Chapter 5
1233 Words
Alera
A heavy sigh left my lips as I approached the big gates of the Vale Kingdom. This time, I wasn't here to listen by accident. I was here to pull the truth out of these walls, piece by piece, even if it cut me in the process.
Ada's warning stayed lodged in the back of my mind like a thorn. One wrong move and they won't hesitate.
Caught meant erased.
I adjusted the guard's tunic at my shoulders and took my position at the outer corridor, forcing my face into its usual easy grin. The guards around me laughed when I spoke, one of them nudging my arm when I joked about how stiff palace boots were made to torture men. Being Aler came easily now. Too easily.
When the chance came, I took it.
"I need to use the restroom," I muttered, already stepping away before anyone could question me.
When I made sure they weren't looking at me, I slipped to a different direction following the same path as yesterday. I didn't know why I have hopes to meet him there. Instead I ran into a maid.
She gasped softly, clutching the linens in her arms. Her eyes dropped to my uniform, then flicked up again. "What are you doing here, Sir?"
Well it's normal for her to ask that topped with the fact that guards aren't around to roam inside the inner palace. But where I was taking the risk.
"I was sent," I said quickly, lowering my voice. "Message for Prince Kearan."
Her face drained of color.
"For... the prince?"
I lifted my chin, pretending annoyance. "Is there a problem?"
She hesitated only a moment before nodding. "Follow me."
My pulse spiked.
She led me down a quieter corridor, When we stopped in front of a dark, heavy door, she turned to me.
"Wait here." And then she slipped inside. The seconds stretched. My palms dampened. I was already preparing the questions to ask the prince when I get in. He must know something about the attack three years ago.
Some seconds later, she returned. "I'm sorry," she said stiffly. "The prince says he isn't expecting any message."
I almost laughed. Figures. He helped me find the bathroom yesterday and now he's pretending he doesn't remember.
Her brows furrowed seeing the scoff on my face. I stood straighter that way I would looked more manly even though I knew I don't. It was the armor that was helping.
"Do tell him it's about directions. He'll know what I mean. I was told to deliver it personally."
Her eyes lingered but after a long moment, she turned and went back inside.
This time, she took longer. When the door opened again, she stepped aside. "You may go in."
The door creaked as I entered. My eyes took in the surrounding. His chamber was nothing like I expected.
No bright colors. No excess. Everything was dark stone walls, heavy curtains, polished floors that reflected very little light. The air felt... heavy. Quiet in a way that pressed against my skin. One would thought no one lives in the chambers.
But someone does because my eyes landed on him. Standing near the window, dressed in black like the night itself.
Something unfamiliar twisted low in my chest. Something I can't put a finger on. I didn't know why
but stepping into his space felt like crossing an invisible line. Like I had walked somewhere I had no business being, yet had been drawn to all the same.
"Why are you here?"
His voice cut through the room. Cold. Detached. Nothing like the man from yesterday.
I swallowed and took a small step forward.
"Stay right where you are."
My foot stopped mid-move.
His voice didn't rise, didn't shake but it carried authority. The kind that didn't need shouting.
"Do you think just anyone is allowed to wander this palace?" he asked. "Do you think lies make you invisible?"
My jaw tightened. My heart hammered, but I forced myself to stand straight. I hadn't come all this way to turn back now.
"I'm here," I said carefully, "to get answers."
Silence followed. For a moment, I thought he wouldn't respond at all. Then he spoke, slowly.
"Answers... about what?"
I clenched my hands at my sides. Images flashed in my mind. Fire, blood, Yonah's small hand clutching that wooden toy.
"The attack," I said.
The room went still. Then he turned. The first thing my eyes landed on was dark lines running along his neck, disappearing beneath the collar of his black clothes.
For a brief second, fear slid down my spine. So the stories were true, I thought. The cursed prince.
But fear didn't erase why I was here.
"I asked you why you are here," he said slowly. "And you still haven't answered."
I clenched my teeth. Of course he would act ignorant. Of course he would hide behind silence and stone walls while villages burned. While families died. My chest ached with it.
A fresh, sharp hatred slammed into my chest.
"You expect me to believe that?" I snapped, the words spilling before I could stop them. "That you sit here in silk and stone and know nothing of what's happening outside these walls?"
He didn't move.
"You hide in this palace," I went on, my voice shaking now, anger taking over. "Villages burn. Families are wiped out. And you stand there acting like you're the one suffering."
My breath came fast. My chest hurt.
"If only you knew what death really looks like," I said bitterly. "If only you had seen—"
I never finished. In one blur of movement, he was on me. My back slammed into the wall. Pain exploded through my shoulders as his hand closed around my throat.
Hard. My breath vanished.
I gasped, clawing at his wrist, my fingers slipping uselessly over his skin. My feet barely touched the floor.
Up close, his face was nothing like yesterday. His eyes were dark, empty, dangerous. The faint lines I'd seen before were clearer now black veins spreading along his neck, pulsing under his skin.
"I warned you," he said quietly, his grip tightening. "You have no right to come here. No right to speak."
I choked, spots dancing in my vision.
"A mere guard," he continued coldly. "Do you think I don't know you were sent for a purpose?"
My head spun.
"I will kill you," he said, calm as ice. "And I'll send your corpse back to whoever you work for."
Work for...?
Confusion hit me even as my lungs burned. I tried to shake my head, to speak, but nothing came out. My fingers went weak.
His eyes rolled slightly, like he was fighting something inside himself. The veins along his neck darkened, spreading, moving alive.
Then suddenly he let go.
I collapsed to the floor, coughing, gasping, air tearing back into my lungs. My throat burned. My chest heaved as I struggled to breathe.
"Get out," he snarled. "If I see you anywhere near my chambers again, I will end your life."
I didn't wait. I scrambled to my feet and ran, stumbling through the door, down the corridor, my vision blurry, my throat aching. I didn't stop until I was far away, hidden, bent over and dragging air into my lungs.
My hands trembled. Did I almost got killed?
- Writer
