Chapter 79 - Confrontation (1/2)

Al didn't show after twenty minutes of waiting by the wall so I gave up on that idea and tried looking for the staff entrance. There had to be someone there who would recognize me and let me in.

The risk with this idea was that I might run into one of Sigmund's informants. I didn't want him knowing I had left the castle. That could only result in trouble.

Thankfully, luck was on my side today. I ran into Marcy as she was heading out to personally pick the best strawberries in the market to use in strawberry shortcake.

”Katie! What are you doing over here?” she asked, bewildered.

”I got locked out,” I said sheepishly. ”Think you can sneak me back in real quick?”

”But what were you doing out in the first place?”

I couldn't tell her the truth. She worked for Franz and he couldn't know we were trying to escape. Not right now, anyway.

”I was out for a bit of fresh air,” I lied easily. ”I hate being stuck in the palace. I'm used to having freedom to roam in the earldom.”

Marcy bought my excuse, making a thoughtful expression. ”I can see how it would be a difficult adjustment. Still, this was dangerous. At the very least you should be taking Prince Alpheus with you.”

I couldn't exactly tell her that he ditched me, either. It was too embarrassing. For someone who claimed to love me, he had forgotten me far too easily. He would have to pay for this later.

I pretended to take her words under advis.e.m.e.nt and let her lead me back into the castle. Once inside, I made it back to my chambers painlessly enough. I was used to sneaking around undetected in this place.

”Alpheus McLeod, you are in a world of trouble,” I growled when I opened the door and found him sitting near the fire in a daze.

He looked up at me miserably, not registering the annoyance on my face. ”Is that even my name?”

All of the fight drained out of me. I sat down and hugged his arm in an attempt to comfort him. Nyla was right. He was upset because he believed her.

Al sighed wearily and stared into the flames.

”Of course I'd heard of the Kanta region. The previous king started encroaching on their territory because of the rich mineral deposits hidden in the mountains. They didn't have a formal military or the power to fight back against a nation as large as Annalaias.

”My father—or I suppose, the current king—continued the conflict, eventually putting out an extermination order to seize the mountains by force. Thousands were killed. What few survivors remained fled, primarily to neighboring countries. I learned about all of this in my history lessons growing up. But I never…I didn't know what they looked like.