Huffing, I roll my eyes and take a sip of water before I get into whatever this is. She could be excited or mad. I was stupid for letting him gain my forgiveness, but I was even more foolish for allowing things to go as far as they did. My chest tightens as emotions swirl, contradictory to each other. So taking a deep breath, I get ready to unleash it all.
“It was Thylas,” I confess, not meeting her eyes. In my peripheral, I watch as a smile spreads across her face.
“Well, I knew it had to be one of them. Did you finally give up your chastity? Not that I'm going to judge, Goddess knows where I stand on that.”
“No … it didn't get that far. He stopped when he found out I am still a maiden. I thought he wanted it as much as I did, but I was wrong.”
She nods her head and purses her lips. She twirls a piece of hair. “Well … never mind.”
“What?”
She looks at me and grabs my hands. “Just be happy, Carnaxa. That's all. Forget everything else and forget your duties for a little while. Be happy before you are told what you can and can't do. Everyone knows you will be with Ereon in the long run, but you should take advantage of the time you have now. But, Thylas should be kicked in his balls for leaving you like that.”
She looks like her mother, her round eyes and pointed chin are an exact likeness. I remember her mother as she was, right before her untimely death. It's who she gets her tawny skin from, her mother was from Midaeliea, and my uncle was from Antalis, obviously. She carries the same wise-beyond-her-years look, those of Midaeliea have, in fact, the glow around her seems to have blossomed more since we've been here. She's happier, relaxed, and overall just different than she was in Antalis. I debate if I should tell her about Ereon, but decide to keep that piece of information to myself.
“Is he outside?”
“Yes, your captain is outside waiting on us. He looks like someone stole his candy too, by the way. So I already figured something had happened.”
Of course, he does. He can't hide what happened any more than I can. The look in his eyes last night when I arrived back to the chambers with Ereon … I could see so many emotions. His hands tightened at his side in anger, his eyes meeting mine withsadness. It was all etched across his face. Furious I had snuck out, but he wasn't at his post. We needed the space, it wasn't my intention to meet up with Ereon.
“Well, let's get this over with, we've got a long day.”
As we walk through the rounded archway that creates a walkway through the forest here, I can't help but be in awe. I expected gardens like those in Antalis, filled with exotic and colorful flowers, along with plants that soaked up the sun. In Midaeliea there are large trees that block out a lot of the light, mushrooms that cover the ground, along with fallen leaves. Streams flow naturally in, and around, the walking path, the ones that flow through it have large stepping stones we use to cross.
Queen Natala stands and then brushes her hand toward her guards, as well as the Thylas who is moping and has not said a word or met my eyes the entire walk here. “Find yourselves elsewhere.”
Thylas hesitates, but her men follow through immediately. He looks toward me before I nod and he follows them back through the entrance. He probably won't depart completely, but he'll leave us alone enough to talk among ourselves.
“Beautiful, isn't it?” Queen Natala speaks up.
“It truly is,” Siphonie answers before I have the chance, my eyes still taking in the landscape around me. Siphonie drapes her arm through mine as we walk behind the Queen. Her dress today is one of gold making the Queen’s eyes stand out. Her dark, mossy-green hair hangs down, the coils moves freely in the breeze. Her beauty is breathtaking.
“This is a part of our forest that has always been sacred. While all of our forests are revered, in this place, you can feel as if you are walking among the Goddess again. We've kept the garden’sgrounds this way for a long time, since the creation of Midaeliea. A place for us to go when we need guidance, clarity, or just need to be alone.”
“Thank you for sharing this wonderful place with us,” my voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.
“I will not lie, I brought you here so we can be alone. I don't always have so many new people in my home and I want to speak with you, Princess Carnaxa.”
She leads us to a small, rounded, white, wrought iron table with intricate designs cast into the iron. A canopy of white flowers bloom from the trees above. She motions for us to take our seats and we do.
“It is my understanding that the marriage between you and Prince Ereon is arranged. How unorthodox for Antalis to have arranged a marriage for their only heir,” she speaks frankly, her shining eyes fixed on me, a knowing smile crosses her lips as she pulls her dark-green hair over her left shoulder and begins to plait it in a large braid.
“It is unusual for my people, yes. However, I am happy to serve Antalis in whatever ways necessary.” The words are beginning to taste like ash, how many more times must I remind myself that I am doing this for my people? I know this arrangement is right, but the emotions inside of me are starting to wage a war I don't know how to win. The closer we get to Shaston, the more I just want to be home. Why can't the kingdoms find sustainable peace without a marriage?
“And you,BêlitSiphonie, are also in an arranged marriage?”
“Yes, Your Grace. I was betrothed to Rhenor when I was young and was not wed till I was eighteen.”
“I find it interesting that your father, King Clennom, married the late Queen Iviloan because of love. Was she not, but a baker's assistant when he met her? Her family history is still unknown as well, correct?”
“It is true. My mother did not have any relatives here or any who she knew of. She said she didn’t remember much about her time before she was old enough to start work in the baker's tent. All we can assume is that she was orphaned and did what she needed to survive and blocked out much of her earlier life to cope. It is also true that my father, walking through the village, went into the baker’s tent to buy a sweet cake and when he set eyes on her he immediately fell in love. He said he instantly saw the ebb and flow of their currents connecting them.”
“So your father knows and understands the meaning of a true twin drop and yet forces the women under him to do without. Interesting. Your mother wouldn't have approved.”
A breath catches in my throat, to speak so boldly of both my mother and my father … If she knew what my father has been through, what happened when the light left the rings of the sun, what happened when the deluc began infecting Antalians, she wouldn’t be so brazen.
She doesn't let me speak a word before continuing, “The deluc is now ravaging your kingdom is it not? People are no longer being called home, but are left to slowly decay till they die? Your father should know what this means, but maybe he does without realizing it.”
