This love is like a curse (4)
“It seems that you still haven’t realized that there is a line that cannot be crossed,” Barkas said in his usual even voice. However, his beautiful face, usually full of patience, was distorted into a ferocious grimace.
Talia tried to twist her arm to escape, but the hardened knight's strong grip was like shackles. The longboat, blocking the crown prince and Ayla like a devoted shield, pulled Talia even closer and, looking into her face, hissed:
“How low do you have to go to finally get enough?” Even if you hit rock bottom, you can't quench your thirst?
- Do you think I've hit rock bottom? “Talia threw her head back sharply and laughed sarcastically. - Oh, noble Mr. Siekan, do you really think that you know what the real bottom is? Don't pretend to be all-knowing.
She moved closer to him, a sly smile playing on her lips. Unlike other men who lost their minds at the mere sight or scent of her, Barkas did not show the slightest sign of excitement. Only the eyes showed endless disgust.
Talia felt a strong urge to dig her carefully manicured nails into those icy pupils.
“From your height, I must seem insignificant.” But I’m still far from the bottom,” she looked intently into his eyes, where a bottomless quagmire lurked. This man will soon push her there himself. But before she goes down, she will leave deep scratches on their future. It will be fair.
Her deep blue eyes filled with venom. And in the eyes of Longboat, looking at this evil face, something dangerous flashed. They looked at each other as if they were ready to kill each other, until a plaintive voice was heard behind him:
- Longboat...
The man, who had been glaring at Talia, immediately turned to face his bride.
Ayla looked so unhappy that it cut her heart. She carefully pulled the hem of his cloak and whispered pleadingly:
- I... want to change clothes. Please take me away from here.
“...As you wish,” said Barkas, hugged her shoulders and, without turning around, headed towards the exit. It seemed that he had erased Talia from his memory - he did not even deign to look at her.
The girl felt the madness that had taken possession of her instantly disappear. Despair, pain and jealousy took their place. But even through hellish torment, she maintained a semblance of calm.
With a deliberately triumphant smile, as if having won a victory, she headed to the terrace where treats and drinks stood. People hastily made way, as if before a leper.
Ignoring the crowd's reaction, she gracefully took a new glass. But before she had time to take even two sips, Count Serian, who had been watching their argument from afar, hastily snatched the drink from her.
- You better leave the banquet immediately.
- Why? — She indifferently reached for the plate with pomegranates. -Didn't you hear? The First Princess told us to enjoy the holiday. And I'm not finished yet.
“I admire your courage, but…” the count nodded at the crown prince, “right now there is a dangerous beast behind you, ready to pounce at any moment.”
Indeed, Gareth looked as if he was about to draw his sword. His tanned neck was covered with bulging veins, and his jaw was noticeably twitching from tension. He could barely contain his rage.
Another time, Thalia would have provoked him into even more terrible acts, but now she simply did not have the strength.
She stopped pretending and put her hand on Count Serian's forearm. With such speed that it did not look like escape, but without hesitation, they left the hall.
The carriage was already waiting at the garden. The court knight opened the door and Thalia stepped onto the step. But just as she was about to sit down on the soft seat, someone roughly pushed her.
She collapsed to the floor and looked up. Gareth, pushing away her personal knight, squeezed into the carriage. His gaze was full of hatred.
“We can barely tolerate your existence,” he growled, squeezing her throat with rough, calloused fingers.
The knight did not dare to touch the prince, he only shouted, demanding an explanation.
Gareth ignored him and only tightened his grip on her throat. Thalia jerked convulsively and dug her nails into the swollen veins on his arms. But blinded by rage, he seemed to feel no pain.
Gareth hissed right in her ear:
- I endured for a long time... for a very long time, held back, again and again.
The crown prince's bright green eyes glowed like hellfire.
- So don’t be too hard, little sister. We already hate you enough...
Finally he unclenched his fingers and pulled away. Thalia, clasping her neck with both hands, took a deep breath. Her incessant cough made it difficult for her to breathe. Her face was flushed with blood, she could hardly catch her breath, and at that moment the poison in Gares’s voice pierced her consciousness again:
- Remember. Both the fact that your mother is running rampant here, and the fact that such a dirty bastard creature like you is walking freely around the palace - all this is temporary.
With fake politeness, he slammed the carriage door and left.
As Talia tried to stagger to her feet, she noticed that two of the nails she had so carefully filed were broken. Sticky drops of blood glistened on the fragments of nails barely hanging on to the tips of the fingers. She stroked them absentmindedly, and then muttered in a barely audible voice:
-...We'll have to grow it again.
This time she will sharpen them sharper. So that you can pierce to the very bones.
A quiet, hissing laugh escaped her mouth. She herself didn’t understand why she was laughing.
The useless knight, who hurriedly opened the door to check if she was okay, looked at her with bewilderment. In his eyes, she must have looked crazy. Perhaps he is right. She may have gone crazy a long time ago.
She collapsed on the dark floor of the carriage and giggled quietly for a long time.
* * *
The entire imperial court was buzzing like a disturbed hornet's nest. In a few days, the first princess and the crown prince were supposed to go on a pilgrimage. The descendants of the great Emperor Darian [1], who united the great empire, were required to undergo this rite upon reaching adulthood.
Typically, women set off on the journey before marriage, and men - after twenty. But since the princess and prince were born on the same day, the heir to the throne insisted that it was only natural to receive the blessing of the gods on the same day. As a result, crews and supplies for two were collected at once.
An elite squad of palace guards was deployed to escort the individuals, whose titles in the empire were second only to the emperor and empress. And, as one would expect, the commander of the guard, Barkas, was appointed commander of the expedition.
Now Thalia could often see him from the windows of her palace. Her gaze slid across the courtyard, where Longboat was bustling about in preparations.
Today, too, in the drizzling rain, he walked around the yard, checking equipment, horses and weapons. Talia, her chin resting on the window sill, looked at him without blinking.
Longboat raised his head and looked at the sky, as if he wanted to understand how much time had passed. Silvery streams of rain softly washed his face - this image was forever etched in her memory.
On the day she fell in love with him, it was raining like this.
Thalia remembered that day.
Note:
1. In the short story “Under the Oak” it was also mentioned that Darian was the first emperor of the Western Continent.