Chapter Fifty-One
The Caged
I wrap a cloak around my shoulders, fastening it below my chin, before stepping out of the dressing room. Nithe is eating breakfast, his eyes looking everywhere but at me.
“Where are you going?” He asks, staring at his eggs.
“Are you asking me or your breakfast?” He sighs and then looks up at me.
“Where are you going?” He asks again.
“Enzo is taking me somewhere, getting me out of the palace for a while.” I say dryly.
“Let me come with you.” He stands and steps in my way.
“ No , Nithe. I’ll be fine with him.” I put my hand up, keeping him from coming closer.
“At least take a guard.” I hold his gaze and offer him a nod before walking past him and out the door.
I find Enzo in the entryway, talking to an other guard. He looks at me and smiles.
“Nithe said I should bring a guard.” I say, failing at hiding my irritation.
“Okay, anyone you’d like?” Hazel eyes and a smirk fill my brain and I fight a smile.
“Nero.”
“The general?” I nod and he shrugs before instructing the guard to find Nero. “Why him?” He asks when he turns back to me.
“I met him yesterday and he made me feel almost…normal. I need that right now.” He nods again as we walk out to the courtyard where two horses are saddled and waiting.
Their saddles are plain, no markings that signify our status.
One of the horses is chocolate brown, the other gray with darker spots along its legs.
“Oh, this reminds me! Some girl with red hair took your horse. She told me to tell you thank you.” He says with a small chuckle.
“What?” I smile and look at him, my brows raised in confusion.
“When we rescued you, we ran into a woman in the stables. She told us where to go and then she took a big black horse with her.” He shrugs.
“Sybil.” My smile widens as I remember my sweet mare who seemed to be double the size of a normal horse.
I believe someone called her a Percheron, but I don’t even know what that is.
I smile even more thinking of Nylah, and how she is probably back in Tatus with Cyn.
My face falls as I think of the small child I will probably never see again.
“Our mother?” Enzo asks, interrupting my thoughts. I bite my lip and nod, turning back towards the horses.
“That horse was a gift from King Evreux to me. He named her Sybil, and when he died, I kept her.” I explain as we approach the horses.
“I think there might be a lot of family history I am unaware of.” He mutters.
“I can tell you anything you’d like.” I offer. Not that there is much I remember about my childhood, but I do remember enough to give him some insight into our mother.
“Tell me on the journey.” I give him a soft smile as I turn to see an approaching man. His armor is gone and in its place is a white tunic and cream pants. Two short swords are strapped to his back, but he looks almost normal. Not like a general of the army.
“You requested me, my queen?” He asks as he bows deeply.
“Yes, my brother and I are going on a day trip, and I figured it would be safer to have a general at our side. Who knows what men are creeping about in the wisteria.” I attempt to keep my voice stoic, but something about Nero brings out a smile in me.
“My pleasure.” He purrs while righting himself.
He nods once at Enzo before gesturing to my horse.
“May I?” He holds out his hand and I step into it, throwing my leg over the saddle as he hoists me up.
“I will fetch another horse.” He says before disappearing around the backside of my chocolate mare.
“ My queen ,” Enzo mocks with a snort before climbing into his own saddle. “That man is going to get himself killed.”
“How is him calling me ‘my queen’ going to get him killed?” I snap, surprised at my irritation. He gestures towards the entryway where a figure cloaked in shadow stands.
“Nithe is going to gut him like a fish.”
“Nithe can go fuck himself.” Enzo coughs out a laugh, the sound echoing through the nearly empty courtyard as he guides our horses towards the road.
“Gods, you have a way with words.”
Nero trots in front of us, his golden horse shining in the sun. His head is on a constant swivel as he scans the surrounding area. We are on a hill-lined path, but I can’t tell what direction we are going in.
“Where are we going?” I ask after a bit of silence. I’m enjoying the slight breeze, the cool air licking my cheeks. It really is a nice summer. Not scorching like home would have been. Clean and crisp air.
“Wistervale.” Enzo responds.
“I don’t know what that is.” I admit.
“It’s Rakushia’s largest city. By comparison, that would be Tellavid or Cragport in Noterra.” He provides, looking around as if he, too, is expecting someone to jump out of nowhere and attack.
“Oh.” Is all I say as I look out at the endless fields.
We pass farms and tiny homes that are secluded, hidden from people who pass by.
I wonder what it would be like to live out in the open like this.
No guards, just land and animals. I feel like it would be a peaceful life. “Why are we going to Wistervale?”
“Because you have been locked in three palaces your entire life and I figured you would want to live a little.” He looks over at me, a smirk quirking up half his mouth.
“What are we going to do there?”
“Whatever you want. We can eat pastries and all sorts of foods, we can go dancing in one of the many halls, we can get drunk at a tavern. We can explore or sit in one place. Nothing is off the table. I want you to see what it is we are fighting for. Who we are protecting by preventing a war.”
“You want me to see our people.” I look at him, his back straight and shoulders back as he watches our surroundings, just as protective as the general leading the way.
“ Your people.” He corrects.
“Is it safe?”
“They won’t recognize you. And if they do, neither of us will let anything happen to you.” I stare at the back of Nero’s tunic. The summer heat is enough to make me sweat with this cloak on, but I keep it fastened. For some reason, it makes me feel safe.
We ride in silence for a few moments, enjoying the fresh air and the scenery. It’s quiet. Silent. As if no one is here. It feels almost suffocating. As if the silence is pressing down around me.
“I need to tell you something.” I whisper. Nithe said it was my choice—my choice in what we do with our situation. But an outside perspective might be better. Maybe he’ll know what to do?
“Is it about the guard?” I shake my head. That’s the last thing I want to talk about. “Elaenor, what is it?” I pull back on the reins slightly, slowing my horse. Nero trots up ahead, just out of earshot.
“I’m pregnant.” I whisper. His eyes widen and then a smile crosses his lips.
“What! That is incredible. It’s early though, how do you—” His voice stops as he takes in my face. “No.” He whispers. I nod and look away from him, tears pricking my eyes. “Elaenor, I am so sorry.”
“Nithe says it’s my choice what we do, but he says he’ll claim it as his own.”
“That is a very Nithe response.” I nod again. “What do you mean ‘what you do’?”
“If we keep it.” I whisper and look back at him. His face softens knowingly.
“You mean whether or not you ask me to siphon.”
“Yes.” He sighs and tightens his hands on the reins. “I don’t know what I want.”
“What is your heart telling you?” We are quiet for a minute.
“That this child inside me is somehow connecting me to Tobias.” My voice cracks. “The guard—when I killed him, I thought it was Tobias. I saw him. I felt him. He was there.”
“Have you told Nithe, or my father?” I shake my head. “It could be in your head.”
“That’s not all.” I bite my lip and take a deep breath.
He needs to know everything. Someone does.
“Sometimes when I am using my starlight, shadows appear. They snuff out the sparks or turn them black. And more than once my veins have turned black in my face.” He pulls his horse to a stop.
“Before you ask, Nithe only knows of it happening one time, but it has happened a lot.”
“Elaenor, we need to go back.”
“No, Enzo—”
“We need to tell Kassius.” He cuts me off.
“No!” I snap, stopping my own horse. I glance forward and see Nero stop as well. “No.” I say softer. “I don’t know what any of this means.”
“When you first got here and you were sick, Lenus said that something inside was eating you alive, making you sick. It’s him. It’s the child. It’s making you sick. It’s spreading his curse through your veins.” I stare at him, and I know in my heart he’s right.
“So what do we do?”
“We tell my father.” I brush the hair out of my face.
“When we get back. Please. Just let me have this one day.” He sighs reluctantly and kicks his horse forward. “Talk about something. Anything.” I say, my hands tightening around the reins as I follow after him.
“When I was younger, I used to beg my father for a sibling. I cried and cried until he introduced me to Nithe. I think we were maybe four or five—I’m not sure—and I threw an even bigger fit.
I was a small child, and Nithe wasn’t. Mostly due to his wyvos genes, but he just grew faster than I did.
So I asked for a sister, and he introduced us to Emery. ” He smiles.
“I always wanted siblings, too.”
“The three of us got along fairly well. Emery called Nithe out for being a bully, but then she’d turn it around and call me a child.
But we loved each other as if we were related.
I never thought I would have a sibling until my father came home with Mali.
” He ends his sentence with a smile as he pictures the young girl I rarely see.
“Who is her mother?”
“He said she was some woman he’d known for a long time. They saw each other again after years apart and had a single affair. It resulted in her getting pregnant. She died during childbirth.” My throat constricts at the fact that nearly all of our mothers have died. I change the subject.
“How far away is Wistervale?” I ask, my voice cracking.
“Not far at all, maybe an hour at this pace.” He responds. We stay quiet for a while, and I relish the silence. I don’t know what to do, what to think. What option to choose. He can take the child’s life. He can remove the curse that is flowing through my veins.
But is that even what it is? Would that even do anything?
I get lost in my thoughts as we continue on. We pass farms, trees dotting the vast plains and hills, and then we reach the crest of another green hill, where we stop.
Down below in the valley lay a town larger than I have ever seen.
Rows and rows of houses, stores and taverns fill the maze of streets.
A large building sits in the very center, made of pale stone.
Ships of all sizes are docked off land, smaller boats line up against the many piers.
Smoke billows out of the different chimneys, the different buildings.
I have never seen anything like it.
“My gods.” I whisper, my mouth staying open like a fish.
“I say we stop at the inn, board the horses, and then find something to eat.” Enzo says and all I can do is nod.
He pulls his horse towards the path and mine follows. I watch the town, the city , as we grow closer and closer. No walls border the outside of it. No fear of invasion. No fear of anything, really. The cobblestones under the horses click as we trot through the town.
People stare as we pass, their shops open. I see roasted meats and bread. Cloth, and small toys. I even see a bookstore.
I can’t keep the smile off my face as our horses stop in front of a two-story white building. Enzo dismounts and hands his reigns off to a man who comes out of the building. Nero does the same before walking over and offering his arms. I nod, and he grabs my waist, helping me off my horse.
He lets go of me quickly before turning and scanning the area .
“What do you think?” He asks as he looks around.
“I have no words. I have never seen anything like this.” I smile up at him and he places his hand on my lower back, guiding me towards the street where Enzo is waiting.
We walk up and down the cobblestones. Children scream as they play, candles on strings are woven between windows of tight alleyways, probably to keep the area well-lit at night.
Everywhere I turn there are more people. The salty sea air fills the town, and I can’t stop breathing it in. I have never been this close to the sea.
We stop in front of a darker wood building with a fish on a hook sign above the door. Nero opens the door and glances in before I follow him.
The tavern is dark, only torches on tables to light the room. Men shouting with laughter, music playing as a man with a stringed instrument strums in the corner.
The smell of fish and something salty permeates the air as Nero leads us to a table in the corner. I sit in between them, my mouth still frozen open as I take everything in.
No one pays us any mind. No one cares.
“You look like a fish.”
“I don’t care.” Nero laughs as I look at every single person in here. Young and old, clean and dirty. Every type of person imaginable. “This is incredible.”
“You truly have never been anywhere?” Enzo asks as he flags down a barmaid.
“I haven’t.” A stout, older woman approaches with three mugs of liquid spilling everywhere. She sets them on the table and slides them over to us. I quickly grab mine before it topples over the edge. Her graying hair is pulled back into a bun, her apron covered in stains.
“What’ll it be?” She barks and I just stare at her.
“Whatever the special is.” Enzo responds. She just nods and walks away, maneuvering her way through the crowd. I look down at the mug in front of me and sniff. Something kind of sour makes my nose crinkle and Enzo laughs.
“What is this?”
“Ale. Smells disgusting, tastes even worse, but the more you drink, the better the smell and taste become.” I glance up at him with my eyebrows raised.
He lifts his own mug and takes a swig before exhaling like it was the most delicious thing he has ever tasted.
I look over at Nero, who isn’t touching his, and then back to my mug.
I grab the handle and bring it up to my lips. The first taste nearly makes me gag as the warm and fizzy liquid slides down my throat. It tastes like old bread mixed with overripe fruit. I set the glass down and smile up at Enzo, who looks at me as if I’m a whole different person.