Chapter 33

I have only exhausted myself further by repeating the same question.

With the guidance of the servant ahead of us, she leads us to wherever Vince's secret surprise is. Suspiciously far as we are directed all the way back down to the humble grounds of the Citadel. We breeze through the night air, drifting amidst the vennels of wooden infrastructure. Most of them stacked on each other, integrated into the wood of enormous trees.

Our environment is tranquil with only a few nightgoers that wander. The surrounding scenery is speckled with floating fireflies. Pinpricks of luminous gold dappling the darkness of night.

"I was astonished to realise the scope of the Citadel, it's larger than I thought," Vince says with his arms folded behind his back. "With a river that goes beyond Cistern. And the other is an idyllic lake that remains in the safety of its gates."

I nod knowingly. "So is my surprise an idyllic lake?"

Our gaze meet, sending flutters to arise within me.

"To reach it is to pass through the valley of lights," he says and nods his head forward.

I look ahead at the wide passage of flattened walls of foliage, like tall vertical hedges that border the pathway. Alike to the shrubbery in a maze garden. But this tunnel of greenery is designed like an underpass which is decorated with innumerable neat layers of brilliant lights that are grafted both overhead and around us.

Awe nips a breath. I revolve as I walk, hypnotically observing the transcendent beauty.

"This...is...incredible."

I glimpse a smiling Vince beside me, but his smile lacks its usual dazzle. Clearly, he's been here more than once. But besides that, the ambit of magnificence is unending. Everything seen that blesses my vision, vies for my attention in this soul-enriching, dream-like fantasy. The parade of gleaming strings of lights like a stagnant vortex of heavenly radiance, tunnelling onwards. The face of the walls of foliage are lined with ever glowing streaks. Engrossing us as both in a wonderful, even divine brilliance.

Suddenly the whirlpool of lights ejects us out to a new place.

A rowboat of a shallow draft with cross thwarts for seats kisses the shore of still blackwaters. Its sharp nose aimed at the meandering stream that ebbs into the unknown stretch. Boulders colonised the edges of the rivulet. Buffed with pillows of moss. Sweet fragrances, alluvial, and palliative flit in and out of my awareness.

"Dreia," Vince says.

The servant girl swivels with her hands clasped in front of her, her face respectfully turned to the wavy grains of sand.

"Thank you, you may go."

She dips into a quick curtsey and hurries to return to the valley.

Vince strolls ahead of me, traipsing in the rowboat's direction.

"I cannot tell if this is romantic or dangerous," I say, crossing my arms apprehensively.

He swerves goofily, rotating around to look back at me, raising his chin as he bites down on his bottom lip. "Are you afraid?"

Maintaining eye contact, I amble towards him, scanning him up and down exaggeratedly. I shoulder past him and his shoulder jerks back. I strut to the rowboat, picking up the front part of my dress, stumbling inside, scuttling towards the triangular brink.

I turn to face him, and I plop down on the narrow bench.

I make a gesture to the ores. "The boat will not row itself."

Vince's chuckle fades into the night as he makes his way to me. Approaching, he tilts forward and sets his hands on the rear of the vessel, pushing forward. His face crinkles with slight effort. The boat jolts back, sliding into the water. He dashes forward and hops inside.

He moves to sit with his back to the bow to face the stern, facing me. And clutches each oar with an overhand grip, his knees bent and arms straight in front of him. The blades rest above the water, perpendicular to the surface. He takes it into drive and pulls the handles of the oars towards him, while also allowing his upper body to fall back.

His strength propels the rowboat from the shore and steers it towards his left. Vince repeats the motion and releases the position; to catch, pull and release. We sail through waters with my back towards the undisclosed location.

My breathing serene, thoughtlessly rubbing my bare arms, producing fleeting heat. My skin is prickly. "So, what is all of this? While everyone else is speculating on what other... astounding events will unfold, pertaining to the Vasilias Imperii. And what other oddities lie in wait. Here is Herem Vince, who disappears to...plan an amorous boat ride for me like we are starry-eyed lovers?"

Vince snorts a laugh. "You wish we were."

I cock my head to the side. "I think this romantic rendezvous says otherwise."

A comfortable silence settles between us, heeding to the serenade of nearby songbirds that sing a symphony. Utterly seduced by nature's ballad. The surface of the waters reflects the heavens. Moonlight illuminates the expanse with calm shimmers. Small white pools shimmering.

Curious, I twist my shoulder back to view what approaches around the bend. The stream widens to an enclosed gorge with steep rock walls. Tremendously isolated with shadowy silhouettes of trees that crest the cliffs. My gaze drops to the water and a beam of orange firelight dances on the surface, flickering and flaring. Rounding the bend, my eyes nearly tumble out of its sockets.

"Surprise," Vince says.

At the centre of the smooth-edged gorge, secluded with rock walls draped with shadows.

A circular wooden stage, thick and broad, floats in the middle with four waist-length curved segments that border the platform. Fashioned from swirling limbs of wood with elaborate webbing. Ringed with blazing candles. A shocked laugh escapes me, and I gawk back at Vince. He chuckles lowly, looking away.

"What is all of this?"

Vince torments me with suspense, lapsing into silence whilst he steers the rowboat to sidle the floating stage. He stands and moves to the flank as he climbs off the rowboat and steps onto the wooden platform. He edges towards me and leans forward, outstretching a hand.

Adalia, what are you doing?

I slap my hand into his and he hauls me up to full height, then my feet meet with wood. I survey the comfy setup with coverlets cushioned on top, inflated pillows positioned at the head in an arched shape. On one side sits a lavish set up of various fruits and a jar of water. With two glasses on an ornate round edge, protected by the border of light that wards off the darkness. Everything beyond barely visible.

"Herem Vince. Do you mind finally telling me, what is all this?"

Vince's response is resigned to a shrug. He throws a quick look behind him and flops down on his back, nestling himself on the cushioned spread. His head and shoulders propped up by the pillows.

"We are here to have a good time," he says simply. His arm lifts to rest his hand behind his head.

"We?"

"Especially you, the gods have blessed you with my company." He teases me with an eye-reaching smile that rivals the shine of the cosmos itself.

My one leg bends, I shift my weight to one foot. "All the way out here, alone and very much sequestered?" I say pointedly. I do a deliberate scan of our darkened surroundings. "I can see why the preparations of this occupied you so."

He lifts a flimsy hand at me as if I made his point for him. "Exactly, and I would go to any lengths, but the least you could do is enjoy it. And lie with me."

My brows spring to my hairline.

Realising his words, his eyes close for a second. And his smile quirks before he reveals those amber gems to me again. "You know what I meant. Besides, you travelled this far, it would be a shame for all of this to go to waste." The blaze on the fringes causes shadows to swim beneath his eyes. "And admit it. A part of you is intrigued, or else you would not be here."

By force...or by my own compulsion. He has won my hand.

I sink to my knees, crawling forward before I collapse on my back beside him.

The canopy of stars is scattered like nymph dust in the great night sky above. It causes a penumbra of colours to ripple across the breadth of the celestial firmament, frisking, thrumming the melody of the heavens with moving streaks of colours: rose petal pink, a vivid purple and malachite green.

"You are fortunate this view is worth it," I mumble.

Vince snickers.

A moment, two, several of them pass by in a peaceful stretch.

The serenity of our environment tempers my inner turmoil and assuages my resentment. Tumultuous emotions staved off...but not completely gone. However, I welcome this moment of escapism.

"You know...I did not do this only for you," he begins. "Any form of hardship takes its toll and performing as the unassailable, Herem Vince of the Emikrol Empire is just as taxing. I needed a recess from it all. From everyone, but...not from you."

My head rolls to look at the side of his face. His gaze transfixed on the starry vault.

His nose wrinkles. "You are the only one...I tolerate."

I snort and straighten my head. "I see fortune favours me still." My tone slick with sarcasm. I inhale a crisp breath. The cool air gradually decreases to a chill. "Since we are all the way out here, we might as well amuse one another."

I can feel his stare on me. "What do you have in mind?" he asks. His voice smoked with a sultry suggestion.

"Secrets, "I say with false excitement. "The secrets of the truth. Let us begin with the real reason as to why am I really here? Nothing but the wind and trees as the audience."

The only reply is his silence.

I move on. "Alright then. But muse me this, mostly when someone delights in their seclusion it is because they are hiding from something. A time to...get away from the demands of their life. Escape."

My head rotates to view his face hardening into an unsmiling look.

"So what does the charming, all-fierce Herem Vince have to escape?"

"Exactly that," he says vaguely, words eroded by his harshness.

"People's expectations and perceptions of me are wearisome," he admits, shifting restlessly in a flare of anger as he swaps the hand behind his head from right to left.

Something I can marginally relate to; I see it best to listen for now. And perhaps Vince and I are parallels of each other, different. But in concept, we share similar grievances that ail us both. As expected, once the seal of emotions is breached. It is almost impossible to bind it back.

"You have no idea..." Another vague utterance. "Sons will always yearn for the approval of their father. Never mind if they are deserving of it. I have not only had to win the approval of my father but of my Regnum, and earn the respect of Emikrol. Ensuring that the legacy of Ethane endures within me, as well as in my younger brothers. But as the eldest, I am the inheritor, the one destined to bear such a glorious burden."

Attentive to his words, an unnamed sorrow withers his mirthful tenor. I roll over, laying on my side. I draw my arms up to tuck my hands beneath my temple, watching him raptly.

"Being born in the Regnum of warriors. Famed for creating both a legend of heroes and a saga of devastation and conquest. I already bore that bequest, and all the expectations that comes with it, from the moment I breathed my first. The standard. Good is never good enough when perfection remains. As an Ethane, I am meant to only be seen as valiant, ruthless, and nothing but a vision of strength."

His face fouls into a resentful look. Many creases appear.

His burdens are one I cannot comprehend. The feats of Emikrol, of Regnum Ethane itself, are reverberated through the annals of Urium history. Every battle and every war waged. The Ethane has played a dominant role in forging our new age, and expelling the Ulris to the untold realms of their hellscapes. It must be a difficult measure to reach and maintain that streak of excellence. The stature of a born warrior.

"I have only been trained to be the best in every field. A conqueror in the battlefield, a refined Nobleman in the matters of court intrigue, grooming favour where I can. Every event I attend is determined by ulterior political motives, to serve the glory of the Empire."

My gaze lowers. "The friend of future kings," I murmur.

"Every victory won whether political or militaristic is for Regnum Ethane, for Emikrol. My guardians hammered that into me relentlessly so that even the breaths that I take, must be strategic to my Regnum's benefit," he says, freeing a bitter laugh. Eventually, he speaks up again. "I am afraid no one knows who I am...I do not even know who I am because who I am supposed to be was forced on me. I never had the chance to choose. Everything that I am was instilled into me, inbred." A long, tense pause between words. "I do not even know why I'm telling you this."

"Well..." I trail off, considering. "I think Vince Esputo Ethane is not all that bad."

He turns his head to finally meet my gaze. Something known ignites his eyes. A look I have seen many times.

"He may be annoyingly charismatic, a show-off, a bit of a prude. And jack of all trades to my great disdain," I say dramatically, exaggerating each word. "The women of Urium are dazed by his enrapturing looks. Beneath all the pompousness, deep, very deep down, lays a noble heart."

Vince spellbinds with his cosmic smile. Then it wanes into a solemn line. "I like you, too."

My lips spread into a grin.

Vince's eyes sparkle with a myriad of emotions, studying me for a brief, thoughtful moment. "If only you knew," he whispers so softly. His words are nearly stolen by the wind's light breath.

His eyes dart to my neck. "How...how are you faring?"

Unease claws up my spine.

"Fine."

"Adalia," he says reproachfully.

"What do you want me to say?" I ask. Anger leaps to life within. "Should I cry...or scream...I wish to do neither. In fact, for a moment, I was happily distracted."

"Even forcefully, he ploughed your field. What if you…"

Bile burns my throat. "Bear his child? A concern I do not wish to dwell on."

He concedes and shelves the topic.

Vince flips over to face me and props himself up on one elbow. His temple resting on his palm, gazing down at me. "I feel I should clear the air." Abrupt. "About what Markiveus said—"

"Markiveus is an antagonising, imbecile," I say to brush it off.

"A...imbecilic who speaks the truth," he confesses.

My insides turn into stones.

"I cannot explain it. I do not understand it," he says. Confusion screws up his face. "But I admire you, more than a competitor should ever regard one of his opponents."

Shock strings my eyes wide.

"When we were at the Orombuc tribe...when you were out tracking with Dario and sometimes with the tribe's hunters. I watched you, I never stopped," he says, marinating in the memories. "You were out there for hours, diligent and focused. Your sun-streaked hair plunging over your shoulders, lips as red as flame. Your face aglow, and even at the peak of noontide, you shone brighter than the sun."

My mouth dries from the absence of words, suddenly scant of breath.

Vince chuckles softly and glances down as if shy. "I know it is ridiculous, dangerous even. But I have suppressed so much of myself, my own ambitions...my own desires. However, my fight to thwart my feelings for the lone Hera is my first and sole defeat."

He shifts and inches towards me and before I know it. His hand lifts. I flinch. A delicate finger caresses my cheek, swiping a stray wisp of hair away. Primus Kelan flashes across my mind, jolting my body as if to reprimand me. The thought of him tormenting me. I retract my face from him with mute refusal.

"Vince...."

An unreadable look flickers in his eyes, and he overshadows it with a luminous smile.

"I did not expect my feelings to be reciprocated. I realise our realities. For my own sanity, I needed you to know."

"We are not in control of our hearts. Only our actions."

He releases a built-up breath, long and deep with relief. His shoulder slackens like a great weight has been lifted. He looks at me and his brows bop. "Water?"

"Please," I say with a smile.

He pushes down to haul himself upright, turning his back on me.

"Your neck must be healing nicely. Before your voice was so gruff, it reminded me of my great grandfather."

I snort a laugh, listening to the rushing sound of water filling a glass, and then another. Vince pivots his torso and outstretches his hand to offer me a glass. I heave myself up into a sitting position, taking it from him with a smile. The glass is the same size as a tankard of ale. Vince takes generous sips. But the moment my cascade flows, I chug down the water. In my periphery, I can see Vince's glass dip away from his mouth, watching me practically inhaling the water.

I tip the empty glass back up, breathing deeply. I glance at Vince's entertained expression.

"Would you like mine as well?" he asks mockingly, lifting his glass towards me.

Childishly, I pull a face, swivelling to place my glass on bare wood between the blankets and the ring of candles. I fall back down.

"Should we return?" he asks, staring down at me; under his adoring gaze.

I look back at the starry skies. "And leave all of this? Not a chance, not yet."

Vince moves to return his glass, then slides down to lie flat beside me with both arms folded behind his head. "Or," he drags out in a suggestive tone. "It is merely an excuse to stay away with me longer. It is alright to admit it."

A laugh blurts from my lips and I nod exaggeratedly. "Whatever brings you comfort, Vinny."

It's strange. It's like we are adrift, floating in a chasm of time, where for an evanescent period. The demands of our titles, responsibilities of our Regnum, and the tension of the Trials all fall away. And for a moment. I forget it all. We are neither a Herem nor a Hera. Rivals. But we are liberated to relish in a beautiful deception of just a girl and just a boy fairy-tale.

And a fairy-tale it is for the reality is grim.

He has his standing, and I have my own. And that is pitted against each other.

It is not lost on me that the Ethane have ruthless ambition, and are just as fierce in their pursuit of it. I can sense his fondness for me is sincere. His efforts are a testimony of that. If I were cruel, arguably cunning, I would use it to my advantage as he would to me.

In the arms of battle, he might defeat me. But in the war of wits, I will conquer.

***

The wind whispers, calling me to wake. Embraced in warmth, my body is swathed in a cocoon of blankets. I roll on my back, peeling my eyes open. Sleep like fog that dissipates from my vision. And it reveals the sky, a gentle lavender with a mix of dark blue strewn with glimmers of pulsing morning stars.

Wait. The stars? Where is the ceiling?

My frown eases as the memories flood back. I turn to my other side to see a slumbering Vince. A blanket drawn up to his nose, muffling his mild snores.

"Vince."

Nothing.

I scramble out of the cocoon, clambering up to stand on my feet. I trample on the coverlet, moving to stand right at his side, staring down at him. Louder. "Vince." My foot prods at his side and he automatically stirs awake. Making his aversion known with a drawn-out groan.

"Oh, forgive me, dear. Did I wake you?"

With one eye still closed, he glances up at me with a bleary look. He shoves the blanket down and slips out his arm to reach for the hem of my dress, tugging at it repeatedly.

"Shhh," he hushes absently. "Come back to bed, my love."

Giggling, I bend down to snatch my dress from his lazy grip. "I am serious. We nodded off and shouldn't have. We must return before our joint absence becomes apparent. And that is unnecessary attention."

He exhales heavily and turns his head straight. Both eyes closed.

"Just a few moments more."

"No." My foot meets with his side again. "You know the Terra rise early, and I need to make it to my bedchambers before then."

"You mean to erase the evidence of our tryst."

I shoot him a glare which his sealed eyelids protect him from. I raise my gaze. The soaring rock walls are varnished into the lake's glassy surface. The dip-dye of colours from the sky above overhangs the becalmed lake. A splash of lavender and the dash of midnight blue blends into the waters.

"You make it sound so scandalous."

"Far from it," he says with crushing disappointment. "This time."

***

Back at the Citadel.

Vince and I part ways once we reach our annex. He ducks into his bedchamber at the head of the corridor. I continue onwards, thankfully well-rested. An influx of energy livens my spirit. With each stride closer to my bedchamber, I am invigorated by an unidentified verve. Unable to pinpoint the origin.

I waft into the room—I nearly trip on air.

A towering, brawny figure turns around. Twilight melds with night.

"Primus Kelan," I breathe.