16. An Exception to the Rule

16

An Exception to the Rule

She stared at the ceiling. Feina had cleaned her hair while she hung her head on the end of the bathtub. She still smells the burning ash and flame on her skin, so Feina had left her to soak and “relax” in the tub. The woman was hoping she’d fall asleep too, but after what happened in her office, she was dead tired. So tired she didn’t feel anything as she watched it all burn.

The kind of tired where she couldn’t even process the whole scene properly. She was numb even when her work were burning to nothing. Shock hit her so slowly, but then she noticed that her desk wasn’t catching on fire, only burning paper. When Feina came and screamed at the flames, did she just notice that there were small flames on the floor.

All contained.

She couldn’t help but reach towards the blue flames with one hand. She felt its heat, but there weren’t any pain. Perhaps she was too tired to process even the sensation of it. She watched the blue flames dance on her skin as if greeting her like an old friend. It gave her warmth that radiated her skin and tingled her nerves. A warmth that reached her insides

What kind flames, she thought

Feina ran through the flames just to pry her hand away from it.

“Your highness!”

Then it hit her. The smell of burning flesh as the fat made this scent that curled her stomach and made her recoil back to reality. Feina dragged her to the bathroom and cleaned her first before letting her “soak”

Sileas hasn’t seen the Crown Prince since. The blood from her hand was cleaned, but after washing it, it was unscathed. Her Feina cleaned her hair thrice before the smell of cinder was finally gone from it.

My? My Feina? She thought queerly, with blind wonder when she thought of Feina as her own. Though, she knows she’s more loyal to the royal family than to her. But she has grown used to maids and butlers spying on her. But no one cared as much as Feina.

It wasn’t long when the servant, who now had a wrapped and bandaged hand came to her with a soft smile. Sileas immediately noticed her hand and motioned for her to come close.

“What? why were you burned?” She grabbed the injured arm gently. Flipping it up and down in wonder.

Feina’s eyes widened. “and you… did not.”

The silence that descended on them weighed them down. Sileas mind raced, but suddenly, she realized she didn’t care. This doesn’t affect her main goal and what she truly wanted.

Freedom

As long as it stays between the two of them. She met Feina’s gaze, and silently beseeched her. “Please, I ask for only one thing.”

Feina pursed her lips. Already tactful enough to understand what she meant. What this all means to her, and just Sileas. A woman she just started serving a few months ago. Basically a stranger.

All hope trickled out of her chest the longer Feina took her time to reply. It’s futile. She was no one in the palace other than a crown princess that didn’t deserve her place. No one actually knows how she got to this title. She had no idea either, this is a mystery even the tabloids had tried to exploit for the longest time since the public heard of the news.

Their engagement happened long before they were able to walk, but it was announced to the public right before the Crown Prince volunteered to go to the front lines. Right around the time she was taken from the villa, and she learned the ways of nobility through her grandparents eyes.

Amertine is a rich ducal territory that was once an independent kingdom a long time ago. Aegir’s nest is in the capital, but his birth was said to have been in the Amertine territory. There were pilgrimages and offerings in different parts of the ducal territory, and the family that kept the territory safe is still alive and proud. Less proud when she was born, but proud and noble still.

She might be a blight in the lineage, but with the right pedigree they’d hope her humanity would be canceled out. Eugenics. Her grandparents are hoping for Eugenics to cleanse out her.

They want to take her and her mother out of history. People would never know how she took her mother’s smile, and her laugh. How she wished people knew how beautiful her mother played the piano and organ with so much beauty and joy. She dreamt of being a concert pianist, but that wasn’t a dream for a middle-class commoner. She could afford the lessons, but she can’t become her dream.

Draconi’s shiny silver hair, and cold amethyst eyes that could be gouged out of their sockets and people would think they were true gems. They wanted those instead of the woman she and her father loved.

They don’t want any proof they were ever here, that they loved and wanted more of each other. If they could, they would want this country to be filled with dragons. Shifters or tamers. It doesn’t matter to them as long as they had it in them.

“There is nothing to say”

Her shock froze her in the warm waters. She slowly looked at Feina, who smiled with a gentle expression. Affection, Sileas thought. “I didn’t see anything” She smiled wider, enough to laugh. Sileas felt a bubble of laughter rose from her chest in tandem.

“Thank you” she reached for Feina’s hand. “Thank you”

For in nothing. There were still a lot to be thankful for.

Sileas slept for almost two days. She woke up in the middle of the afternoon with a body that felt replenished and heavy at the same time. She stayed in bed for a handful of minutes, before Feina peeked her head in her room to check on her.

She wiggled her fingers at the Dracone. “Morning?”

Feina’s face erupted into a smile. “Good afternoon, your highness”

“Ah, afternoon” she stretched her body. Joints popping and muscles burning as she did so. “What… did I miss?” she slowly rolled her shoulders as she sat up.

She loves mornings like this. There are a few minutes of peace, where the knowledge of yesterday is momentarily away. The brain still trying to wake up from the sleep and rest it really needed, and it gave her enough peace to just lounge on her bed and gaze outside the window.

The sun was high and greeted her with its afternoon heat, and she didn’t mind it, the remnants of her sleep still stubbornly in her system but she didn’t rush herself. She knows she’ll be tortured by her thoughts soon, and she wants to enjoy the few moments of peace that she’s allowed.

“The Prince went back to the front lines. Apparently it was misleading ploy from the enemy.”

That brought her back to reality. Her mind picked up her checklist and tried to list everything down in her head. What she needs to do, and what’s the first thing to address. She would need to scrounge up resources to the front lines, and tell the nearby villages to evacuate and find another place for a settlement.

She pushed her duvet away from her body. So many letters to write and arrange. The Marquisette Deus and Feryt would be the closest to the frontlines, and she would need to contact them about the plan. Without delaying a second, she plants her feet on the carpet, but was reeled back to her last memory.

The flames and the ruined work she made those four days. She deflated.

“Do not rush your highness. You are not needed in the office.”

She sighed. Slumping forward while sitting on the edge of her bed. She grabs a neatly folded robe on her nightstand and wrapped it around her. “The prince is away, and someone needs to keep the public safe.”

Feina opened her mouth in protest, but someone else has beat her top it.

“That won’t be necessary.”

The Dracone with the odd eyes knocked on the open bedroom door, he is wearing knight’s armor and held his helmet under his arm as he walked with clipped steps towards her and bows to one knee. “His highness told me to wait till you wake up to give you this letter.” CAstler’s eyes were lowered as he raised his hand with the letter higher than his head.

She pursed her lips in consternation, but she rose to her feet again and took the letter.

“If you are to send a reply, I would take it with me to the frontlines. I am instructed to give this to you and rush back to the front with him.”

Sileas nodded as she opened the folded letter, and it reads:

*You are to do no clerical work. My parents are in charge of the country. Not you. Remain rested and be forewarned that I will be back by the time your burns are cured. Do not go against me, or it won’t leave with minor burns

-Eitr*

Sileas licked her lips and gazed at Castler. Still on his one knee with his helmet propped on the other knee. He looked at her expectantly, while she noticed Feina gazing at him un comfortably.

She thanked the gods that she had the sense to cover her hands in bandages. Feina helped he apply them on her skin, hiding any lack of injury. She had a feeling she should keep the ruse, and she’s incredibly relieved.

“Wait here, I will take out my reply” She went to her walk in closet, with Feina trailing behind her. She didn’t mind her personal maid following her as she pulled the few loose papers in her top dresser out. “here, give this to him.”

If Castler was suspicious at the preparation, he gave no clue. He took the papers in his leather gloved hand and bowed curtly. “We will come back in victory.”

“I don’t doubt you would” She let herself smile naturally, despite seeing those young soldiers in her head marching towards a bloodbath. She knew the numbers the last time, and this time, they were almost out of seasoned men. Many young faces are recruited to replenish the ranks. “Please keep each other safe.”

He stands astutely. Helmet and papers held tightly on one arm as he made a fist and hit his chest three times with pride in his eyes, it was the most highest greeting in knighthood.

Then he left.