Anara looks up at me, a small smile crosses her features. “I can see why she likes you. You are loyal, I can tell already. Where I come from, we have stories oftoneosand of the original four, and the Creator before them. What was a world originally blessed by four and created by one has been changed and will change again.”
Her gold-flecked eyes watch me as if ready for an argument and maybe I would on a different day, but today I don’t. I strain to listen to the room adjacent to me, hoping for the moment when Carnaxa will remember me and come running into my arms.
“You are welcome to stay here if you want to be near her,” Anara says with barely a passing glance towards Ereon. “Ereon says you haven’t left her side and I don’t expect you’ll want to now. There is a blanket on the chaise there.”
“I don’t think ...” My words trail off as I realize how ridiculous my refusal sounds, given the proximity of Ereon’s room to Carnaxa’s. I would rather stay outside in the hallway than watch him with this woman or listen to any sounds that may filter through the night air.
Ereon’s voice pulls me away from my thoughts, “It’s fine. Stay and wait, we all need the rest. Siphonie will retrieve us if we are needed, but until then, we are useless in her room.”
I nod my head. Ereon leans down to whisper into Anara’s ear before disappearing behind another door I assume leads to the bathing facilities.
Anara sits down, crossing her legs and staring intently into the fire. “Don’t worry. I don’t talk as much as he does and I won’t bother you. Get some sleep. We have tonight — tonight we are safe.”
Her words are so similar to the ones I told Carnaxa just a few short moons ago.
“Just tonight, baby girl. We have tonight.”
six
Carnaxa
Siphonie kneels in front of me, her hands softly tracing my own as she does, it’s something she used to do when we were children. I have a short memory of children running through the corridors of my home. Siphonie with her pink hair flowing behind her and the boy with the green eyes. I know I should know him. I think we were close, but I can’t ... place him outside of my vague recollection and him washing ashore from the sea.
Because he doesn’tmatter.
The man’s green-eyed gaze bounces between Siphonie and me, his fingers digging into the leather of his pants. Ereon, who I do not personally know, seems rather familiar with me. He puts his hand on the other man’s elbow and pulls him towards the door I went through earlier.
I bite on my bottom lip, trying to figure out what is wrong with me. Everything seems different — I feel different.
“Carnaxa” — Siphonie rises to sit beside me — “do you really not know who Thylas is?”
I shake my head, frustration taking over my features. I don’t understand how I came to be in Shaston. I sigh heavily, scratching at my wrist and the bracelets there. While looking down, I notice a black cuff that I've never seen before.
“What do you remember?”
I rack my brain. “I remember Prince Ereon arriving in Antalis. I can see you telling me you are expecting, and that you and Rhenor are doing better. But that’s ... All of the memories are like looking through water. Some I remember with lucidness, others I can’t recall.” I can see her with so much clarity when I think of her telling me she was expecting. But then it’s just her voice that filters in, telling me about the night she and Rhenor spent together afterT?htandMar. There are no images … just a sense of knowing what happened, and her voice.
Siphonie gives me a weird look before running her hands down her thighs. “Don’t worry. I’m sure the memories will come back. Perhaps you hit your head harder than we originally thought. Let’sget you bathed and changed. Ereon had some clothes brought up for you.”
I nod my head and she gently helps me up and leads me to the bathing chamber where warm water is already waiting for us.
After the bath, Siphonie tells me what she can about the memories I don’t seem to have. She tries to convince me I need to rest. I scoff at the idea. The last thing I want is to fall back to sleep and feel the icy darkness surrounding me. A shiver passes through me as I watch the sun in the distance slowly rise above the red sands before me.
I run my palms up and down my arms, knowing soon this cold will be replaced by the unrelenting heat of the Shaston’s sun. Although Ashonera has but one sun, in this kingdom the sun feels different, as does the moon that drenches the land.
I’ve peered out this window for hours, pondering how my father is faring without me. Siphonie informed me the deluc is worse than I remember. My father has secluded himself away from the people, and the thought irritates me.
How could he be such a coward?
I shake my head, unsure of where the stray thought came from. My father is not a coward and is doing what he must. I push strands of my cerulean hair out of my face. I know my hair must look as strange as Siphonie’s in this drab place.
From what I can see from the arched window, where Antalis is a world of color, laughter and life, my new home is dark, cold, and scary. I can see multiple whipping posts from here. What crimes must one have to commit to suffer such an awful punishment? A memory of someone screaming at a whipping station in Antalis filters through — blurry — and I can’t see anything else but the back of my father. I internally search, trying to recall when and why Antalis would have ever had such a barbaric structure.
“Did you get any sleep, Naxa?” Siphonie’s sleepy voice breaks me from my thoughts.
I just shrug my shoulders and walk back to her, away from the window. She pushes back the silk covers and sits up, rubbing at her face with her tawny hands. “Are you feeling any better?”
I squeeze my fist open and closed as if I can see any physical changes. I don’t feel different, and yet something isn’t the same. For the first time, I’m uncomfortable in my own skin. Siph smiles sadly at me before tucking her legs underneath her.
