Kingdom of Scourge and Shadow (The Sightstone Series #1)

Chapter Ten: Natalie

"The Royal Archives of Allerstad contains one of the most comprehensive collections of literature and history in the world. A favorite haunt of scholars and citizens alike, one can find almost anything in its annals."

-Gerard Van Daal, historian, Allerstad: Disease and Trade on the Winter Sea, Vol. 2

***

 A frigid wind was howling through the streets of Allerstad when Natalie made her way down to Emissary Harbor, early in the morning. Well, she supposed eight o'clock wasn't that early, but, for a courtesan used to working nights and sleeping late, being awake before eleven was unusual.

She'd dressed carefully for today, in her favorite teal gown and a thick cloak. She knew from experience that it would be colder by the water, but she'd wanted to look her best for when she saw Aleksei again. It may have been years since the last time, but old habits died hard. And Aleksei was Aleksei. Her vanity always seemed to come to the fore with him.

She'd first met him not long after her sixteenth birthday, when Lord Zima had sent her and several other mages for a brief training program at the Odensk naval base. He'd been newly-appointed the captain of the Sunseeker, and, with his brown hair, blue eyes and winning smile, he'd turned every girl's eye. He'd never looked twice at them, and Natalie remembered how much it had irked her friend Elektra that he was the one man who'd resisted her charms.

Natalie hadn't really thought much of him, at first; to her, he'd been just another soldier, albeit a particularly handsome one. Then, one night, Natalie and the other mages happened to be off duty at the same time as the crew of the Sunseeker. They'd ventured into the city in search of something to do, and had found themselves at the same pub that the Sunseeker's captain and some of his crew had chosen to frequent.

Somehow–to this day, Natalie wasn't entirely sure how; her memories of that night were rather blurry–she'd ended up facing off with Aleksei in a drinking contest. She remembered how annoyed he'd been when she'd won, just as the other mages had warned him she would.

After that, one thing led to another, and, somehow, Natalie had found herself walking back to base alone with Aleksei. And then, somehow, she'd started flirting with him, and he'd flirted back. Then, somehow, right as they'd arrived back on base, Natalie had summoned up the courage to kiss him, and, to her surprise, he'd kissed her back. They'd found a secluded corner, and...

Natalie's cheeks burned even in the icy wind as she remembered what came next. She'd been with men before, but Aleksei had been different. Things with him had been like in the storybooks, like the poets said love was. Even though he'd often been at sea, they'd written letters, long letters, full of promises and hopes and dreams for the future–their future, together–and, when he returned, they always picked up right where they'd left off.

It had continued like that, right up until the day Natalie had broken the promise she'd made and fled Saroviya. At the time, it felt like she had no choice, no other recourse, but, now, as she walked along the Noord Kanal, out of the cramped and winding alleys of the Old Stad, to where the Noord Kanal flowed into the River Aller, which had given the city its name, she had to wonder if maybe there was something she'd missed. If there had been another way that she hadn't seen.

Futile, that train of thought. The past was the past, and she'd done what she'd done. She couldn't change what had happened, and wondering about it only hurt like the deepest of wounds.

At the riverside, Natalie turned west, following the rushing water towards the coast–not hard to do in Allerstad; the city was ringed by ocean on three sides, a peninsula jutting out from the Rjikean mainland like a thin finger of land. If you wanted to reach the sea from any part of Allerstad, people joked, you had a three-in-four chance of getting there, no matter which way you went.