Chapter 63
That night, after Meera had left by ship, searching for a better life with the man she loved more than life itself, while the stars twinkled in the sky and the cold of the coming winter nipped at my skin,
I leaned against the railing of the balcony overlooking the enormous gardens beneath the castle.
They were our gardens, mine and Lysande's, but would we ever be able to say aloud who they belonged to?
Would we ever be able to pick the flowers and carry them together through the court, or was the path Meera had chosen truly the right one, the only one?
Was freedom truly found across the sea, far away from the court and the eyes that wished us harm?
The cold air stung my nose, and I didn't know whether it was red from the cold or from the realization of my newfound loneliness.
Welme was gone, as was Meera, and all the servants who had grown even slightly dear to my heart and earned my affection now lay beneath the cold earth.
Sando would also, I was certain, one day choose his path, either toward his forest witch or toward the throne, where he would sit like Mother and die a little every day, with every breath.
Yet, in the spirit of my own selfishness, I could think only of myself. Who would remain with me? Who could I confide in, and who could I trust not to betray me?
As though the answer had heard me, heavy footsteps appeared behind me.
“Princess, what are you doing outside in this late hour? And why did you come out alone? It still isn't safe,” Lys said, trying to keep the anger inside him under control.
He was right, as always, and I shouldn't have been on this balcony connected to the court corridor. Yet it was the only place where I could see the flowers dying beneath the cold of late autumn.
“I just wanted to breathe some fresh air, Lyse. I'll be back soon,” I said without turning my head to look at him.
I couldn't explain the sadness in my heart or the emptiness in my soul that was eating away at me. I didn't know it would be this quiet and this empty without all of them.
“Isolde,” he said quietly before coming closer to me.
His strong hand touched the small of my back, and, keeping it there, he stood right beside me. His fingers played gently at my waist as he leaned toward the gardens just as I had.
For a moment, we were silent, and then he broke the cold stillness.
“Princess Meera is happy now with Corian. They got what they wanted, and they're going alive and well to seek their happiness.”
He turned his face toward me, now kissed by moonlight and bitten by the wind, a faint bruise still visible beneath one eye.
“Spring will come again, Isolde,” he said as though he were making a promise.
I felt my eyes fill with tears, and he only tilted his head, furrowed his brows, and raised his palm toward my cheek. With his thumb, he wiped the tear beneath my eye before gently taking the side of my jaw.
“Spring has been promised to us, but we cannot wish for it immediately. For winter must pass first.”
Somewhere in the distance, a crow cawed as I leaned into his hand and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath, inhaling his scent of wheat and forest, now mixed with the faint scent of the sea, until it was the only thing I could smell.
“Everyone's wishes came true, everyone except Sanaedeo's. But what is your wish, my love?” I asked, my voice just a little stronger than a whisper.
For a moment, he thought about it before letting his hand fall from my face. His long fingers intertwined, and he began playing with them. His jaw tightened before he lowered his head.
“Lysande, my very own knight, what does your heart seek?”
He glanced at me from the corner of his eye, and as though he had found some courage among the dry flower bushes, he straightened his back and turned toward me.
“I don't want to darken your doorstep anymore, Princess,” he said, looking directly into my eyes. “I wish to warm your sheets, to wake you with kisses. I wish the world to know you are mine and rejoice in the fact with me.”
He took a step toward me and touched my face again, almost as though he had never done it before.
New eyes looked at me, eyes that finally revealed both the sadness of our situation and the reality in which we found ourselves. As though watching Corian leave had made him realize that there was no promise of the future we had wanted so desperately.
“Then we will go, my knight, as far as the wind can carry us.”
My tears soaked his hands, but he didn't care, for his eyes were filled with the same kind of tears.
“I promise you, my life, that we will find our spring and dive for our own shells,” he said, and with a bell ringing in the distance, his lips descended onto mine.
His lips, the lips of my knight, of my love and my soul, gentle as flower petals, kissed me in secret for the last time that night.
Because this time, Lysande and I had been caught.
“Seize that son of a bitch!” a voice shouted behind us, so powerful that it sounded as though thunder had struck.
Heavy footsteps echoed across the balcony, and the guards' shouts filled everything around me.
Lysande froze beneath my hands, but before he even let me turn toward them, his gentle eyes found mine. His finger moved across my jaw as though he were trying to memorize every part of me, and then, while strong hands tore him away from me, he pulled me against him one last time.
He kissed me while they shouted at him and struck him across the back, and only let me go when they hit him so hard that he wheezed for air as he gasped my name.
“Please, let him go!” I screamed after them, but they only dragged him farther away from me.
And he shouted too, my Lys, struggling against them and trying to reach me, but they would not let him.
There were just too many of them.
My legs could no longer hold me, and I fell to my knees, but then a chuckle made me lift my head.
“Sister. Sister. As a good brother, I went to check on you when I heard Meera hadn't been seen since this morning, and look at the wonder I found myself chancing upon.”
Faran stepped out of the darkness of the corridor with his hands behind his back, shaking his head.
“Let him go, Faran,” I said, rising to my feet and trying to find courage, but there was none in me left. My voice came out as a whisper, no better than a prayer.
Faran only clicked his tongue several times.
“This knight attacked his princess and dishonored her, and for that, he will be punished,” he said, waving his hand dismissively.
Lys struggled against them, but every time he tried to break free, he received another blow that made him double over in pain.
“Faran, brother, please, let him go,” I repeated, but he only stepped closer to me.
His beastlike eyes looked at me with such contempt and disgust that I couldn't stop the shiver that ran through my body, nor stop myself from taking a step backward until my back touched the railing.
“Take the monster away.”
He snapped his fingers, and I ran forward.
Faran's strong arms caught me by my hair and shoved me toward the floor. My knees struck the cold stone tiles, and I screamed, not from pain alone, but from fear as well.
Lys began struggling and cursing, shouting and trying to reach me, but he couldn't.
“Bring him here,” Faran said, and his dogs immediately obeyed him.
They grabbed my Lys by the hair and arms and threw him down in front of me as though he were nothing more than garbage.
“Look at him, sister,” Faran whispered, then lowered his face until it was right beside mine.
I could smell his foul breath and feel the roughness of his beard as he whispered into my ear, “Because you won't be able to see him any time soon.”
I trembled and cried, but Faran only pulled my hair back harder.
I no longer even knew whether I was screaming or not.
“It will be alright, Isolde,” Lys said, while they were also pulled at every part of his body.
“I love you,” he mouthed.
And before I could answer, they dragged him backward into the darkness.
I tried to run after them once more. Only one step separated me from him, and he was so close that I could still see him through the curtains of the balcony, but Faran's rough hand wrapped around my throat and pulled me back.
He slammed me against the wall so hard that I wheezed the air from my lungs, but he only laughed.
“And so the dog indeed fucked the royal bitch,” he said, still holding his hand around my throat.
“Let him go,” I choked out, but he only tilted his head to the side.
“Where is Meera and that beast of hers?” he asked, but now it was my turn to chuckle through the pain as I wriggled beneath his strong grip. “Where does Sanaedeo hide his whore?” he whispered, leaning into my face. I spat at him, and my spit started dripping from his lips and nose.
His hand immediately found my face, and the slap was so hard that it knocked me to the floor.
He crouched beside me while I lay there, then leaned toward my ear.
“Your knight will be executed for this, but if you tell me where they are, especially our brother's little wench, I'll free your Lys from the dungeon and put him on a ship. Maybe I'll even tell you which one it is. You have very little time to decide whether you sing or not.”
With that, he stood and left me on the cold floor.
Blood dripped from my nose, and my hands clenched in front of me. My heart pounded in my chest, and my head buzzed.
Faran had crowned himself a winner, for the rotten king knew I would not seek of spring over someone else's winter.