All's Fair in Revenge

Chapter 22: The Second Guard

The second time I woke that night the silk pillow was damp. Sticky sweat coated my neck, chest, and the dip of my spine. But at least my bladder held up this time. I rolled to find Liv.

After my earlier episode, she demanded to stay with me for company. I didn't fight it. I didn't have the energy. From where she laid on her hip, she watched me, brushing matted hair from my forehead, fingering the small braid beneath my ear. When I couldn't bear the pity scrunching her brow any longer, I flipped over and watched the moon set. Sometime before dawn I fell asleep. Sometime after, I woke up again. I gave in and placed my bare feet onto the soft rug, quiet enough to not wake Liv. One of us deserved some rest.

Peeking through the curtains, I saw the earliest tendrils of morning unfurling over the eastern side of the lapping Ortusalis Sea. It seemed to go on forever with no end in sight, such a contrast to the cove back home where it felt as though the ocean was more of a pinched lake. I wished I had taken Brix up on another room, one that faced Kelvia.

Maybe I wouldn't feel so homesick if I could just see its shoreline. There had to be a tall enough tower somewhere in Castle Moer or maybe the surf was a better place to try. I left a note for Liv.

The castle was a corkscrew. My plan, since I didn't know a damn thing about the layout, was to simply descend. I figured I'd hit sand eventually. Sometime later, when I came upon the fourth dead end in my trek, Sira Alona finally stepped out from the shadows and asked, "What do you search for?"

I folded the sleeves of my nightgown to the elbows and billowed the extra fabric at my chest. "It's about time you spoke up. It was getting quite awkward."

She scowled. "You knew I was here the whole time?"

I half-panted, half-laughed. "Don't be so shocked." Tugging on one of many rings along my ear, I said, "Kelvian hearing."

"Right."

"Well, since you're here and I can't seem to manage it on my own, can you get me the hell out of this castle? I'm to suffocate."

Within minutes the sira guided me to a desolate garden outside the kitchen quarters. Green bulbs hugging purple petals popped through the soil, reaching for the morning sun. The cool morning air hit me, and I inhaled as much of it as my lungs would allow. My toes curled in the grass, Ideostara's frost melting from my heat. I rubbed the petals of a blooming snowdrop. "How do I get down to the water from here?"

"There's a path." Sira Alona pointed to a split in the cliffside, a death drop from where I stood. "It's rocky, but well used." Shaky legs and jittery hands convinced me to stay close to the castle rather than venturing to the shore. I'd save that adventure for another day.

"Have you used it?" Climbing a cliffside seemed too dangerous for such a proper Second Guard.

"Not anymore. But before..." she hesitated, something like revulsion souring her expression for the slightest of moments. One so inconsequential I wondered if I had imagined it. "I mean, prior to joining the Second Guard."

Through the garden gate, I walked the aisles of herbs, rubbed them between my fingers and nibbled on a few leaves. Sira Alona followed, silent like a tree stalking. When I couldn't listen to her armor squeak and grind any longer, I decided to fill the air with a series of questions. If I was to be shadowed, I might as well get to know my specter. "Tell me, Sira, why did you become a Second Guard?" I plucked a dead basil leaf and crunched it between my fingers. "The fame? The fortune?"

"It is an honor to be in the Second Guard."

Beyond the cliff, the sun climbed toward the sky, casting its sparkle on the ocean below. "Hmm, so I've heard. But why?"

With her palm resting comfortably on her hilt, she took a minute to think then said, "Sir Thorne gave me an opportunity."

"So, you're close? You and Lord Thorne?"

"In a way, yes."

I paused, mid-step. "How close?"

Sira Alona inspected me. "If you mean to ask whether we've had relations, the answer is none of your business."

"My, my Sira Alona. Is that any way to talk to a princess?" I tsked.

Her expression folded inward. "My apologies, Your Royal Highness, it's just that such speculation can ruin a lady's reputation in this kingdom."

"But not in your kingdom?"

She eyed me curiously, but did not answer, instead saying, "Sir is not of my taste."

"As in Druvix?"

"As in male," Sira Alona corrected.

"Oh," I said, then added, "Aw," as I realized what such information meant for both Liv and my plan. "I know someone who will be thrilled to hear that."

A hard, metal arm grabbed me. "No, you cannot tell anyone. Most of all the lady."

I cocked my head in confusion. "Is such a thing illegal here?" I had memorized every Dorsi law known to humankind. Had I missed something? Because if those bastards had outlawed something as fundamental as—

Alona cut off my thoughts. "No, but I cannot court anyone I'm sworn to protect. It is unethical."

I snorted. "Unethical is just another way of saying enticing. Exciting, even."

The Sira's eyes narrowed. "Your Highness," she begged.

A whisper of a pained smile crossed my mouth as I peered down at the Second Guard and nodded. "Very well," I said. "You have my word, but I hope you change your mind. I have no hope for love, but the poets claim its worth is beyond glass."

Alona sighed. "I do not love her, Your Highness."

I chuckled. "Maybe not, but you will," I said, patting her shoulder. "In the end, we all do."