Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
TYNAN
Ipaced by Alina’s door too angry with myself and Frid. At last, a figure in a light dress appeared in the hall, followed by a girl in a blue flying suit.
“Thank you for your help.” Alina turned to Frid.
Frid only nodded, continuing her walk.
Another moment, and one more figure joined the two of them. The older woman that was responsible for Alina had wide, bulging, almost fish-like eyes. The smile plastered to her face looked as if it had been glued on.
“My child, how did you like your walk? No doubt, when you see more of Lord Dayton, you will understand how great he is.” She spoke to Alina as if she was an infant.
“Yes, definitely,” Alina replied.
I caught a gagging gesture from Frid in the background.
The old hag continued talking to Alina, before ushering her inside the room and closing the door behind them.
I shifted my gaze back to Frid.
“What in the hell?”
“What? I showed up just in time. Didn’t I?”
“What are you doing here?”
“Ty, come on. You can’t really expect us to just sit in that apartment day after day.”
“What do you mean ‘us’? Is Victor and Sol here too?”
“Well, yeah.”
“Where are they?” I rubbed the back of my neck.
“I believe they went to check the buffet.”
“The buffet?”
“She’s pretty. I get it now.”
“Where did you get the suits?”
“We might have taken them from a group of drunk guards.”
“You robbed them?”
“Yeah, we did.” She chuckled.
“And what are you going to do when they recognize you?”
“They’re not from the palace.”
“How can you be sure?”
“We asked them.”
“Alright.” I rubbed my eyes.
“Please don’t be mad, we thought that you might need help. You can’t do everything —”
She abruptly stopped when the door opened and Alina and Corliss walked into the hall.
“All I’m asking is that you think about all the benefits this union can bring.
Think about all the things that can be done here, all the good you can do.
Most women, before you, had no choice in these matters, and they made the best of it.
The queen, herself, was married to the Duke of Argail when she was only thirteen, and look how great things turned out for all of us.
” Alina looked at her intently, before turning away.
I could see her tightly pressed lips, and the stubborn rise of her chin. No doubt, the old crow saw it too.
Frid and I followed both of them into the small parlor, where the boy who could not be more than twelve waited for his audience with the heiress.
“What the hell? What is he? Ten?” Frid muttered behind me.
“Quiet.” I hissed.
I pressed my back against the wall and tried to disconnect from all the distractions of the day.
Alina was all that was important, and our time was running out. I could see that she was being pushed to accept one of her suitors, and it was pissing me off.
“Why don’t you just snatch her?”
“What?”
“At night. Just grab her and make a run for it.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“It’s not? If you’re mated, she must feel it. She’ll be glad to leave with you.”
“I want her to remember me.”
Frid watched me for a long moment, and it started to irritate me.
“Ty . . . you’re enough. Any girl would be happy to be with you.”
I gritted my teeth, watching the old crone serving tea to Alina and the kid.
“She doesn’t know who I am.”
“You need to tell her.”
I stayed silent.
“I’m going to check what those other two are up to.” She was still shaking her head as she stepped through the door.
The sun was blazing hot when we gathered on the third floor terrace where the servants had already placed the tents and chairs for the attending aristocracy.
Partially planted flowers decorated the gaps of the aged rocks of the palace, concealing the cracks in the old plaster.
The crowd below gathered under the merciless sun, expecting to see the queen and the new heiress.
My eyes took in the mass of people, showing me so many things I was already familiar with; the extreme, unfathomable poverty and desperation of some of Railand’s citizens.
Malnourished women in tattered clothes, their hair loose and untidy, cradled babies in their arms. The men looked desperate and filthy.
There were beggars who, unsurprisingly, found no sympathy in the crowd.
A slight movement made me look to the right, and I spotted an older woman being attacked for her shallow dish with coins which she held protectively against her chest. I averted my eyes.
During my time employed as a Shadow, I had seen many things.
Somehow, I grew comfortable witnessing abject misery, and felt nothing at all in the face of it.
In many ways I was the product of this world, made stronger and more resilient by the way I was raised. But finding Alina made me question my old way of thinking; that nothing else mattered outside my circle of friends. Talman was truly broken and none of us really knew the extent of it.
Alina was sitting with her back artificially straight.
Her hair was braided and secured on top of her head.
She had changed her dress and the bright red silk shimmered in the sun like an actual flicker of flame.
The long panel of the light gold fabric swayed in the warm, dry breeze, obscuring half of her body from the prying eyes of the crowd.
Corliss was beside her, talking about her duties and the role she ought to play in the future.
Along the side of the balcony was the area that was prepared for the queen.
A crimson canopy adorned with gold hung over the massive throne that was still empty, waiting for its mistress.
I returned my gaze to Alina, who was watching two women fight as her eyes grew larger.
All she had known from before was the peaceful land where she grew up, surrounded by comforts and people who loved her, but Talman was something entirely different.
These lands were ruthless to dragonborns and even worse for people.
The only way to survive was to be stronger, smarter, and willing to do anything to get ahead.
“Don’t let the commoners upset you, my dear. People always want more, they are all greedy creatures. It is because of all that filth that we got the virus in the first place, I am sure.” Corliss said.
“Is there something we can do to help them?” Alina asked.
Corliss looked like she could not believe her ears.
“To help them? My child, we are already doing everything we can. We distribute clean water and the great Queen Mother opened soup kitchens throughout the city. There are also free medical clinics and schools. We spend so much trying to help them better themselves, but it does not seem like it’s ever enough. ”
“They seem hungry,” Alina whispered.
“Because they sell the food they get to gamble or buy alcohol.”
“Are you sure about that? That can’t be right.”
“Alina, dear. I have seen so many things while occupying this post. I once knew of a servant who sold her child to an older man for a couple of coins. They are not like us. They are a completely different species after all.”
Alina’s head snapped up, and she just stared at the old woman, her eyes wide.
“You are still so young, and do not know the world. Ah . . . Lord Adger is calling me. I will be back in a moment.”
With those words, she left the tent, and the heavy fabric dropped behind her, leaving me and Alina alone.
“Did you know about all of that?”
“Yes.”
“Why wouldn’t they help their own people?” she asked.
“This is what happens when people in power separate themselves behind walls and only venture outside surrounded by guards.”
“You speak about it with such ease.”
“This is all I know. I have nothing to compare it to.”
"Why wouldn't the queen do something about it?"
“I’m not sure she knows. I don’t think she comes out from her part of the palace much.”
“Someone has to tell her about this.”
“If she even wants to know.”
Alina shook her head and stared directly ahead.
The sun was hot enough to melt all the surfaces and the air had become unbearably dry when the first speaker entered the balcony.
“What are they doing? It’s too hot for all these people. Some of them have children with them.”
I stayed silent. My eyes landed on a woman who held her crying infant. A soldier in a blue uniform approached her and exchanged a couple of words with the woman. I did not need to be close to know that some high born was complaining about the noise.
I clenched my jaw.
Suddenly, the crowd perked up, and all heads turned to the left.
I followed their gazes and watched a figure, draped in a red veil, step onto the raised platform and take a seat on the throne.
The fabric obscuring her face was decorated with gold stitching, and her arms were covered by armguards made out of precious metals and adorned with gemstones.
“It is her! The queen,” Alina whispered.
As per the command, the crowd cheered and the guards started to throw coins into the crowd. People were pushing each other and crawling on the ground trying to collect the money.
“This is madness!” Alina exclaimed. The crowd grew wilder by the moment. "Get me out of here. I’m going to be sick." Alina stood up, her eyes still on the mass of people below.
Without hesitation, I escorted her back through the door and ignored all the servants who looked on in surprise as we exited through the wrong passage. Alina hurried past the temporary station where preparations were underway to serve refreshments to all the aristocrats on the terrace.
When we entered the hallway, I took Alina’s hand and guided her through the multiple corridors. I had walked almost all of them, memorizing the quickest ways to get around, and out. We were passing through a dimly lit hall, when Alina suddenly pulled her hand away and stopped, staring at the floor.
I paused, searching her face.
“She must know all about this,” Alina whispered. “This is her city. These are her people. They’re not toys. They’re real people – with families, with hopes and dreams. No one deserves to be treated like that.”
She was right, and I had nothing to say to that. The fact that that was just how things were done, did not make it any more acceptable.
“I must see her. I have to tell her what her council is doing.” Alina continued.
“Do you think she doesn’t know?” I asked.
“If she knows and does nothing about it . . .” Alina bit her lip.
I took a step forward, invading her personal space. Alina’s eyes flickered back, and she raised her eyebrows in confusion.
“You are too good for this world. Do you know that?” I placed my hand on her neck and lightly brushed the silky smooth skin of her jaw with my thumb.
“Don’t make fun of me.” She breathed as I watched a lonely tear slide down her cheek.
“I’m not.” I pressed her closer against my body and her arms wrapped around my torso.
“It’s so horrible,” she whimpered.
“I know.”
“That woman, she had a baby . . .”
“I know.”
“There is no excuse for that. No matter what your circumstances are.”
I pressed my lips against her hair, inhaling her flowery scent.
My mate. She was so much better than me, in every way I could ever imagine.
Smart, compassionate, loving, and she had something none of the palace fools had.
She cared about others, not only the high born.
It would be a blessing for everyone if she acquired the throne. I clenched my jaw.
No . . . No.
I could never let her go. She was mine.