Page 1 of Under the Iron Sky

1

At the very mature age of eleven, there was a great deal that Soraya Tollmere did not know: why there were three suns in the sky but only one moon, why the ocean was blue on one side of the planet but green on the other, and why anything with leaves had a tendency to die whenever she breathed in their general direction.

One thing she did know, however, was that she was in a lot of trouble.

“Are you angry with me?”

Her mother clearly was, given that she was braiding and twisting Soraya’s long golden curls like she was wrestling an angry snake.

Soraya shuffled her weight from one foot to the other, not daring to meet her mother’s eyes in the full-length mirror they were standing in front of. Most people gave Noreen a wide berth on a good day. The sight of her white-and-gold Queensguard armor was usually enough to deter most people’s gazes, never mind those emerald sea-green eyes that people said cut like a whip.

“Yes,” Mother snapped, the word almost as rough as her fingers. “I know you and Kaemon’s son don’t get along, but of all the days you could’ve gotten up to your tricks, why today? It’s the Solar Jubilee. You know how important this is. Marking—”

“One hundred and seventy-five years on the throne,” Soraya interrupted in a bored tone. “The first one in history—so only the best will do for the great Queen Aleena Savros, the most beloved ruler in all Vordellian history, blah, blah, blah—I know.”

The entire planet had been abuzz with excitement for weeks now. There were going to be parties on every street, fireworks, feasts, and dancing until the early hours—all of it ushered in by a charming play performed by the children from the city’s largest academy depicting their queen’s rise to power.

A performance for which Soraya had been chosen to play said beloved queen.

Which seemed highly unlikely now, given the mess she’d found herself in.

A shame really, considering she was already in full costume. The dress was the most beautiful thing Soraya had ever seen. Sleeveless like most of the clothes in Vordell given the constant heat, the gown was cut just above her collarbone and had so many pearls sewn into the bodice that it felt like she was wearing armor. She liked the flowing cape the best, so pale it was nearly translucent and embroidered with dozens of diamonds on pieces of golden string so expertly laid it looked like the seamstresses had plucked each constellation out of the sky and stitched them into the fabric.

All Soraya needed was the famous spiked golden crown, perfectly crafted to look like the rays of a rising sun, and she’d be the younger double of Aleena on her coronation day.

In the mirror, the metal fox that’d been lounging on her bed all morning, warming the white-and-gold plates that made up his body in the sunlight streaming in through the open balcony doors, cracked open an eye.

Varying from tiny metal insects that pollinated the planet’s flowers to huge aquatic beasts that hunted fish for the ports and markets, familiars were a common sight on Vordell. Almost every household had one. Most kept them as companions or used them to carry messages—and then there were models like Bertok who’d been with the Tollmere family for so long he was practically a third parent. Although Soraya would never say that to his face. He was rather touchy about his age. Typical old man.

Bertok didn’t say a word, but the slow unfurling and retracting of his claws against her purple bedsheets was about as subtle as a guillotine.

Shut up, child—before you make this worse.

Mother tracked the movement, her black hair, braided into a tight crown across her skull, shimmered like a raven’s wings as she said to the guard stationed by Soraya’s door, “Leave.”

The guard blanched. “Sorry, ma’am, but I’m under strict orders to—” He’d clearly had more to say, but one look from those famous green eyes had him scurrying out the door. Funny, Soraya had the same eyes, but no one ever seemed to scamper away from her like a wounded dog. She’d have to work on that.

Finally alone, her mother asked, “And breaking that little boy’s nose couldn’t wait until tomorrow because …?”

“He’s not so little.” Vander was six months older than her, if they were really getting into it. And a good six inches taller, but that hardly seemed to be helping her case.

“And I didn’t break anything,” Soraya added a touch defensively. Not exactly a lie—she’d been in here all morning getting ready so she hadn’t technically laid a hand on Vander, and had made sure the gears and springs she’d carefully wired together and hidden in the sleeve of his costume yesterday—designed to whip out and slam into his face when he slipped it on this morning—were all scrap metal she’d collected around the palace and couldn’t be traced back to her.

Hadn’t stopped him from running right to his highbrow father and pointing the finger at her, though. Stupid snitch. She predicted plenty of stitches in his future.

Soraya braved a glance in the mirror. Mother pinned one braid in a loop at the back of Soraya’s skull, her face hard as granite, and was almost halfway through the next braid before she asked, demanded really, “What happened?”

Soraya fiddled with the gold rings she’d been given for today’s performance, twisting one of the rubies back and forth. Well, it wasn’t as though she could make this any worse, was it?

“When we were in rehearsals yesterday,” she explained slowly, “Vander stole some scissors from the boys who were doing the props. Raina kept telling him that someone would get hurt if he didn’t put them down, and then when she wasn’t looking he …”

“He what?”

Soraya loosened a long breath. “He cut her braid off.” And she’d had such lovely hair too, long and brilliant red, like a sea of rubies falling right down her back. It was barely past her shoulders now. Soraya’s nostrils flared with anger just thinking about it. “And then he started running around the classroom with her braid in his hand and I just …”

“You wanted to make him pay.”

“Yes.” Soraya’s throat was impossibly tight. Tears pricked her eyes. She tried to blink them away, but they fell before she could stop them.