Children Of The Sky (The Scripts Of Neptune, Book 2)

Chapter 6

The river wasn't someplace Lillian visited often. It was a secret of hers, a hideaway she only gave in to when she didn't know what else to do. Maybe it was the way she could sit in the tall grasses, the ground dry from the mid-summer heat, and be nearly impossible to find, watching seagulls swoop over the water and shriek at each other in the air.

Or maybe it was because of Sam.

She talked to him, sometimes, just a few words whispered under her breath at the waterside. And it hurt like hell every time she closed her eyes and remembered his face when they'd pushed the boat out into the current six months before. He'd looked...peaceful. And he'd deserved to be. The scars left on his body from where he'd been tortured and healed again by Naru had mapped his pain. Death had been merciful for him, in a way, sparing him the hardship of healing. But gods--what she wouldn't have given to see him again. They'd been friends since before she knew how to read. And now...now he was just...gone. One of her best friends, someone she'd scarcely gone a few days without seeing for years, suddenly snatched away, leaving a scar in his place Lillian wasn't sure would ever fully heal.

It'd changed things between her and Nyle. Not in any way she could put her finger on, but it was there. An uneasiness. A tension. They'd lost some of their easy friendship when they'd lost Sam. Or maybe that'd begun when they started hiding things from each other.

It was overcast today. The sky was a dull, pale grey, the river quicksilver between its banks. Haphazard buildings leaned over the water on the opposite shore, crooked tenements and abandoned houses. They were silhouetted by the late afternoon sun, the jagged fringe of a broken city. Lillian always felt small, looking at it; it stretched up and down the river as far as she could see. It was a bit comforting, in a strange way. The smaller she felt, the smaller her problems felt, too. She needed that, right now. Needed to dwarf her sorrows before they swallowed her whole.

Lacey shouldn't have been able to find her, hiding in the grasses as she was, but by some miracle, her dark-skinned friend showed up a good hour after Lillian first sat down.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked gently, eyes on the river.

"Not particularly," Lillian whispered back, hugging her knees to her chest.

"Does this have anything to do with the rumors flying about the castle concerning you and your prince?"

Lillian closed her eyes. Lacey didn't know. Apparently it hadn't gotten out yet that she and Nyle were no longer involved. "Sort of. The council found out he stayed the night in my rooms. Pushed for me to be sent away, and for Nyle to marry someone else."

"And?"

Lillian smiled a bit, sadly. Lacey knew when a story wasn't finished. "He panicked and tried to get me to leave with him."

Turning those dark, searching eyes on her companion, Lacey raised an eyebrow. "What happened then?"

"I--" Her voice breaking, Lillian pressed her eyes shut and swallowed. Don't cry. "I told him we were done. I can't keep pretending, Lacey. He's...royalty. I'm nothing. I couldn't even continue his bloodline. He needs someone else. The people need him to choose someone else."

Lacey didn't say anything for a long while. "I won't say you're wrong," she finally said, twisting a blade of grass between her fingers. "This city is a patchwork mess. They need someone strong to get them back on their feet. But it's a two-sided coin. Nyle isn't ready, and I think you know that. He's scared. He's grieving. He needs you there, Lillian. You're what's kept him here. Without you, he's going to fall apart. You know that as well as I do."

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Lillian laughed bitterly, tears coming to her eyes as she stared at the river. "I can't stay here, or he could very well be removed as a legitimate heir. It's an impossible situation, Lacey. It ends badly either way."