34
“Cissa! There you are.”
Maddox trotted down the opera house steps and rounded the corner to the sparse garden I sat in.
After eating my fill, I had taken Misty and Pippin for a stroll. The two deserved play and exercise after being clutched like rag dolls for the entire night.
It was much later in the afternoon, though it was difficult to tell with the unchanging gray skies. I knelt on the threadbare lawn as Maddox approached. His lack of uniform meant he was off duty, but he looked harried and exhausted nonetheless.
“Yes?” I hated how weak my voice sounded.
He furrowed his brows. I must’ve been an awful sight. My face was still swollen from crying. “Giselle told me everything,” he said.
“Oh.” I pursed my lips. I had no wish to hear the same spiel from him.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Maddox said with a huff. He joined me on the ground, wiping the dirt off his boots. “I’m not going to lecture you.”
I picked at the grass as Pippin explored the bushes. Misty never left my side. I was grateful, but her constant presence only accentuated the silence.
“What is it, then?”
“King Maximus and Crown Prince Bennett left for Delibera this morning,” he said.
“I know,” I said, looking at my hands. “Did His Majesty give orders about where I should go? Or was that not a priority?” I didn’t bother masking the bitterness in my voice.
Maddox crossed his arms over his knees. “We’re to remain for another week,” he said slowly, as if worried I’d explode if he talked any faster. “After that...well I don’t know what’ll happen.”
“He’s leaving an entire entourage of guards idle. How considerate.”
“Not exactly. Lord Frederick let most of the tour guards return with His Majesty. Flannery’s gone.”
I twisted my torso to face him. “Then why are you still here? The tour is finally over. You could’ve taken Lady Vanessa with you.”
“You weren’t well last night. Mother said so,” Maddox said simply.
He had done nothing but complain about being a guard from the beginning. Now he was staying because I wasn’t well?
“But...you can go back home. You don’t have to be a guard anymore.”
Maddox shrugged, poking at the damp debris with a fallen branch. His hands had accumulated more scars since the last I had seen of them, and the purple bags beneath his eyes had never disappeared. “It’s funny. I didn’t have anything to do at home except ride and practice swordsmanship. Being a guard...it’s purposeful. Don’t get me wrong. It’s bloody exhausting and downright boring at times,” he said, “but I have a duty now. It’s almost comforting.”
Lady Vanessa, Father, me, and now Maddox. What was with this family and duty? It seemed to bring nothing but disappointment.
