As they wandered through the streets of the Kingdom, there wasn’t a sad face to be found. The sun shone with just the right amount of warmth, and a cool breeze gently danced across their skin, softly ruffling the feathers of their wings. Dainty, colourful flowers lined the footpaths and an abundance of butterflies flitted around. The smell of strawberries and citrus filled the air. Birds of every size and colour filled the skies with their songs, and it was music to Adalia’s ears.
She smiled as she walked. It was so good to be back in Lucius and to have a day at home. A lot of her time was spent at the compound, training with the soldiers, patrolling the Veil and mulling through piles of paperwork.
It wasn’t often that she would need to engage in actual fighting. Lightners preferred to escort Thorns back through the Gates, after finding out how they came through in the first place, over simply killing them. Not that it had served her well the last time.
Each time it happened, it was reported back to her or the other generals and majors, which amounted to many, many piles of papers to file. She loved her job, but she also loved spending time at home, away from the compound, baking or helping James–who owned the local forgery, work on new blades.
She didn’t know where her love for blade making came from. Neither her father, once a farmer, now a keen angler, nor her mother, a gentle soul with a love for baking and sewing, had ever wielded a blade.
Adalia knew her love for cooking came from her mother, which she loved with every inch of her soul, but the love for metal work that bloomed within her a few months after she passed from The Grey and came to Lucius were all of her own making.
“So, what are we baking today?” Shiloh asked as she bit down on a red juicy apple she’d purchased from the store. “Sweet or savoury?”
“Sweet. Nik has been begging me for a brown sugar peach cake for forever, so I thought I’d surprise him with one, and I can’t have a sweets baking day without also making strawberry and rose truffles.”
Shiloh melted. “I need both right now.”
Adalia laughed at her white-haired friend. “I suppose it has been a while since we did this.”
“Our poor truffle-less taste buds.”
“Well, hopefully everything stays settled and we can exchange extra patrols for extra treats.”
Adalia sighed as they stepped through the front gate of her house. To think that, mere weeks ago, she had feared she would never see this place again. Her eyes coasted lovingly over the large airy windows and brown wooden shutters stretched wide over the light grey stone covering the exterior. The black, slate tiled roof glinted in the sun, and Adalia smiled as she thought of the music it created through the house when it rained.
It was a modest dwelling, but cosy, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms.
Placing her bags on the front stoop, Adalia reached for the handle on the arched wooden front door. Bright, sunshine yellow Nikolas had painted it when they’d moved in. She adored it.
Most of the homes in her district of Lucius were of similar design, all compacted together in neat little rows or built into hillsides. Yet, even though the housing was close in proximity, no one felt cramped. Every house exterior had lanterns that lit up at night, creating an illusion of a cloud of gold dust from afar.
Pushing the front door open, Adalia and Shiloh walked inside and placed the items on the kitchen table.
Shiloh instantly headed for the kettle, filling it with water and placing it on the stovetop to boil. “I’ll make us some tea.”
Adalia nodded and headed to the pantry, retrieving the rest of the ingredients the girls would need. She’d just placed an armful of items on the bench when a high-pitched bell rang through the Kingdom, and everyone everywhere stopped what they were doing to cheer.
A child had chosen Lucius. The King would be pleased.
Adalia couldn’t keep the grin from her face. The bell rang more than once this week already and, every time it did, her heart burst with joy. Another child choosing Lucius meant another life safe from an afterlife of despair.
Shiloh squealed with delight. “Hooray! Feels like a job well done, right Ada?”
Adalia nodded. “There is no way I ever want to hear the bell for Oscuro ring ever again.”
“It was terrible there, wasn’t it?” Shiloh’s violet eyes filled with tears.
“I can’t even describe what it was like, not that I saw a lot being trapped in a cell, but from what I saw, it was a nightmare in a way I can’t describe. It’s not like there was never ending screaming or people being tortured. There was just a constant stench of fear and anxiety that hung in the air. No one smiled with pure joy, instead it was emotionless, grinning and empty gazes.” Adalia recalled a memory of the king touching her thigh when she was serving him wine and shuddered.
No one had ever touched her the way he did. Full of revolting desire.
In all honesty, no man had ever touched her intimately.
There’d been stolen kisses behind hay bales and light pecks on the cheek from men when they’d walked her home from the local dance in her village in her young adult years. But once her mother passed, her focus shifted. Her father needed her, her brother needed her, and she needed them. Love like that wasn’t important anymore, keeping her family from falling apart was.
Shiloh reached for Adalia’s hand and squeezed. “You’re safe now.”
Moving to a cupboard and collecting a mixing bowl and wooden spoon, Adalia nodded her head. “I certainly hope so.”
