Chapter 53
"There?" the coachman repeated, his eyes growing wide with alarm.
"Yes," I said, stepping into the modest carriage. "Take me there directly."
He was the man I hired to bring me to the border where my father was currently at. My letter telling him to retreat should arrive before me, I just hope he disregarded it.
"Miss, if ye mean to leave the kingdom, there's a better road than that…"
"No. I wish to go precisely there."
I settled into my seat and reached for one of the vials nestled in the crate beside me. "How many days shall the journey require?"
"Least a fortnight, give or take," he replied hesitantly. "But that ain't the real trouble. War's fixin' to break out in them parts any day now."
His caution was beginning to fray my patience. I might have purchased my own carriage and horse were it not for the simple fact that I did not know how to manage either.
I removed the stopper from the vial and drank. The liquid bore a slight bitterness, though it was not wholly unpleasant.
"Miss… I can't take ye there…"
"One moment," I said, closing my eyes.
My heart had begun to race, faster than it ought. I opened my eyes again and narrowed them. I was neither frightened nor anxious. Could this be a side effect of the potion?
I looked at the coachman. He could not have been past thirty. A strong man, plainly of the common class.
"I'm real sorry, miss. But I ain't takin' that kind o' risk."
Very well. But ought he not at the very least offer to teach me to handle a horse? I had offered him five gold coins, after all. And for a commoner, a single gold piece was no small thing.
Wait… that is it.
"I shall pay you a gold coin to teach me how to handle a horse, and to assist me in selecting both horse and carriage at the market," I said.
His eyes lit at once. "Aye, yes, o' course! I'll do it! You can call me Pel, miss."
"Aelunira."
And so we set off for the market. We found a suitable horse and carriage at the second shop we visited. Before continuing our errands, we paused at a small restaurant, for I had grown ravenous. My appetite had near doubled.
Lumesio was taking effect. That much was certain.
Did the queen still love me, then?
The thought lingered. She had punished the soldier who struck me senseless, and the captain of his unit as well. And the white greenhouse… what of that? Gold is her favorite color. White has ever been mine. Then why was the garden not gilded in her hue? Why had she filled it with mine?
I took a bite of braised pork and pressed my fingers to my temple. A headache had begun to form.
And Sir Lorcan. Why had he saved me? Why arm me with a weapon? Was he sent by the queen, or had he acted of his own accord?
How about Nerissea? If the queen's true intent was to torment me, then why had she allowed our bond to grow? Should she not have severed it from the beginning?
None of it made sense.
"Aelunira, ye a good eater," Pel remarked from across the table. "But why are ye so thin?"
I ignored him and ate in silence. We finished soon after, and at last, my training began.
We practiced just beyond the city, where fewer people lingered. When evening fell, I rented a modest room in a nearby inn. With each morning, I drank my potion, ate a proper breakfast, and resumed my lessons. This continued for a full month, until I was at last ready to begin my journey.
The training might have passed more swiftly, but Pel kept dragging it out, which tried my patience. He spoke far too much of himself, and pried far too often into matters of my own life. I gave him nothing but my silence did not deter him. There was one mercy by the end of that month, I had returned to my proper weight and recovered much of my former strength.
On the morning of my departure, Pel helped load the last of my things, then stood before me with a nervous air about him.
I reached into my pouch and withdrew a gold coin, holding it out to him. He quickly clasped his hands behind his back.
"I… Aelunira… I reckon I done fell in love with ye."
I bent down and placed the coin upon the earth. Whether he took it or not was not my concern.
I climbed into the carriage, took up the reins, and gave a light crack of the whip.
Summer was finally here.
---
As I reached the city gates, a sudden thought seized me, and I drew the reins to a halt.
How was I to pass through the royal army?
Oh, how I loathed myself at times. How could I fail to consider something so simple? Though I was now a free woman, it did not mean the soldiers stationed at the border had been made aware of it. At least, not yet.
Grinding my teeth in quiet frustration, I turned the horse about and steered it toward the palace. Much as I detested the sight of the queen, I would need some form of written guarantee I could present to the soldiers to ensure safe passage.
In due time, I arrived. The guards bowed their heads and opened the gates wide. I paid them no heed and urged the horse forward along the long, sweeping drive.
When I brought the carriage to a stop before the grand entrance, the butler had the gall to approach me at once.
"Welcome back, Lady Naevia," he said, offering a hand to help me disembark.
I ignored it and climbed down myself. "Where is your master?"
"Her Majesty is in her study. I shall inform her of your arrival."
"That will not be necessary," I said, moving past him and stepping through the doors.
If she was in her study, all the better. She could write my pardon letter then and there. The sooner it was in my hands, the sooner I could be away.
Yet, my feet did not take me toward the study. They carried me to Nerissea's chamber. I had visited her so often that the path had become second nature.
I could only hope she was within, and not away with the duchess. This might be the only chance we had to see one another again for some time.
The nearer I came to her door, the more I longed to run. Oh, how I missed her.
And so, I ran. I wished for her presence, her embrace, her voice.
In my eagerness to see her, I forgot myself entirely and entered without knocking. The sight that met me banished all thoughts of joy. A fierce anger surged through me.
By the window, Nerissea lay upon the floor as a maid clutched her long hair in a ruthless fist, dragging her head back while Nerissea strained in quiet desperation to pry herself free.
"You did it on purpose!" the maid shrieked. "You went to Her Majesty that day knowing full well we would be punished! Our salaries were cut in half because of you! You ought to have stayed in your room, keeping your filthy legs spread for her in silence!"
"Her Majesty had already pardoned everyone," Nerissea replied as I rushed toward them.
"As if you would know! After letting Sir Lorcan carry you off like the whore you are, every servant from there to this very room was punished!"
"Let go!" I shouted, my voice cutting through the chaos.
At the sound, they both stilled and turned to face me. The maid released Nerissea hastily and stepped back, a sly smirk curling at her lips.
"Nerissea," I said, drawing her to her feet and placing her behind me. I turned, standing between them.
"Perfect timing," the maid said, folding her arms. "Did you know the woman behind you harbors a secret that only I possess? She was the one who poisoned-"
Nerissea moved before I could breathe. She slipped past me and struck the maid squarely upon the mouth, silencing her. The woman fell with a groan.
"I saw it!" the maid cried, scrambling. "She killed the late King and Queen-"
Her words perished upon her tongue, for in the next instant a small blade was buried within her throat, and it was Nerissea's hand that held the hilt. The maid collapsed upon the floor, utterly still.
The moment froze me. Then came the sharp echo of boots upon stone.
Guards. They were running here, and swiftly.
Nerissea sank to the floor, her eyes fastened upon the ground, and I hastened to her side, prying her trembling fingers from the knife. As I do so, a dreadful understanding stole over me, for the maid's words must have borne some measure of truth, else why would Nerissea descend to such desperate silence.
"Is it true?" I asked, hoping she would deny it.
Her face had gone deathly pale. She said nothing and her silence… was my answer.
The air grew heavy. My chest, heavier still. Each breath seemed to cost more than the last.
She… she was the grand architect of it all. The silent hand that had drawn the map of my ruin. Had she laughed behind closed doors? Had she mocked me, just as the queen did?
Oh, how cruel she was… laying blame at the feet of my family while hiding the blood upon her own hands. How gleefully she must have watched me suffer, knowing I believed her to be the only soul within these cursed walls who stood beside me.
I drew a long, quivering breath, though it did little to steady me. My vision blurred with tears. I do not know how much more my heart can endure.
"Halt!" came a guard's shout. "What is this?"
"She tried to harm me…" I replied quietly. "…so I defended myself."
Nerisse's teal eyes met mine then. Tears clung to her pale pink lashes, too beautiful for a soul so black. She truly was exquisite. Exquisite… and monstrous.