TWO MONTHS LATER
Autumn had spent the past two months trying not to think about the letter. Quinn and Skylynn had been bugging her about it, but she’d always tell them she’d travel to Windshire when the deadline was almost up. She wanted to spend as much time helping out in Summercross as she could before she had to leave.
In most of the time she wasn’t working, she’d sit out on the edge of the bluff their lighthouse stood on and stare out at the sea. It was so calm and full of mystery, and Autumn couldn’t help but wonder what was out there.
How big was the world? Were they really the only ones? Were there other Alondrans? Did people look different? She was dying to know. Travelling Alondra had always been one of her dreams, but she had only just begun to consider exploring the whole ocean. She loved making maps, it would be so cool to map out the rest of the world for people to see. Maybe her and her family could even find a kingdom that accepted them.
These thoughts raced through her head as she made her way back to the lighthouse.
She had been buying groceries from the local market, and for the first time in a while she had enough cocleae to get half a dozen eggs instead of a quarter. She was filled with pride and hope as she glided over the fjords, but that feeling soon ended when she spotted the extra pair of shoes sitting beside Quinn and Skylynn’s.
They were boots, and nice ones, too. Definitely the shoes of a first class Alondran. They had gold patterns carved into the leather, and the laces were flat and bright white, as if they had never seen the dirt.
She balanced her basket of groceries in one arm and slid off her raggedy shoes. Then, she pushed open the door of her house.
She froze in the doorway, her eyes immediately catching those of the Alondran prince. There was ice covering the thoughts behind his baby blue eyes, and though a smile was set on his dark lips, Autumn couldn’t read his expression.
He was sitting at the kitchen table with her mother and sister, a cup of tea in one hand. Skylynn smiled sweetly at Autumn, and she shook her head slowly and made her way to the kitchen counter where she began to put away her goods.
“Nothing?” Skylynn pushed. “You aren’t going to acknowledge our guest?”
The prince laughed. “Oh, no it’s fine.” He turned around in his chair to look at Autumn. She glared at the counter, her back tingling with the feeling of his eyes on her.
After a moment of silence, she whipped around to look at him.
He looked different than in newspapers. Less menacing and less regal. Today he looked like a normal guy, with thin dreads and golden clasps around small braids that framed his face, and a golden collar around his neck to mark him as royalty.
He dressed like any middle class citizen, with nice dark blue trousers and a flowy white tunic that hung loosely around his body. He wore a golden hoop in one ear, and he had two studs under and above his left eyebrow. A large scar ran over his right eye, but it had been darkened by age and wasn’t as visible.
“What are you doing here?” She snapped. “I was going to go to the castle soon, so if you’re here to pressure me more-”
He cut her off with a sharp laugh. “I am here on behalf of my mother. She would like to give thanks to your family after having your brother serve as a Knight for many years. Keyne was a valued soldier. I’m so sorry about his passing.”
Autumn sighed, her heart stinging with pain from years ago. She’d learned to accept his death, but it still hurt to talk about it. Especially when the person in front of her had been in the same rank as him when he died.
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“Well, thanks accepted,” Autumn spat. She ignored her mother’s dirty look. “You can leave now.”
The prince frowned. “Well I was also hoping for a response-”
“I will,” Autumn interrupted. “Now leave.”
Skylynn chuckled nervously. “I apologize for her behavior, Prince Rey. She hasn’t exactly been fond of the idea-”
Autumn groaned. “Your majesty, as much as I appreciate you and Queen Reina’s… offer… it feels very forced. You aren’t really giving me much of a choice.”
Rey pursed his lips. “I’m sorry, but from what I’ve heard from Keyne, you’ve always wanted to serve in our ranks.”
Autumn laughed crudely. “That was before he died saving your royal ass who treated him like shit!”
Rey sat up straight, surprised, and Skylynn gasped. Quinn smirked over the rim of her teacup.
“Autumn,” Skylynn scolded. “You know better than to talk to our higher ups like that.”
Autumn rolled her eyes and stormed out of the house to the edge of the cliff. Her socks filled with dew and dirt, but she didn’t care. She was tired of being pushed around.
Everyone richer or in a higher class than her thought they could walk all over her just because she needed the money. She would do anything they said, just because it would help her family. It was manipulative, and it was unfair. And now the royal family was doing it too? They weren’t actually sorry about Keyne, were they? They just wanted something out of her, something Keyne wasn’t able to give. Third class Alondrans rarely ever got to train to be knights. So why was she an exception?
She kicked her feet back and forth over the edge, throwing pebbles off the cliff and into the water hundreds of feet below. She imagined them growing as they fell, turning into boulders and rocking the water and turning the boats. She imagined tsunamis appearing from her small rocks.
After about ten minutes of sitting there alone, the prince came to sit beside her.
She stared at him angrily, but he just watched the horizon line, his eyes turning orange in the dying light. His face was shadowed by his wings behind him, and Autumn squinted to watch his expression.
He was sad. Everything about him was. His eyes, his mouth, his shoulders, his hands, resting in his lap. He turned to look at Autumn, and she studied her hands, feeling his eyes wander over her. She blinked, trying to make the nervousness go away. She wasn’t supposed to be scared of him, she was supposed to hate him.
“You look so much like him,” He whispered. “Your eyes, your nose, your wings…” He trailed off and reached up to touch the feathers along hers. She pulled away with a scoff.
He inhaled sharply and shook his head. “I think you have the wrong idea about me.”
Autumn studied her fists, the ways they were clenched into tight balls. She imagined punching him across the face.
“I know exactly who you are,” She growled.
“No,” The prince argued. “You know who my mother is. You know what she does to people like you. You’ve seen how much she hates people that don’t follow her rules.” The anger in his voice caught Autumn off guard. “Keyne was my best friend. It pisses me off that my mother has to drag you into this too, after what happened to him.”
“Why does your mom want me to become a knight so badly?” Autumn asked.
He shook his head. “I think it’s a number of things.” He met her eyes. “But that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you have to do this. My mom- she’ll do whatever she can to get her way. You don’t want to face her.”
Autumn squinted her eyes shut. “I don’t want to risk my life for a kingdom that’s done so much to hurt me.”
When she opened her eyes, the prince had his hand outstretched to her.
“Then help me change it. Let’s fix what your brother couldn’t.”
Though his expression was sincere, Autumn couldn’t help but feel like she was being tricked into something. He was so hard to read, it made her nervous.
She reluctantly took his hand.
“Fine,” She told him. But he hadn’t earned her trust. She could tell there was more behind his proposal to “change Alondra.” There had to be ties and loose ends, things he and his mother would twist to get their way. Autumn knew better than to give in that easily.
But he took her response to be enough. He smiled. “You can call me Rey, by the way.”