“You care about her?” Aislainn asked him.
“I...” As Doon pondered her question, he gave his head a vigorous scratch. His answer was delayed by a perfectly timed yawn from Roderick, who nearly swatted Aislainn's face as he stretched. While the handmaiden was busy dodging Roderick's hand, Doon leapt to his feet and started to shuffle away from the table. “And now I really must be going. Roderick... are you sure you don't want to assist me?”
“No.” Roderick tried to wave him off, as one might wave off a fly.
“Are you absolutely certain? You're not going to regret this decision once you've sobered up?”
“No!” Roderick was shouting now, so Doon stopped trying to convince him. He hurried from the pub before Aislainn could ask him any more uncomfortable questions about his feelings for Kitt.
When Roderick started to pour himself a tenth shot, Aislainn wrested the bottle from his hand. “I don't think you should have any more of this, Sir Roderick. You can barely function as it is!”
“Gimme that!” Roderick tried to take back his liquid comfort, but Aislainn held it behind her back. “Give it give it give it!”
“I won't! Someone must save you from yourself.”
“Why do you care?” When Roderick tried to reach behind her back to reclaim his bottle, Aislainn sprang from her chair and evaded his hands. “You aren't my mum.”
“Indeed! I think I'm a bit young to be your mum.” Aislainn was tempted to open the bottle of rum and pour it on the floor, but it would have been easy enough for him to buy another bottle, so she decided not to waste it. “But if your mum was here, don't you think she'd be ashamed?”
“No. She'd be more ashamed of me for letting a young lady steal my stuff!” Roderick's arm suddenly swung forward, capturing Aislainn's waist. When he pulled her onto his lap, she shrieked. “Now give me back my bottle or I'll be forced to kiss you senseless.”
“Before I met you, I'd heard tales of your chivalry, Sir Roderick!” Aislainn exclaimed as she slammed his bottle of rum against the table. “But this is not how a gentleman behaves! You should be ashamed of yourself!”
“But I'm not ashamed,” a drunken Roderick whispered in her ear. “I got you to give back the bottle, didn't I?”
“Unhand me please!” Aislainn hissed. “Honestly, I cannot even begin to tell you how disgusted I am by the behavior of men!”
When Roderick released her, Aislainn jumped from his lap and stomped to the door. As soon as she was gone, an unperturbed Roderick casually poured himself another shot.
Thirteen
“Lyneah? ...Lyneah, are you awake?”
When the princess heard Tobias whispering to her outside the tent, she sat up with a cavernous yawn. She had only recently drifted to sleep after a night of persistent insomnia, but if the risen sun was any indication, it was already morning. Lyneah had slept for an hour, maybe even less. So when she finally called out to him, she didn't sound especially friendly. “What is it, Tobey?”
“I have b-breakfast,” Tobias said as he peeked inside her tent. “I have eggs, potatoes, ham... although the ham is a bit dry, unfortunately. I told you I'd try to find ways to make myself useful, remember?”
Yawning again, Lyneah reached out of her tent and claimed the plate from Tobey. “Thanks,” she said with a grunt, and proceeded to shovel scrambled eggs through her lips.
“I-Is there anything else I can get for you?”
“No. I'm fine. And you don't need to act like my servant, Tobias! It feels... wrong.” If Tobias was treating her like anything less than a dear friend, she blamed Carol. She blamed her bad mood on Carol too, as well as her inability to sleep. Lyneah wanted to hate the girl, but she made it difficult—especially after she managed to fix the radio tower in a little over twenty-four hours.
A little while later, when Carol told her it was fully operational, Lyneah sounded skeptical. “Seriously?”
“Yep!” Carol grinned, revealing a pair of buck teeth—at least, Lyneah thought they looked like buck teeth. Her teeth were probably perfectly normal, but Lyneah was determined to find her flaws. In addition to having buck teeth, Lyneah thought Carol's nose was far too tiny. It was so small, in fact, it was almost distracting. “You can start broadcasting any time, Your Highness! Although... I should probably explain a few things to you first.”
“Go on,” Lyneah encouraged her as she followed the eccentric engineer into the radio tower.
“Ages ago, when the towers were dismantled, everyone in the nation powered down their radios. Naturally, if their radios are powered down, they won't be able to hear your transmissions. But this tower is special.”
When they stepped inside, Lyneah could practically feel the tower humming with life and power. A part of her didn't expect Carol to fix it, let alone, fix it so soon. Maybe she really was a prodigy? “How is it special?” Lyneah finally asked.
“There's an override switch. If you push it, all the radios in the nation will suddenly power on, and anyone near a radio will hear it,” Carol explained. “However... you didn't want the broadcast to reach your mom, but I've already planned ahead. Even though all radios in the nation will come to life, the broadcast will only reach about a hundred mile radius. I've already tweaked the range, so you don't need to worry about that.”
“Alright...” Lyneah followed Carol up a rickety set of stairs. As they climbed, a spider descended, nearly touching Lyneah's hair. They needed to go faster if she wanted to avoid the falling arachnid, so she shoved Carol forward, encouraging her to pick up the pace.
They stopped climbing when they reached the middle of the tower, where Lyneah would broadcast to the masses. Carol handed her a huge object, which looked like a conical metal honeycomb. “This is the gigaphone,” Carol told her. “When you're ready, push the red button on the side, and then you can address your nation.” Carol's hand slowly approached a lever on the wall. “Are you ready for me to power on the radios?”
“Um... sure.” Lyneah didn't know why she sounded so apprehensive, because she had been anticipating this moment for some time. She was dying to speak to her people, to let them know they had a princess on their side. “But... what if I sound like a fool?”
“I'm sure there's no chance of that. You seem like a pretty smart cookie to me!” Carol attempted to reassure her. “Buuuut... yeah. Maybe you should've prepared a speech or something?”
“You're right. I probably should have.” When Carol raised the lever, Lyneah's stomach was twisting and churning. Her finger hovered over the red button for several seconds before she finally pressed it.
“Dear people of this great nation,” Lyneah began. “This is Princess Lyneah Phillipa Montbasur-Wyndsur, the rightful heir to the throne. The princess who married Prince Malik is an impostor... your real princess speaks to you now. My mother, Queen Loreina, is a tyrant. She aims to take the throne from those who have a rightful claim, and she is sadly succeeding. For years, she has terrorized and overtaxed the people... and it is a reign of terror that must end.
If anyone out there is listening, I implore you to stand with me. We mustn't let Loreina win. We must take the country back from those who would see it destroyed. If you wish to join me, you have a place at my side. I am currently stationed at a radio tower, east of Lundun, just north from the small town of Sheepsgate. When enough of us have gathered, we will take back the castle, take back the throne, and reclaim our dignity as a nation.”
At the very end of her broadcast, Lyneah heard gunfire in the distance. She hoped the gigaphone wouldn't pick up the sound. Lyneah didn't want her people to think they were convening in a dangerous place.
“I think that was pretty good, Your Highness!” Carol exclaimed. “I mean, for your first big speech, it wasn't too bad.”
Lyneah frowned. For some reason, Carol must have thought it was necessary to downgrade her praise, which made her wonder where she went wrong. “Why did I hear gunfire? What's going on?”
“I dunno. Maybe we're under attack
or something. Maybe the queen heard about your shenanigans, and she's already here to put a stop to it.” When she saw the panic in Lyneah's eyes, Carol chuckled. “As if that would even be possible! No... I think it's just some of the boys messing around. Boys and guns. They sure do love them.”
Lyneah left Carol and headed outside, where Kieran, Soren, Marcus, Arthur and Tobias were taking turns shooting targets. She watched Tobey lift a gun, squint one eye, and take aim at a distant target. When his shot was a perfect hit, Arthur clapped him on the back—at least, she thought it was Arthur. No matter how much time she spent with them, Lyneah struggled to remember the names and faces of Kieran's mercenary friends.
It was strange to see Tobias getting along with the mercenaries, and it was even stranger to see him accepted as part of their group. Compared to the grizzled mercs, Tobias' face was so much softer. His face was angelic and beautiful, while the rest of them looked incredibly dangerous. But to Lyneah's surprise, Tobey was actually a bit taller than his companions. Until she saw them standing together, she never realized how tall he was.
Tobey realized Lyneah was watching them, so he tried to wave her over. As Lyneah sauntered toward them, her fingers caressed the holster at her hip. She thought about joining them, but she didn't want to risk their egos by outperforming them.
“You ruined my broadcast, you know!” Lyneah lightly admonished them. “I'd nearly reached the end of it before I heard you firing your guns.”
“Next time, maybe try to warn us before one of your broadcasts? There's a good suggestion,” Kieran said as he raised his gun. When he fired at the target, he looked disappointed. Tobey was already shooting better than him.
“I didn't know you were br-broadcasting so soon!” Tobey exclaimed. “I would have liked to hear it.”
“Sorry, Tobey. I didn't want to bother you.”
“Bother me?” Tobias rolled his eyes as he repeated her words. “As if you could ever bother me, Lyneah! You're the silliest girl in the world, I swear.”
“Look!” Kieran spoke up, tapping the gun in Tobias' hand. “I gave the boy a gun. I tried to give him some instructions, but he barely needed any. The boy's a natural.”
“Can you please stop calling me boy, Kieran? I do have a name.” In the corner of his eye, he saw Marcus shining a knife—with spit.
“I'll tell you what... boy,” Kieran began, intentionally emphasizing Tobias' hated nickname. “I'll stop calling you boy if you can hit this target.” Kieran walked to one of the trees they were using for target practice and pounded a round, silver coin into the tree's soft bark.
“Well, that don't seem fair!” Soren spoke up. “I don't even think I could hit that target... at least, not when I'm sober.” To Lyneah, he added, “I shoot better when I'm drunk.”
Despite Soren's discouraging words, Tobias didn't back down from Kieran's challenge. He raised the gun, and with the steadiest arm possible, he aimed and fired. When the coin exploded from the tree, Kieran whistled.
“See? I knew you could do it!” Kieran returned to Tobias' side and roughly slapped his arm. “In all my years as a mercenary, I've never seen someone shoot so well so quickly. I have half a mind to shove a sniper rifle in your hand and see what you can do with it. If you could recreate this magic with a rifle, I'd be doubly impressed.”
When Tobias smiled at Kieran's praise, Lyneah smiled with him. She was proud of her Tobey. Kieran didn't strike her as a man who was easily impressed. Lyneah sank to the ground, hugged her knees to her chest, and watched them shoot awhile longer. Even though Tobey's newfound skills were alarmingly first-rate, which made him fascinating to watch, she soon got bored. After a few minutes, Lyneah caught herself idly tugging on the blades of grass that surrounded her.
Some time later, when night fell, Soren offered to cook a meal with the food they collected from nearby Sheepsgate. It might have been a kind gesture, but he had scabs all over his hands, and one of them looked like it was oozing blood. When the meal was presented to her, Lyneah barely had an appetite. Soren's filthy, scabby hands were hardly inspiring. “Next time...” Lyneah whispered to herself as she prodded the mysterious semi-raw meat on her plate. “I'm going to beg Tobey to cook instead.”
Shortly after supper, Lyneah headed to her tent. After getting no sleep the previous night, she expected to fall asleep immediately, but her mind wouldn't rest. She kept thinking about tomorrow's broadcast and what she wanted to add to her message. She kept wondering if people would actually come. She even started to wonder where Roderick was and what he was doing. Lyneah had at least a thousand different thoughts in her head, and none of them were conducive to sleep.
An hour went by—then another. After three hours of laying awake, Lyneah started to panic. What if she didn't sleep for two nights in a row? What if she got sick? What if her brain no longer functioned properly as a result of her sleeplessness? The more she panicked about not sleeping, the more she stayed awake. She was stuck in an endless cycle of unrest. On top of everything, the night was freezing cold, and her flimsy blanket did nothing to warm her body.
Lyneah didn't want to be alone—and there was someone very specific she wanted beside her. Her heart thumped wildly when she abandoned her tent. As she tiptoed across the campsite, her bare feet were chilled by the moist, frigid ground. Peering into one of the tents, she whispered, “Tobey?” When she heard him stir and sigh, she immediately felt guilty. “Oh no... did I wake you? I'm so sorry!”
“No no, it's fine.” Tobey studied her with sleep-ridden eyes. He sat up on his elbows, yawning. “You can wake me up anytime. Is there something you need?”
Without warning and without waiting for an invitation, Lyneah dove to the ground beside Tobias and tugged his blanket over her body. “I can't sleep,” Lyneah griped as she wriggled closer to him. “I don't want to be alone. Can I stay with you?”
Tobias looked a bit confused—as well as tired—but he didn't complain. “Yeah. Of course you can.”
Lyneah wrapped an arm around him and slid her body closer to his, until she was practically resting her head against his chest. As soon as she held him, she immediately felt more at ease. “This makes me happy,” she told him. “You make me happy.”
“You make me happy too.” Tobias started to touch her hair, but he withdrew his hand before his fingers so much as grazed her.
“This feels nice,” Lyneah said, nuzzling her face against his shirt. “I could lay like this forever.”
Tobias didn't say a word; in fact, he held his breath for several seconds. Lyneah liked to cuddle him, but she had no idea how much it drove him mad. He wanted so much more than the friendly embraces she gave him.
“You can go back to sleep now, if you'd like,” Lyneah said. “I'll try not to drool on you... too much.”
“Drool away,” Tobias said with a chuckle. “It'd be an honor to be drooled on by you.”
Though Lyneah closed her eyes, her mind was still very much awake. Cuddling Tobias was a bit more unsettling than she expected. Her heart was unsettled. After a minute or two, she opened her eyes and studied his face. When his eyes were closed, he really did look like an angel. Tobias was adorable, and she couldn't deny it. For the longest time, Lyneah suspected she had feelings for him—feelings that went far beyond the simple friendship they enjoyed. But there were too many reasons why she couldn't let it happen. To begin with, Lyneah knew she would break his heart one day. She was a princess and he was a peasant. For that reason alone, she knew it wouldn't last. Even if Tobias was hers, he wouldn't be hers forever.
Tobias suddenly opened his eyes and caught her staring at him. When she saw him smirking, Lyneah rolled away. But as soon as she stopped cuddling him, she suddenly felt cold, so she fished for Tobias' arm and draped it over her body.
“Why's it have to be so cold?” she complained. “I think that's one of the reasons why I can't sleep. It's just too bloody freezing!” When she felt Tobey's hand sliding along her arm, trying to warm her, Lyneah sighed deeply. She had
never felt so delighted by a simple touch.
“I feel like the luckiest man in the world right now.” When he spoke, Tobias' soft voice brought a tingle to her spine.
“Why?” she asked. “Because you get to be with the princess?”
“No. Because I get to be with you,” he corrected her. “I don't care if you're a princess or a penniless milkmaid. Either way, you're special to me.”
“Aww.” Lyneah held a hand to her heart as she marveled at his words. “Do you really mean that?”
“Of course I mean it!” Tobias chuckled. “And if you're r-really surprised by that, you're an even sillier girl than I thought!”
“It's just... no one's ever said anything like that to me before.”
“I find that hard to believe. I'm sure you're admired everywhere you go.” When he wrapped his arm around her again, tighter than before, Lyneah felt her heart leaping in her chest.
“Not really. I'm never genuinely admired. Most of the time, people only like me because they're supposed to... because they're expected to,” Lyneah said. “Sad as it is, I've had very few true friends.”
“Do you consider me a true friend?” Tobey held his breath as he waited for Lyneah's reply. He wanted her to correct him—to tell him he was more than that.
But he had no such luck.
“Of course, Tobey! You're the best friend I've ever had!”
When Tobias closed his eyes, he grumbled audibly. He was the princess' best friend, and he would never be more than that. At some point, he would have to accept it.
Fourteen
Kitt was no stranger to insomnia, especially when she was stuck in the castle. It didn't help that she was still at odds with Doon. When she closed her eyes, she could picture herself on his airship, resting in his arms, feeling like the happiest person in the world. But it was all over. Kitt doubted she would ever be that happy again.
She needed something to distract her from her thoughts, and a good book usually did the trick. Some time after midnight, she slid from bed, threw on a robe, and slipped into the hallway. There were now three guards posted outside her door, whereas there used to be one. All three of them followed her down the hall as she made her way to the library.
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