Aardriyah realised, in the darkness of the rumbling carriage, that when you didn't know your destination, the journey seemed to take an unnerving length of time. Right now, she would give anything to know where she was or where she was heading, but the eerie quiet of the carriage forced her to consider silence as a necessity.
Most journeys she took were down well-trodden paths, to the neighbour's house, to the markets, the docks and to work. They were quick journeys all taken on foot and none filled her with the same amount of anxiety as she felt now. She wanted to believe she was being taken home, that this was all a misunderstanding and she would receive a royal apology in due time. She smiled contemplating Chastion apologising for his guards wrongly arresting her, now that would be a sight to behold, she thought to herself.
As the royal carriage wound the corners, it dawned on Aardriyah that she wasn't being released from the cell, but she was in fact escaping. She wasn't led out of the prison the way she was taken in and Kit had undone her bindings, not a guard. The main indication that this was an escape was the fact that the ice carved stairs were destroyed and vanished into the water below. She assumed this was done so there was no trace of how she broke out of the cave side cell.
Then there was Old Man Teme, his bizarre appearance was one thing, but for the life of her she couldn't put together how Old Man Teme and Princess Kibo were somehow working together. She mustered up the courage to finally break the unnerving silence,
"Did Chastion send you?" She asked quietly into the rumbling darkness. Unable to make out the woman she was talking to as the carriage maintained an eerie veil of complete darkness. If it wasn't for the quietened response, hardly louder than a whisper, she would believe she was dreaming again.
"No." Came a solitary response.
Aardriyah realised she wasn't going to get any answers from Princess Kibo, at least not now, so she sat back in her chair and started to ponder the turn of events. In complete darkness, without any visual distractions, it was easy to let her mind focus on the facts. Perhaps Chastion had organised the kidnapping to discipline her, now that she was sure he had nothing to do with the current rescue attempt.
No, she thought to herself. Chastion may be many things, but there were several truths that would impact him ever committing such an act. The first was that his loyalty to Sonas and Pateras would prevent him from ever truly hurting or shunning Aardriyah. She knew it grated on him that they loved her so, but it was a truth he couldn't deny and therefore had to adhere to treating her as an almost equal. The second truth was that his image must be maintained - any slight controversy or indiscretion could end up costing him loyal followers and believers. The Queens had instilled a fear in their children that at any moment the United Water Kingdoms' citizens could rebel, therefore Chastion and Kibo had to be held to a higher moral standard to ensure peace and loyalty. The third truth, which was the hardest for Aardriyah to accept, was that Chastion had a good heart and his moral compass was almost perfectly on point. It drove her insane as he usually exerted these traits in self-righteous rants and lectures. But it of course meant that he would never kidnap or entrap an unblessed without a fair trial and solid proof of any wrongdoing.
It couldn't be Chastion, she decided, which ended up making her angrier. She reasoned that if he wasn't responsible for her kidnapping, he should at least be responsible for her escape. Regardless, she moved forward on her list of suspects.
Maybe it was her mother, as it was peculiar that she didn't seem to be the slightest bit startled when the guards took Aardriyah away. Stella had always been callous and unwavering in the disappointment she held for her middle child, but wouldn't kidnapping be too far for a mother? It was a question she couldn't answer. They'd never shared the typical mother - daughter relationship she so longed for. The little she knew of the woman made her question how far she would go to rid the family of the burden that she always told Aardriyah she was. Deciding she needed answers, sooner rather than later, she once again spoke up,
YOU ARE READING
The Unblessed Child
FantasyThere are two types of people in The New Realm: those who are blessed by the gods of the four elements and those who aren't even worthy of their family name. They are unwanted, unloved and are simply known as The Unblessed. Eighteen year old Aardriy...
