The Past

A Secret Letter

All I want in life is for my writing to be read and well liked

I wasn't accustomed to this. Sure, I didn't have an array of servants, but I did have a decent cook and a cleaner. My mother's people had great respect for her and her throne, and so they allowed the hierarchy to form.

Here, breakfast was fish, lunch was fish, and dinner was fish. There was also rice.

I wasn't sure if I had made the right decision, passing up the luxury of Orion in search of a magic mirror that might not even exist.

I didn't even know how to find it, I was flying totally blind.

"Where are they from?" I asked Remor on the first day, gesturing towards the crew. They had a different look from any people I had ever met, with black hair and stretched eyes.

"A small country in the east called Xital. What are you doing?"

"Logging our journey." I turned my eyes back to the journal I had been writing in. "May I have some privacy?"

"Of course." He left the room and I heard the door shut as he entered his, directly beside mine. I was glad that nothing secret happened in my cabin, for I knew far too well how thin the wall between us was. I could only thank the gods that there were no women on board for him to take in there, though I supposed he could magically transport one if he wished.

I had been so very stupid that night at the docks, but I couldn't honestly say I had any regret. I had never kissed a boy before- though he wasn't exactly a boy- and so I was quite glad to have done so with him.

Whoever said that romantic feelings don't develop in less than a month was a fool, I wrote. Passion comes quickly, and with time becomes love.

Of course, I didn't love Remor, but I most certainly liked him, and I had since our first walk on the balcony.

Athern, on the other hand, was a cunt. My interactions with him had been as limited as possible, but every single time I was obligated to do so, he made sure to comment on my being a half-breed. I never saw him doing so with Teirr, though.
And sweet Teirr, well, I was endlessly glad to have a friend on board, and grateful that we had made our peace.

I slammed my quill onto the desk, lost on what to write, and ignored as ink splattered onto the parchment.

Fine, I thought, getting up from my desk.

I walked across the narrow hallway, and knocked on the door directly across from mine. When no response came, I knocked once more. Still no response, so I turned the knob into Athern's room.

Without him there, it was the perfect time to figure out what he was doing on the ship with us. There simply had to be a clue somewhere in his room.

His desk was empty, spare a few sheets of blank parchment and writing materials. He had only one bag, which had been emptied of his clothes that now occupied his small wardrobe. There was nothing else in there either, and nothing under his mattress.

Finally, I heard the slightest crumple of paper when I lifted his pillow. Inside the pillow case was a letter with "Do not discard" written on the outside.

Athern,
If you would like to regain your place in my bed, you must do as I say. Journey with the princess, romance her, make her fall in love with you. Bed her, too, if you would like, but do not let her use the Mirror.

Before I could read what else was written, a loud creak came from the doorway, causing me to drop the letter and turn my eyes upward.

"Meow."

A small kitten stood in front of the slightly ajar door, which I must have not closed properly, a cute little thing covered in brown stripes and spots.

"How did you get in here, you little stowaway?" I whispered.

The kitten's only response was a purr as I crouched down to scratch under its chin. I could crouch and otherwise move quite easily, as I was wearing a blouse and trousers rather than a proper gown. My mother would have been livid.

I picked up the kitten and backed out of the room, making sure to close the door as quietly as I could manage. As soon as I had it hidden in my room, I went to the makeshift kitchen that we had, to ask the cook for some of yesterday's fish.

When I was about to walk in, I saw Athern standing there, talking to the cook, and a wave of panic rushed over me. I turned to hurry back to the room, hoping to hide the letter back in the pillowcase in time, but the floorboard made a loud creak under my weight.

"Kinheal, why so hidden?" It was too late, for Athern had spotted me.

"I didn't want to intrude," I said with a smile. The lie tasted slightly bitter in my mouth, but it wasn't as though he deserved my honesty. No, he deserved far less.

I turned to the cook and asked for some fish, explaining that I had found a stowaway kitten.

"Trow the damn ting ovrbard," he huffed with a thick accent that I had never heard before. "Or do ya think it got brains to shit in a chamber pot? Half the crew don't."

"I'll get a box of dirt at our next stop, so it'll know to do its business there, and empty it overboard when it's full. I can move water, so I can easily separate the pee from the wood. It won't smell pleasant, of course, but the rest of the ship doesn't either."

"Won't be dirt fer it to piss in at ar next stop." He tossed me a slab of blufish. "Onle sand and woter fer a bloody fortnight. Yer cat, yer problem, Princess."

Well, I'm not going to throw it overboard, I thought as I walked back to my room. That much is certain.

"Oh!" My heart nearly ripped out of my chest when I opened my door to see Athern laying on my bed, playing with my kitten. "You scared me half to death! Get out of my room."

"My apologies," he said, but made no move to leave.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded, repeating, "get out."

"You went in my room, Princess, so it was only fair for me to go in yours."

My face felt hot, like I had dipped it in a tub of boiling water. How had he known it was me?

"It's a girl by the way." He sat up and placed the kitten beside him, continuing once I started to ask how he knew. "I am god of the hunt. It is my business to understand animals, particularly predators."

"Right." It made sense, but I hadn't thought of him as the sort of guy to play with kittens. "Would you kindly remove yourself from my cabin?"

"I suppose. I'll see you at lunchtime, Princess."

I looked back at the kitten, and I decided I would name her Anya, after the hero I had read about in one of the books back home.

She seemed sad that Athern had left.