"I can't help myself", Rowan mused in a slightly exaggerated fashion, rubbing his chin while sloppily treading along by Iris' side. "It's unexpected."
"Me asking you to accompany me?"
"Hm", he breathed out. "I'm not complaining, though."
"You are his friend, after all", Iris remarked as they slowly walked on.
"And you've finally decided that you like me, after all", Rowan concluded and crossed his arms behind his head, puffing his chest.
"Maybe I just want to know why", Iris grinned back at him.
"Aw, ouch."
"You asked for it."
Rowan chuckled."I see why he loves you."
"Is there no one around now?", Iris inquired with more earnest. "Nyx said you only show yourself when it's perfectly safe."
"Hm, not a soul apart from a few guards. Finally some peace and quiet."
"How do you know so well?"
Rowan glued his gaze to her back for a moment, weighing all options for an answer. "You're his queen now, so I suppose you might as well know as much...", he mumbled, and Iris pricked her ears to his next words. "Heightened senses. Perfect hearing, perfect eyesight, a much too fine nose to be pleasant and – to top it off – a perfect memory that won't let me forget even a single face that I've ever happened to come across."
Iris could not hide her astonishment any longer. She had never heard of someone who possessed such abilities. At first she stared at him quite blankly, then something he had mentioned not long ago flashed through her mind.
"I'm not exactly fond of large crowds", Rowan ended, confirming the thought that was written all over Iris' face.
"You had said so before...", she nodded. She could not even begin to imagine the ways in which he experienced this world, but it had definitely not sounded like something she would trade her blindness for. It must have been more than tiring for him to walk among all those people, all these noises and fragrances, while also having to ensure her safety. A small silence emerged from the space between them and threatened to grow, but Iris would not let it. There were only a few corridors and staircases between them and her chambers now, and time was precious. She had to find out, all the more since there was hardly anyone else she could ask.
"Now that I am queen", she slowly began. "Can I also be sure of your loyalty? Your secrecy?"
Once again, the usually so impeccably equilibrated scale of Rowan's aura leaned towards his dark side, forewarning her of the kind of answer she was to expect. A cold shower ran down her neck.
"My pledge of allegiance has been made to no one but Nyx", he explained monotonously. "But you are his queen, and he wishes for your safety and happiness, so I will naturally respond to his will."
"Sounds fair...", Iris said and turned her face towards the empty hallway ahead. "There is something I wish to know. Do you think answering is in your powers?"
"Depends on the question."
"Who are the Kingmakers?"
"Hm", Rowan went and the echo of his steps died down. "The correct question would be 'Whowere the Kingmakers'."
When he did not continue, Iris turned around and approached him again. They had halted in the middle of a long archway looking out on a small patio to the right. A soft breeze brushed over their clothes, muffling their voices a little. A patrol was stomping by in the hallway overhead, well audible through the open arches. As soon as they had passed, Rowan's lips separated.
YOU ARE READING
Without Words, Without Sight
Fantasy"And in the distance between these eyes that did not see, and this voice that did not resound, he put the flowers and fruit he had picked to describe the scent she had to him. As he put them all into her arms, she understood with a graceful smile. P...
