The World Wanderer Chronicles

Ch. 12 (or the one where no one gave a damn about her arrival)

With Aresh at the front of the formation, she continued riding to the palace with Gared by her side. The dark-haired prince was considerate enough to let her observe the city without interruption. Liliana appreciated the silence as she took in every aspect of the city. Excitement made her green eyes shine like freshly, polished emeralds, at the sight of Zaronia's crystalline buildings and rough waterfalls. The whole town lay in a valley, surrounded by ragged stone cliffs. With the high-standing sun, the houses resembled a twinkling sea of stars, trapped in a grave of stone and snow.

'Zaronia is also called the Geode city,' Gared picked up her thoughts.

'It's a fitting name. I can see why.'

Instead of crossing the valley, Aresh ushered them to a smaller pathway. Liliana's face remained expressionless as her worries grew. It seemed impossible for her to climb up the rocky, snow-covered path on horseback. Especially, when Aresh led them up the largest mountain. Before she could voice out her concerns, her stallion took control and climbed the trail with ease. The closer they got to the high-standing palace, overlooking the whole city, she saw numerous mansions nestled into the gaps and cracks of the cliff, surrounding the valley, only disrupted by four evenly spread waterfalls crashing down and forming rivers all across town.

'Impressive view, right? It's impossible to ever get tired of this city.'

'Your opinion might be a little biased, don't you think?' The sharp tone in her voice didn't go unnoticed.

'Will you stop this nonsense? You can't hold a grudge against me for something you are also guilty of. I demand a truce.'

'You demand? Keep on trying.'

'You are infuriating.'

'I know.'

Gared clenched his jaw. His knuckles whitened under the tight grip on his reins. His whole body tensed up. 'Get over it. Fast.' He penetrated her with a freezing glare before catching up to his older brother and leaving her alone.

'Whatever you want, your Highness,' she whispered, fully aware that he could hear her. The two snickering sounds coming from her back let her snap her head around. Sethin gave her a poor imitation of an apologetic smile.

'Making friends, are we?'

'You don't even know what we were talking about.'

'No, but I could still see your faces, and they didn't look friendly at all.'

'Shut up.' She turned her head in Ceryan's direction and complained. 'I really appreciate the view, Ceryan, but why do we even bother with this unnecessary, troublesome path to the palace? Couldn't we just use portals?'

'We did?' he answered, raising his eyebrow in confusion.

She sighed loudly. 'Yes, but we could have landed right outside the castle gates, instead on the brink of a cliff.'

'You behave like a spoiled princess, you know? And I'm saying this as a literal prince. There are rules to follow.'

'What rules?'

Ceryan's mocking smile slipped up for a second; his eyes widened with shock, realization and then horror, but within a blink, he showed his carefree smirk again. 'I hope that was sarcasm.'

She forced a laugh and shook her head. 'What rules?' she repeated the question, only for him to hear.  The sweet smile betrayed the stern voice.

'Not now. Definitely not now. This conversation is over.' The words seethed with such an unexpected urgency through his lips that worried her. Ceryan refused to talk to her for the remainder of the road, not that she would have made an effort to restart the conversation, anyway.