purple onto the street before me. Simply being here was a risk to everything my father and I had sacrificed over the years, surrounded by the crush of unsuspecting masses, each more sightless than the last. Most unable to sense the ki burning thick and sweet in the air. That such a power could go unnoticed by so many was a blessed curse from the Goddess herself, drowning me in the temptation to reach out and touch them… to blend in. To taste the living flames of their ki and know normal. To be normal, if only for a few stolen moments.
I clenched my fist, letting the tarnished family heirloom bite the meat of my palm. At once concealing the scatter of blues, greens, and purples before they were recognized, and letting the stone drink deep of my life force. It feasted with greedy abandon, starving for ki willingly given. Storing my excess in its stony, cold heart in return for blessed, numbing calm.
A service only the Glaith could provide to one such as me.
I shuddered, drained, for now, but conflicted. There wouldn’t be another chance as perfect as this, what with my father occupied by some important State Senate meeting and my target already marked. In fact, everyone who might take an interest in my actions was in that meeting. The rest, the Priestesses with their keen ki-sense, were locked away, deep in the heart of the temple.
No one would recognize me here. None could sense what I really was beneath the Glaith.
And yet, I hesitated, eyes fixed to the merchant conducting his business. Fingers tight about my pendant, keeping myself firmly in check. My father had given everything to keep me free. Free to live and make mistakes. It was a debt I could never even begin to repay, and yet, in this, he was wrong. The man was blinded by his need to protect and coddle. Couldn’t see the raw potential simmering in my veins… desperate to be set loose…
I grinned.
If it were possible to harness my birthright, I alone would decide how it would be used. Not my beloved father. Not a faceless, tyrannical High Priestess, moored in tradition and secrets, who would claim me for the temple simply because of what I was.
Me.
Alone.
And if I failed? Consequences were only for those foolish or weak enough to get caught.