The Fallen Throne

Chapter 17.3 ✦ Strategy

When Alaina arrives at the dinner room full of long, old wooden tables packed with people, she finds Lloyd awkwardly trying his best – and obviously failing – to comfort Rose, who is sobbing by the table, ignoring the plate of food in front of her.

"What's up?" she asks, taking a seat beside Rose.

Lloyd looks at Alaina pleadingly as Rose rubs her eyes and hugs Alaina to her side.

"It's all gone! Gone!" she wails, earning looks from other people as Alaina tries to calm her down.

Just then, Kai arrives. He's obviously heard Rose and came over to check. "What's gone?"

When Rose lifts her face from Alaina, a look of perplexity takes over when she stares at Kai. "Did you take them? You took them!" She points at a confused Kai.

"Took what?" He resists the urge to pour the cup of water in his hands all over her.

"The Opuxes! They're gone!" Rose nearly shouts, wiping the last of her tears from her eyes and cheeks. "You stole them, didn't you?"

Kai slams the cup on the table, and silence dawns over as chattering people turn to look at them. Lloyd stands and tries to come between the fighting two, but Rose shoves him back forcefully into his seat. Alaina buries her face into her palms as she braces herself for what's to come.

"Prove it." Kai crosses his arms. "Oh, wait – you can't. Because I didn't steal them, flower girl. Why the heck would I want a bunch of glowing, translucent flowers?"

"But I had them yesterday! You were the last one who saw them with me back then, when you refused to thank the Opuxes for saving your life! After that night..."

Kai watches Rose as she finally begins to think rationally. She stares blankly back at him as she slowly retraces her words. Still not forgiving her for simply putting the blame on him, Kai opens his mouth, ready for insults to throw back at her, but Alaina yanks him down by his bandaged arm and makes him sit beside her so that she is in between the both of them.

When Kai turns to Rose, ignoring Alaina, she elbows him hard to ask him to drop the topic. "Shut up, she's really upset," she whispers.

"I'm the victim here!" he says, earning another painful jab at his side.

"She'll come to her senses and apologise." She holds up a palm to Kai when he is about to oppose, shutting him up. "Trust me."

As the group falls silent, the tension in the crowd seems to do the opposite. The people around them start chattering normally again, no longer having their attentions on them. That's a relief for both Alaina and Lloyd, as they wait for Rose to speak again.

Finally, she turns to Kai with her head hung low. With pink cheeks she says slowly, "sorry."

"See, you –" Alaina eyes him angrily, and he stops immediately. "Have you checked your place properly? Maybe you've just misplaced them."

Rose silently shakes her head. "I've checked everywhere; I count them every day, I'm careful not to lose a single one. Suddenly, they're gone," she says sadly, on the brink of tears once again. "And after all I went through to collect them all the way from the forest!"

"It's all right," says Lloyd quickly, "we can get them again."

"Really?" Rose looks at him, beginning to beam. "You'd go with me?"

"Me? Back in that creepy forest? No way!"

"Are you scared, Lloyd?" Alaina asks quickly, urging him when she finds Rose's mood dropping again.