Sin: Path of Poison

Chapter 5 Part 2

"Hey, hey, hey stand up stand up. How are you going to fit in if you sit around on the floor all day?" Pierce fussed, once again reaching out for my arms to help me up. He retracted a bit as the Crown Prince cleared his throat, clearly irritated with our contact. I stood up the rest of the way unassisted, but still lowered my eyes.

"We'll leave first. There's a lot to do." Nomi came forward to defuse the awkward situation. She tapped my shoulder lightly, expecting me to turn around and follow, but instead I backed out of the room while keeping my eyes lowered. The Crown Prince suppressed a laugh while Pierce didn't hold himself back at all.

"In the future there's no need to do that. Only the noble ladies are required to take a few steps backwards before turning around. So long as we bow and show proper respect when we first meet, we've met the requirements. While we're out of the palace the Princes' don't typically follow protocol, but in the palace we're expected to disappear as soon as we're dismissed." She explained. This point, I was already aware of, but I couldn't let on that I'd been in the court before. I had not only studied proper decorum in this court, but many others as well. My training was thorough and more rigorous than most of the real Nobles.

"Mm." I responded in a show of understanding.

"Come come, I've already instructed everyone to do their jobs here. You'll ride with me in that carriage." She said pointing a short distance away. "We're leaving ahead of the Crown Prince, the carriage is slower and they'll catch up. They'll be leaving shortly after us." She explained. The guards in charge of traveling with the Princes were already waiting. The rest were clearly guarding the procession that would come later.

"Mm." I replied again, quickly following her towards the carriage.

Hopefully the guards were reliable and there weren't any assassination attempts planned for the Crown Prince's return back. The carriage left as soon as we got in. Only the driver and one guard on horseback accompanied us. Being accompanied by one guard either meant they were overly confident or unafraid we'd be targeted during our return. As Nomi predicted, it wasn't long before the others caught up to us on horseback. Gathering a small amount of energy I listened in on them between Nomi's weather talk.

"Why won't you admit it? You're curious about her." He egged on.

"How many ladies have I been introduced to, you think I haven't seen everything already?" The Crown Prince deflected.

"Ahhh.. then you won't mind if she serves me when we return?" Pierce countered.

"If she's an assassin you'd just let her kill you." The Crown Prince trailed off. Pierce laughed, neither agreeing nor denying the comment.

"She's dangerous, you should both stay away from her." Blake maneuvered his horse closer to the two to make sure they heard his warning.

"Proof?" Pierce countered.

"I don't need any, there's something about her that makes me uneasy. She knows something and I can't get it out of her." He replied.

"She made you smile, obviously she's the largest talent we've ever seen!" Pierce teased. Irritated, Blake moved his horse away again. When did I make Blake smile?

"I don't think she'll hurt any of us." The guard I rode with the other day chimed in as he swooped into the vacancy Blake left.

"You agree she's dangerous?" The Crown Prince questioned.

"Last night, watching the tent door, I didn't think there was much I could do if she wanted to leave." He casually commented. Hmm I knew he was smart, but I had to give him extra compliments for realizing this. I'd have to keep in mind that he probably had an innate sense of energy. "Even so, I don't think she'd harm me. Maybe just, I don't know, disappear?" He didn't mention his suspicions of recognizing me to them. Interesting.

"What do you think she's after?" The Crown Prince asked, open to ideas.

"Money?" Pierce asked.

"Not likely. She was involved in her father's business, I'm sure she has ties she could rely on for the time being." The Crown Prince speculated.

"Marriage?" The other guard guessed.

"Marry who?" The Crown Prince asked.

"You?" Blake guessed.

"She doesn't seem like the type that wants to be a concubine, and with her status she wouldn't qualify to be the Empress." Pierce assessed. They rode on in silence, all trying to think of a clever plot twist. After three hours of traveling, the carriage slowed down and came to a halt. Nomi perked up for the first time.

"Come, we're taking a quick break. There will only be plain buns for us to eat, but we can stretch our legs briefly." Nomi sounded elated over this simple gesture. We both came out from the carriage and took a look around.

The scenery was admirable. This time of year wild flowers were blooming across the open field that surrounded us. In the distance jagged rocks stuck into the horizon, covered in trees. Nearby was a small lake, the animals were led over to drink while a few of the guards looked over the horses' hooves and legs. Nomi stuck a large bun in my hand as we silently strolled about the field. She ate the bun quickly while I slowly tore small pieces off and popped them into my mouth in a leisurely manner. She finished up her bun while I still had half of mine remaining.

"You've never had to eat in a hurry, afraid someone else might take your meal for the day?" She giggled. I looked at her and shook my head, feigning ignorance to such a pitiful existence.

"When I was young I didn't have anywhere to go. My parents got sick and died when I was twelve. We weren't too bad off before they got sick, we lived simply and we were happy. Once the plague swept through they became desperate for a cure and spent everything we owned, it turned out the medicine wasn't even real. By some miracle I was able to recover. My uncle and aunt took me in, but they didn't even have enough for their own kids let alone me, an orphan." Her voice became quiet as it wavered slightly.

"They gave me a flat piece of bread one day, not even a finger width thick and barely the size of my hand. Told me it was all I'd get for the day. As soon as they turned to leave my cousins jumped on me, hitting me and ripping the bread from my hands. The next day it happened again, but I managed to stuff most of the bread in my mouth and swallow before they took it." She paused to look at the remaining bun left in my hand, her eyes full of tears.

"A few days after that my aunt took me to the front gate of the palace and pushed me through. She accepted a small sum of money in return for my service to the palace, a contract for several years. It was only enough to buy food for a month, but it was a good trade for her. I haven't seen her since. Actually, I should thank her. I have a good life now. Even after my contract expired I still wanted to serve the Crown Prince." She giggled while trying to shove down the sorrow and hide the tears.

"I'm sorry, about your childhood." I replied, with a shocked expression fixed on my face while pretending to imagine such a thing could happen.

"Thank you." She looked away, trying to hide more tears that came. "I'm going to see how the other girls are doing." Nomi choked out. We were both aware the other girls were several hours behind us. But I didn't comment.

I leaned against the trunk of the solitary tree and stared into the distance. I wondered if she knew the truth and refused to admit it or if her parents lied to her. That year there was a cure to the disease, but all of the medicine was bought up by a certain merchant and sold it at an exorbitant price.

It was likely her parents sold everything and could only afford one cure, which they gave to her. They probably drank a cup of poison so she didn't have to watch as they were consumed by the plague. Her aunt likely received a small sum of money or piece of jewelry that they scraped aside, in hopes their only daughter had a way to survive once they passed.

I'd make a mental note to find her aunt someday. If she was alive I'd make her pay back what she owed. As for the merchant, he was dead, I was seventeen when I took the contract. Things were different back then, I'd already been taking contracts for several years, killing more people than I could remember. He happened to be one of them, one of the most fulfilling contracts that ever fell in my lap.