While Escaping Fate | ✗

IX. The Storm is Here

Relie could have lingered along any part of Astra Palace for an indefinite amount of time. Every angle was flush with loveliness, from the thick burgundy carpet to the artwork lining the walls. Her beauty-starved eyes drank in the richness, but Farren's haste prevented Relie from lingering. She did not understand his rush. No one questioned that Prince Farren had a guest, so she was able to pass undetected through the corridors. The most notice they received were the perfunctory bows and curtseys of the servants. Luckily they had managed to escape the deluge before it broke. Hopefully her fine dress allowed Relie to pass as a gentlewoman.

Farren walked briskly through the twining corridors. Relie felt like they had traversed the entire castle, such was the distance. The further they progressed, the less people there were, until finally, Farren stopped at the end of a hall marked by a single door.

"I think they used to keep prisoners up in this tower, but nowadays my mother and I use it for our apartment," Prince Farren said.

Relie stared apprehensively at the heavy wooden door. It certainly looked imposing. Her throat tightened at the idea of being locked behind it. "Why would you live so far from everyone?" she asked nervously. She remembered how Daegan had mentioned Cleone was rumored to be a witch. Was that why?

Farren shrugged. "It's quiet in this part of the castle. People are scared of this area. They say it's haunted. It's not," he added. "Not by anything other than me anyway. My mother likes the peace."

He sounded so casual and mocking of the unnamed people with their superstitions that Relie relaxed. Noticing the tension easing out of her, he smiled and opened the door.

It revealed a spiral staircase hewn in stone, slightly chipped in some places and curving upward, ascending into deeper darkness. Farren loped up the stairs with easy grace, taking two at a time. Relie followed at a more sedate pace. He reached the top before her. She heard a door swing open and Farren call, "Mother!"

She reached the apex and stood on a landing. The room inside was lit up brightly, with the fires burning with incense. As Relie stepped into Cleone and Farren's rooms, she decided she had never experienced any other smell so pleasant to her nostrils than the delicate combination of scents woven through the air. She recognized several: lavender, rosemary, chamomile, and other familiar herbs she grew in her own garden.

The aroma was the first thing she noticed, but in the next second instant she was gaping at the furniture.

Relie's manor had been furnished with the same items for innumerable years -- no one could remember the last time it had been remodeled. Perhaps it never had. She ate at chipped tables and sat upon worn chairs. Seeing Cleone's room was like color exploding onto Relie's eyeballs. The walls were covered by patterned rugs of loud colors, and the same style of cloth was layered over the furniture. She felt like her vision wasn't working correctly. Everything blended into each other.

Except for Farren, in his tunic of green like a hero of ancient legends.

"I like your room," Relie whispered. She felt strange in the tower room, like she should ask permission to breath.

He glanced back at her. "Thanks," he said and crossed over to a tall, narrow window. Peering out, he muttered, "We'll have to stay here tonight."

"What?" Relie asked, joining him. Once she glimpsed what he saw, she did not require her question to be answered.

Relie had been able to hear the muted sounds of the storm through the tower walls, but she did not know how strange this occurrence was. The stone walls were thick, being made with marbled bricks and packed tightly together with mortar. The sight outside the window was worrisome.