“It’d likely bore you anyway.” Andru gave a small shrug. “It’s not too exciting. Father provided me a fairly strict format.”
“He’s trying to give a rigid framework so there’s no room for shades of gray—trying to make me look bad by forcing me into black or white.”
“Romulin said much the same.” Andru rarely missed an opportunity to mention her brother, or his wisdoms. “Which is why he told me to be vague—honest, but stick only to answering the question and nothing more.”
“I would’ve thought the opposite, actually,” Vi mused. “The more the better. If things are left open-ended, I find people assume the worst.” Quotes and quick notes were easy to take out of context when not given proper framework around them.
“He said the more I offer, the more likely they are to take that as absolute truth. Offer a little and they’re forced to ask me to elaborate. It also means less put in writing.”
“Makes sense. Leave it to Romulin to figure out the best way to navigate a political minefield.”
“He can turn even the worst losing position into a winning one,” Andru said, full of admiration.
Vi stretched her arms over her head and started for the door, leaving the folio behind her. She could admit she wanted to see what Andru had written. But the papers had always been there for her to leaf through at night… and she had yet to. She trusted Andru enough to respect his privacy, and whatever he wrote didn’t really matter.
The Senate would have a grand old time spinning stories when the news broke that she had run away.
“What is it?” Andru asked as they left her room, stepping out onto the wide balcony and starting across the creaking rope bridge that connected her quarters to the platform across.
“Hmm?”
“You look somber.” His eyes bounced back and forth from being focused on her to looking anywhere else. Andru’s hands fidgeted briefly before him before he quickly pocketed them. Vi gave a small smile at his quirks—a smile that fell as her mind returned down the wandering path of her upcoming escape.
Just when she would finally be with her family, she would leave them. Guilt was growing at the thought and if she wasn’t careful, it might prevent her from doing what ultimately needed to be done. Then again… it wasn’t really “with her family” as she’d always dreamed if her father wasn’t there, too.
“The Senate isn’t exactly a joyful topic for me.” Vi shrugged. “No offense.”
“None taken.” He took a half-step closer and their shoulders brushed. For him, it was a fairly prominent sign of affection and support. “It’s not my favorite topic of conversation, either. But we’ll manage it together, Romulin, you, and me.”
“We will.” Vi forced a smile as she lied through her teeth.
They worked their way down the fortress, spiraling down staircases, crossing studies and kitchens. They took a shortcut through a butler’s pantry and a servants’ branch walkway. Most of the staff paid them no mind. They were accustomed to the paths the princess took to get where she needed to go.
Eventually, they descended to ground level, to a plot of hard-packed earth. To her right was the noru pen, her left the equine stables, and before her… was a manned gate.
All around the fortress was a large stone wall that had been constructed with Groundbreaker magic. It was tall and perfectly smooth. Sehra’s warriors walked along its top edge, patrolling at semi-regular intervals. She’d heard that a wall even greater than this had been constructed during the siege of Soricium. But Vi had never seen anything like it.
In her lifetime, the fortress had always been open to the people. Most respected the boundaries of the sacred trees, choosing to enter through the main inroad of the fortress—and only if they had business. But in theory, it had been accessible to all.
Now, the people were kept away. And, for the first time in her life, Vi’s beautiful prison actually looked like one.
“You two finally came,” Ellene shouted from the other side of the Noru pens. “All the food has nearly gone cold.”
“Sorry, I’m dragging today.” Vi climbed the simple fence, jumping down on the other side. The fence was more for display than anything else. Any of the large noru cats that lounged in the patchy shade of the giant trees above them could be halfway across Soricium in a moment if they felt like bolting. But most were more occupied with getting in their fourth nap of the day.Lucky beasts, thought Vi.
“You look utterly exhausted,” Jayme observed from where she sat at the edge of a picnic blanket.
“I am.” Vi rubbed a hand over her face. “I didn’t sleep well last night.” More like, she didn’t sleep at all.
“More nightmares?” Ellene asked softly.
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“You always seem tired around this time of the week… almost like clockwork,” Jayme observed. Vi knew the look she was giving her—one of pure suspicion. “Any particular reason why?”
“Vi can’t control when she gets good sleep and when she doesn’t. It’s not scheduled in advance.” Ellene huffed, sitting on the other side of the blanket. The young woman began rummaging through the basket set out in the center of them as Vi and Andru sat down.
“Are you sure it’s nothing?” Jayme persisted, locking eyes with Vi.
