Duty and Deceit

Chapter 7

Kaia hadn't followed him back. He'd made sure of it. Now that he knew she wasn't a threat to his family or the emperor, he never wanted to see her ever again. Not after she used his family against him.

Roxas had never harmed Kairos in any way, hell he'd even helped Kairos find his way to her house. It was Kairos who selected the cursed box, Roxas did not influence his decision-making apart from making the box unusually beautiful.

Kaia had gone ahead and ruined any chances he might have had with returning to his family.

Not that he planned to return any time soon. Or at all.

Roxas tried not to sulk, fixing the monkey cap over his face as he picked up the heavy shipment and headed into the port for loading. He wore a heavily lined blue uniform, that kept him warm and sweaty in the snow, as he followed similarly dressed dockworkers who trafficked around with shipment.

Passengers boarded the ship, their servants carrying their luggage into their rooms. Roxas, of course, wasn't in his right mind yesterday after his chat with Kaia so he'd forgotten to purchase the tickets for the ship. By the time he realised, all the rooms had already been booked, leaving him to disguise himself as a worker and work his way to YeFia.

Fetu was still cross with him for hitting him the other day and utterly refused to help him with the document forging. He'd thrown a book at Roxas's head when he'd asked for help, leaving him to forge the legal documents himself.

He dumped the crate onto a stack with more force than necessary and his superior snapped at him.

Disagreements were common in his team, but they'd never refused to help him no matter how much they were pissed at him. This had been the first time and it was all because of that damned orphan. That woman had turned his life upside down ever since she barged into his familial house with her sharp hazel eyes and soft-looking lips.

Roxas spent an unhealthy amount of his time mentally cursing Kaia for existing as he loaded the shipment. His mood truly took a turn for the worse when he realised he'd been thinking of her even after the ship had sailed.

He collapsed onto his bedroll with a grimace, limbs aching after twelve hours of tirelessly labouring. Most of his co-workers had already passed out on their cots, a few awake- playing cards, eating or writing letters or journals. The unpleasant smell of tobacco lingered around the room.

Roxas dug through his small leather satchel, pulling out his packed sandwich wrapped in newspaper as someone admonished a rowdy group to shut up.

He moved to sit against the moulding wooden wall, beside another girl who sat with a black cat on her lap.

Cats weren't unusual on a ship. Hell, he'd seen three already running past him with dead mice in their mouths. He assumed this cat was the same.

He removed his dirty gloves before unwrapping the newspaper, the smell of marmalade permeating the air as he bit into the dry bread. The girl's stomach growled beside him. Roxas only spared her a quick glance, meaning to lend her half of his sandwich. As soon as he saw her face, he froze.

Kaia was pale, her usually narrow eyes were stretched wide as her eyes jumped from person to person in the room. Her hands fisted her trousers so hard her knuckles turned white. She wore the same uniform as him, a monkey cap covering her hair and boots that seemed to be too big for her.

Her cat, Coal, was rubbing against her legs.

What the fuck?

Roxas shut his agape mouth, darting a glance around to see if anyone was within hearing distance before he leaned to her, "What are you doing here?" He hissed at her.