Chapter Eight

Nieve's heart pounded as she looked over the ground. Somewhere beyond the darkness was the gate that led into the city, somewhere in that city was the gate that led to the forest. Beyond that forest was the Marsh. She had to try it, she had to know if there was a way to get back home. Staying another day in this mansion was unbearable.

Something had surely happened to Evangeline in the time between when she'd dismissed her for dinner and when her duty started again, because the redhead had never been in a fouler mood. The silence from the dining hall to Evangeline's bedroom had been icy, nothing the grey-eyed girl couldn't handle, but the second the door closed behind them and Evangeline was assured of their privacy, things turned for the worse. As if caught in a storm, the handmaid got knocked back against the wall, the impact leaving her breathless while her Lady shouted at her. What exactly, Nieve couldn't hear over the ringing in her ears and the sound of her own pounding heart. Evangeline's beautiful features had turned in the most terrifying sight as her red hair danced around her like she was on fire. Nieve had never been on the receiving end of a prime's power before, not like this. It was like Evangeline was pulling the air out of her lungs, and maybe she really was. By the time the future Lady Simia calmed down a bit, the brunette was seeing spots. She dropped to her knees, coughing and heaving, trying to get more air in her lungs to keep her from passing out on the bedroom floor.

"Lords, you're pathetic," Evangeline had snapped at her right before she'd dismissed her, and Nieve had scrambled up and rushed out before she changed her mind.

She didn't exactly remember how, but she'd found her way to the garden without getting caught by any of the guards. Maybe they were too preoccupied with protecting the primes to worry about a worthless common handmaid. Maybe Nieve had a chance to leave. Her thoughts turned to Layla, could she leave her friend behind? The blonde seemed to be thriving in Serenissima; Nieve couldn't remember ever seeing her friend happier than she was here. She enjoyed spending time with her Lady, and of course there was her infatuation with the Simia heir. Nieve was sure her friend was doomed to get her heart broken, but even then, she'd be happier here than in the Marsh.

The brunette had been on her own, homeless, before. She could do it again. She had to. There was no way she could handle one more day with Evangeline.

She pushed her worries for her friend from her mind and started looking around the garden, looking for her best way out. Surely, she wouldn't have to climb over the wall? That would be tricky for several reasons, not in the least because there was vegetation and vines growing up it. A seed of doubt was starting to burrow its way in when she suddenly had a thought; when they'd first arrived, the guards and Mrs Pembroke had used a secret door in the wall to show them the way around. And she'd bet anything that there would be a similar one in the garden somewhere. Now she just had to find it. She crossed the garden by staying low and hiding behind bushed and statues until she reached the far wall. She stepped in closer to the wall and used her hands to push the leaves and branches aside.

Layla sighed as she sank back onto her bed. She and Nieve were meant to go see Lady Kaitlyn in five minutes, and her friend wasn't back yet. She really hoped that Evangeline wasn't working Nieve to death; she frequently arrived to dinner late and the end of her shifts kept getting later and later. She wondered if she should try and find Nieve, though really she didn't have time to spare; she couldn't leave Kaitlyn waiting. The blonde took a deep breath as she headed for the door, her mind made up; Nieve knew the plans for this evening, so chances were she'd meet her at her Lady's room. Layla resolutely closed the door behind her and made her way out of the corridor.

Riven frowned to himself, leaning against his bedroom door, having of course heard the blonde's thoughts, and became worried. It was unlike Nieve not to come through for her friend; Layla was the only one that the brunette did care about. Resolutely he left his room to investigate where she could be, listening to snippets of thoughts as he passed rooms and people for an indication as to where she could be. He'd almost neared the throne room when he caught a fragment of Lady Simia's mind that chilled him to the bone. He was wanted, to squeeze information out of, and punish, a handmaid that had been caught sneaking away. There was only one handmaid bold enough to try to escape that he could think of; Nieve.

She'd been so close. She could still feel the cold iron of the door handle in the palm of her hand, right before two sets of hands pulled her back and pushed her to the floor. Sentinels she didn't recognise demanded who she was and where she was going. She'd tried to lie her way out of their grasp, but nothing she said could convince them she wasn't running away. She kept telling them she was out picking flowers for Evangeline, because she'd made mistakes tonight that had left her Lady angry at her. The chaos in Evangeline's room would be proof enough of that. Still, they didn't believe her. Instead, they did the worst thing she could think of, and followed protocol.

Now she was stood in an overly decorated room, staring at her shoes while Lord and Lady Simia looked down on her from their thrones on a risen platform. She felt eyes on her from all sides. Primes, guards and guests alike, were looking at her, probably thinking she was a dead girl walking. Even Ryan and Evangeline were there. The latter smirking, probably hoping worse was coming Nieve's way than had already been done to her.

"Get in her head," was all the Lord said, his voice loudly carrying in the silent room. He quieted Ryan when his son was about to protest with a simple raise of his hand.

Nieve's heart thundered as she was forced to turn to Riven, his blue eyes emotionless as he pushed off the wall from where he'd been scowling as she watched him walk her way. She knew this was the end for her; he'd read her mind and force her to speak the truth, or maybe he'd erase her memory, so they could throw her out of the city without an inkling of where she was, or even who she was. Her eyes burned but she kept the tears in, rather going out with her head risen than beg for a life no one else cared about.

Riven stopped only a few feet away from her. He pressed his lips together in concentration while everyone in the throne room turned silent, his gaze piercing into hers, trying to get to her thoughts while she silently prayed that he'd spare her. She didn't know how long they'd stared at each other, every second feeling like an eternity, another step closer to her doom. She wondered if those blue eyes would be the last thing she'd ever see. She startled when he broke their eye contact and turned to the Lord sat on his throne. He kept his gaze on the floor as he spoke, knowing never to look at the Lord and Lady unless absolutely necessary. "I can't," he said in a low voice, making a few people around him gasp while Nieve stopped breathing altogether. They'd never seen Riven tell the Lord he wouldn't do something he was ordered.

"What do you mean, you can't?" Lady Simia asked as she crossed her arms in front of her chest angrily, her voice so cold Nieve was sure the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees. "Your Lord asked you to do something, you don't get to say no."

"I mean I can't do it. I can't read her mind. It's closed off to me," the bodyguard replied, and the disconcerted look on his face made Nieve realise he was speaking the truth.

"That's ridiculous, she's only a common," the Lady shook her head as her eyes flitted from the mind reader to his would-be victim disapprovingly. Anger flared in the brunette's chest so badly she almost snapped at the white-haired woman, her will to survive the night the only thing that kept her lips together. The tall man she was still staring at merely nodded, clenching his jaws while his stare stayed on the floor. He looked ready for whatever punishment was coming his way.

His best friend, however, seemed to think otherwise and cleared his voice, drawing everyone's attention but Nieve's, who kept her grey eyes firmly on the man that had most likely saved her life with his failure to read her mind. Ryan stepped into the circle that had formed around Nieve and his bodyguard, until he was stood next to his friend. He looked at his father as he stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to look as casual as he could. "I don't see why we can't just believe her. She's done no one any harm. And I'm sure Evangeline would have loved the flowers, wouldn't you?" he said, briefly turning to his fiancée-to-be with a half smiling look. The redhead looked anything but happy, but she forced a sympathetic smile on her face and nodded anyway. Nieve realised the genius move the Simia heir had made; even if she was lying, his future wife wouldn't tell Lord and Lady Simia so. How else would she explain the chaos left in her bedroom? She couldn't respond in any other way but accommodating. Ryan smiled, turning back to his father. "See?"

Lord Simia took a deep breath, considering his son's words for a moment before he nodded. Nieve instantly felt the weight of the world fall from her shoulders, and it was all she could do to stand straight when her knees almost buckled. Ryan turned to her and gave her a smile, which faltered the moment his father spoke again. "But no more unescorted strolls, and she's not allowed to leave Serenissima. Ever." For some reason his words were directed at Riven, as if to say that she was his responsibility; if he couldn't control her mind, he'd just have to make sure she caused no more trouble. The bodyguard nodded, thinking it was the best deal they both could ask for, any form of punishment far more painful than being grounded to a city. The Lord and Lady stood up and left the room without uttering another word, a small group of sentinels escorting them. It wasn't until they left that other people started leaving as well, some, like Ryan's almost fiancée, looking disappointed with the lack of punishment, until only Riven and his friend remained with the brunette.

"What the hell were you thinking? Do you know what could've happened to you?" he growled the second he was sure no one could hear them, taking two strides until he was towering over the grey-eyed woman. He balled his fist at his side when he felt the urge to grab her and check if she really was unharmed, though he somehow felt angry enough to want to strangle her, too. Any trace of gratitude that might have lingered on Nieve's face disappeared like snow in front of a roaring fire.

"I wanted to go home, I hate it here," she answered vehemently, the intensity of her voice making Ryan take a few steps back until he was part of the tapestry. He had to give it to her; if she had any inkling of how powerful Riven truly was, she wasn't showing it, she seemed absolutely fearless.

"Well, there's no going home now. You should have come to me," the bodyguard said. She was about to snap at him again when he cut her off by saying, "I would have helped." He pressed his lips together impatiently when she dared to take a step closer, her steel grey eyes shooting daggers that made Riven wonder whether the girl had some latent power they didn't know about when he could almost feel his gut go cold.

"Why would I do that? As if a mere common could expect help from primes like-"

"I'm not a prime," Riven grumbled, looking ready to throttle her. Ryan gave his friend a surprised look, in over fifteen years of friendship he'd never heard the mind reader say anything like that. He might have felt like he didn't fit in entirely, but to actually say he was no prime... In all the time they'd spent together Riven had never given this much away of himself, yet here he was, talking to a common girl he barely knew, and he'd spilled his innermost thought. Surely Nieve would realise this as well and back off or at least show some sympathy or gratitude?

To his surprise the brunette merely huffed and muttered, "You could've fooled me."

Riven growled, unable to figure out why Nieve made his blood boil so easily when nothing ever affected him. It took him every ounce of concentration not to say something he'd surely regret, so much so that he startled when two people ran into the throne room. He stumbled back when Layla rushed to her friend and wrapped her arms around her neck while Kaitlyn asked no one in particular what had happened. He hadn't sensed them coming, hadn't heard their thoughts before they were close enough to see him. He hadn't been taken off guard like that in years. His gaze stayed on Nieve even when she'd turned her full attention to her friend to say she was fine. This girl was a distraction, that much was clear to him, but he didn't know if he'd be able to avoid her, or if he even wanted to.

"Layla, I'm fine, stop fussing over me," Nieve grumbled when her friend started inspecting her for bruises and other evidence that she'd been hurt. Riven had escorted the two maids back to their room; whatever their plans with Kaitlyn had been, they were cancelled.

"Were you really picking flowers?" the blonde asked, a single eyebrow rising as she watched her friend take off her purple dress and get into her nightgown.

The brunette rolled her eyes before she shook her head. Knowing Riven couldn't get in her head gave her some sense of privacy, but she was sure the Lord and Lady were waiting for her to slip up now. If they weren't, Evangeline sure was. There could be a guard standing on the other side of any of these walls, listening in. Not on her thoughts, but definitely on her words.

Layla wanted to scold her friend, first of all because she'd gotten in so much trouble, but mostly because she had thought of leaving without even telling her, but Nieve's silence made her think twice. "I'm glad you're okay," she said instead.

"Yeah, me too," the brunette sighed as she sank down on her bed. She stared at the door as if she could look through it to the room on the other side of the hallway. Riven's room. If it weren't for his inability to 'get in her head' as the Lord had said, she'd definitely be dead, or probably wishing she was.