by R.M.S
Chapter Sixteen
Kassen left the ballroom after Raliena to look for her. Her distress was obvious; it must have been something the advisor had said to her.
He decided to go left on instinct to the end of the corridor and round the corner. He could not see her but carried on anyway till he reached the end of the walkway and came across another long corridor. He looked left and right and just before he decided to turn back, he noticed that all the curtains on the windows were open, except the one at the far end on the left.
As he neared he noticed a shimmer of blue behind the purple curtains where they hadn’t been closed fully.
Kassen gently pulled back the curtain slightly and poked his head in the gap. Raliena was curled up in the window seat, her dress draping elegantly over it, staring out the window at the night spreading over the treetops.
“Has he said something to you?” Kassen asked stepping into the little alcove and closing the curtain behind him, creating a safe sanctuary.
Raliena lifted her head from the window but did not look at him.
“They were only words.” She said quietly.
“Yes, he seems to have a way with them.” Kassen said sarcastically, then sighed when he noticed she had tears on her cheeks.
“May I sit?”
“It is not like you to ask.”
“You bring out the gentleman in me.” Kassen replied and was pleased to see a small smile appear across Raliena’s saddened expression.
She nodded and he was careful not to sit on her dress as he perched on the window seat.
“Is this another of your hideouts?” He asked.
“It will do.” Raliena replied.
They sat in silence for a while, both content with the others company.
“He mentioned my mother.” Raliena said finally. Kassen shuffled round to look at her better but she still had not looked up.
“What happened to her?”
“She threw herself from a cliff.”
Kassen was not sure what to say to that so kept quiet until Raliena continued.
“She was an Araman like me, but she never caught a Unisayan. Both the King and Queen were very fond of her. She helped Baynil to recover after the Queen died and grieved just as fervently. No one knew much about her past. She just appeared one day, pregnant with me, with an accent they did not recognise.
“Some thought she was a Queen herself who was bearing a child that was not her husbands, but they never judged her for it. Even when she took her own life the King saw that she was given a proper burial and the priests did not have the heart to protest.”
Raliena smiled again despite the tears coming down her face.
“I do not remember her in detail. I was too young and the King made sure I was well looked after, especially by him. I do remember she always wore a necklace. It was just a simple chain, with alternating gold and silver links. It went round her neck, then came down her arm like a spiral.” Raliena drew it on the window where their combined breath had made it misty.
“She never took it off, but always tried to cover it over.”
“Perhaps someone she had fallen out of favour with gave it to her?” Kassen suggested. He had been listening intently to her story.
“Perhaps.” Raliena said and shivered.
“You are cold.” Kassen said. He had no jacket to give her so instead wrapped his arms around her shoulders and she allowed it.
“The cold is not what I am concerned about.” Raliena mumbled.
“You should not have to concern yourself with the advisor.” Kassen pulled her closer as a sign of protection.
“He holds so much influence over the King it worries me and I would not like to speculate who the King would choose. He has learnt all the ways to manipulate people from his father before him, Zea Senette. I do not remember him very well either, but I knew my mother did not like him and tried to persuade the King to send him away. He disappeared soon after my mother died and Dergen took over where he left off.” Raliena shivered again and, ignoring what was appropriate, cuddled herself into the General’s chest.
She could hear his strong heart beat and was glad he could not see her blush as she remembered what he looked like without his shirt.
“I will not let him harm you.” Kassen promised with feeling. And she knew he meant it.
They sat with each other a long time and eventually Raliena felt herself relax. There was no need to return to the ball and she would not be seeing Dergen till she returned from the hunt.
The thought of setting out tomorrow for the Canah to kill a Unisayan brought back the memory of how she had watched one being hunted and killed and how she had promised never to be a part of it, but here she was lying with the very man sent to assist her.
“I do not think I will be able to harm a Unisayan.” Raliena whispered more to herself but Kassen heard it and looked down at her.
“But you are an Araman.”
“I am still human also, despite what I can do.”
“Does the King know how you feel?” Kassen asked becoming confused by this sudden change, he had no idea she felt this way.
“No, and the alliance is too important, you have seen how unprotected we are, and Namare in the west have threatened us too often.”
“There are other ways to create an alliance.”
“Not for the King.” Raliena explained. “This tradition is not just for sport, it has spiritual meanings behind it. The Araman is pure and only she can lure the Unisayan because they are just as pure.”
“Then why would they kill them?”
“People are always sacrificing the innocent for things they want.” Raliena said bitterly. “The horns are very valuable and a rite of passage for any knight. It is the symbol of the Kingdom, our emblem. The King would never abolish it.”
“You know I cannot refuse to do this then.” Kassen sighed.
“Neither can I.”