As all eyes watched my father giving his speech, no one bothered me as I walked the perimeter of the square, checking out the shop windows as I walked, hoping to find one that sold gloves.
At the very back corner, away from the stage, I found a shop that looked like I might be in luck. Tucked away down a small dark alley away from the main square, stood a shop with a sign plainly saying Zhore Wool Shop. If it sold wool, hopefully, it would sell things made from wool too.
I headed into the alley, but when I came to the storefront, I saw something that made my heart seize with fright. There in the shop window stood a spindle.
I'd never seen one in real life before, but I knew exactly what it was. My grandfather had ordered all spindles to be burned when my mother was young. Once my father had become king, he'd ordered spindles to be made illegal. It had been a huge controversy at the time, putting a great many people out of jobs, but the people had forgiven him, knowing it was to keep their beloved queen safe. Well, most of them had. We had to import wool from other kingdoms now, and some of the people didn't like it.
Part of me wanted to run away from the thing, pretend it didn't exist, but my rational mind took over. It was only a spindle, after all. A device for spinning wool. It was not harmful nor dangerous.
Taking a deep breath, I pulled open the door to the shop and walked in. Balls of wool in many colors lined one wall, and throughout the rest of the shop, to my relief were items made from said wool, including a pair of mittens. Picking them up, I headed to the till. Behind the counter, a tall, slim lady watched me warily as I approached. When I placed the mittens on the counter, she broke into a smile. Perfectly straight white teeth filled her mouth, and black-green heavily lidded eyes looked upon me, sending a shiver down my spine. Something about her put me on edge, but I couldn't say what. She was dressed perfectly normally with a purple shawl covering her shoulders, but her eyes bore into mine.
"Is that it, my love?" she asked, her voice brittle and croaky.
"What?"
"The mittens, dear. Is that all you want today?"
"Oh, yes," I said, feeling dazed. I handed over the little bit of cash I happened to have in my pocket and picked the mittens up. That was it. I'd gotten what I'd come for, so now it was time to leave. I'd almost made it to the door when the spindle caught my eye again.
I should have left well alone, but it intrigued me, and I had a strange compulsion to go close to it, to reach out and touch it.
"Is this spindle real?" I asked, turning back to the strange woman.
"Oh, yes, my love. How do you think I come to have so many balls of wool. It's the easiest way to make it."
"But it's illegal," I blurted out. "My grandfather ordered all the spindles to be burned many years ago."
Her expression changed at the mention of my grandfather, but she soon plastered on that white smile again. "Did he? It must have been before I moved here because I don't remember it. Besides. If I burned my spindle, how would I spin my wool? And if I couldn't spin my wool, how would I be able to sell mittens to young ladies such as yourself?"
I shook my shoulders. I didn't want to rob her of her livelihood by telling my father about the spindle. What harm could it do really?
"What harm can it do?" she said almost as if she read my thoughts. "Go and take a closer look. You can see for yourself how harmless it is."
I stepped towards the spindle.
"Go on, touch it."
I jumped. Her voice was right behind me, whispering in my ear. How had she moved across the shop floor so quickly? My mind felt thick with fog, but all I could see was the spindle, and all I could hear were her words.
"Just touch it, my love, and you'll see for yourself that it is nothing to worry your pretty little head over."
Urged on by her words, I held my finger out, ready to bring it down upon the spindle.
"Azia, there you are."
A deep voice made me jump, snapping me out of the fog.
I turned to the door of the shop where my father was waiting. "I've been looking all over for you. What are you doing in here?"
"I was just buying mittens," I said, holding the pair up to show him. My head felt groggy as if I'd only just woken up from a long sleep. I turned back to the woman to thank her for the mittens, but she stood once again back behind the counter, a sour expression on her face. Hurrying out of the shop, I followed my father to where we'd tied up the horses. It was only when we were halfway back that, I realized I'd not pointed the spindle out to my father. Deciding to let it go, I followed my father back to the castle.
When I got home, my mother greeted me at the door. She must have been watching out of the window for our return. She still looked dreadful, but at least, she wasn't in bed any longer.
"I'm sorry I missed you leaving this morning, Azia, darling, but I've had a lovely day with Caspian, and as time is ticking, I really think it's time for you to get to know him."
"He called Remy an idiot," I reminded her. "I don't want to get to know him."
My mother considered this for a second before guiding me back into the drawing room. This time no tray of tea and cookies greeted us. I guess it was so close to dinnertime that she hadn't bothered.
"I spoke to him about that," she said, closing the door behind her. "He says that you misheard him."
"Dragon dung!"
"Azia, please. Keep your voice down and mind your language," she admonished. "That's no way for a princess to talk."
I sat down on the sofa, and she took a seat beside me. "Maybe not, but I heard him perfectly." I knew I had. My mother took my hand in hers, reminding me how Milo had held my hand only yesterday before kissing me on this very sofa.
"As you say," my mother said, taking me away from the thought. "But he's spent a lot of time with Remy today. He even let him touch his sword, and you know how much Remy likes swords."
"He spent time with Remy?" I thought back to the time I'd seen him by the pasture watching Remy and I play sword fighting. He'd looked upon Remy with such disdain. He'd looked at me the same way. As though we were dragon crap on his shoe. Why did he want to marry me so much and why spend time with Remy? I hated to think of my brother playing with that jerk.
"Is Remy alright?" I hardly dared ask.
My mother tutted and brought up her hand. "Don't be silly, Azia. Of course, he's all right. I was watching them the whole time. He only let him touch the hilt of the sword, not the sharp end."
I wasn't thinking about the sword. Caspian used magic that messed with people's minds. Remy was defenseless against him.
"Now, what do you say about you two spending the day together tomorrow?" she asked lightly. "You could do something fun."
Yeah, like garrotte the ass with cheese wire. That would be fun.
"I kissed Milo last night," I stated in the hope this might sway her.
She pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes. The faint hint of laughter lines appeared in her tired face. "I heard," she said brusquely. "You will have to stop seeing him, Azia. It's the only way. Give Caspian a chance, he really has been a dream today, and he's awfully beautiful."
She left me no choice in the matter. What might have seemed like a simple request was not a request at all. It was an order. I nodded.
"Yes, Ma'am." It probably wouldn't be too bad as long as neither of us killed the other. Or if I killed him first. I could pass it off as an accident.
"I'll do as you ask, but that doesn't mean I will come back from our date wanting to marry him."
My mother brought me into a hug. "The way things are going, you may have to whether you like it or not. Now, go along and tell Milo it's over between the two of you. The longer you draw it out, the harder it will be for all involved, and I don't want a mopey guard protecting the castle at a time like this. The quicker he can get over you, the better."
I nodded my head, too depressed to answer, but when I left the drawing room it wasn't Milo I went to see, it was Remy. I needed to know he was all righ
t after his day with the faery. Mother might have not seen anything, but that meant nothing when Caspian was involved. It didn't take me long to find him. He spent a lot of hit time in the library. He could barely talk, but he knew how to read. He enjoyed books more than anything in the world. He loved adventure books the most, stories of swashbucklers and pirates. I think it let him escape from who he really was. He could pretend to be free of his own mind and body.
The library was also my favorite room in the house. Bookshelf after bookshelf filled with every book imaginable, from books on the history of Draconis to adventure books that Remy liked to read. I found him laid out on the library floor, a number of books open next to him. When he saw me, a grin crept onto his face.
"Aza, pira." He ran over to me and took one of my hands into his huge bear paws. Picking up the book he'd been reading, he thrust it at me, eager to share today's adventure.
"Pirates, arrgh," I said, making him giggle.
If only all my relationships were as easy as the one I had with my younger brother. He never asked me for anything beyond reading to him, and he always made time for me.
"Arrgh," he replied, giggling and thrusting a make-believe sword at me.
I jumped back, my hands in the air, which only brought about more giggles.
He seemed ok. Maybe the day with the faery hadn't upset him, after all, and I was worrying about nothing.
"It's nearly time for dinner," I said, picking up some of the books he'd casually dropped all over the floor. "Can you help me put the books back on the shelves?"
He nodded eagerly, and between us, we picked up all the books he'd gotten out and placed them back in their places.
Hollis and Ash were already waiting at the dinner table as Remy and I walked in. Seconds later, my mother followed, hand in hand with my father.
Thankfully, Caspian was nowhere to be seen.
"Azia and Milo sitting in a tree," Ash started, and beside him, Hollis began to laugh as though this was the funniest thing he'd ever heard. Then, of course, Remy started laughing because his brothers were, even though he didn't know why.
"Aren't you a bit old for that?" I accused, throwing him shade across the table.
"Stop it, the pair of you," my mother admonished. "I'm tired enough as it is." She held her hand to her head as my father pulled the chair out for her.
"K.I.S.S.I.N.G.," Hollis added under his breath. It was a good thing my parents adopted me; otherwise, one of these morons would one day be running the kingdom.
After suffering through dinner, I decided to head back to my room, needing to spend some time to think things through. Everything had suddenly turned so chaotic. I knew that transitioning from a child to an adult was never easy, but this was ridiculous. One week on from my eighteenth birthday and the entire kingdom had gone insane, not to mention my parents. If I'd have known turning eighteen would make everything so weird, I'd have stayed seventeen forever and just spent my days out in the pasture, practicing my sword fighting. My heart fell a little at the thought of it. I'd not been out with my sword in over two weeks. Practicing my sword fighting was the only time when I felt free. With a rush of excitement, I increased my steps, back to my room to pick up my sword. It was only when I entered my corridor that I remembered that Caspian had magicked it away the night he came into my room.
"Dragon balls!" I muttered under my breath.
"On toast?" a voice asked. Milo stood there in his position outside my room. This was his corridor to guard, so it wasn't infeasible for him to be there. The last time I'd seen him, we'd shared the most amazing kiss, and now that he stood in front of me, the nerves began to creep in.
"What?" I asked.
"It's a saying my father used to say. He got it from the dwarves. Dragon balls on toast. It was one of the few he picked up that I can repeat in front of a princess." He gave me a lazy grin
My lip quirked up at the edge, but his humor was not what I needed. I needed to vent my frustration, and fighting - even with an invisible foe was the only way I knew how.
"Are you ok?" he asked, catching my expression. I guess my smile didn't quite extend to my eyes.
"I was going to go and practice my sword skills, but I've er...lost my sword."
A look of comprehension dawned on his face. "Ah, so that's why you've not been out practicing so much lately."
My cheeks colored and I stared at the floor so as to not accidentally look him in the eyes. "Do you watch me a lot out there?"
"I don't make a habit of it, but sometimes I see you out of that window on the end of the corridor there." He pointed to the small round window.
"I thought I was well-hidden around the back of the castle. My parents wouldn't like it if they knew what I was doing, my mother especially."
He stood so close to me that I could barely breathe. The memory of the kiss fluttered into my mind, taking root there and making me want to run away. If only I hadn't enjoyed it as much as I had.
He nodded. "I think you are fine. I doubt any other windows show that exact spot, and your mother rarely comes up here. I've only ever seen her on this corridor once in the seven months I've worked here, and that was when Remy was sick."
"Well, then, I should..."
I pointed to my door. This was ridiculous. He was my guard. Actually, he wasn't even that. He was just one of a number of guards assigned to this particular corridor. I had no reason to feel shy around him...because that's exactly how I felt. Before the kiss, I was so sure I didn't want a boyfriend or husband. Even now, the day after the kiss, I was still sure, but something was different. Before the kiss, this whole thing was a fun game. Now it had turned serious, and like a freight train with broken breaks, I didn't know how to stop it.
He nodded slowly and gave me a look. The look someone gives you when they are being let down. A half-smile didn't quite reach his eyes. It pained me, but what could I do? He shouldn't have kissed me in the first place...and he shouldn't have been so damn good at it.
I closed my bedroom door behind me and breathed out a sigh of relief. I'd not even noticed I was holding my breath. When I'd let my heart rate drop to an acceptable level, I walked over to the window. Outside in the distance, the workers erecting the fence were still going at it. It was probably a different crew. My father said they'd be working day and night until the whole mountain range was fenced in. It seemed such a ludicrous proposition. The Fire Mountains took up the whole northeast of Draconis before they tapered off into the sea. They would need hundreds, if not thousands of miles of fencing. All to stop anyone deciding to climb up them to steal an egg.
I lay back in frustration, wondering what else I could do to calm my nerves. Jumping up, I decided to go for a run.
Outside, the snow was coming down thickly, laying a blanket of fine white powder. Not the best weather to run in, but it was either that or go stir crazy. Breaking into a jog, I lapped the castle three times, before stopping in the hidden space I usually practiced in. An area at the back of the castle that no one had any reason to venture to but me. Glancing up at the round window, on the second floor, I half expected Milo to be watching me from it, but there was no one there.
Bending over to catch my breath, I heard the damp crunch of footsteps on snow. Looking up, I saw Milo standing before me as though thinking about him had made him appear. He was holding the ruby sword. My breath caught at the sight of it.
He held it out to me, the sharp end in his gloved hand.
I looked at him, ignoring the excitement in the pit of my belly. If this was a gift of love, I could never accept it, but there was no expression on his face at all.
Taking the sword from his hand, I once again felt the power in the Dwarves' metal as though the sword and I connected somehow.
"Thank you," I whispered.
"I can only let you take this sword on one condition," he said solemnly. "You are an amazing swordsperson. I've watched you practice, but you lack training. Thanks to your father, I've been trained among the best. Let me
teach you. Let me refine your talent and make you the swordswoman I know you can be."
Excitement flooded through me at the thought of it.
"Thank you," I whispered.
I doubted my parents would take too kindly to him training me, and if we got caught, he would surely lose his job. He must have thought the same thing because he took my hand and led me to the wall that surrounded the castle. At the back, a small door led to a wooded area. Together we stole through the door and entered the woods.
I'd never been in these woods before. I had never had reason to, so I let Milo lead me to wherever he wanted me to go. He stopped at an open area where the trees thinned out a little, letting the snow fall lightly through. Inside, a circle was drawn into the snow.
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