The reflection of the Queen: Exile

Chapter 3: The famous reckless King

I took a deep breath as I awoke, the memories of a nightmare blurring together. The horror I had felt in my dream was replaced by the horror I felt when I realized I was not in my room. The light of dawn blinded me, and the city stretched out before me; not to mention that Rodion's breath tickled me. I had my head resting on his shoulder, and one of his arms was on top of me. I pushed him away as carefully as I could and stood up, smoothing my uniform. The night before we had stayed in the bush, talking about his departure after a few months, and we must have fallen asleep.

As soon as I remembered what he had told me, I frowned deeply. Rodion was going to leave. There was going to be a war. Life as I had known it was going to disappear, whether they won or lost. I doubted my worried expression would fade for the remainder of the day. Wait a minute, what time was it?

"Rodion," I whispered, tapping him a little with the toe of my foot. When I saw that he didn't wake up, I grunted and kicked him in the side, which made him sit up suddenly.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"I'll tell you why she came: we overslept! And I have to get your sister out of bed at eight o'clock! I don't even know what time it is, and she wanted to go shopping again..."

"Perse, relax. It's okay if you're late one day, Clariess will understand."

'Yes, but not your father,' I wanted to answer him. I couldn't help glaring at him, and I hurriedly picked up the contents of the basket, which were scattered all over the moss. Rodion complained, rubbing his back, but he helped me, and a while later we were descending through the forest towards the house. Every minute that passed made me more nervous, and it felt like we had been walking for hours by the time we reached the Aursong grounds.

"Wait," I stopped him. "Would you mind coming in later?"
"What? Why?"

"If I'm late, or if someone sees us... I don't want them to think..."

He let out a guffaw.

"Are you worried about what they say?"

"Aren't you?"

"It's okay, you don't have to be like that. I'll come in later if that's what you want."

"Yes. Thank you."

I slipped out of the service door, crossing paths with a couple of servants who, luckily, didn't pay too much attention to me. Once in my room, I took off my wrinkled uniform and changed it for another one. Looking at the clock on my bedside table, I stifled a moan when I realized that it was after eight o'clock.

I almost ran to Clariess' room, who was still lying down, reading a book.

"What happened to you?"

"I'm so sorry, I assure you it wasn't on purpose. I... I fell asleep."

It wasn't quite a lie, but it was as true as I felt able to tell her.

"It's okay," she sighed, but I could tell she was upset. I promised myself that I would do whatever she asked me to do that day, even if it meant seeing Mr. Zarius. We went about our daily routine, but in a bit of a hurry. On that occasion I didn't let her do my hair too: I just put on one of her blue dresses and gathered her hair at the nape of her neck, no matter how tangled mine was. We both missed the cane as we hurried down the stairs. Unfortunately, we didn't get very far, for waiting for us on the landing was Cadmot. The son most similar, both in physique and charming personality, to the general.

"Mother asked me to check the reason for your delay, Clariess," she said in that sour voice of hers, giving me a poisonous look.

"I'm sorry, I..." I started to say, ducking my head, but she interrupted me: