CACKLE- Book 1

Chapter Fourty-One

The ride to the guard station wasn't very long. It was in Adinna after all. Remi had been so famished she finished the bag of food and was nibbling around the seeds of her apple cores when they arrived.

The little stone structure was half the size of Anna's cottage.

"This is a guard station?" Remi scoffed. Pathetic. No wonder these people would fall to the armies of Drilis.

The guards around her said nothing. They refused to look Remi in the eye. These guards that she had met before, sparring with Huxley- now refused to even look at her. What must they think of her? What did Ryker tell them? One man stepped forward to offer Remi a reluctant hand to assist her dismount from the horse. She leaned forward in the saddle and whipped her leg around- dropping from the horse. The guards face flashed with surprise. She supposed, this was not very lady like of her. Well... that whole act was out the window now. Remi shouldered him out of her way and entered the little hovel.

The room was dark with a single candle burning on a table. Of the two chairs, one was occupied- by the prince. "Ryker." Remi said. She lifted her bound wrists to illustrate her compliance.

She supposed he had intended for her to not see his entire face. Or the 4 guards positioned strategically around the corners of the room. Apparently he felt the need to have stealthy protection inside in addition to the six guards outside. He didn't account for her ability to see in the dark.

She sighed. "Can you please remove these now? Surely 10 guards are enough, this" she raised her wrists, 'is overkill."

Ryker's brows scrunched together, clearly displeased. Though, he wasn't quick enough to hide the flash of shock behind his eyes.

"I can't have you using magic on me. Not again." His voice was flat.

"What? What do you mean by again? I've never.." Remi started, but Ryker raised a hand and gestured to the chair across from him.

"Sit." He said.

A command.

Remi rolled her eyes. She would play along if it made him feel better. She couldn't begin to imagine the feeling of losing both parents and your best friend in one night. She had only lost the love of her life and one parent. The other had died somehow, somewhere, well before she was born.

She slumped in the seat and splayed her legs. A very 'unlady like' position, but it felt good to release the pressure of maintaining her act.

Ryker was unfazed. Steel eyes bore into her own. She was reminded of the first night they met. The way he looked at her across the table in the grand hall at dinner. But this look was harder, more intense and angry. Very, very angry.

Remi's ears were starting to ring from the silence. From the stillness. The only sound was her own breath.

'Was he waiting for her to explain what happened?'

The thought was only now occurring to Remi, that Ryker had seen her magic. That was it. She had been so consumed with the death around her that she forgot about the living. The one that remained. 'One...' Remi thought.

"Is Theo alive?" Remi blurted.

A guard behind her shifted quickly, as thought he took a start to her outburst.

She ignored him.

Ryker didn't flinch. "Princess Theodora did survive. Despite your exhaustive efforts."

He didn't yell, he didn't scream at her and raise his voice. He whispered it. 'Your efforts...' reverberated in Remi's head like an echo from hell.

"My Efforts!?" Remi barked. She started laughing. Or was it crying without tears? She wasn't sure, but Ryker didn't seem to find it quite so funny.