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To say that Nia was breathing, was perhaps a massive overstatement. Her body was entirely still but Acelius could still make out the faint, almost nonexistent rise of her chest, and the even fainter slug of a pulse, when he put his fingers to her wrist.
The carriage jostled against the cobblestones and came to a sudden stop. The door opened and with the help of the coachman, they dragged Nia inside.
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People were huddled around tables, excitedly chattering about the ball now a week away.
"Yeah? Well I saw the carriage of the Minister of Trade of Eskova. If I'd reached out a hand I probably would have touched his arm," said a carpenter.
"Did you hear? A street rat's been warming the Prince's bed. I expected no better. They're both rats. One just lives in the palace, the other in a crate next to the docks," said a mistress.
"My dress is worth more than all your organs sold," bragged a dancer.
"Ana, don't be vain," teased the boy. He sipped on a mug of warm beer, with his arm around her shoulders.
She turned around in his arms to lightly hit him on his chest, "I'm not vain. I'm just saying that out of all the people here, I happen to be the only one with any sense of taste."
The boy nodded, "You probably are."
She frowned, "You're agreeing with me, now?"
"You chose me didn't you? That would take perhaps the most impeccable taste in all of Caraca's crowned jewels."
"Tuh," she remarked, turning back around. "Next time you call me vain, I'll show you a mirror."
There was sudden chatter, out in the hallway. People gasped all at once, and he heard very aggressive cursing. "GET OUT! GET OUT! MOVE YOU ASSHOLES!" The voice sounded oddly familiar.
On instinct, the boy stood up and drifted towards the chaos. Everyone's eyes were glued to the staircase, where he caught a golden-haired boy turn around the stairs, with a lump of something in his arms. His shirt was soaked with blood.
He ran upstairs. "Stealers, Acelius. Who did you kill?" he called out.
But Acelius had already rounded the corner again. He kept climbing and the boy followed. A strange sense of panic and dread rose inside him.
He ascended another landing, this one opening to the corridor leading to their rooms. The door of his and Nia's room stood ajar. Acelius walked towards it, not towards his own door that was just on the other side, but towards theirs.
The boy's gut sank. Tears instantly brimming in his eyes.
He ran.
Not towards, but away.
Down the stairs, and out the door.
Down winding streets, in soaking rain. He ran until he hit a carriage. It was light blue with the symbol of Caraca painted on one side. A circle intersected with five lines.
The door opened. And the Queen of Caraca sat inside. Tears streamed down his face like waterfalls. She extended her arm, and pulled him inside.
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Author's Note: . . .
cinere - ashes
Love,
Cora. ✮
YOU ARE READING
unraveled
Fantasy"I've seen rats with better attention spans than you," she said onto his face. And then the boy was there pulling her onto her feet and off of him. "But have you seen them with such beautiful faces?" he asked, standing up, brushing off th...
