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“Yet you are trying to argue the moral high-ground?”
“Yes. Because if I did take it, it would be for a very good reason. A reason anyone and everyone should be concerned about, no matter their status. But no one cares. Or at least, no one is willing to care. To take a dip in their coffers.” Even in the dark, I see the blood rising to her cheeks. “It’s all good when the people you lock up are the poor ones. The ones that can hardly put food on the table and keep their kids alive. No one puts up a fight. You put theguiltyin prisonwhere they belong.” Her sarcasm rings through the night.
“But what about the wealthy ones? The ones no one wants to look at? Because if they are the culprit, it won’t be so cut and dry. The wealthy in jail will cause a rift in the system. It will mean a shift, a change— and no one wants to deal with the rift if the wealthy are found guilty.” She is breathing hard and heavy once she finishes, her indignation clear as her chest dramatically rises and falls. “And most of them are,” she whispers.
I can feel a knock at a familiar door in my mind. The door that holds all the questions I never get to ask. And now in my position, I don’t want to ask. This country is my home. The king and queen, and Princess Lena— they are my family. I protect my family. And now that I’m going to be marrying Lena in only a few months, I feel the familiar swirl of dizzying confusion and loyalty.
Logically, I know this girl doesn’t deserve the explosion building in me, but the more I try and hold it back the more I can’t seem to stop it. “It’s easy to blame everyone else but yourself, isn’t it? I’m not saying the rich shouldn’t distribute more of what they have. But that isn’t a pass to accuse innocent people, and excuse yourself of misdeeds simply because someonedeservesit.”
My emotions, once again running unchecked, have gotten the better of me. I barely know this girl, yet she knows exactly how to push me.
“Thank you for making it so easy to hate you, sir,” she declares through gritted teeth, yet her voice seems oddly devoid of its previous anger.
“I don’t care if you hate me,” I say, a shiver running through my hand as I grab her arm and nudge her forward. Sometime during our yelling match we stopped to face each other, our caged and careful rage hitting each other full-force.
She stands her ground, refusing to budge. “I can carry you if you’d prefer,” I declare, and grab her arm more forcefully.
Before I know what’s happening, my legs are out from under me, and I’m staring at the bits of night sky I can make out through the thick forest above. I scramble to my feet just in time to see her dash away into the trees. The rope from her hands lies on the ground at my feet, trampled underneath me as I take off after her. Admiration is again tugging at the corner of my mind, but my frustrations snuffs it away. How in the Four Kingdoms did she untie her hands without me knowing?
“Aiden!” I scream, but in the dark and cover of trees, I know my scream is futile.
So is the subsequent, “Stop!” and, “come back!” I yell after the fleeing thief. She doesn’t strike me as the type to cower in fear that I can simply yell loudly.
I chase after her fading form, moving in the direction from which we just came. A few branches claw at my face as I sprint through the foliage, hard enough that I know thin welts will soon form in their place. I trip on a thick tree root at some point, cutting and bruising my knee as I land on a rock.
Her path follows a winding circle. Why is she leading me back to the clearing? What are you doing little thief?
Realization dawns on me like a brutal punch to the stomach—her horse. How could I be so stupid? She wouldn’t leave her horse. I dig in my heels, another burst of speed propelling me forward, turning to retrace my steps as I attempt to hit the tiny meadow first.
I’m smarter this time, keeping my arms up to ward off stray branches, keeping my eyes on the ground to avoid rocks and roots. I hear a whinny not too far ahead. One last boost of energy has me break through, just in time to see her mount the horse.
“Wait!” another bellow from me as I keep running toward her. I know she won’t stop, but maybe just hesitate enough for me to catch up or for Aiden to get here.
“Maybe next time, guard,” she calls to me, her victory glimmering in the moonlight. “Yah!” she yells atop her horse before the beast spurs into action, taking off through the trees. My feet stop mid-run, my burning lungs gulping for air.
All I can do is stare after her. She got away. I’m not going to wake from a dream. Roan Montgomery, Captain of the Guard, thwarted by a petty thief.
My breathing begins to steady as I hear Aiden calling. “Captain? Captain!”
“I’m here!” I yell back, shutting my open jaw as I walk in his direction.
He comes through the trees. “I couldn’t bring both horses. The trees are too dense.” Red follows close behind him. He looks around, realizing I’m alone.
“Yes. I know. She’s gone,” I say. Aiden raises an eyebrow. With the energy of the last few minutes finally wearing off a laugh bubbles up my throat, the shock still not planting me back to reality.
“She got away. I don’t even know how.” Another chuckle. Aiden just stares, looking as if I just crossed the threshold of madness. His brow wrinkles, concern pulling his face inward.
I hardly notice Aiden at all as I replay the night's events, piecing together a mystery that doesn't want to be solved. Somewhere along that puzzle is my earlier admiration for the thief who bested Reynauld, now having bested me as well, along with the clear thought ofwhat in Haythen just happened— all mixing together to create the brilliant pot of perceived madness that Aiden now sees in me.
As much as I try and stop, the laughing continues. “Wow. We had our work cut out for us, and we didn’t even know it.”
“What happened?” asks Aiden.
“Really, I’m not even sure. One minute we were yelling about moral high-grounds, and the next I was on my back while she took off into the forest.”
“She got out of the rope?”
“Yes.” I reach my hand for Red as he nuzzles into me, grounding me and slowing the laughter. “She circled back around for her horse and took off.”
