Chapter 16: Chapter 16
What is it with people appearing in my back since I came here? Before I could turn to look at Arius, Sorens face had already turned ashen and he yanked his hand away from my shoulders like he has been burnt. I turned to face Arius only to see Faye behind him.
Oh the hypocrite!
I was fuming mad but I reined it in as I arched a cool eyebrow at him.
“Punished? Why will Sorens be punished?” I asked him.
“You know his name, he is a member of your legion, you should refer to him by his title and nothing else.” Arius raged.
“It is my legion, you have no power over what I chose to refer to them as. Besides Sorens is different.” I answered with an absent smile on my face. “He is special.”
“You ought not to do anything with him, it is against the laws and it is not right, you my queen should not touch any man…” Arius started with a list of rules which he has done practically everything on it just the opposite.
“Shut up.” I tell Arius whose jaw dropped at my words. “I will not obey a special set of rules just made for the queen or this one rather. I will follow your example. You told me and showed me, multiple times that it is okay to have a lover, in fact, yours is right behind you and she is your attendant. I don’t have an attendant but what I do have is a second in command so why not use him to scratch that itch.”
“You will not sleep with him.”
“You cannot and will not order me to follow something which you never obeyed, how is my case different from your case?”
“Because I want the kingdom to not guess who the father of my child will be just because his mother is a harlot.” Arius quipped.
I didn’t know when I crossed the room and hit him across the cheek. “I am not a harlot any more than you are a bastard.” His jaw clenched in anger but I was too far gone to notice. “You do not get to insult me and treat me like nothing and then dictate how I get to spend my life in the shadows. This will be your last warning before you ever try something like this again.”
“If he sleeps with you, I will kill him.” Arius warns.
“And I will kill you if anything happens to him.” I know that I could have marched off, ordering Sorens to follow me but I went to hold Sorens hand and drag him out of the courtyard, he let me do that though because if he didn’t want to be moved, there was no way I could have.
“My queen, you need to slow down and calm down.” Sorens stated. “Where are we going?”
“Away from this palace before I will mistakenly stick a knife into his heart or eyes, maybe his brains too.” I vibrated with rage. I needed distance between me and Arius.
“My queen, you need to calm down.” Soren stated with laughter evident in his voice.
“Don’t laugh, my anger is not funny.” I growled, stepping into his face but his laughter increased.
“The reason why I am laughing, my queen is because you are going the wrong direction.”
******
Riding to town, made me think about how I needed my own horse, a horse that will be loyal to me and since I was going to stay here for the rest of my days, I better start training a horse that will be perfect for me, I could not bring Esmeralda with me, the horse was old and I could not bring myself to take her into a place where she would die without all her usual comforts, she was used to Dar and so she remained there.
Besides, this was my cross, I couldn’t give her my cross to bear too. Arius owns me a new horse of the best pedigree at least.
“My lady, the town is just beyond that tree. Remember what I told you.”
“Settlements in Northshore are invisible to the normal eye, you can only enter a settlement with a guide, someone who knows it was there. I know this already because I saw the way I entered Northshore a few months ago.” I answered with a roll of my eyes but he cracked a smile.
“Welcome to the village of the palace.” He said as we stepped across the tree and I felt a shiver down my spine just before the scene in front of me changed to a busy one, instead of forest and dead trees, small houses built in the same fashion as the palace and market stalls were opened, children play around in pairs and some of these plays were with real weapons which they used on each other.
“Village of the Palace?” I asked.
“Yes, it was originally meant for just a market place where people get to buy things as they come visit the king, now a lot of commanders live here and the settlement grew and expanded.” Sorens said just as a child hit another child on the mouth and blood gush out of the wound. The one who dealt the blow danced around in a victory move.
“This is allowed?” I asked shocked at the violence displayed.
Soren took a glance at the scene and gave the child who won some coins while he faced the other child. “Go home.”
When he came back to where I stood he explained. “The one who won will be a very good warrior someday but the one who did not should consider other fields. Not everybody can be a warrior and quite frankly, not everybody should try.” I nodded at his words and he pointed at a house.
“What is there?” I asked as he led us there, he smiled as he opened the door. “It is a store, don’t be afraid.
I entered the house which was in fact a store that sells weapons. “Welcome to the nearest weaponry.”
And I smiled so wide. I knew there was a reason I was friends with Sorens. He just offered me a range of weapons to choose from, the perfect homecoming gift that anyone could think of.