IMPERMANENCE

six years ago

***NOTE: This chapter is very long but very important***

Alessia

Thirteen year old Alessia Varela sat tucked in the corner of her chambers. Two years ago she had been sent here, confined by her father after killing one of the Emperor of Gunther's sentries, ruined their engagement, and any chances at peace between their two kingdoms. Her father had her locked away out of embarrassment and utter shame, and for once she couldn't blame him. She had been deemed solely responsible for the downfall of their kingdom.

Alessia had gotten lost inside of the Emperor's palace in an attempt to flee from her betrothal. She was beside herself, absolutely horrified that her father would want this for her. Roo, her nanny, hadn't stopped her when she abruptly fled from the Emperor's Great Hall and sent herself down the foreign halls. Roo was the closest person she had to a mother figure in her life, she had always filled that void in her youthful heart. Roo didn't want this for her just as much as Alessia didn't want it for herself. There was nothing Roo could do to change her father's mind. If she had spoken out of line to the king, then she would be sent away, leaving Alessia with nobody but her brother, Ivan.

Her father made her believe that her murder of the Emperor's sentry was out of recklessness and instability. She couldn't bring herself to tell anybody the full story. She herself couldn't accept what had happened to her that day.

What would have happened had she not defended herself.

It wouldn't have mattered if she had killed the Emperor's guard out of self-defense, the Emperor didn't care. The Emperor found little pleasure in forming an alliance with Kintu, anyway. It was a terrible political move on father's end, Ivan had said to her before she departed for Gunther. But, it was the only option they had left other than surrendering themselves as part of the Guntheran Empire.

The odds of the royal family being kept alive were dwindling day by day as Gunther's anticipated arrival neared.

Since that day at the Emperor's palace, Alessia hadn't seen a single human face, with the exception of her brother and Thea, her only friend. Three nights a week Alessia would sneak out of her chambers from her balcony to train Thea. Alessia would maneuver from the cramped servant passageways embedded deep within the castle to remain hidden. She had previously spotted the unoccupied part of the dungeons and selected it as their training area. Three nights out of a seven day week wasn't enough for her, but it was all she could afford. Guards patrolled outside of her quarters at all times and it had taken Alessia a month to figure out their rotating schedule.

Three nights. That was all she could spare. She didn't want to know where her father would put her next in the event she got caught.

And of course, she had Zachariah.

Zachariah was always there only making himself known when she needed him to. Or, when he wanted to. He hadn't shown himself at the Emperor's palace that day no matter how loudly she begged. Alessia was truly on her own that day and every day after that. She wondered if he would've told her to kill the man who attempted to force himself upon her. Would it have made a difference? She could have sworn she heard his voice creep into her ear giving her permission to make her attacker suffer. Perhaps she created his voice inside of her head to keep the guilt of her first kill from eating her alive.

Something felt . . . strange tonight. The air was still, too still. Alessia curled her knees to her chest in another corner of her chambers, a book placed in her hands. She was determined to make use of all of the space made available to her. She had been everywhere, twice. This corner she particularly favored simply because of its relative location to her balcony, her absolute favorite place to be, even before confinement. This corner allowed outside winds to swerve around the marble pillars that broke out just before her balcony and gently taint her skin.