The King's Possession ✔️

TWENTY THREE

Word Count: 2389

The pencil shudders between my fingertips.

The stark white of the page frames each uncontrolled line and faintly erased mark. I'm not sure what to think, what to feel. Instead of staring at the page, I eye my bare ring finger. I've been proposed to; I am a pawn in a dangerous game between two royals.

I want to be angry at Tai, but I don't know what to think. I'm more confused than anything, considering I haven't spoken to him since about his intentions.

He wants to kill his father. Is he crazy?

Never mind the strange politics of this household. He's forcing me into marriage without considering my say in it all. His parting words weren't much at all, and Marek left quickly after with no insight for me at all. So I just stood outside for awhile, staring into the darkness as I made sense of everything.

The pencil suddenly snaps, lead crumbling across my page. I can't draw, which although is disappointing, is not as confronting as my current engagement to a King. I shouldn't be surprised that this is another skill I do not have a natural inclination toward.

I need to get away from this place. Even if it's just for the day.

No one notices me as I leave, the manor oddly vacant after the Noble's departed this morning. With a tawny coat pulled over my shoulders, I emerge into the midday sun, which is partly muted by a thick, menacing cloud that has rolled over.

Vaia's instructions ring clear through my mind, as I circle around the manor to the servants entrance, where parked upon the gravel, is a small cart pulled by a wary looking horse. Swallowing past the dryness in my throat, I approach, eyeing the colourful rags hanging from it, an older Jade Province dialectic plastered in bold signage upon the front, alerting everyone that this is a cart selling fresh vegetables.

A man appears from behind it, startled at the sight of me. He's an older gentleman, dressed in clothing that would be common place in my home village, yet after spending a week in Tai's whirlwind world of lavish expenses and beauty, it appears almost unrecognisable.

"Excuse me," I say tentatively. "Princess Vaia told me that this is a way to get to the nearest town."

Instead of replying, he simply motions toward the back of his cart. It takes me a moment to process the fact that he wants me to clamber into the back and hide behind the cloths. If I get caught, there will be no way of explaining why I'm in the back of this man's vegetable cart.

Regardless, I oblige, falling between empty crates, likely having once been full and then transported into the manor. It takes a moment for the cart to begin moving, swaying and undulating over the gravel.

My heart is racing uneasily. Maybe this is a bad idea, but I need to get out of here. Underneath my coat, clutched against my chest, is my book for preaching. I want to go out there and share my faith again, to feel as though I'm away from all this mess, back to familiarity.

I may be marrying a King, but that doesn't mean I don't still have a duty to my faith.

The ride to the town was long and drawn out. Once we passed through the main gate, I could breathe, knowing it would be unlikely that someone would find me now. Maybe I'm being dramatic...I bet most of the guards don't even know I exist, nor care to know.

The town is small, hardly bigger than where I was in the Azure province, but it will do. For most of the day I just walked around, trying to speak to people who didn't seem to have much interest in what I had to say about my Tani. But it felt good, to wander around and speak to people who have no idea who I am, or what my fate is to be. Most importantly, being around normal people took my mind off everything...