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Chapter 35
Now
It had been days and days of clipped conversations and shitty bread as we moved over the middle of the continent. I didn’t know when we passed into Cabillia, but the grassy plains became drier and drier until the horizon was interrupted by small bumps and shapes.
Taitha.
As we neared the city, I began to identify the outlines of buildings — there was no wall like the monstrous one that surrounded Eserene. Just the slight rolling hills of the farmlands that lead to the city. “What isthat?” I asked, pointing at a structure that rose high above the houses, cathedrals, and shops. It was blocky, a harsh mark against the blue sky.
“The castle.”
I raised an eyebrow. “That doesn’t look anything like the Eserenian castle.” I had no other castle to compare it to.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Does it not live up to your royal standards? What were you doing when we sacked the city, having a tea party with other royal bitches in fancy gowns?”
“I was getting the absolute shit beat out of me.”
“I saidbeforewe sacked the city.”
“And I said I was getting the absoluteshitbeat out of me.”
His footsteps stopped behind me. “What?” I kept walking.
“Initiation. I’d ask if you’ve heard of it but apparently it’s only done in Eserene.” The anger stewed hot within me.
“Oh, I’ve heard of Initiation. I thought it was a story that Cabillian parents told their daughters to make them behave. That they needed to be good or they’d ship them off to Eserene for Initiation. I didn’t think it was real, even when...” He trailed off. I stopped and turned to where he stood about twenty feet behind me. I stared at him, pursing my lips. “So yourownpeople did all that to you?” I clenched my jaw in response. “I thought my men had done that to you for being disobedient.”
I cocked a brow at him. “So it was okay for your men to beat me?”
“I only meant that I wouldn’t expectyour own peopleto do that to you.”
“They’renotmy people.” Every scream I’d held back since moving into the Low Royal Castle tangled in my throat, my chest swelling with an anger so turbulent that it felt like Rhedros was inside my rib cage.
“What’s your name?” he blurted.
He hadn’t asked before this. And I hadn’t told him.
“It doesn’t matter.”
???
My stomach twisted as I beheld the small huts sprinkled like specks of dust across the fields, rickety fences containing even more rickety cows. I didn’t want to look too long at any of the small structures, knowing one of them could be the walls that had stood around Calomyr and his brother.
“Your palace awaits, my Lady,” Miles muttered gruffly as we followed a beaten path to the city.
I snarled at him.
I’m not sure what I had been expecting. Maybe streets filled with zombies, vacant eyes staring into the ether while bloody attacks happened on every corner. Wrena said Kauvras had forced the pipe on anyone he could get his hands on. But this city was…normal.
Vendors yelled from carts about breads and cheeses, fabric and ceramics. Children ran around their mothers, pulling on skirts to ask for sweets and trinkets. There were beautifully kept horses, clean people with clear eyes.
I stayed close to Miles as he wove through the crowds, past lively conversations and the smell of baking pastries. People jumped out of the way at the sight of Miles. I felt the stares of the townspeople on me, my Initiation gown beckoning for attention. Perhaps I’d have some leeway to demand clean clothing when we got to the castle. And a bath.
“I thought everyone would be addicted to leechthorn here,” I said just above a whisper. We moved deeper and deeper into the city, into the shadow of the castle.
“If everyone is on leechthorn, who the hell is going to tell the story when it’s over?” When it’s over? His tone was unbothered as we turned a corner, wide steps rising to massive wooden doors at the castle. Masked guards stood every few steps, hands on the hilts of swords, metallic masks gleaming in the sun. “Any city resident who swore fealty to Kauvras and his cause were allowed to stay in the city,uncorrupted,as some may say.”
“And I’m guessing anyone who didn’t…?”
