Within the Walls [NEW VERSION]

Chapter 29

King Talin's plan circulates in my mind over and over like a throbbing wound. A flock of maids turn the corner, heading towards the king's bedroom chambers. Their figures blur before me as the rage and the terror burrow into my gut, finding a home there. A scream fills the back of my throat. I think those two feelings, rage, and terror, are the only two I have ever known in my 18 years in this kingdom.

"Are you okay, Miss Fallon?" one of the maids asks, pausing and trailing behind her coworkers. Her kind, honey eyes lock with my own and she reaches a hand out, as if to feel my forehead for a temperature and an image of my mother doing the same gesture flashes across my mind.

"I'm fine. Thank you." The worlds spill from me with absolutely no vigour. But I turn and flee anyway, praying to the Gods that I do not bump into Ruben.

Guilt tears out chunks of my stomach as I dart down the hallway, passing by an oil painting of Ruben when he was a boy. For a moment, the guilt subsides. The small child has dark hair, pale skin, and those striking green eyes, vibrant like a forest snake. I wonder if he and I might have been friends as children. I find myself down a spiral staircase and make my way to the rear of the palace, turning various corners, and scurrying down hallways until, at last, I burst outside. The wild wind whistles in my ears and bites my skin as I cross the manicured, dewy grass. I slip into the Tranq headquarters and arm myself to the teeth with knives and my sword, ignoring the side glances the other Tranqs thrown my way.

Then I exit the back door and hasten down the stone path into the northern forest, skirting past the green park. Birds chirp at me as I enter the moss-green shadows of the forest. Leaves rustle like the waves of the lake beyond the walls, and the branches creak, bending their limbs towards the earth like bony beggars in the Convex Sector trying to wave others down for a morsel. The tight-knit trees begin to thin out and I glance around, looking for Aston. He did agree to meet me here.

"Up here." His voice startles me.

I crane my neck. He's perched on the thick limb of an oak tree, smiling down at me. "Why are you so cherry?" I groan, shaking my head and tapping my foot.

He pushes himself from the branch and falls to the ground with a thud. "I don't see my best friend so often anymore," he says, dusting his hands of specks. "It's a good day."

I grin and pull out my sword. We circle each other like dancing cobras, smirking. "Then please cheer me up. I spent the morning learning my wedding dance with Prince Talin, pretending nothing happened at the bar or the bridge yesterday." The thought of discussing what I overheard in King Talin's office makes my stomach squirm.

His soft eyes grow harsh and watery, and his sword cracks against mine. "I couldn't bring myself to go to the wake for the tavern victims today. It's hardly an adequate send-off for the dead. The families have no choice but to add the bodies to the... mass graves. It's sick."

My chest burns and darkness creeps across my mind as we dance around, bouncing on the balls of our feet, swinging, and parrying our blades. The trees are the only ones to hear the crashing of the metal. "I don't understand how so much has happened. And I miss Lyra. I wish she were here so I could ask her what to do."

He slices his blade high, and I block it. "You have to keep playing the game."

Leaves crunch and whoosh together as I stumble back, adjusting my stance. "I just wish she were here. She's not even going to be here for my... forced wedding."

Aston presses his lips together and tightens, then loosens his grip around the blade's hilt. "No, she's not. But I will be. Will I receive an invite?"

"I am not walking down the aisle without you there, Aston." I flinch for a moment as birds caw, tearing over our heads.