Page 99 of Royal Captive
Mine were waiting across the barrier, and that’s where I needed to be. And I was helping; I was taking Feyanna with us. That was the reason her eyes sparkled with triumph. She was simply happy to be rescued, and there was nothing more to it.
Thirty-One
ELLIS
Eve insisted we find the pleasure house and check on her friends, but she had no idea where it was, or even if it was in the city.
“Ask your stupid princess; I bet she knows!” Eve raged, tears falling down her cheeks.
I understood her pain, but my mission was clear: protect Eve, and get to the barrier. That didn’t include finding her friends. And I told her so.
I expected the tears and the swearing, the anger and the crying.
But none of it came.
Eve went quiet and simply followed. It was disturbing in a way I didn’t anticipate, so I tried to focus on escaping the city instead, our stowaway included.
I thought we’d have to sneak away from the city, but no one paid us any mind in the surrounding chaos. The few guards we came across were busy helping civilians and couldn’t be bothered to pay us any mind. It was on the tip of my tongue totell Feyanna to cover herself with her dirty cloak so that no one would recognize her.
It didn't matter, though. No one cared, and no one stopped us. Everyone had their own problems.
I could not tell who was who: rebel versus Noble. There was no order or structure to the cries and screams as people ran through the streets. It was just senseless violence, the weather itself seemingly on the rebels side as it pounded the palace and lit fires with lightning. Wind toppled buildings and people alike, its fierce howling a war cry all on its own.
The weather lessened to an irritating rain the further we got from the city. Feyanna led us down a pristine path led with white stones, smooth under our feet. I was so used to darting through backwoods and keeping down that it felt surreal to walk out in the open.
Eve wasn’t happy. I could see it in her tense shoulders, her pursed lips, and the wary looks she kept shooting Feyanna.
But she was smart and resourceful. Eve bent down here and there at random, first grabbing a ratted blanket and then filling it with things she found in the rubble: an extra cloak, molded bread, and even an entire head of cabbage.
Food.Supplies.
We were heading out into the wilderness and, once again, Eve was the only one keeping her wits about her.
Gods above, I loved her.
“I can feel you staring. I assure you, I’m just as overcome as any other pale-faced maiden would be, quivering in her dainty slippers and crying without shedding a tear.” Eve gathered the bundle to her chest, exasperated. “I will cry and throw a fuss later! Now is simply not thetime.”
Huffing, she turned back around and kept marching toward the woods.
I hid an inappropriate grin. I was absolutely and irrevocably obsessed with this woman.
I highly doubted Eve would ever throw a fit like I’d seen my spoiled younger sister do when something didn’t go her way.
Eve collected an impressive bundle by the time we reached the outskirts of town, with naught left between us and the wilderness except a butcher’s shop. It waited untouched compared to the trauma that had been dealt out further in town, complete with rows of birds freshly slaughtered this morning, hanging on a line. It seemed odd how clean and untouched they sat amidst all the chaos, almost as if someone had put them there on purpose.
Eve bent down, tying all of her bounty into the blanket and securing it with a knot.
“I can carry—” I offered, only to have Eve shove it at Feyanna and keep the ragged cloak.
“No,shemay carry it. I will carry this.”
Without looking, she turned and grabbed two chickens off the line, wrapping them up in the cloak and throwing them over her shoulder.
I tilted my head to the side, unable to summon words. She was glorious with her ragged dress and dirty hair spilling out from the leather thong that tried in vain to keep it all away from her face. Dust and soot covered her cheeks, but the determined gleam in her eye never wavered.
Not once.
My queen.
