Page 48 of A Broken Promise (the Freckled Fate #1)

48

I paced past the town square leading to the Queen’s Palace, glancing just occasionally behind my back, watching for any approaching guards or Destroyers. The streets had quieted down, though a certain level of uneasiness still chilled in the air.

I tugged on the handle. The familiar alley door was locked.

“Shit,” I mumbled in frustration. Lights far above me shone bright from the tall windows. I was in no mood to climb but as I looked around, I was left with no choice.

I tugged on the nearby vines, pulling myself up. I just had to make it high enough to reach the fire escape ladder above me.

My face flashed with pain while my cold hands gripped the metal, almost pulling off my skin with each grab. I climbed until I was close enough to the small balcony.

I tried not to think, just act. I ignored the fact that I would splatter against the cold cobblestone alley with one wrong move, or the fact that the balcony door too could be locked, or the fact that I was breaking into the most well-known drug Lord’s place. I disregarded it all.

I had to jump before I convinced myself that this was idiotic .

“Sorry,” I whispered to my bag as I threw it across the gap to the balcony first. Then, taking a long breath, I threw myself at the marbled railing. I jumped far enough to grab one of the curved pillars on the balcony’s edge. Good enough, I thought, as I pulled myself up, my shoulders burning. My bag luckily was still intact as I pulled it over my shoulder and went for the tall glass doors. I pulled quietly on the handle, and the door slid to the side. A little shiver the only sign of relief that went through me.

I walked into the well-lit corridor leading to two doors, the smell of the strong familiar cologne eased the heavy tension. I knocked on one of the doors.

“Come in,” Florian sounded from the other side of the door. I quietly slipped in.

“Finn, is that you?” He raised his eyebrows in surprise, as I lowered the furry hood of my cloak.

“Hi Florian,” I softly said and approached his bed. He was laying down on his bed, propped up by large pillows, his leg and arm now in a cast, his face and the rest of his body bandaged up.

“Finn, hey, what are you doing here?” he asked, his voice laced with concern as he took another look at the door behind me, at my cloak and the peeking daggers.

“I wanted to make sure you were okay,” I said, accepting his gesture to sit next to him on the bed. Though his face still showed concern, he smiled.

“Sure-sure… Or did you just want to come see me half naked?” He winked at me, and I smiled. I didn’t neglect to notice that he was in fact half-naked, sitting just in his briefs. I noticed his other tattoos, covering his upper arms and legs, none of them as exquisite as the large floral tattoo across his chest contrasting against his ivory skin.

“I am sorry, Florian.” I grimaced looking at a large bandage on his face. That would leave a large scar.

“Oh gorgeous, I am already working on a great story to go along with it too. Honestly, I should’ve gotten it a long time ago. Such a wasted opportunity. Women are going to get drenched, once they see my newly upgraded face.” He chuckled, though I could see a little bit of grief behind it. “What a night, huh?” He glanced over me, pausing on my stuffed bag. “Is Priya okay?”

“Um, yes.” I wasn’t sure what to say. Okay seemed like such a small word for what she was. “We found each other and made a run for it. She is…she will be okay, I think,” I said, unsure of where to even begin to explain what happened when I left him in the ruins of the ballroom.

“So, what’s wrong?” he asked gently, grabbing my hand. “Why does this feel like you are here to say a goodbye?” he asked, taking a deep look into my eyes.

“I am leaving, Florian.” I looked away from him, a part of me regretting even coming here.

“So, we had one bad date and you’re running away from me already? Oh, come on,

give me another chance, Finn. I promise to find something a little less explosive next time.” He smirked at his own joke.

My heart tightened but I smiled back at him, hoping that somehow that smile would make the next few words to come out less painful.

“I’ve come to say goodbye, Florian. I am leaving tonight. Right now. I… I don’t know for how long, but I know it’s going to be a while. And before you object,” I said, seeing his mouth open. “I have to do it. I have already promised,” I said, avoiding his persistent stare, worrying that those kind eyes would convince me to stay.

Knowing full well that a part of me begged them to.

“What happened, Finn? Did Priya find my amazing drawings of her? Is it because of those horns? And now she’s upset? I’ll send her a sorry card then.”

He rubbed my hand with his thumb in comforting strokes. Gods, this was so much harder than I thought it would be.

I turned my head to face a wall. Such a simple room for the heir of the drug empire.

“Seriously though, is it Priya?” he asked again, his tone picking up a bit; the only sign of desperation creeping in. “To hell with her, to hell with them all. Come live here. If it’s money, I have plenty, you can live here, and I can give you money and whatever else you need and before you say no…No, you wouldn’t have to sleep with me for it, unless you really want to.” His tone was upbeat, yet his face filled with heartbreak.

I put on a smile, choking on the lump stuck in my throat. Florian was my friend.

A friend that I didn’t deserve.

“Finn, you have to say something.” He squeezed my hand, unwilling to let go.

“Florian, I am sorry, I wish I could explain everything and tell you everything, but I can’t. There is no point in it. I have to leave, but I do need you to do something for me.”

Florian just opened his mouth to object, yet a small meow sounded from my bag. I reached my hand into it, pulling out a small orange and white striped kitten. Florian raised his eyebrows in astonishment.

“Okay, when I wrote pussy on my drawing, I meant something completely different, but now in retrospect I see that I should've clarified,” Florian mumbled as he moved his hand to pet the cat.

“Meet Ray, like a ray of sunshine, Ray. I found him abandoned under the bridge in the Central market. Priya doesn’t allow any animals in the house, so I’ve kept coming back to him and feeding him or paying a maid at the Butcher’s shop to feed him if I was gone, but now I am leaving for a long time and with the winter….” My voice broke for a second. This hurt so much. I took a large breath calming my broken heart.

Later. I will deal with the heartbreak later.

“I need him to have a home, Florian. I need to know that he is going to be okay.”

Even if I am not. Unspoken words flowed in my mind.

But the reality was that I was never okay. Not from the moment I was born, not now. I took another look at my little kitty cat, my friend. He too, was abandoned at birth, left alone in the world to make it. Perhaps, he wasn’t okay before, but he would be now. One of us had to be.

“You brought me a cat?” he said, taking another look at the small ball of sunshine in my hands, now purring as he rubbed his head against my chest. “He is a boob man, I can relate,” Florian said, petting his belly. I laughed through watery eyes, blinking fast as if that somehow would help stop the tears building up.

“Please take good care of him. He was the only friend I had until I met you, and now it’s only fitting that two of my friends unite. You can even create a little red head club together and talk crap about me.” Even through my soft smile, tears slipped past me as I handed off my little Ray to Florian. With soft paws, he climbed onto Florian’s chest and purred as he rubbed his head against Florian’s chin.

“Finn, please tell me what I can do to stop this?” Florian dropped the boyish tone, his voice somber. “Whatever it is I can help, I am the freaking Casteol heir, that has to mean something. I have connections, I have influence. Whatever it is, I bet a few smiles from me, and we can figure it out.”

“I wish it was that simple,” I said sadly, smiling while discreetly wiping the salty tear away. I stood up, putting my cloak back on.

A part of me knew that if I offered to have him to come with me, he would. That if I told him that I was a runaway slave, and the truth about everything that had happened with me he would be there for me through it all.

A part of me wanted to tell him everything.

But I was selfish.

Selfish, because it was my burden to carry. Selfish, because for once I wanted to do it myself. It was my promise to fulfill.

It was selfish of me to deny him even that chance to help. I knew that.

But I had to do this alone.

When you were burned enough times, you tend to stay away from the fire no matter how cold you get.

“Finn, please. What can I do to help? Talk to me,” he asked again, letting me see the anguish and the heartache. I was glad the fur shaded my eyes away from him.

“I am going far north, past the Cursed Forest, do you know how I can get there?” I asked, adjusting the strap of my bag across my shoulder .

Florian hesitated as if trying to find an argument to make me stay. He rubbed his forehead with his hand.

“No boat will carry you to the Cursed Lands. But I know a man that will get you very close. Find him at the docks by the fishermen's shack. Tell him Florian Casteol sent you. The key word is Crest. He can’t talk since his tongue is cut out but tell him the location and he will take you there.” He exhaled slowly in defeat. “Finn, I’ll cover the fare so do whatever you need to but keep him there so he can bring you home. As long as it takes, Finn.” He looked at me then, with his eyes filled with those words, as if shouting at me that he meant it.

“Thank you,” I said, hiding the wince at word home . Truth was, I didn’t have a home. Not then, not now. Not anymore. At times I started to believe I was never meant to have a home. Maybe I didn’t even know what that word meant. Not truly.

Maybe I was meant to stumble across the world. To be displaced. Dislodged.

A young nurse stumbled in the room with a new case of bandages and medicine, and she stopped, shocked to see me.

“Oh, I am sorry, I didn’t realize you had guests, I will come back later,” she mumbled, turning back.

“Oh, I am leaving,” I said and adjusted the hood over my face. “Goodbye, Florian.”

Florian didn’t reply as he watched my figure cross his room towards the door.

“Finn?”

“Yeah?” I turned my head just slightly, to take my last look at his banged-up body. Ray, as if sensing my goodbye, lifted his head and whined at me.

“The Cursed Lands are called cursed for a reason. Please be careful.”

“Take good care of yourselves, you two,” I said, marching out of the Queen’s Palace. Traitorous tears slid down my throat, mixed with blood from a bit lip, as I swallowed once more, trying to keep the rising sobs down .

I had to be strong. I had to be sharp. I had to be brutal. Life had been cruel but so could I. I would bring the information to the Rebels.

But I wouldn’t give it to them for free. No, I would trade it. I would trade it for Viyak.

They’d blown up the Royal castle…they could surely free the slaves.

I clenched my teeth. Ruthless. I had to be ruthless.

Cold air caressed my lungs. No, I wouldn’t cry anymore. I’d save those tears, I’d save that hurt; let it fuel me, let it dwell with my anger within me.

I waved to the nearest carriage not too far from downtown.

“To the dock, please.”