Rebel Elements (Seals of the Duelists) Read Online Free

last seven years, Bayan,” he said. “I do not wish the emperor to see me as ungrateful.”
    Bayan squinted in disbelief. “Ungrateful?” Had he so misjudged his father? Bayan’s shoulders slumped. He knew his father would say yes, but he couldn’t stand to hear the word spoken aloud. He rose, stepped over the dog, and headed down the hallway to his room. “I’ll pack my things.”
    He dug his warmest clothes out of the bottom of his trunk and pulled his rarely-worn pairs of stockings from their shelf. He tumbled them into the duffel he dragged off a peg by his window, then returned to the front room. He wondered if the pervasive numbness filling his head and chest resulted from suppressing his emotions for the last year, since he felt neither sadness nor shock at the sudden reversal of his fortunes. Maybe those feelings would sink in later, and his rage would make that preposterous purple carriage burst into flames.
    Silence awaited him. Bayan looked at all the staring faces and wondered if he’d made the house sprout or catch fire.
    “I want to give you something before you go, Bayan.” Datu rose. To Philo, he said, “Please, do not leave yet.” Then he slipped out the front door. As it closed behind him, a murmur of questioning voices blew in; the crowd from the riverbank had camped outside his home—or rather, the place he used to live. A tendril of trepidation coiled within him. He didn’t know where he was going or where he would live next. The only thing he knew was a name, the Duelist Academy, which meant nothing to him.
    Imee burst in, all curves and braids and flashing eyes, and planted herself before Bayan. “Is it true?” she blurted. “You’re some sort of Skycaller now, but instead of staying here, you’re leaving me and running off with…that?” She waved a hand at the blond-haired surveyor, who merely cocked his head. Usually, Bayan found Imee’s forwardness intoxicating. But today, her words were salt on an open wound.
    “I didn’t ask for this, Imee. They’re making me go.” He pointed at Frits and Fabian.
    “And you’re so calm about being dragged off against your will,” she replied, arms akimbo.
    That stung. Moreso because she was right. Had his own efforts to hide his condition trapped him in this new situation? If he let his emotions fill his mind, would he muster the strength to protest hard enough to convince his father to send the eunuch packing?
    “I’m sorry, Imee.” Where was his passion for her? The numbness in his chest seemed to have chilled it to death. “There’s nothing I can do.”
    Her gaze, which had so often blazed into his as they whispered to each other in her father’s back room, now seemed cold and distant. Judgmental. Her lovely lips thinned. “Don’t worry, Bayan. There is something I can do.”
    Smack! Her hand connected with his cheek, snapping his head to the side.
    Before he could process her action, Bayan raised his arm in response. A second crack of flesh on flesh sounded, and he felt the sting of it on his palm.
    Imee cried out and stumbled back holding her cheek. Bayan’s mother caught her around the shoulders and steadied her. Timbool barked, and Frits and Fabian stepped forward, jaws tense. Surveyor Philo stood still, eyes wide, as if suddenly discovering he shared the room with a swamp viper.
    Bayan retreated from them all, seeing wide-eyed fear on the faces of his younger siblings. Something dark had reacted to Imee’s slap and clawed its way from his innermost being without asking permission. Breathing quickly, he shoved the darkness down into the depths of his soul and prayed to Bhattara that it wouldn’t resurface, ever again.
    “I’m—sorry—” he managed, tucking his offending hand between his cloth bag and his back.
    Imee stood away from Liliwa, still holding her cheek. Her beautiful brown eyes slitted. “I don’t know you anymore, Bayan Lualhati,” she hissed. “If this is the monster you truly are, then I’m glad