Aurelie felt a tug on her skirt and looked down to find a little girl no taller than the top of her hip with golden hair highlighted with black grease. Her hair lifted by the sudden wind created by the flap of Valice's wing and blew forward to cover her face. A hoot of amazement rang from the crow. Aurelie looked back to find Valice with both her wings spreadâthe silver one caught the rays of the sun and glowed like a treasureâand her neck stretched downward to catch the hands of the children that twitched open and closed with uncertainty.
"Hi monkey," she said, crouching down to level with the little girl. "And where have you been playing?"
"You're the princess," she said, her eye squeezed together against the sun. "I'm going to be a princess too."
"I'll have to make sure to leave you a son then." She winked and received a wide-eyed glance in return.
"Aurelie," she heard Daerious' voice come from behind her. Turning, she shaded her eyes and watched him approach with puffy curls jumping with every stride.
"Afternoon," she said when he reached her.
"She really likes the attention, doesn't she?" He looked Valice over and shook his head with an amazed grin spread across his face, teeth whitened by the brown layer of dirt on his face. "Can't believe it."
"Too much, I think."
Valice raised her head, and opened her mouth, showing teeth the size of columns. A loud gasp sounded from the crowd. They moved back in unison and stood to watch her with wide eyes. Their faces paled before her eyes. Aurelie's heart jerked. She took a nervous step toward the dragon and extended her arms outward, ready to intervene if necessary.
Valice snapped her mouth shut, receiving giggles from the children. Her eyes moved briefly past Aurelie, and she swore that she saw a brief twitch of her lips. A puff came from her nose, blowing back the children's hair, and more laughter sound.
The little girl rushed off toward the other children, skipping excitedly after every second step. The line crossed all the way down the hill and split into the camping ground and walking trail that led back to the core of the city.
"Maybe we should set up a little market here," she said to Daerious who crossed glances with a pretty, dark-haired girl in line, and kept returning his gaze to her while Aurelie spoke. "There are some roaming merchants, but not nearly enough to appease everyone who comes here daily."
Aurelie realized that she spoke to a wall, and clicked her tongue three times in mock disappointment. "What would Shaelyn say?"
"Shaelyn?" He came to, scanning the field for her.
Aurelie folded her arms. "Short, snotty, a little whinyâno?"
Daerious pulled the side of his lip up. "Funny." He gave her a sideways glance. "That's what I came to tell you. I'm finally ready to break it off with herânot that I had a say in whether anything was on in the first place . . . but whatever it was is going to end soon."
Aurelie waved back at a little boy in line with his parents and playfully stuck out her tongue. He smiled back, showing off two, white front teeth. "Oh, poor you," Aurelie curved her bottom lip up over her lower, "did the pretty girl not ask before sharing your bed?"
Daerious raised a brow in warning. "That part's alright, it's the talking after that I can't handle," he scoffed. "Daerious, the feather in the pillow is poking me. Daerious, I don't have enough dresses to wear. Daerious, ask her for a new bed, the one in the room next door is softer. Daerious, all my dresses make me look fat," he raised his voice to a squeak and rolled his eyes around and around while mocking her. "Care to know what spending weeks on the road with her was like? It's a wonder Orken didn't kill her, because even I came close."
"Should have just asked someone to replace the bed," Aurelie said, not bothering to hide her smile, but averted her gaze to the crowd and waved some more.
"Oh, shush you." He folded his arms with a scowl, turned his head to glare, and shook his head. "You don't like her either."
"On the contrary," she said, "I think we're going to be great friends."
He waved her away with the flip of the wrist and turned to go. Aurelie grabbed him by the arm and pulled against him. "Oh, come now. I'll stop. I promise."
Daerious turned around, and Aurelie crossed her arms through his. "Why now?" she asked, serious this time.
"She seems to be happier."
Aurelie rested her head against his shoulder.
"I know how that sounds," he continued. "But I couldn't leave her while she grieved her parents. There was nothing else for her. Now, she's got work, and is respected in the castleâeven somewhat by you, I suppose. I feel like I can leave her without breaking her now. She clung to me so tightly after . . . Maybe I shouldn't have let her, but I don't know, I couldn't just chuck her aside, and just went with whatever she wanted. No," he straightened his back, crossing his arms over his broad chest, wedging her arm even tighter between his arm and chest, "that's not fair. She was good for me too. Focus on the road and you and Kirin kept me and Orken from losing our minds over what happened, but I still needed someone to be there for me . . . that wasn't Orken." He laughed humorlessly.
"You don't have to explain yourself." Aurelie put her free hand on his stomach, her fingers dipping into the hollows of his muscles. "We all needed someone."
Observant eyes clung to their embrace, mostly coming from the ladies. Aurelie looked up at his strong jaw and sun-streaked curls and knew exactly why the eyes followed the two of them so closely. The muscles popped up under his shirt, and the calm wind blew it even closer to his chest. The days he spent fixing the town did him a lot of favors.
"We did." He ignored her observation of the crowd and continued on their earlier conversation. "I just wished it would be you."
"I'm glad it wasn't."
Taken aback, Daerious' head inclined, blocking the sun from shining into her eyes when she looked up at him. "I don't think I would have been able to handle it without making everything revolve around me." She snorted. "I am the sunâ" she remembered what Kirin had told her, and agreed, but perhaps not in the way he meant, "âjust about a billion times less useful."
***
A piercing shriek echoed through the castle. Aurelie stepped out of the dining hall, hand resting against the cold columns that held up the tall arch, and inclined her head out to see who caused the commotion.
"I hope you die for your whore!" Shaelyn scampered through the hall, skirt flapping, hair swinging and face red as a ripe pepper.
Aurelie's lip tightened downward. She widened her eyes and pulled her head away, stepping back around the corner briskly to not get caught in the mess. The whore, she guessed unenthusiastically, was her. With Daerious' wandering eye lately, she could be wrong.
"Shaelyn, come on," he trailed behind her, sounding exasperated. "What does she have to do with it?"
"Everything!" she roared right from the back of the throat. Aurelie heard the quickened footsteps come to a stop and felt along her own throat as if the scream had affected it. "And you know it!"
"That's not true."
"Ha! Oh, please!"
Heavier footsteps made their way up the hall.
"Don't you come near me!" she said and the tapping resume.
"Please, you're making a scene," Daerious' voice sounded closer now, but he lowered it into a whisper that still managed to echo through the hall. "You want to have the whole castle in our business?"
Too late for that.
"I don't care. I don't care about your stupid castle or your stupid whore. Orâanything! I can't believe this. After all we've been through?"
"Shaelyn, I'm sorry."
"Oh," Shaelyn let out a grim, cold laugh that made Aurelie shudder, "no, you're not. But you will be!"
Aurelie raised a brow at the threat and contemplated sending her away for a second, before coming to her senses. Not my problem. She saw them pass in the hall, Shaelyn fuming and Daerious reluctantly following with his shoulders slumped.
The King walked into the room about a minute later with a questioning curve in his brows. "Are you involved?" He pointed a thumb behind him. "Never mind, I don't think I want to know."
"Well, I'm notâ" she paused, and let out a long frustrated sigh, "not directly." She frowned, the foul taste of a lie clinging to her tongue. No! She had nothing to do with this. "Or at all for that matter."
"Is there anything we can do to keep her happy?" he asked, sitting down. A hot cup of coffee steamed on his right about ten seconds later, the servant popped three sugar cubes into the cup and even stirred it for him.
"Thank you," she told the man who didn't expect the acknowledgment enough to not have heard it directed toward him at all.
The King pushed his chin down to his neck and gave her a patronizing smirk. "Well, is there. Thank you, Herbert," he looked up at the surprised man, "for your impeccable service."
"Your Highness," he said, bowed his head, and stepped back against the wall where he stood waiting to fill another cup.
Aurelie wondered how many servants the castle actually had, and thought of the countless possibilities that could be tested if their services were put to better use. A little market by Valice, for one, sure could make them some gold.
"So, is there something we can give the witch to keep her here?"
Aurelie picked a chair and sat down sideways with her knees pointed at the King, and crossed her legs. "I don't know her very well. More dresses, a softer bed and a pillow that isn't feathered." She shrugged. "I believe those were some of her complaints."
"Herbert," the King gestured him forward with his hand, "please let Cassandra know that a room is to be prepared for the witchâ"
"Shaelyn," Aurelie chipped in.
"Yes, Shaelyn, and that she requires a personal dressmaker and pillows stuffed with sheep's fur."
"Yes, Your Highness."
The King sent everyone else out and sipped his coffee while he waited for the room to clear. A thoughtful frown set two deep lines between his brows. "We need them to start harvesting potatoes, onions, carrots and apples for storage. I wanted to start planning an offensive after your wedding, and who knows which way the tide turns."
"I'm ready to do whatever is needed."
"Good," he said, nodding over his cup, "because neither of us have another option. I do, however, hope that you will use your head and not your heart."
Aurelie picked up her own cup and lifted it to her mouth. "You mustn't fear, father. Not that at least." Her lips rose past the rind of her glass. "My heart's in the shadows."
"Yes, that's quite easy to say." He set his cup down onto its saucer and crossed his arms over his chest. She heard his feet shuffle below the table. "Until, of course, you have to send one of your friends to battle for your kingdom."
"Yes, well, I don't think I'll have much choice about it. Not from their side at least."
"No, I imagine you won't."