Darkness and Beauty (The Fated Series, #1)

Chapter 7 - Fauna - Deep Breaths

I barely slept last night, too busy thinking of everything that could go wrong and how I could prevent, fix, or avoid it. I vaguely remember washing, eating, and dressing this morning. My thoughts were clouded with everything my father told us, and memory after memory kept consuming me and bringing old feelings to the surface.

Walking down Howler Street which leads straight to the castle gates, the shout of vendors and the constant push of the crowd is a distant thrum in my ears. Howler Street is considered the marketplace. Crowds of a hundred are always here from when the sun rises to when it sets. Shops line the widest main street of the capital, and cart pebbles form a line down the center of it. Children run around weaving their way through the legs of the shoppers, making women squeal and jump and men curse.

I glance at Lance to find his eyes distant. They've been like that all morning. His hair is thankfully back to its shade of black, no sign of the ugly red-orange he dyed it. Both our parents had brown hair, but like Lance's eyes, his hair seems to go against the genetic code and rebel to its own unique shade. I've heard of families that look nothing alike but are purely blood-related, but I always envied that Lance gained his own features whereas I stuck strictly to a mix of our parent's features.

Not that I mind. They're both breathtakingly beautiful in their own ways.

The castle wall is visible from the roof of the House of Jade, but only twenty yards from it now I can see the small iron gate only big enough for a carriage to pass through. Six guards are stationed at its opening: two fully armed, two with swords, and the other two seem to be mere messengers with no sign of a weapon.

Never assume.

I feel Lance look at me and when I turn his eyes are clear as he jerks his head gesturing behind him. I roll my eyes but do as he requests and slow my pace to trail him. The entire right side of my body is hidden behind his broad form as I guard his back, and him my front.

Ever the protective bastard behavior of a brother.

We step past the crowd and head straight for the guards who instantly notice and size us up. Only those who work within the castle or those visiting for work-related reasons will normally approach the gates, and the guards are well-informed about who comes in and out every day.

We stand out against the crowd of commoners like two flames in the dead of night, and the guards were most definitely not informed of our arrival.

We made sure to arm ourselves to the teeth and cover everything but our eyes and hands, as usual. Some weapons their eyes will find, but many will go unnoticed. I will my eyes to look hard as stone as I size up one of the guards fully armed. He catches my stare and straightens, his face going satisfyingly pale. I smile despite it being hidden and turn my attention to the other fully armed guard who is walking right toward us.

His shoulders are pushed back, his posture confident and trying to assert his dominance over us. Lance merely huffs a laugh through his nose, and I'm inclined to echo it.

The guard stops three feet from us, looking us up and down again. He can take in his useless fill. He's about a foot taller than me and has a few inches on Lance, but I still notice that his feet are mispositioned, making it easy to push over and get him off balance if I wanted to.

His arms are crossed over his chest and he's giving my brother a narrowed stare as he asks in a brusque voice, "Can I help you two?"

"We're here to see the Queen." Two of the other guards shift on their feet at the sound of Lance's voice, their hands going to the pommels of their swords. I smirk, knowing just what rumor has them growing nervous.

According to the whispers of the capital, any word that comes out of Lance's mouth is as slippery as a wet snake. You'll never be able to tell if they are the truth or a lie, and along with that, they claim that if you hear his voice, death soon follows. If he speaks and you hear it, you die. If only it were that easy.