Chapter 5
“Are you sure this is the right place?” I cast my eyes over the pathetic town, then pinned Antas with them as if he were an enigma I needed to solve.
Maybe it wasn’t fair to think of this place as bad as I did.
Thain had called it quaint earlier, but honestly, I didn’t know what was supposed to set Credenta apart from all the hundreds of small, unimportant towns across the continent.
When Antas finally deigned to answer me, he just nodded absentmindedly.
I sneered at him in utter annoyance. I’d never had problems with patience before, but those last months would have worn down even the most hardened warrior.
Searching for something so unspecific was grating on my nerves.
And all of us had no illusions—we didn’t know what we were searching for, where it was, and when or if we’d be able to find it.
“You are starting to sound like Thain, Dion,” Antas said with a warning undertone, and I could feel a muscle in my jaw tick at the comparison.
“Not fair. You’d wanted my company to help you, but so far, I’ve been fucking useless.
Of course, that annoys me.” I ground my teeth.
Honestly, I had no idea why I was so on edge lately.
This development had started recently, only a few days ago at the most, but I was filled with so much anxious, nervous energy that a minuscule spark would be enough to ignite me.
“You know that Fig prefers having you around. So do I. And think about it, what would you have done if you’d stayed at home?” Antas’ eyebrow shot up, and my jaw ticked again.
“I’m starting to question Fig’s judgment to bring us all on this—quest or whatever it is.”
“So you want to tell me you are doubting my reasons as well?”
“It just takes much longer than anticipated. We’ve been months on the road, Antas. Four months, to be exact.”
“Some things take time. You cannot brute force everything in your life, Dion.” Antas sighed deeply, which drove my annoyance to even greater heights. I hated being treated like a petulant child by him just because he was older than me.
“Did you have any new hunches, then?”
“As a matter of fact, yes, and I am sure we are where we’re supposed to be. I also know it will be you who’ll figure out what we need from here, Dion.”
I couldn’t help but frown at the absurdity of what he implied. I stopped walking and turned to Antas, but before I could retort, four men dressed in uniforms hurried past us.
“Out of the way!” one guard snarled at us and dared to bump into me as he passed.
My hand balled into a fist, and I scowled after the group in general and that one male in particular. If it hadn’t been for Antas, who lifted one eyebrow at me in warning while shaking his head, this would have been exactly the spark triggering my explosion.
I narrowed my eyes, trying to ignore the irritation that climbed up my back.
Someone had to teach those buffoons that such rude treatment not only alienated the people and made them hate uniformed men but—more importantly—annoyed me to no end.
It itched in my fingers to give them their much-needed lesson, but it had to wait.
“So, Antas, you were saying it’ll be up to me to know what we have to do here? ”
Upon his curt nod, I sighed. I wasn’t sure if I should believe him or not.
“Then we better stop walking around sense- and aimlessly. We need a map of this shithole, and we’ll have to search the streets methodically.
I also want to have a look at the program of the upcoming festival so we can attend the most important events. ”
“That sounds all very reasonable. I can help you, and I am sure the others will do as well once you let them know.”
Having something to plan had already calmed me down—at least slightly. “Of course. I’ll run those things by Fig later.”
Turning my head, I glared in the direction the four guards had disappeared in. “But first, let’s follow those idiots and find out what had them all riled up.”
Guards arrived at the stable soon after Jelric had passed away.
After a moment of relief, when I believed everything would turn out well and I’d be saved, my world turned upside down once more.
The men treated me as if I was the worst scum they’d ever met.
Nobody asked me what had led to my predicament, and when I tried to explain the situation, not a single person listened to me.
I was yanked out from under Jelric, and before I knew it, someone snatched the dagger from my hand and tied my wrists behind my back.
So many times, I attempted to clarify that I hadn’t meant to kill my late betrothed, that it’d been self-defense because he’d tried to rape me, but the guards didn’t care or just didn’t listen.
Maybe they all shared Jelric’s sentiment about what you could or couldn’t do to a woman you felt entitled to.
The law didn’t forbid it, but usually social conventions had most people frown upon such acts.
The only saving grace was the guard who showed some compassion and covered me with a bedsheet on my way to jail. I vaguely remembered having seen him in town once or twice, but I couldn’t recall his name.
Never in my whole life would I’ve thought to end up incarcerated—or a murderer.
But the nightmare didn’t end there. I was taken to a tiny dungeon cell where I cowered on an uncomfortable, small bench.
The air was damp and smelled of rotten earth, which, mixed with the remnants of the stable stench imprinted in my nostrils, made me dizzy.
Slowly, I rocked back and forth, wrapped in my flimsy, dirty bedsheet, trembling like a leaf.
Jelric’s blood that had drenched me had dried, but I lacked anything to clean myself with.
Another sob racked through my body as the magnitude of what I’d accidentally done sank further in. Jelric might have been the worst person I’d ever met in my life, but had he deserved to die? Also, what would my parents say?
I was sobbing uncontrollably, thinking of my father and the punishment he’d inflict on me as soon as I’d be home again. I had no doubt he’d make good on his threat and take my final penance into his own hands.
I was alone with my thoughts for hours. From my cell, I could see a barred window, so I was able to tell the sun was setting.
And yet, no one had even tried to interrogate me or had thought of bringing me food and water.
I didn’t know what was going on or why I wasn’t questioned.
It was infuriating, but as long as I concentrated on that small part of the situation, I was able to block out everything else that had happened. Well, at least for a while.
Pacing through the little cell helped nothing, and the lingering panic attack rose closer and closer to the surface. I was just about to break down completely when I heard a door open and close.
Quickly, I took a deep breath and sat down on the bench once more, trying to keep my composure for eventual interrogation.
“Shit, Nayana.”
“Rewi?” I blinked. Could I trust my senses? Was it really Rewi in front of my cell door? The small bundle she pushed through the bars seemed real enough, and I met her gaze with a gleam of devastation shining in mine.
“I couldn’t believe it when I overheard my father speaking in his office about how you were in the dungeons, and I couldn’t wait to see you myself. Father has no idea I’m here. What happened? They say you killed the son of the King of Merchants?”
I got up and walked to the barred door while tears still streamed down my face.
As Credenta’s mayor, Rewi’s father was also the head of the city guard.
She was the only person who could have sneaked into this place unnoticed.
She’d done it before, just because she’d wanted to prove she could.
That she’d studied the blueprints of basically every public building in Credenta had helped—she knew every secret passageway by heart.
I felt miserable, but I forced myself to meet my friend’s eyes. She would help me—she always did. “Kind of. He…my parents decreed I had to marry Jelric Feroy, and he thought he was entitled to…use my body. I only defended myself. I never wanted him to die, I just wanted him to stop.”
“Fucking shit, Nayana. This is really, really bad. But for what it’s worth, that piece of shit had it coming!”
“I know how bad the situation is, and on top of it, nobody asked me to explain my side of the story.”
“I wish I’d know why. My father spent the last hours with Perran Feroy in his office. It makes no sense not to send someone to interrogate you. It’s not fair.”
Rewi pointed at the bundle she brought and scanned me from head to toe with worried eyes.
“You know what? First, change. I brought you a dress and some food. Sadly, I couldn’t bring any water to clean yourself, only a canteen for you to drink from.
If I’d carried more, I’d have risked getting caught. ”
“It doesn’t matter. This already means the world to me. Thank you for thinking of me.”
“How couldn’t I? And it isn’t only me. Bryon is also sick with worry.”
Rewi fell silent as she waited for me to get dressed.
My hands shook as I fastened the lacing of the simple dress sewn of washed-out brown cotton.
It must have been one of Rewi’s old garments, as it was too big for my petite frame—my best friend was almost a head taller than me—and had quite a few holes in it, but it was much better than a dirty bedsheet.
When I was done, Rewi looked at me with so much compassion that fresh tears welled up in my eyes.
“Naya, did he succeed in—?”
“No. I stopped him just in time.” I didn’t want to talk about what had happened in detail if I could help it. It was enough that I saw, heard, smelled, tasted, and felt Jelric every time I closed my eyes.