Chapter twenty-three
Life in the quarters was slower the next morning.
Either the servants were hung over, asleep, or they had found another bed to rest in for the evening.
I looked in the mirror and stared at my pale face.
Soft purple and blue hues appeared across my right cheek, with a small cut already scabbing from the night before. I placed a hand at the back of my head. The inflammation throbbed, but the herbs had helped from the night before. At least it was covered by my curtain of red hair.
I wondered how Camilla was this morning.
Women could never be safe from the predators that roamed free.
From those that deemed us an object to enjoy and punish to their liking.
No matter who I was, where I lived, what I did, I would always remain the hunted.
I heard one of the servants in my room leave without saying a word to me.
My cautious eyes met hers in the mirror as she left.
Something strange shone across her face, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
I would not be surprised if many of the servants had seen what happened between Tobias, Malakar, Aris, and I the night before.
I wondered if they expected me dead.
I would have.
I brushed the washed waves from my copper hair, careful not to pull too hard as my scalp felt bruised. I placed the shared brush on the table near the mirror. Looking back at my reflection, I noticed something flash within my eyes.
Damn me.
There was a part of me that didn’t want to admit the encounters I had with Aris made me feel a certain way.
That scared me the most.
He didn’t seem to care about how I looked or what people said about me.
It made me feel human.
I stared at myself.
I demanded my eyes return to normal like before.
Before Aris.
I braided my hair, put my beige linen dress on, and prepared for the gardens this morning.
The lead servant told me I would mostly be working by myself and that I had to pick the majority of the vegetables and herbs for today.
I strolled down the dirt path alone and at peace with my thoughts.
The sunlight filled the morning air, and I could see the wind blowing away the smoke from the festival.
I started in the herb garden, where familiarity put me in a meditative state.
I snipped the sage and rosemary to be paired with chickens for tonight’s dinner at the palace.
The branch behind me made a loud crack.
I whirled around, but I didn’t see anything or anyone.
Oh, no.
This could be it.
My eyes darted around the trees and the herbal boxes and down the dirt path I had walked from.
Malakar had come back to punish me, kill me, or take me away for what I did to Tobias.
My heart thundered in my chest.
“Solei,”
I heard a young woman hiss from around the hedge’s corner.
Maeri.
That was it.
I was officially paranoid.
“Maeri?”
I whisper-yelled.
I walked around the hedge that separated the herb garden from the rest of the gardens.
I found her walking towards me in distress, face in dismay.
“What is it?”
I asked.
“Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“What happened to you last night?”
Worry filled her eyes.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
I closed the question, and walking back, I resumed snipping at the herbs.
“How was your night?”
“It was fine until the chaos erupted.
Emperor Malakar and Aris tried to control the fights.
Nirelle and I left as quickly as we could.”
From where I crouched, I glanced up at her, my brows lowering.
“Do you think everything’s going to be okay?”
What I really wanted to say was, I hope I’m not the reason for a war between Siniya and Stroka.
Maeri waved a hand.
“Yeah, I’m sure.
I heard these things happen often, and they’ve always had an aggressive, divided relationship between Siniya and Stroka.”
“I wonder why.
Do you think that’s why Strokan warriors are still here, to squash any rebellion?”
“I would assume so,”
Maeri murmured.
I took a moment to relish in the relief of knowing that I hadn’t been the reason for a great war.
And another, reminding myself I was safe for the time being.
That I didn’t need to hide.
I placed the snippers in the basket with the rest of the freshly cut herbs.
“Did you know Malakar was Aris’ father?”
I asked, raising myself up and brushing my hands down my dress.
“Yes, of course.
Didn’t you?”
More reason to stay away and unnoticed by Aris.
“No.”
I shook my head, dumbfounded.
“I really do live in my head.”
Another twig went crack.
Maeri and I whirled in the direction of the sound, and my heart stopped.
Siniyan warriors stood at the entrance of the herb garden, dressed in their leather armor, weapons across their back and knives hanging on their hips.
They were there for me.
I knew it, in my heart.
Instinctively, I took a step back.
They were here for what I had done.
Aris had changed his mind.
Malakar had most likely demanded that I be returned to Stroka, for a punishment far greater than Aris led me to think.
“Girl.”
One of the warriors pointed directly at me.
“You’re coming with us.”
Multiple warriors came to my side, grabbing my arms and pulling me towards their path.
My body tensed.
I looked back at Maeri as they pulled me further away from the herb garden, the spitting image of sorrow and beauty.
Her sharp brows furrowed, and her eyes filled with concern for me, for her friend.
Go, I mouthed to her.
I was afraid for her.
She was associated with me.
Tears welling up in her eyes, her chin trembling.
I should have told her what happened.
Maeri gave me the brutal truth and sometimes was harsh on my ways—she didn’t care about hurting my feelings, but she was there, and most importantly she gave me a friend.
I didn’t know where I was going or how long it had been as the warriors pulled me out of the herb and vegetable garden alongside paths through the luscious green hills.
There were five of them.
It took five warriors to find me and bring me somewhere.
I must have had some incredible fighting skills I didn’t know about.
With a sigh, I kept my eyes glued to the ground.
The sun felt more distant than it was yesterday, almost like it had forgotten that we were meant to be in spring.
The chill wind pulled strands out from the front of my face and left my skin with gooseflesh.
Eventually, both warriors let me go.
This was the moment where they would execute me.
I kept my head lowered, and then I made a sudden burst to the side and ran as quickly as I could.
Run, run, run.
I didn’t want to die.
Not a minute later, an arm wrapped around my waist and hoisted me off the ground as I thrashed and pushed—but nothing was going to make the warrior falter.
I elbowed his shoulder, and it barely hurt him; in fact, it hurt me more.
They resumed their hold on both my arms when they placed me on the ground, firmer this time than the last.
I lifted my eyes and saw what lay before me.
It nearly took my breath away.
I’d never seen the palace from this view before.
I only had the small window in my quarters to see the palace from afar, and it was the view from the back.
It had always been forbidden for any servants who weren’t working directly in the palace to visit the gardens here.
At the foot of the palace, the gardens were filled with large hedges, beautiful hanging trees, and exotic flowers of all kinds I had never seen, heard, or dreamed of.
As the warriors guided me towards the bottom of the hill, the sweet fragrance of the flowers filled my nose.
The hedges were in the form of animals, lions, wolves, and snakes.
They were strangely magnificent. The towering, weeping trees that surrounded these gardens flew in the direction of the wind, casting shadows against the scorching sun and—
A rough hand encircled my left elbow and veered me towards the side of the gardens, peeling my attention from the vibrant colors of the glowing flowers.
My eyes turned towards the palace ahead of us.
Nowhere in my village, not even my lords or kings, had a structure as remarkable as this.
The palace itself was glorious.
The hundreds of windows that embedded the walls looked like eyes of beasts prowling ensuring that no intruder would enter. Windows upon windows upon windows, up, up, up the palace went. I craned my neck as we walked closer.
The warrior who still had his hand wrapped around my elbow yanked me to the side of the palace where we entered.
I was so enthralled by all its grandeur and beauty it was difficult for me to focus on my footsteps.
As the warrior pulled me inside, my foot caught on a step, causing me to fall on my knees and hands.
The warrior to my right jabbed my ribs with his calf.
“Get up, wench!”
With unsteady legs, I stumbled with the warriors through the doors.
We walked through the dark brown marbled hallways, which wrapped around and opened into other smaller gardens and courtyards inside the palace.
The space above the small gardens showed the sky peering over the trees.
It was magical.
They pulled me into a stairwell that went up into another dark hallway, this one filled with velvety tapestries where two warriors stood at the end.
I couldn’t help but peer at the tall, painted ceilings and ancient tapestries on the walls.
My captor gave a quick nod to both warriors ahead, which caused them to open the floor-to-ceiling double doors.
The doors opened into a bright and airy chamber.
Camilla stood in a long dark blue dress on a burnt orange rug facing the door.
Her black locks danced in the reflection of the light coming through the windows and hid the marks around her long neck.
Her lip was swollen, but the rest of her body showed no evidence that harm had ever found her in that alley.
“Leave us,”
she ordered the Siniyan warriors, and they obeyed.
Camilla approached me hesitantly.
“You.
I—I wanted to find you.”
Startled by Camilla’s voice, birds fluttered out of her windowsill and a gentle breeze whisked into the chambers.
I didn’t know what to think or what to do as she approached me.
No matter what Camilla’s intentions were with Aris, no one deserved what she went through.
But still, I wondered whose side she was on with this division between Siniya and Stroka even if it were as small as a crack in a potted bowl.
That bowl was bound to break.
Would there be someone to hold it together once it did, or would it shatter into a thousand pieces?
“You helped me last night.”
Her eyes were filled with heaviness, and under them were dark smudges.
She reached out and grabbed both my hands in hers which were cold and clammy.
“I don’t know how I’ll ever thank you for what you did.”
She squeezed gently.
“I wanted to find you to tell you that Tobias is dead.”
My heart sputtered in my throat.
Tobias was dead.
Aris must have killed him last night.
“I don’t know how he knew, but he knows what Tobias did to me, and I have a feeling it’s because of you.
I don’t know how you told him, but he knew.
He came to me.
Last night. He ensured I was okay after everything.”
Camilla swallowed audibly as tears welled up in her eyes.
“And now he’s gone,”
she said, looking down at me with a smile.
“Aris took care of me—of everything.
Tobias will never find me again… Thank you.”
I searched her face and her dark eyes as they twinkled in tears.
I wanted to tell her she didn’t need to thank me, there was no need, I would have done it for anyone, but I was at a loss for words due to the kindness she was showing me.
My lips parted and—
“I don’t know how I ever got trapped with Tobias and the Strokans.
I was so stupid—so stupid for fighting on the wrong side.”
She still thought I was a mute.
She wouldn’t be sharing this with me if she knew I could give this information to anyone else.
“Tobias made me believe that Aris was going to betray the Strokan Empire, that the downfall was going to happen to me as well if I didn’t help.
I was supposed to share all the information I found and give it to Tobias, and that would save me from Malakar’s wrath but—but I couldn’t.”
Couldn’t find anything or couldn’t betray Aris? I wondered.
“Aris knows what is best for this country.
He is a great ruler.
He takes care of all of us.
I was so, so foolish for believing otherwise.”
Camilla let go of my hands.
“I think I will go back to my father’s estates.
Perhaps I’ll even find a good Siniyan husband.
I’m so tired of this deception.
I want it to be over. I am safe now—we’re safe.”
I gave her a smile and tilted my head.
I felt something forming between the two of us even if it was mostly a one-way road.
For a moment, I wanted to speak to her.
But I realized if she knew I could talk, maybe she would have reason to kill me because I knew her secrets.
Knowing it was my cue to leave, I left Camilla’s chambers, and the warriors guided me through the palace.
We crossed pillars that opened to the interior garden.
It was full of ferns and ivy cascading over the walls and into the open space of the palace.
We walked down the hallway, my leather sandals softly hitting the ground.
It was hands down, the most beautiful place I’d ever seen.
And there, at the other end of the hallway, was Aris.
Just as I thought I’d be able to leave the palace without his notice, he caught my eye.
Shit.