Plight of an Empire

Chapter Two: Audriel

Mynoa, Rundil

“Are you sure no one comes up here?” Audriel Pellinor heard a voice ask beyond the darkness.  She heard the distinctive scuffle of two sets shoes on the wooden floor.

“Yes, I’m sure”, another voice answered.  “According to the servants, the fifth level is haunted.”

The two girls must have wanted to be alone much like Audriel.  She considered revealing herself to them, but her curiosity overcame her.  In addition, she did not want any of her guests to see that see was hiding from them. 

The sound of the first girl’s laughter pierced the halls.  She sounded young, not as young as Svanna but still younger than the princess.  “Haunted?  That’s doubtful.  Likely just superstitious nonsense created by the family so they can hide away up here.”  Audriel’s breath caught in her throat.  “Besides, if it was haunted, I’m sure we could take the ghosts on, couldn’t we, cousin?”  Silence responded to her question.  “What did you bring me up here to talk about?”

Audriel held her breath, careful to not give away her presence.  The last thing she wanted was to be discovered and dragged back to her party.  Immediately after dinner, Audriel had snuck away from her family and Lucien Vangallen.  She shuddered at the thought of him looking at her with his dark gray eyes as he had done during dinner.  He hardly spoke at all, just listening to her father speak.  Though she had avoided looking at him, she could see him watching her out of her peripherals.  He was mysterious and that terrified her.

A throat clearing brought her back to the present.  “I believe you remember Gaius?” the second girl asked.

“Gaius Haerich?” the first voice asked.  “The boy you spent the entire evening with.”  Gaius Haerich Audriel thought.  She vaguely remembered him.  They had danced for one set before dinner.  She strained her mind trying to recall his face.  He had dark copper hair, so few people were fair-haired like him.  She remembered looking into his eyes, a light gray, like the sky on a cloudy day.  Who did he spend the evening with?  She struggled to recall, but could find nothing in her memory.

“Yes”, the second voice confirmed.  There was an awkward silence.  Audriel wished she could see what was going on.

“No”, shock emanating from her voice.  “You can’t…”

“You can’t tell our family”, she pleaded.

“Does he know about you?  About us?”

“No, and he shall never know.”

The first voice sighed.  “You know that this is wrong.  Your blood is too pure to be tainted, Adrianne.”  Adrianne Tisley?  “Besides, what would Brenner say?  Your brother would never approve of this union.”

“I will deal with him”, Adrianne said firmly.  “You will not tell our family, Fiella.”  Fiella Tisley?

“I swear, I will not tell a soul”, Fiella swore.  “But what will you do about Stahl?  If Brenner would never approve, you know what Stahl would do.”

A silence hung in the air.  “I will deal with Stahl as well”, Adrianne’s voice was laced with fear, her previous confidence now dissipated. 

Fiella sighed again.  “I can’t believe you are going to waste yourself—your birthright—for a man.”

Adrianne chuckled.  “Funny isn’t it?  Our ancestors wanted to create someone like me and I want nothing to do with it.  The gods work in mysterious ways.”  There was a long pause.  “Thank you, Fiella, for not trying to change my mind.”