Today was the day she got to go with Daeriousâand a horde of guardsâto deliver food to the townsfolk. The Nina incident left Aurelie with a bruised ego and a sour taste in her mouth. She felt like she was put in her place quite thoroughly and, best of all, she couldn't do anything about it since she'd caused more than enough trouble already. Despite thinking about it every so often, already tried to not let it affect her day.
They had gone by carriage and arrived just as the sun found its midpoint in the sky. A chilly wind blew, but the flock of men around her blocked much of the wind from reaching her. With a passing chatter from the guards, Aurelie found out that today had been the busiest day they've had at the stand.
Aurelie stood at a scruffy, wooden table and looked down at a ledger that was filled with names. One basket was allowed per day, filled with five tomatoes, three onions, a sack of berries and ten potatoes.
Today they had apples too. Orken and Shaelyn had been working on an apple tree for days. Since a tree took longer to grow even by magic, apples were extremely rare. There was talk of oranges, but that was still a distant dream.
Aurelie stood behind some crates that were stacked in the shape of a table and greeted the crowd of town's folk that had gathered to claim their weekly rations.
"Terry Brooks, Your Highness," said an elderly looking man with more white hair on his mud clad arms than on his head. "Right down there." He pointed his finger toward the bottom of the right page. Aurelie dipped the crow feather quill into an ink vial and made a cross by his name.
"Thank you, Mr. Brooks," Aurelie said with a smile and took his basket, handing it to a guard at the back of her, who was in charge of packing them. A full one had already stood on the table. Aurelie pushed it forward. "Here you go, sir."
"It's such a pleasure to have you down here with us, Princess," Terry said. Aurelie caught a whiff of his rotten breath and held her own for the duration of his speech. "We hope that you will bring many positive changes to the castle."
Aurelie felt her face redden due to a lack of air and took a quick breath before speaking. "I hope so too, Mr. Brooks. Have a lovely day."
Terry left the row, and a hefty woman, with a dirty rag for a dress stepped up to the table. "Good day, Your Highness," she said looking past Aurelie at the crates of fruits and vegetables, "I hear we've got apples today."
"We do indeed," Aurelie said, taking her basket. "Your name please, ma'am."
"Wilma Toot," she said and took a full basket.
By the time Aurelie found her name, someone else stood in line and tapped his fingers against the table. Aurelie looked up. "Just a second." Scrolling down the list, she found Wilma in the center of the first page. There was little order in the way the names were written. It seemed to be based on a first come, first serve basis.
"Pete Netherbrook," the young man, before her, said just as she made a cross at Wilma's daily column. Aurelie ran her finger up and down the page but was unable to find him. She flipped the page to look on the other side, only to find it bare.
"I can't seem to find you here," she said, noticing a light shake in his hand.
Sweat gathered on his forehead. "It's there," he said. A strange emptiness presented itself in his eyes. He didn't have a basket either. Aurelie grew suspicious, but swept it away and took his strange behavior as exhaustion. He had dirt on his face and his clothes were filthy from the day's work or travel. When she ran from the cabin, she had been in a worse state when she arrived at the inn.
"Are you from out of town?" Aurelie asked. "Because if you areâ" She pressed her hand atop hisâto settle his nervesâonly to have him sling it back as if her skin was rotten. "It's alright if you are. There's plenty for everyone."
Terry did not respond and wiped his sleeve across his forehead. "No, my name must be there!"
The guards behind her stopped talking and turned their attention toward Pete. "Get out of line," the guard on her rightâwearing specially made rounded armor for his bulging bellyâsaid, and stepped up to the table, pressing his fist against it. Pete didn't seem to hear them. His eyes were burrowed into Aurelie, and his breathing fastened.
Aurelie put her hand on a basket. "Take this, don't worry about the list."
In the split second that Aurelie took to move the basket, his hand dropped into his pocket. Aurelie saw the glint of metal, and before she could react, Pete lurched over the table with the blade that slashed through the air, and come back with a stab.
Something ripped, and liquid ran down Aurelie's arm. Guards sprang in front of her. The table's legs gave way below them with a creek and crashed. Someone gripped the belt of her dress and pulled her back. Strong arms grabbed her around the waist and her legs left the ground. She could no longer see Pete below the black uniforms. Arms flew, and legs kicked. She heard a pant, and then the world turned. Pushed through the tiny door of the carriage, Aurelie took her first breath since the incident.
Curly hair stuck out above the chaotic stomping of the crowd. A guard leaned over her and shut the door of the carriage before she could react to seeing Daerious. Her mouth opened to shout, but her words had been swallowed by panic.
Her head pulled gently back as the carriage took off. The guard pulled his armor over his head and chucked it on the seat that neither of them had occupied. He grabbed the sleeve of his shirt and ripped it off. Next, he ripped at the sleeve of her dress, making her look down at it for the first time. A large slash made its way down her arm. His hand reached around her arm to tie his shirt around the top of the slash.
"Don't," she said and pushed his hand away. She lifted herself onto her knees, and dropping her head, rose to sit down on the seat.
"Princess, we must stop the bleeding," he said, reaching out again. His hands stopped midair and his eyes widened. Aurelie clenched her teeth at his reaction and prepared for the pain that would accompany that growing of fresh scales.
***
"I told you this would happen, didn't I?" the King said, pacing around the room. "And you wanted to be there every day. Do you see what happens when you don't listen?"
"Yes, father," Aurelie said.
"We are at war!" he continued without listening to her answer.
Aurelie bit her lip, watching him stop and continue his pace at the start of a new thought. Even though Peteâif that was even his nameâtried to kill her, she found herself worried about him. "What's going to happen to Pete?"
"Pete?" he asked and turned toward her. His expression changed from confused to furious within a second. "Are you asking me what the fate of your attacker will be?"
Aurelie pressed herself further into the red, velvet couch in his chamber and nodded slowly, and upon studying his expression thoroughly, hoped that the couch would swallow her entirely.
If she had learned anything from conflict, it was that truth was a very objective matter. And while she was a heroâand she put the term lightlyâto her people, she was certainly a villain to any witch and Icelander out there. Pete believed that she was an evil that he had to kill.
The cause of the inn's people reminded her how quickly alliances could be switched and new evils appeared. Being without Kirin weakened her. She saw him in Pete. Not in his fear, Kirin would have jumped in the second he had a chance. He wouldn't have waited for her and the guards to grow suspicious first. But his will to take it upon himself to save the world. In Kirin's case it was her father, and in Pete's it was her. Punishing him for what he so strongly believed in, though logical from the crown's perspective, seemed cruel.
"I don't want him killed."
The King's mouth hung open. His head twitched like that of a bird that had just noticed movement. "Alright then, what shall we do with him? Give him a sweet treat and send him on his merry way?"
The skin around her new scales swelled and itched at the corners. She rubbed her finger against the part which itched the most, careful not to push too hard and split the skin away from the scale. "I want to talk to him. Explain my side. He's young and his hatred comes from the side of the witchesâwhich is rather accurate if misinformed, counting the numbers you've killedâor from the death of his Queen, which comes down to the same thing."
The King nodded once, clenched his jaw and walked over to open the door to his chamber. "He'll be hanged in the morning in the town square. If even a thought passes my mind that you are planning to see him," his finger whipped out and pointed at her, "I'll have you tied up for the night."
Aurelie rolled her eyes, standing up. "What's a rope to a dragon?"
The King's lips rose and pursed in disapproval. "Alright then chained!"
Walking toward the door, Aurelie softened her expression. When she was near enough to him, she put a hand on his shoulder. "I'm alright," she said and leaned over to place a quick kiss on his cheek.
The King closed his eyes. "Don't do that."
"What?" she pulled away and asked.
"Manipulate me with affection."
Aurelie snuffled. "You think too much, father." Her hand tapped his shoulder and slid past it as she made her way to the door.
He took hold of her wrist and stopped her. "Aurelie, you will not go searching for that man. This is a direct order from your King; anything else will be taken as a betrayal."
Aurelie looked at him over her shoulder. "I promise that I will not go out looking for him."
"Or send your friends or servants to."
"Or that."
His grip loosened and she heard him let go of a long sigh. "The Prince of Julopi is here to visit. I believe he's here to fish out whether you're looking for a husband yet."
Aurelie's brow twitched up in surprise. "The prince?"
"Yes, Prince Ja'on of Julopi," the King pronounced the odd name slowly, but even then it sounded wrong.
"Julopi," she tried the word on her own tongue and smiled at how ridiculous it sounded. "How big is their army?
"Aurelie, we've talked about this."
Aurelie shrugged. "I know it's not moral, but it's an option."
"To marry a man just to kill him? Can you think of a single man that deserves such a fate?" He opened the door to his chamber just as he finished asking the question, knowing the answer would be a flat no.
A handsomeâsquare-jawed and blue-eyedâguard waited outside of the King's chamber. Bowing, he looked up at her through long, thick lashes. He entered as Aurelie left.
"Michael," the King greeted. "Come in. What is it, my boy?"
"Troubles in the south, I'm afraid, Emile."
The only people Aurelie ever heard call the King that was General Donahue and Kaiden. She turned her head to sneak another glance at him and met his eye as he closed the door. Swishing back, Aurelie felt her cheeks burn up.