Free Web NovelChapter 3: Chapter 3
"So," Selene spoke first. She sat legs crossed atop the bed. "We’re going to Aurelia is what I’m hearing."
They had all unpacked. They were all shown a variety of rooms to choose from, but opted to stay paired up. They’d gathered in Astrid’s room after she’d come back from her talk with Hera.
"I don’t think I ever said you were coming along," Astrid retorted. "Not a single one of you," she said, pointing to each one of them like a mother scolding her children.
They all made a series of unintelligible sounds, jeering at her.
"Really, sister?" Clair asked flatly.
"What?" Astrid shrugged, "I never said any of you would come with me. For heaven’s sake, I just found out I would be going on this journey. Why would I drag you along with me on something that seems so perilous?
I haven’t been at court for a long time, but if there’s anything I can remember from when I was little, it was that the people who ruled, or rather who made rules, were ruthless and downright selfish."
She’d remembered all the times she’d snuck out to the great hall while her father entertained the ministers. The jeering from a lot of them at each other was outlandish. Everyone sought to besmirch the other in the best way possible.
The arguments that always ensued when they spoke about laws or sanctions or punishment, they reserved for their worst criminals; one would think they were merchants in the marketplace, cursing buyers who’d suggested ludicrous prices for exquisite goods.
They spared nothing to be in her father’s good graces. Using cunning tricks and offering gold and gifts. Her father was never really at peace in these meetings. She could always see him rubbing against his temple, trying to straighten the creases that formed on his forehead as his jaw clenched so tightly; she’d thought it would break.
"We’re talking about the largest empires across these lands. Their territories stretch even beyond the sea, to lands we’ve only ever heard of, and you think this foray of ours is simply a walk in the garden?"
"You and your boring lectures," Larissa said, faking a yawn. "Have you really learnt nothing?"
"I’ve said my piece," Astrid sighed, her hands raised in surrender.
"And we’ll say ours as well, dear sister," Iris chimed. "No matter how dangerous you think this is, we didn’t defy the order and insist on following you just to turn around and leave you all by yourself when you’d need us the most.
The sovereign gave us her blessings for this. What did she say it was again? Fruitless journey, because she saw our love for you. There was no use trying to deter us otherwise because we’ve all lived through so much that we’ve all become an extension of each other.
You’ve said so yourself. The journey to Aurelia is the Beginning of a precarious storm you and your sister must weather. And we will be by your side when trouble comes knocking."
The other girls nodded in agreement.
Astrid looked through all their faces, the silent determination in their eyes as they all smiled at her. Truth be told, she knew they would refuse to go back to the order. Their time there was almost up. Ten years had passed for most of them, and they were free to do whatever they wanted with the rest of their lives. freёwebnovel.com
They all needed a purpose. They needed to feel solid land, an anchor to feel like their life amounted to something. And as much as she did not like how things progressed so far, she was happy she would not be away from her family. Her sisters.
She bent her head, trying to hide the smile that formed on her lips. Selene came up behind her, slapping a pat on her back.
"I can see that wicked smile of yours, Astrid, you know that, right? We all can," Selene said, chuckling.
"Do none of you ever try to live in the moment?" She groaned, going to sit on the bed.
Selene raised an eyebrow, a side of her lips twitching into a smile.
"Spare me," Astrid retorted flatly.
"So," Andrea interrupted, speaking for the first time since they got to Epirus. She’d always been the quiet one, but the most logical out of the bunch. You could always tell when she spoke. Her deep voice reverberated within every room it was in. She was quite the charm in her own way. She had short hair, which she refused to grow past her chin.
Her deep green eyes were always captivating whoever spoke to her. Sadly, she was never much of a conversationalist. Ironically, she’d become a part of the group. They’d adopted her into the nest of their friendship, and she’d gone along with their whims ever since. "How are we doing this?" She asked. "We need a plan to obviously survive long enough in a dangerous place like Aurelia, as many have emphasized."
"Yes, " Larissa agreed, "we would need to study every terrain, every territory, all the cities. The people, their food, their way of life. Anything to blend in and last long enough."
"I hear they speak so many languages," one of the girls added.
"We would need to find out about that as well," Selene said.
"I’m sure Hera would know a thing or two about these people. I would trust that father fed her information about Aurelia somehow."
They talked on and on about plans for studying the empire. Devising all the plans they would need if any emergency arose.
Hours passed, and nightfall came. The girls went back to the rooms they shared, leaving Astrid and Selene.
"Today was... eventful," Astrid stated after a while of silence.
"Yes, it was, " she affirmed. "How does it feel to be back here?"
Astrid mulled over the question for a while. She was so taken up by the quickness of everything that had happened, she didn’t really stop to think whether she felt truly happy.
"I don’t know," she said quietly. "I obviously missed being here after all this time, but my family, this house, the servants, I don’t know if I am truly happy to be here again."
"Which is understandable," Selene interjected. "Anyone would be confused on how to feel when they’ve been away from home, ten years with zero contact with their family."
"True," Astrid drawled.
"Look at the girls, most have nowhere to go, the other have families whom they would rather never meet again."
Astrid was silent now.
"But you, you’re very different from the rest of us. You have a family with whom you have a complicated relationship, but for the most part, you missed half the time while you were with us. Take all the time you need. Think carefully about your emotions, because this is your life now."
Astrid got up from the bed she lay on, "I’ll be back," she said quietly, shooting out the door, not waiting for a reply.
She headed straight to the kitchen, downing multiple cups of wine, which ran down the corners of her mouth, and then she sank to the floor.
Everything had truly amounted to nothing in the end. There were no malicious reasons for exiling her from the family; in her father’s own twisted way, he really cared for her and the kingdom. But no matter how she thought of it, it killed her each time.
He could have told her the reason he’d wanted to send her away, made her understand, sent her letters, visited on occasion. She would have understood that she’d idolized her father when she was a young girl, she would have jumped into a fiery pit if he had told her to, but he didn’t. He didn’t think it was necessary to tell her why she was whisked away from her family in the dead of night and given away to strangers.
Astrid raised her head, which had sunken deeply, when she felt a pair of eyes watching her.
"By the gods," Astrid gasped. "Mother, why are you standing over by the door watching like a ghost?" fгeewebnovёl.com
"I heard sounds coming from the kitchen, and I came to check what it was," she explained hurriedly.
"Your room isn’t anywhere near the kitchen, Mother. How would you have heard any sounds?"
"I just.... I wanted to check on you in your bedroom and found you here on my way instead," she stuttered.
Astrid heaved a deep sigh. "Well, you’ve seen. You can go now."
Her mother stood still, showing no signs of leaving.
"If you don’t leave, I will."
"Will you never forgive your father and i?" She blurted.
Astrid shot her mother an incredulous glance as she felt herself begin to shake in anger.
"Forgive you, say? " She asked, her tone sharp. "Surely you knew this day would come, did you not? You knew I would come back to take over this kingdom, the two of you so clearly loved more than your children. So why even ask? What forgiveness do you need from me?
It’s all the good of the kingdom, isn’t it? The people, every other thing living and breathing on this land, except for your children. Did you prepare this silly little act of yours to pacify me? Let me tell you now, mother, it’s not working. I suggest you act much better, or you seek the counsel from the few performers I saw on the streets while I rode through the city," she spat.
The tears had started falling from her mother’s eyes now. She could see how deeply her words cut her. But she didn’t care in that moment. She needed them to feel the pain she had felt as well.
"No matter what you think, Astrid, your father and I love you and your sister with all our hearts. Hopefully one day, you will come to realize this," her mother said as her voice hitched. Then she turned and left.
