Within the Walls [NEW VERSION]

Chapter 14

A rapid knock on my bedroom door drags me from my stupor. Before I can even summon him in, Ruben barges in. His face drained of colour; his lower lip pulled in between his teeth. A curse falls from his mouth as he stalks towards me. He wears his black pants and a long, loose-sleeved, white linen tunic.

"What are you doing?" I hiss, slipping out of the bed but hugging the blanket to my body. "I barely have any clothes on."

He waves his hand, scrunching his nose. "Oh, don't flatter yourself. We have other matters."

My nose burns. "What then?"

He paces the room, hands clasped behind his back. Frost creeps across the windowpane, and grey clouds billow across the sky, blanketing the kingdom in dreary misery. His piercing green gaze lingers on the frigid river in the distance. Its quicksilver surface peeks through a narrow gap in the maze of Concave buildings.

He holds his fist against his mouth and closes his eyes as if he's about to vomit. "I am sure you have heard of the crimes some Convex are committing."

"What have they done?" My stomach clenches.

He swallows bodily. "One of them snatched a sword from a Tranq's back and pointed it at his throat."

He might as well have punched me in the gut, for the wind leaves my lungs. "They are out of control. Unhinged." Ice stings up my throat and my voice is a mere rasp. I am rendered still. j

"Elle, there is something else you need to know," he says, struggling to meet my eye.

As he opens his mouth to respond, the king himself bellows from outside the bedroom. "Son, bring the girl outside at once. We must prepare for her first task as Tranq."

"But–"

"Out now," he growls with such ferocity we both startle.

Ruben hangs his head and slumps out of the room. I throw my clothes on, splash fresh water on my face, and hasten into the hall. The King slides his predator eyes to me. Today, he wears black flecked with gold. His golden and silver crown rests on his thinning head of hair.

"Collect your armour and weapons, Elle. I have a task, especially for you."

I clear my throat and muster my feeble voice. "Yes, your grace." When I return to the hallway, clad in armour with my sword and spear sheathed to my spine, Ruben is gone. A pair of beady eyes await me. I swallow and a shudder rakes its fingers along my nerve.

"You look great, Elle," he purrs as we slip through the hallway.

I pluck up an ounce of courage. "What is the task for me today, Your Majesty?"

He chuckles, shaking his head. "It is time you earn your place as a Tranquillity. And your position as a woman worthy of my son."

Vague, incessant bastard. I keep my eyes pinned on the hall before us. We wind another corner, past scurrying servants who avoid eye contact, and sculptures of long-dead kings and fountains carved into the shape of the gods and goddesses, including the God of Souls, whose hands reach out, past the stream of arching water, as if he is offering his guidance to the afterlife.

"If you can complete the task today, you will receive my blessing, and I will keep the wolves from attacking you," he says, nodding at a couple of prominent members of the Concave Sector ogling at us. "If you fail, blood will be on your hands."

My heart lurches to my throat. "Who's blood?"

He breathes a laugh. "The Convex's. Your sister's. The blond boy who works on the farms and in the market. What is his name again?" His snake eyes glint with creeping malice and his lip curls into a grin. "Oh, yes. Aston Sallow. Do you think the boy will fare against the Shadowteeth? Perhaps, the God of Tranquillity and Peace will offer a swift, merciful end."