Page 76 of Veil of Vasara (Fate of the Five #1)

CHAPTER 76 – NATHON

I fastened the buttons on my sleeves, reflecting on the fact Loria’s wedding would be the first I’d been to as a guest. Not as a spy, or an assassin, or a means to an end. Not to watch and hover over the celebration in the shadows, waiting until one of said guests was alone.

Weddings were something I associated then with death, rather than life or…love.

But although I was a guest at this wedding, could I truly say this one was any different? This wedding itself was nothing more than a means to an end. A pathway, laden with golden silk and robes, with vows and rings, with the promise of eternity.

But it was a pathway to death.

The deepest, darkest, blood red was the colour of Vasara’s funeral attire. For weddings, it was the brightest and most piercing gold, and unlike in other Kingdoms, where guests were encouraged to don a different shade to the bride and groom, in Vasara, guests were expected to mirror them. I’d never cared much for clothing. After all, I could only ever associate it with those times I’d been ordered to dress in a certain way, to please the eye of a certain person. But I had no desire to catch the eye of anyone at this wedding, only to use my own eyes, to watch, to observe.

If anyone were to make an attempt on Loria’s life, it would be today. Once she was married to the King, that would be it. It would be far harder for someone to try and kill her once she was the Queen.

I left my room and walked towards the chamber that had been allocated to her. The place where the King’s servants would attend to, and dress her for the occasion. I knocked on the door once I arrived.

“It’s me,” I called through the wood.

“Come in,” Loria’s soft voice sounded through the door.

I tentatively pressed my palm against the handle and pushed down.

Inside, Loria was surrounded by several people, who were weaving golden ornaments through her hair, through the braided crowns they had created. Her dress ruffled as she shifted in her seat to meet my eyes. Its train was so long it nearly reached the other side of the room. It appeared transparent without actually being so. It glittered but not offensively, only subtly, golden beams of thread catching the light, dancing in it.

My head travelled the length of it, before turning back to her face. She looked like a statue. The magnificent kind in Elementas shrines. Reverential, glorious, yet lifeless somehow.

We said nothing.

It felt for the first time, that we understood each other without words. It felt now, we understood each other far more than any of the times that we had used them.

Loria’s fingers flung behind her. She placed them on the wrist of the attendant whose hands currently hovered above her head. “Please, leave us for a moment.” She gave the woman a closed lip smile.

The attendants, after bowing and curtseying appropriately, left the room.

Loria was sitting in front of a mirror, but she hadn’t been looking in it. She was only staring at her hands, which were cushioned in the fabric of her dress.

I stood behind her. She glanced up then, at the mirror, staring at me through it.

“How…do you feel?” I asked, uncertainly.

Loria frowned at me. “Does it matter?”

Our eyes were fixed upon each other.

“Yes.”

Loria let out a hushed laugh. “To you?”

“To me,” I replied seriously.

She placed her arm on the back of her chair, swivelling around to face me directly. “I’m"— she laughed, smiling softly — “afraid.”

I took a few steps forwards, her neck craned up as I did.

She was smiling, but her fingers were gripped tightly around her chair. I could see the muscles on her face tightening, her teeth grinding behind closed lips. She was afraid.

I had wanted to protect her from this feeling. I had wanted to make sure she would never feel scared, fearful, or uneasy.

I had known, perhaps, that it was impossible in this life, to make sure someone would never feel those things at all. I had known and yet I had hoped to change it.

Even if it took everything I had. Even if I had to face the worst terrors this word had to offer, and even if it were not avoidable she should face the remnants of them, I would face them anyway.

I would do whatever I could. I would take what little power I had, to take as much of it away from her as possible.

“It will be over soon,” I told her.

“Not truly.”

Not truly. Once Loria married, our father would arrive.

And who knew what it was, that he had planned.

“But you’ll have me by your side the whole time, won’t you?” I grinned.

Her face flattened. “That’s even more terrifying.” A shadow of a smile played at her mouth.

“For those who try anything while I am…yes…it’s very terrifying.”

She gulped and didn’t respond.

I crouched in front of her, meeting her eye level.

“Don’t think about it now.” My voice grew significantly quieter for no particular reason. “I’ll think about it. I’ll do the thinking for us. You just…” I gestured at her outfit.

“Get married,” she finished my sentence, sarcastically.

“Exactly, it’s such a small thing after all…isn’t it?” I tilted my head, smiling widely.

Her fingers loosened around the chair, and before I could stand, they were wrapped around my own.

I stared down at our hands in shock. Her touch was considerate, light and careful. I couldn’t remember the last time she and I had shared affection. I didn’t know what to do.

She placed her palm over my knuckles.

“You don’t understand,” she whispered. “These things are second nature to you. You’re used to them. They don’t scare you. You are the source of people’s fear, nobody would dare touch you. But I…I am not like you.”

She withdrew her hand.

You’re used to them.

They don’t scare you.

Nobody would dare touch you.

It was hardly as if I could blame her for her feelings towards me.

I felt like a fool. For a moment I had thought…

I shot up on my feet, clearing my throat.

“That’s why you should leave the thinking to me…see?” I gave her a grin. “When the time comes. You won’t need to act.”

Her eyelashes fluttered. She turned back around wordlessly.

Our conversation was finished.

The wedding itself was as lavish and long as I had anticipated.

Loria and the King joined hands as they made their vows, a transparent veil still over her face, only afterwards was it lifted by the King’s hands. Loria’s back was facing us, those candidates and escorts who had remained for the wedding, being situated directly at the front of the hall.

I watched the King's face, his eyes as he took in Loria's appearance. Celebratory music and a choir sounded as they were pronounced married, as the King leant forwards and placed a kiss, so light it barely even seemed to touch Loria, on her cheek.

As the music continued to sound, Tarren mused to my right. “Where’s the crown? Aren’t they going to crown her?”

I closed my eyes, shaking my head.

Princess Rhana answered from my left. “Her Coronation will occur later.”

“Oh,” Tarren furrowed her brow, “When?”

I took my chance to leave the exchange and follow the guests who were making their way to an adjacent hall, the same one the ball had taken place in. Grabbing a drink off a passing tray a servant was carrying, I leant against a table, watching the scene before me.

“Enjoying the show?”

My lips formed into a smile as I turned to my left. The same words he had spoken the first time we had met.

“Lord Elias, surely you’re aware by now that I love a grand spectacle?”

Elias stood next to me, leaning on the table as well.

“I thought that was only when you were at the centre of it.” He swallowed some of his drink.

“Of course not. It’s far more interesting to watch from the side-lines.”

Elias laughed into his cup, then he drew it away from his face. “I suppose I should congratulate you. You must be pleased with this result,” He pointed at Loria and the King who were standing together, greeting, and conversing with the guests.

“Congratulations?” I crossed my arms and turned to face him slightly. “Weren’t you the one who implied this marriage was the worst kind of cage for the winner?”

“Just because I think so, doesn’t mean you do, Prince.” He gave me a false, tight smile and drank again.

“Well, I suppose you must be pleased, at least a little. You must have been terrified your cousin would marry someone unsuitable…like that child, or…that golden haired woman.”

Elias side-eyed me.

“It would have been hard for you, to look upon the sight of his marriage to such a woman every day, and be constantly reminded of what could have been. What…could be.” I side-eyed him back.

How awful he would have found it, should that golden haired woman have been crowned. A walking, breathing reminder of his undiscovered deed. A living embodiment of how close it was to being revealed. He would have watched her sit by his cousin’s side and garner his favour, his trust.

“I’ve made it no secret I think this Season is ridiculous, or that I would be glad to witness its abolition,” Elias mumbled.

“ No secret?” I squinted at him.

Elias was silent for a moment, then laughed bitterly. “How fortunate you are. Your reputation is already so horrendous that nothing you could do would ever cast a shadow over you,” he muttered.

“I’d hardly say yours is glorious.” I crossed one leg over the other at my ankle. “But I suppose, being in an important position now, you’ll have to make great efforts to revive it. It will be difficult… almost as difficult as reviving a corpse.”

Elias rolled his eyes. He placed his empty goblet on the table behind us and turned fully to face me. “Or as difficult as climbing over an eight-foot barbed gate.”

I clicked my tongue. “That sounds impossible.”

“Sounds,” Elias replied.

He went back to his drink. I watched him, a half-smile dancing across my lips.

“What do the Council think of it?” I asked, peering over Elias’ shoulder at Loria again.

“They wanted him to marry the child or the golden-haired woman.”

“An infertile King who married the wrong woman. They must be delighted,” I remarked, grinning.

“The King is not a man who can be easily swayed by their opinions or suffer for them.”

I faced Elias, “I know.”

I did. I knew. I agreed. This King was not to be underestimated.

“Enjoy the rest of the spectacle.” Elias strolled away.

The rest of the spectacle passed as the light grew lesser and the darkness of the night permeated the space, the sun replaced by candles and the heat of small flames. I picked an appropriate moment to make my exit, wandering, not back to my allocated room, but into the city, Iloris. I made my way through the hallways which I had now memorised and…

I stopped. A wave of nausea roiled through my stomach.

I blinked hard. My vision blurred.

My palms began to sweat.

I spun around, attempting to drag myself back to my room.

My mind was swarming with a thick and dense cloud, my thoughts, my confusion struggling to pierce through.

What’s happening?

I…I’ve been careful…

How…

I need to get back…

There are…supplies there…that…could…

Stop this…

But I had only made it through several corridors, before a heavy, crushing drowsiness washed over me.

I remained standing, my eyelids fluttering, begging to close.

I took several more steps forwards sluggishly, my feet dragging behind me. But I fell to my knees. The impact of my bones hitting the floor echoed through the narrow space.

As did the footsteps that approached me.

I had no energy, no ability to engage the muscles in my neck to look up, to see who it was.

That placed a sack over my head as I fell into the dark.