This love is like a curse (32)
Having sent away those accompanying them, they found themselves in a garden lushly overgrown with marigolds [1], daisies and rosemary.
The plants, saturated with moisture, filled the air with a thick herbal aroma. Ayla took a deep breath of this tart smell, then raised her eyes to Longboat.
-What happened last night?
The man, calmly walking forward, turned to her.
Ayla looked intently into his eyes. His light blue eyes, pale and empty, expressed nothing. They were like a mirror - they reflected everything, but did not store a single thought. Looking into those transparent eyes, as if washed with water, her heart suddenly felt heavy.
“Will the day come when I can really look into them?”
While she was thinking about this, Barkas's tightly compressed lips finally opened:
“Nothing that could disturb you, Your Highness.”
-...So something did happen.
Longboat did not answer, stepping into the garden where the rain was pouring. Heavy raindrops quickly wet his broad shoulders and back. The girl stared with irritation at his cold, indifferent back when he suddenly extended his hand to her.
— There are deep puddles here.
Taking the hint, Ayla blushed and looked angrily at him.
She didn't want to give in to the mercy of a man who had just acted so coldly. But she also couldn’t leave her groom in the rain, silently waiting for her. Having done a little harm, she nevertheless approached him, pretending that she had given in under pressure.
Longboat bent down slightly, grabbed her under her knees with one hand and lifted her up easily. Ayla, as in childhood, simply laid her head on his shoulder.
“You know, there’s something mean about you.”
He raised his eyebrows at the sudden accusation. But Ayla didn’t explain her conflicting feelings; instead, she simply hugged him tighter.
The longboat covered her with his cloak and quickly crossed the spacious garden. The girl pressed her cheek to the collar of his clothes. He smelled of tart herbs, the metallic tint of his armor, and the faint scent of dry leaves or hay.
Immersed in this cool aroma, Ayla suddenly felt the irritation go away, as if it had never existed. She smiled bitterly.
It was funny to her how much she worried about actions that were just a long-standing habit for him. He was only kind to her because of his vow to her mother. This is a concern born of duty. No more and no less. She understood this - and still could not do anything about that aching pain in her chest.
“Cruel man... It would be better if you weren’t kind to me at all. Then perhaps I could be content with this political union..."
She lowered her eyes sadly.
“I’ll order hot water to be brought into the room.” Relax after swimming.
The longboat, having already reached the entrance, stopped and nodded. He easily climbed the stone steps and seemed to be about to lower the girl to the ground, when suddenly...
The sky lit up with a flash, and the next moment there was a deafening clap of thunder. Ayla reflexively grabbed his neck.
A huge roar, as if the sky itself was splitting, shook the air, and a golden flash of lightning cut through the dark clouds.
She froze, looking over his shoulder at this almost apocalyptic sight, when she suddenly noticed a pale figure sitting on the second floor window sill.
It seemed to her that she was seeing a terrible vision and she involuntarily opened her mouth. A sparkling light illuminated a face so beautiful that it seemed almost eerie. The snow-white face, like porcelain, crowning the fragile neck, glowed with cold, furious hatred.
She knew that her stepsister was extremely beautiful. But why did it hit her so hard now? Thalia, looking out of the window with glowing eyes, resembled the angel of death. Her appearance was impossibly ominous, and Ayla involuntarily held her breath. And at that same second, like a statue, the previously motionless Thalia grabbed a vase standing by the window and threw it in their direction.
Ayla screamed.
The longboat covered her, and the fragments did not hit her, but there was a scratch on his cheek. Ayla immediately took out a handkerchief and pressed it to the wound.
He calmly took the handkerchief and applied it himself, still with the same impassive face, and then looked up.
Ayla followed his movement and saw that Thalia was still looking straight at her. There was not a drop of remorse on her face. Her sparkling gaze burned. And the bloodshot lips looked like a crushed rose.
A wave of fear rose in my chest, amid the growing anger.
She always considered her half-sister to be worthless. But at that moment she seemed to her the most sinister and dangerous creature. It was as if the evil spirit that had once destroyed her mother now sought to drag her into the abyss of grief.
Ayla shuddered with icy foreboding.
* * *
The rain, which fell all night, began to subside only in the morning.
Thalia, who hardly slept a wink, looked with a dull gaze into the garden, flooded with the first rays of dawn.
The lush green leaves that had once shone brightly were now half-submerged in the murky water, emitting a pungent, thick smell of damp grass. Flowers that decorated the flower beds with colorful colors lay with broken stems, scattered everywhere, like dead bodies.
Observing this gloomily, she climbed out of bed and walked over to the small table by the fireplace.
Untouched food sat frozen on a silver platter. Indifferently glancing at them, she took a small knife lying nearby.
It was designed for cutting food, but it seemed like it could cut through human flesh just as well.
She ran her fingers along the sharp blade and then slipped the knife into her robe pocket before leaving the room.
There was a sticky, viscous dampness throughout the entire corridor. Making her way through the heavy air, she clutched the ice knife in her hand.
My palms were covered in cold sweat. From tension or excitement - she didn't know. Perhaps from both.
Moistening her dry lips, Thalia stalked up the stairs like a thieving cat.
Ayla occupied a room on the top floor. Having reached the end of the stairs, Talia pressed herself against the wall and peered into the corridor, immersed in thick darkness.
Luckily, there was no one at the door.
Quietly exhaling a sigh of relief, she carefully walked towards the door at the end of the corridor.
When she approached the wooden door with metal brackets, a faint smell of herbs filled her nose - the aroma of soothing incense.
Thalia smiled wryly. It seems that last night was not a peaceful one for Ayla either.
Remembering how she turned pale at the sight of her, Thalia chuckled softly. But then another picture popped up in my head, and my mood immediately plummeted into the abyss.
Her face was distorted with rage. She put her hand in her pocket, clutching the handle of the knife.
The whole body trembled.
The moment she saw Longboat carrying Ayla in his arms through the pouring rain, something inside, held with such difficulty, collapsed completely.
Talia roughly wiped her eyes with her sleeve, brushing away the cloudy haze.
This was the only memory.
Something that she kept in the depths of her heart for years, secretly bringing out in moments of weakness. And they even took that away.
Couldn't they have kept at least one as something special, just them?
My brain was boiling with rage. She understood that these were irrational feelings. But still she could not forgive either her or him.
She wanted to take revenge on Ayla for taking away her last corner of holiness. I wanted to return to that man at least part of the pain that I felt myself.
With her eyes burning as if on fire, Thalia stared at the tightly closed door.
Once she crosses this threshold, there will be no turning back.
Perhaps she will remain in history as an evil witch who took the life of an innocent princess. But she didn't care.
She was already branded as the worst of them all. Even if she goes even lower, what will she lose?
With a trembling hand, she grabbed the doorknob.
Note:
1. Marigolds - calendula.