- Where is he now? - Her voice sounds impatient and alarmed at the same time.
- I had him taken to the guests' apartments that are vacant at the moment. He's sleeping, and he has no way to get out of there or to be heard by anyone. -
She's torturing the throne armrest with her right hand. There are no maids, guards or other people. They're supposed to follow her everywhere but, most of the time, she prefers to be alone or with as little personnel as needed. When I'm with her, she doesn't want anybody else.
- The body? - She asks. Her eyes look at me only when she asks questions, as soon as she gets the answers, they go back to staring at the floor. Her nails never stop torturing the purple fabric of the armrest.
- We have already transferred the corpse to the medical bay. They're preparing the body so that it will be fit to be seen during tomorrow's public display. -
She nods. After a few moments she looks to me again, but she doesn't have the time to ask me another question. - The guards are all dead, they were all shot in the southern courtyard of the castle, - I say.
She nods again. She keeps quiet for a longer time than before.
- That child, - she says. But this is not a question, and I do not know what she'd like to know exactly, so I wait. - That child, – she says again shortly after, - how is he? -
- He's sleeping. He passed out the exact moment I took him away from Samuel. -
- Was he terrified? - She asks.
I think about it for a moment. - That would not be the adequate term to describe him. I'd say he was agitated, but again, not as much as he should have been. He was certainly inexperienced, but not as much as his age would suggest. He was very skilled in the end. -
- Skilled, – she repeats. She brings a hand to her forehead. - What have we done? He was just a child, Naki. -
He still is. That's the first thought that crosses my mind. - We didn't have a choice. - That' s what I say instead.
- We could have locked him up somewhere, do what we had to do, and then set him free. -
I frown for a moment. - Certainly, that was a possibility, but to what end? He wanted a certain thing that also happened to facilitate our operations. Why should we have denied it to him? He has had his revenge. -
She sighs. I don't understand her, but I feel that this is one of those discussions that would lead us to quarrel all night without coming down to nothing. I know that that sigh is her way to end the discussion and to avoid unnecessary waste of energies.
- Given the late hour, I think it would be wise to get some rest now, Clizia, - I say. Her face is tense and tired.
- I can't. What kind of a wife, mourning in pain over the loss of her husband, would go to sleep less than an hour after his death? - She snorts, and a little smile escapes me. - That child, – she says, again, - Sin. Will he return to Sevyhal tomorrow? -
- I'll escort him myself on my way to Saharian the day after tomorrow. Sevyhal is on the road leading to the Allied States headquarters. -
She smiles lightly as she looks out the window. The light of dawn is starting to color the landscape. - Sahrian. The Coastal States Militia. In less than two months I lost both Bastian and you, Naki. -
My eyes go wide, as if someone had pierced my sternum with a hand. I swallow and I don't move. I wait. She sighs.
- It's only fair that you pursue the career that you deserve, Naki. I'm sure that you'll manage to get to the Northern area, to Akrem and certainly to the third dimension. The Intra Dimensional Shield Confederation needs a brilliant mind like yours. You're only wasted here. -
She looks at me and I stare back at her. I don't know what to say, therefore I don't say anything and I don't move. Then, she laughs, shakes her head and stands up. - I think I can go wallow in my own grief over the loss of my beloved husband in my apartments. I want to sleep at least a couple of hours. -
I nod and look at her as she exits the throne room.
I don't know how long I remain there, alone, staring at the closed door.
****
- It was to be expected, - he says. Meanwhile, my whole body is in pain. Regeneration might be a difficult skill, useful and so on, okay, but it does hurt.
- I should have expected it? Who would ever expect a child to pierce you from side to side with a sword? - I reply huffily and I stir on the bed. Shelv unceremoniously pushes me down again. He slaps me on my shoulder never looking away from my stomach that he's healing with his magic.
- He was a traumatized and borderline child, armed with a sword, who had just beheaded your king because he was guilty of having killed one of his two adoptive parents. The other parent was killed by you. How couldn't his actions be predictable, Samuel? -
I open my mouth and inhale to say something but then I realize that the boy had every reason to kill me. So, age apart, the gesture was actually a predictable one. I choose to remain silent, and so does Nakiri. After a few minutes I speak again. - Are we leaving tomorrow? - He nods. - I'm sorry to leave Samirien, I was born and raised here, - I say. Nakiri doesn't answer. Nakiri hardly ever replies if it's just to make conversation.
Nakiri is a bore.
I grin. Teasing him is a good way to get him to answer. - And what about the princess? What does she say about your departure? -
A flicker in the spell luminescence. I hit home!
- Queen, – he exclaims.
- Huh? -
- She's a queen, not a princess, - he corrects me.
- Yeah sure, you know what I mean, - I sway my hand.
He interrupts the spell, frowns and sits on the edge of the bed. - Tell me, Samuel. Why do you keep on making insinuations about the Queen and me? -
- What? - I'm confused. He waits for my brain to catch up, he knows I can do it. - Well, - I say, – One can tell by the way you look at each other. - He raises an eyebrow, waiting for further explanations. - And then you're always glued to her. -
- Samuel, that's my job, I am her personal guard, - he says with the tone of an adult explaining something obvious to a child.
- Yes, right but, well, I don't know, this is what it looks like from the outside. Moreover, you never smile, but you do sometimes with her. -
It looks like he's rearranging all this information in his head. Then he just nods, but I don't know to whom or what.
He goes back to treat me in silence.
****
I'm sure my brother would think that getting up at this hour, or even around this hour, should be declared illegal.
It is just starting to dawn in the distance, but I don't feel tired.
I think I won't be able to relax my muscles until I get home, until I'm in my bed, with my brother sleeping next to me, or rather, until I will be back to sleeping on my brother. It's not that it bothers Tears – if so, I'd have definitely noticed that years ago – but it's never him who clings to me.
This is the only way we can both be sure that we are fine, which is key to our being able to fall asleep. I don't think I've ever slept without him next to me. During these two days I spent here, I didn't sleep at all, except for when that guy made me fall unconscious with that strange spell. I think it was spirit magic. Very interesting, though.
Last night, once the effect of the spell run out, I couldn't even close my eyes. This is why this early departure has no side effects on me. I can't wait to see my brother.
That guy, I think his name is Samuel, he's here with us.
Judging by the way he moves, I think his stomach is bandaged, and sometimes I see him throwing glances at me. I didn't manage to kill him, but that's okay. He would have been a bonus. After all, the one who ordered Bas and Cal's murder was the man I beheaded. Samuel was just a pawn, and he did spare my brother and me. So I can consider myself satisfied with the wound I gave him.
I'm on a horse. Samuel is also on a horse next to me. Shelv is still on the ground, and this one I'm riding is actually his horse. The horse is loaded with more bags than last time, so I am guessing that his trip will continue after Sevyhal. There is also the beautiful lady from Bas' photo, Clizia, and she's talking to Shelv. I don't know what they're talking about, because they are too far away for me to hear, but I notice that, every now and then, Samuel throws curious glances in their direction and I also distinctly see his half-elf ears flapping. Maybe he can hear them. I find pointed ears beautiful, I'd love to have them too. And so, here are two things that this man has and that I want: his hair-do and his ears.
And let's not forget his gun.
I hate him.
Clizia and Shelv shake hands. Shelv performs a last bow and Clizia shakes her head as if to say he's an idiot for doing that. Then they look at each other. And I don't understand what they're doing. Why aren't we leaving?
Finally Shelv moves away to get to his horse and the queen does the same in the direction of the castle. Suddenly Shelv stops. He turns back and, right before he reaches her, Clizia turns around too, maybe hearing him approach.
And that's when Nakiri kisses her.
My eyes go wide, but never as much as Samuel's.
I mean, he's kissing her. It's not a kiss out of a romance book, there's no passionate embrace or anything, it's just a brief kiss, but on the mouth and...
And, well, I wasn't expecting it.
Samuel's eyes are like two huge balls. This man is very funny. He's capable of such facial expressions as if his face was made of rubber or something like that. He can be serious, but not for too long.
Once the kiss is over, Shelv turns back to his horse as if nothing happened, he hops on it and I cling to him as soon as we start galloping. Samuel follows us a few moments afterwards, but he'll come with us all the way to Sevyhal, where they will leave me so I can go back home.
****
I push the door open and go inside.
I leave my bag on the floor and, as I close the door behind me, I look around. The house is in poor conditions. There are glasses and bottles on the table, a blanket on the floor, the couch cushions are scattered around the room...
I sense something and I turn to my right. He's there, looking at me. He's checking who entered the house from the hall that leads to the sleeping area. He's staring at me, a hand resting against the wall. I look at him, then I smile and raise my right hand a little. - Hi, Tears. -
He doesn't answer, he moves from the wall and runs towards me. I don't have enough time to realize that he's not coming to embrace me.
The first punch gets me in the face. I lose my balance and I don't have time to lean against the wall because he's on me, and I end up on the floor. I cross my arms in front of my face and close my eyes while he's yelling at me.
- WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU? - Another punch on my shoulder. Tears is much stronger than me, and I'm no match for him. All I can do is wait for him to get over beating me, and there are two reasons for that. Firs of all, he's right. Secondly, the only way I can get him off of me is hurting him, and I don't want to.
- IT'S BEEN WEEKS! ALMOST TWO MONTHS! ALMOST TWO MONTHS WITHOUT KNOWING WHERE YOU WERE AND WHAT YOU WERE DOING! WHAT DID YOU HAVE TO DO THAT WAS SO IMPORTANT? WITHOUT ME? -
He's stressing each exclamation with a punch. He finally stops, and I open my eyes a little when I feel his embrace. I relax a bit. My shoulder hurts, and my jaw too. I think he broke something. I hug him back.
- I'm sorry. I promise I won't do it again. -
- Never, - he says. – Never again. -
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