She arched a brow at him, “for now? You are assuming there will be a later.”
He chuckled, “You keep making excuses to see me, let’s stop pretending.”
She shook her head and removed her hand from beneath her coat, handing him a letter.
He reached out and took it, carefully examining the seal, “you got it?”
She shrugged, “I said I would… because I really just wanted to help. Not so I can see you again.”
Jahreed took another look at the seal again and then frowned at her, “fine then. Maybe it’s not about me after all. Maybe you are just looking for a place to escape to.”
She frowned, “why ever would you think that?”
“I imagine serving the princesses must be quite an honour, but it must not be very exciting for you to resort to climbing the palace wall to get away every now and then.”
Her eyes widened, “You saw that?”
“I do not miss much,” he said with a smirk, “do not worry, your secret is safe with me.”
She nodded, and then joined him where he sat on the stone. Jahreed tried to relax, having her so close to him made him more self aware than he had ever been. She even smelled lovely, like rose petals and fragrant oils. Such a contrast to the smell of his goat skin vest.
“What happened to your hand?” she asked, pointing to the scar on the back of his right hand.
He looked down at it and frowned, remembering that terrible day. He sighed deeply.
“You do not have to…” she started.
“No, it’s okay,” he said quickly, “I uh… got my older brothers upset one day. My brothers have a uh… bad habit, one that is frowned upon in Aldor. They had kept it secret from my parents for a long time. Until one day I found out. I so wanted to please my father that I went home and told him where they were and what they had been doing. I did not think that they had seen me. My father punished them, so… the next day I went out with them to tie wire for the sheep fence. We tie these wire traps together to keep predators out of the sheep pen and I was helping. I had my lute nearby as usual. I had just started playing and was really getting better,” he chuckled, but Tawnee’s serious frown did not falter for a minute while he told his story.
“Uh soo my brothers thought they should teach me a lesson. They held me down, roughed me up a bit, then wrapped the wire around my hand and tied it to the sheep fence... then they just left me there.”
An awkward moment passed until she realized that he had finished. Straightening up she shook her head and said matter-of-factly.
“Your brothers are monsters.”
“That’s what I thought,” he said with a chuckle.
“Did they come back and free you?”
He shrugged, “they did, later on that evening after the rain had fallen and I had wrestled with it so much that it had dug deeply into my flesh. I fell ill from being out in the wet so long and my mother cared for me until I got better.”
He lifted the scared hand up and sighed, “they thought I would never play again, but I believed that I would. I prayed everyday that El would restore my fingers. And he did. As soon as I was healed enough, I threw myself even more in to my music. I vowed that I was not going to be a shepherd and live in my brothers’ shadows forever.”
A hint of smile played on her lips and understanding filled her large brown eyes, “I too know a thing or two about living in shadows.”
“Really?”
She nodded, “From the time I was born I have lived in my sister’s shadow, she was always better at everything, always got all our parents’ attention, she was always more beautiful…”
“I cannot imagine how,” he interjected, watching her frown in disbelief.
“You are very beautiful Tawnee.”
“Thank you Jahreed,” she said, her expression unreadable.
“I bet now she must be really jealous that you work in the palace with the princesses of Aldor.”
Tawnee smiled sadly, “Oh I am sure she is,” she replied stiffly, looking away.
Jahreed cleared his throat and looked down at the letter in his hand, sensing the need for a change of direction. He did not want her running away just yet.
“So, this will definitely get me into Princess Pearl’s presence.”
She nodded, “definitely, but do no break the seal.”
“Okay, I trust you. How can I repay you?”
She shrugged, “play me one of your not so great songs.”
Jahreed chuckled, “I will do you better. Not only will I play you a song, but I will sing to you. And if you like it, you come out with me and my friend this weekend.”
Tawnee shook her head, “Oh no, I’d rather not. You can sing but… I will not be seeing you again.”
“Hey, you want to get out more, I am only here for two more days. I hear this gathering is the talk of the town.”
Tawnee shook her head amusedly, “I will think about it.”
“If you agree, meet me here tomorrow.”
“Well let me hear that not so good song of yours.”
He grinned widely; he was getting through to her. It would be nice to make a friend from Stone Vale, especially one so well connected... and interesting. He put the letter away in his duffel bag and picked up his lute again.
✽✽✽
Topaz had to admit it, but she would only admit it to herself, Jahreed had the most beautiful voice she had ever heard. His playing was lovely but his singing voice was barely short of mesmerizing. As a princess her ears had been graced by the most skilled minstrels in the kingdom and Jahreed, in her opinion out did them all. She had underestimated him and because of that underestimation, she now found herself planning another escape from the palace. She shook her head at the ridiculousness of it all, yet still a part of her buzzed with the excitement of making a secret friend and safeguarding her secret identity. For the first time, she got to be herself with someone without any expectations of her based on her station. Soon Jahreed would be gone and she would go back to being Topaz Stone daughter of king Kalgary of Aldor, but until then she would happily be Tawnee, a lowly handmaiden.
“Well well well, I have not seen you around here in a while.”
Topaz turned to Ruby who had Diamond at her side. Diamond was the youngest of them. She was a ten-year-old of very few words; the depth of wisdom in her large dark eyes contradicting her age. Topaz had not heard them enter the library where she had been reading up on the North. Since Jahreed, her interest had been piqued in the territory her sister governed. Before meeting him, she had barely given it a thought outside of its contributions to trade.
“What are you talking about?” Topaz asked with a frown, shoving back a dusty book onto the shelf.
Ruby shrugged, “you think we have not noticed that you have been sneaking out more than usual.”
Topaz shrugged, “why does it matter?”
“Because of that twinkle in your eye and extra bounce in your step.”
Topaz rolled her eyes and growled, stomping over to another bookshelf with the hopes of allaying her sister’s suspicions. Ruby had that mischievous twinkle in her eyes that said she suspected some juicy morsel of Topaz’s private affairs. She dared not let Ruby find out about Jahreed or Topaz knew she would not hear the end of it. Her sister had come a long way from the impulsive hopeless romantic she had once been but her obsession with romance had not disappeared as Topaz would have preferred. Ruby believed that the tender affection of a man would soften up Topaz’s hard exterior and Topaz hated the idea that she needed anyone at all to be a better version of herself.
“I am the same as I have always been Ruby. I just wish the council did not demand so much from me these days now that you are…” she stopped short and froze.
She turned around with a sigh to face her sisters, Diamond was looking up at Ruby with that worried wide-eyed look she wore in awkward situations.
“I am sorry, I did not mean to bring that up.”
Ruby smiled sadly, “
it is okay Topaz. You do not have to refrain from speaking of the important things in your life simply because it may remind me of what I have lost.”
“I do not want you to be reminded of how short sighted our people can be. I want you to be comfortable here again,” Topaz said.
“Yes,” Diamond said, in her tiny voice, “I agree with Topaz, we do not want you running away again.”
The gentle warning in Diamond’s tone drew an amused smirk from Ruby, “you do not have to be worried about that Di,” Ruby assured her.
Prior to the kingdom finding out that Ruby was the child of a strange people, Topaz and Ruby had masqueraded as twins. Being only three months apart in reality, they had managed to pull off the deception until Ruby decided to run away the day before her birthday ball. Growing up, Ruby had always been the more charming of the two, she was more of a princess than Topaz. She was well spoken, could light up a room with one well-placed word and she well mannered; smiling in the face of the most dishonourable honourees that her father had hosted over the years. While Topaz remained her sharp tongued, brutally honest self, with all her rough edges in tact. Their differences had set them up early, because despite being the crown prince, Jasper had no interest in the frivolous aspects of royalty. As a result, Ruby was being groomed to be what seemed to come so naturally to her, being the face of Stone Vale.
But now that Ruby had been discredited because of who she truly was, that responsibility now fell upon Topaz. Topaz had a lot of work to do in that area and everyone knew it, the pressure to become an acceptable version of her sister was weighing heavily on her but the council was determined to make her into something she was not.
“I am still sorry that it all turned out this way,” Topaz said, “you would do a better job of the king’s hostess than I ever would. I do not understand why anything should change.”
Ruby shrugged, “it is the way things have always been. The council cannot have someone looking like me welcoming their honoured guests to the Royal City of Aldor.”
“But to me, in light of all that Aldor now stands for, it makes perfect sense.”
Ruby chuckled, but as usual there was no joy in her eyes, “that is alright sister, rest your mind. You underestimate yourself.”
“I am not a charmer Ruby.”
“Then be who you are. Men love how knowledgeable you are, how you can throw down with the best of them.”
“No, they do not.”
Ruby sighed, acknowledging that she knew Topaz to be right. Topaz grabbed a book she had no intention of reading and turned to her sisters.
“What are you two doing here anyway?”
“Research,” Diamond replied.
“Diamond is going to help me with one of the orphans who is not adjusting so well.”
Topaz arched an eyebrow, “how?”
“He is Dravian, like Deswald.”
Topaz saw the flash of worry in her sister’s eyes as the name of the man she loved left her lips.
“We do not know very much about Dravians and I want Diamond to paint him something that connects with a happy memory. He has had so much tragedy in his life. I want to give him a gift… even though he hasn’t earned it.”
“Why not just let Diamond talk to him?”
Ruby looked down at her sister who shrugged.
“He is not much of a talker,” Ruby replied.
“Neither is Di,” Topaz countered.
Diamond nodded, “I want to help.”
“See,” Topaz said, making her way past them, “problem solved. You are welcome.”
“And where are you off to?” Ruby called after her.
“It is probably better if you do not know. But if anyone asks, just tell them that I am Topaz Stone of Aldor!”
Ruby laughed at her sister’s stellar imitation of their father’s guest, “Yes you are,” she replied.
“I do not get it,” Diamond said, rolling her eyes at them.
Chapter 13
Already she could identify Jahreed in a crowd. Even with a knitted cap over his close-cropped hair, Topaz could identify him by his stance; those slim legs in too tight pants and hilarious shoes. He was talking to a girl, who was closer in height to him than Topaz, and from the snippets of their conversation that drifted toward her on the chilly evening breeze, she could tell that they were talking about her. They seemed to be arguing.
The girl turned in her direction first, and then Jahreed followed. Instantly his frown was turned into a toothy grin.
“Tawnee!” he shouted, waving his hand as if she had not yet seen him, “over here.”
Topaz pulled the hood of her cloak over her hair some more and made her way toward them. The town square was still bustling with activity, even as some vendors were still packing up for the day. Jahreed was clueless, but Topaz could not risk any of the other villagers noticing her.
She smiled amiable as she reached them, “sorry I am late,” she said, “I had a hard time getting away from work.”
Jahreed waved away her excuse, “that’s okay. I was just explaining to Feather here what an important duty you have in service to the princess and how hard it might be for you to get away. Feather this is Tawnee, Tawnee this is my very best friend Feather.”
Topaz took note of the way he said Feather’s name and how his eyes hesitated to leave her face when he introduced them. She hoped she was not interrupting.
Feather reached out a hand, which Topaz shook.
“Nice to meet you. It is hard to believe that Jahreed’s only been in Stone Vale for one day and has already made friends,” she said.
Topaz shrugged, “we kind of bumped into each other more than once.”
Jahreed chuckled nervously, “you know what they say, the first time may be chance but a second time is destiny.”
Feather shook her head, “no one says that.”
Topaz chuckled, sharing an amused smile with the shorter girl.
“You seem alright Tawnee,” she said when they sobered, “let’s get out of here, we just might have time to meet the others.”
Feather started walking, fully expecting them to follow. Topaz hesitantly fell into step with Jahreed as her mind started racing. She realized that she had not fully thought this through.
“Wait, what others?” she asked.
Jahreed nodded, “I forgot to mention that we are meeting some more of Feather’s friends. They are the ones who introduced her to the gathering.”
“What is this gathering?”
Jahreed shrugged, “I don’t know much, just that it is supposed to be life changing.”
Topaz nodded, suddenly realizing that maybe Jahreed had put her brain to sleep with his voice so well that she had not fully thought her actions through.
✽✽✽
“Is this supposed to be a secret or something?” Topaz whispered, after Feather had quieted them for the second time.
Jahreed shrugged, “I didn’t think that it was,” he whispered back, frown lines forming between his eyes.
They had left the city square following Feather, who had led them to the outskirts of the city. Topaz became slightly excited when her booted feet were no longer walking along the cobble stone streets of the city, but on soft soil with patches of grass that characterized the woodsy area of Stone Vale. But Feather’s cautious behaviour made her wonder if what they were doing was even legal.
They were just a little way into the woods, in the covering of night with the silver light of the full moon to guide them and Topaz could hear a muffled voice in the distance, when a man emerged from the brushes. Topaz jumped, her hand already reaching for a hidden blade, even as Jahreed’s hand grabbed her shoulder protectively.
“Feather,” the man said and Feather bounded in excitement towards him.
Jahreed and Topaz relaxed simultaneously, with Jahreed quickly withdrawing his hand from her shoulder. Topaz watched as Feather greeted this older man with a warmth that was more than expected between acquaintances. Surreptitiously, her gaz
e went to Jahreed and by the troubled look on his face, he could see it too.
“Jahreed, Tawnee…” Feather finally acknowledged them, “this is Merc… my good friend I was telling you about.”
When it was clear that Jahreed had become incapable of moving, Topaz stepped forward and shook Merc’s hand, grateful for the covering of the shadows cast by the trees over her face. She nodded, deciding to keep speaking to a minimum least her voice give her away. Merc was most likely from Stone Vale and would probably not be as easily fooled. However, he seemed slightly disturbed by their presence. He looked to Feather uneasily.
“You sure about these two?” he asked in a rumbling baritone.
It was not hard to tell that he was much older than Feather, but by the twinkle in his suspicious eyes Topaz could tell that he was just as enamoured with her as her gleeful grin showed she was with him. If the joy and excitement of life lit up people’s eyes like open fires, Jahreed’s would be smouldering remains.
“Yea don’t worry about them,” Feather said confidently, “they are fine.”
Merc nodded, “come on, he’s already started.”
Topaz did not know why she did it. She had never felt inclined to comfort anyone other than her family before, and even that was in the most minimal way. Yet she found herself reaching out and gently resting her hand on Jahreed’s arm. It was clear he was finding it difficult to move. At her touch, his eyes found hers and the confusion she saw there saddened her; men were often so clueless to these things. She felt sorry for him. Clearly, he cared deeply for Feather in a way that she did not return. Topaz smiled reassuringly at him and he let her gently guide him forward after the beaming couple. Only to regret her decision moments later when he reached up with his other hand and placed it over hers.
“Thank you for coming tonight,” he whispered.
Against her better judgement Topaz looked at him, and found herself cringing at the realization that she might actually be starting to care for someone she was not obligated to.
“You are welcome,” she managed.
Kingdom's Darkness (Gemstone Royals Book 2) Page 10