Algernon Black || The Rise of a God ||

(Chapter 42) The Call to See

"Selice!"

Selice cringed before she even turned around. She was outside, wandering past the ledge of the castle overlooking the ocean, and now quickly contemplated her only escape route.

"Don't even think about jumping," Loy ordered, noticing her line of sight.

Selice sighed. "Is there something you need?"

"Yes, and it's a good thing you're offering," Loy replied, his token smile lighting up his face. He grabbed Selice by the shoulder and guided her away from the ledge. "We're going on a trip."

Selice angled her weary eyes up at Loy. The first stages of a headache already forming. "Why?"

Loy smiled still but stared at the bay. It was sunset now, but it never mattered the time of day, there was always a ship in sight.

"When I was little Devane used to make me sit here and learn the flag of every country that passed on every ship," Loy said, skimming over the two merchant vessels making their way through the mouth of the inlet. "But that didn't work. I never learned anything by watching and waiting. And I'll never understand what I need to until I find the answers for myself." More ships passed and almost all of them waved a second flag in addition to the one from their homeland. The flag of Emora was the first Loy had ever learned with its silver four-pointed star of the god that seemed to appear everywhere in the world.

Selice noticed Emora's banner as well. After what Jared had told them the night before, she had a gnawing sense of dread every time she saw it.

"Ok. But why does that include me?"

"Because," Loy grinned as he played the old woman's words back in his mind and then continued on flirtatiously. "You can't refuse me."

"I'm a servant to your family, Loy," Selice returned. "I could literally be killed if I refused you."

"Glad you see things my way. We leave tomorrow after sunset."

"Isn't that too sudden?"

"No," Loy said. "It's just sudden enough that Devane won't be able to stop me."

"Are you trying to get out of something?" Selice asked. She wasn't aware of any upcoming galas or events, but it wouldn't be unlike Loy to flee the country for months just because he wanted to avoid one uncomfortable evening.

Loy opened his eyes wide and made himself look and speak as innocently as a child when he said. "Me? I would never."

Selice responded with her driest expression. She still remembered the time Loy stayed away for close to two years because Devane arranged marriage meetings with some foreign princesses. It was such a calming time, except for Devane who had to spend most of it apologizing to scorned divas and their fathers.

Loy saw Selice wasn't falling for his cute act. "I'm actually doing something he would approve of," he added, back to his normal voice. "But not something he asked me to do." Loy gazed west, where all that could be seen was the vast ocean, but Loy felt not a call to the open waters, but a challenge to the person on the other side of the sea.

"I highly doubt whatever you have planned has anyone's approval other than your own," Selice said.

Loy looked directly into Selice's eyes and smiled, but not the cocky sideways grin he showed everyone else, that was half a lie, but a genuine one that lifted both his cheeks and bunched up two small sacks below his lower eyelids.

Selice turned away from it as that smile made the general annoyance she always felt for Loy falter, which she needed to keep up because it served as her primary defense against him. But she also knew Loy was spoiled, and what he set his sights on he got. Usually through force, and there would be no hope of her trying to out due Loy in strength. "Where are we going?" Selice asked, resigned to her fate.

"To Attwood," Loy replied merrily. "For the winter's ball."

"Winter is months away. A ship can take us to Emora in a week."

"And one will," Loy said. "Eventually, but we'll start our trip in true vagabond fashion." Loy took out a small parcel at his side and dropped it into Selice's hands.

She opened the strings on either side, and it was a bag of clear marbles, maybe ten or so.

"What are these for?"

"Space stones," Loy explained, lifting one to the setting sun to double-check its clarity. "Pack multiple bags and put one in each of the marbles. Loy kept a much bigger supply on him tied to his belt, with all the necessities of travel.

"I don't know how to use these." Selice picked up one of the marbles crossly. It was a type of magic, and magic never interested her. Devane had tried to see if she had any inclination for the practice when she was younger, but it utterly evaded her. Instead, she took resoundingly well to the dynamics of machines and technology.

"Then let's go back to your bedroom and I'll teach you," Loy said, strolling along beside her.

"No," Selice immediately shot down, though the prince followed her regardless.