The Wanderers [Old Version]

Chapter 36: Sinners

Bryn's POV

I warmed my hands by the fire. Even with gloves on, the snow froze my hands. I could barely feel my fingertips and my feet were numb.

Rain stood at the window, looking out at our snowchild, Cloud.

I called over to him, "We won't have a kid for a long time."

He chuckled, "I know. But...something about the snowman out there."

I walked over to the window and looked out, "What? He looks exactly the same."

He pulled me closer, "I know, but...he's alone. Separated from his parents. He won't ever know that we made him."

I laughed, "He is only made of snow. Not like he has memories. He can't remember anything. He's not sentient."

Rain rested his chin on my shoulder, "You know I never knew my parents, right? Or at least, I can't remember them."

I nodded, "Maybe that's better. I knew my parents. And now that I lost my mother...I don't know...I can't even cry. I don't feel sadness. I felt anger, immediately, sure. But sadness? I don't think I know the feeling anymore."

Rain turned me around and kissed me, "I haven't felt sadness in a long time. When Nico's brother, Draco died, that was the last time I felt it. Then you got injured. I felt it then too."

I rested my head against his warm chest, "You cared about me, that's why. I honestly don't know if I cared about my mother anymore. She was always on my father's side. She always agreed with what he said, even if she knew it was wrong."

"She was Queen. But she didn't have power. The King is always the ruler, and his Queen is just for show. We figured that out a long time ago."

I looked up at him, "When?"

He scratched his head, "Long time ago. I was probably 13 or 14. Nico and I got arrested for stealing from a gambler in Lightstone. And gambling is illegal. Your father ordered that we be executed, and your mother told him that we stole from a gambler. He told her that what he says goes. Your mother probably wanted to let us live and arrest the gambler since we were only trying to survive, but when your father yelled at her, she dropped it and took his side."

I nodded. I knew my mother had no power. I had more power than she did. No one in the kingdom respected her. She couldn't produce a male heir to the throne. Her one job wasn't fulfilled.

I raised an eyebrow, "You and Nico were almost executed? How'd you end up living?"

Rain laughed, "We may have been only 13, but we had been stealing and surviving for like five years before that. We knew how to get out of situations. We waited until it got dark and I picked the locks on our jail cell and Nico slammed a guard's head into the wall, knocked him out, and then we started pulling the bars off the windows of the tower we were in and we climbed outside and jumped probably 20 feet down to the rooftops."

"You didn't get hurt from the fall?"

He smiled, "I didn't say that. I landed on my shoulder and dislocated it. Nico landed on his feet and sprained both ankles. But we still ran home as injured as we were. Petra helped us."

Rain stopped smiling and looked down at his hands. Dried blood, dirt, and scars were all over them. He rubbed his face, "I miss Lightstone."

"But my father was always searching for you guys. You were the most wanted fugitives in the kingdom." I was confused as to why he would miss that life.

He looked mad, "At least in Lightstone your father never thought to have his men check the sewers. Out here though? People who want us dead won't stop trying to kill us until we die, or until they die."