“I remember the first time I laid eyes on one,” Henrietta said. “I was only about eight years old at the time. I was absolutely terrified. It makes me glad all over again that we’ve got the warriors to defend us.”
Gantalla nodded. “Indeed. Exactly right. Couldn’t agree more.”
Alithmain glanced briefly about the crowd, her eyes landing on Gantalla for one short moment, before she returned to staring at the ground. Gantalla felt a stab of disappointment, even as she knew she was being ridiculous. There was no way Alithmain would recognise her, not with her disguised as a human the way she was. She felt a strong urge to go to her and tell her who she was. But such a move would be pure suicide. To get close enough to the cage to speak to her would draw too much attention to herself, and then she had no guarantee that Alithmain wouldn’t blurt out some foolish words about knowing her. Perhaps even that she was her sister. In her fear and anger, she could do almost anything, without thinking about the consequences.
“Well, that was quite the start to the day,” she said to Henrietta, eager to think up some excuse to get away from here. Thankfully, Henrietta was ready to make her own excuses.
“I have to get back to the hospital,” she said. “But I just had to duck out to have a quick look first. But I’ll see you this evening. Take your time to have another look, if you want.” She waved a hand at the cage. “Not every day we get to see this sort of thing.” She weaved her way off through the crowd, leaving Gantalla staring dumbly at the cage.
Feeling light-headed, she managed to stumble away, moving further from the crowd and towards the rear of the square. She found a low brick wall to sit on, and belatedly realised it was the same wall she’d sat on that first night when she’d helped Nalyx eat his dinner. Was it really only three weeks ago? It seemed like far longer…
“Gantalla?” Gantalla looked up at the sound of her name, then cursed blackly as she dropped her head into her hands. She just couldn’t catch a break today, could she? Nalyx was standing a short distance away, hands in his pockets, shoulders slumped as he looked awkward and uncomfortable. “Sorry, I… You probably don’t want to see me,” Nalyx said. “I know yesterday I was… Well, I didn’t… I know it didn’t go well.”
“I thought you never wanted to see me again.” This time, she wasn’t even going to attempt to be polite. And if he decided to out her anyway and see her executed along with Alithmain, then so be it. None of her plans had worked out since she’d set foot in this gods-damned world, and there was no reason for that to change now.
Nalyx let out a long sigh, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Um… I know what I said. And I did a lot of thinking last night. Actually, I wasn’t even expecting you to still be here. I thought maybe you’d leave town. Not that I think you should,” he added hastily. “I just thought…”
“I was going to. But then Captain Leefe came back, and now there’s a demon in a cage in the middle of the town square.” She let out a high-pitched chuckle, feeling an almost hysterical need to laugh.
“This must be hard for you,” Nalyx said, glancing back over at Alithmain. He looked around, checking that no one was nearby, then took a seat on the wall beside her, keeping his voice low. “I didn’t really get a good look at you yesterday. Or, really, I was just in too much shock to notice. But she looks a bit like you did. Is she one of your people?”
Fuck Nalyx and his patronising sympathy. “She,” Gantalla hissed at him, feeling tears gathering in her eyes, “is mysister.”
His face went white. “She’s…? Oh gods, tell me you’re joking.”
“Do I look like I’m joking?” She was a mess of rage, fear and grief, barely holding herself together.
“No. I mean… no. You mean, your actual sister?”
“She’s my father’s oldest child. If our world hadn’t started collapsing in on itself, she would have become queen of the hadathmet.”
“Queen? You mean… she’s a princess? Wait, if she’s your sister, wouldn’t that make you a princess as well?”
“Do you actually have anything useful to say?” Gantalla snapped at him. It was hardly the right moment to begin detailing her genealogy.
“Nalyx, there you are,” a booming voice interrupted them, and Gantalla hastily wiped the tears from her eyes as Captain Leefe came striding over to them. If he noticed anything amiss, she could just say she’d been having another argument with Nalyx. No doubt rumours of their spat the day before would soon start circulating the town, whether or not they included the detail that Gantalla was actually a demon. There were plenty of people who’d noticed when she’d done nothing more interesting than have dinner with him, and this was far juicier gossip than that.
“I have some good news for you,” the captain said to Nalyx. “A peace offering, if you like. I know you were upset about not being allowed to go back to the gate. But maybe this will make up for it a little.”
“What did you have in mind?” Nalyx said, standing up. Gantalla didn’t bother rising, not caring if the captain thought she was rude.
“Tomorrow’s execution. The town’s already buzzing with the news. It should be quite the spectacle. And I’d like you to strike the killing blow.”
Nalyx hesitated for only a moment. “Yes, sir. It would be an honour.”
“I dare say the townsfolk will be quite impressed. Maybe even some of the serving women,” Leefe added, with a wink. “You can still put the evenings to good use, even if you’re not on the battlefield.”
“Thank you for thinking of me. I’ll, um… I’ll look forward to it.”
“Excellent. And how are you going, Gantalla?” the captain said next. “Plans underway for your wedding?”
“Um… yes, of course,” Gantalla said. “Getting right on top of it. Just taking a little detour to see the demon.” By the gods, she was getting far too much practice at spouting lies out of her ass.
“Quite a sight, isn’t she?” Leefe said. “Well, I’ll leave you to it, then. No doubt I’ll see you at the execution tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of the day.”
The captain walked away, and Gantalla waited until he was out of earshot before turning back to Nalyx. “Are you out of your fucking mind?Yes, sir, it would be an honour,” she mimicked him. “Yes, I’ll just happily agree to murder Gantalla’s sister, because I’m a right flaming asshole.”
“What the fuck was I supposed to say?” he snapped at her. “Of course I don’t want to do it, but he’s thecaptain.”
