Warrior's Mind (Book 2 of The Warrior Chronicles)

Chapter 42

Leyla woke with a splitting headache. She blinked, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar plaster designs on the ceiling. The intertwined knots echoed the feelings in her stomach as memory returned.

She bolted upright, recognising Raphael's room at once. Thankfully, she was alone. Touching her pounding forehead, she got out of bed. Raphael's bed. How had her plan gone so wrong? She would think of that later. First she had to get out of the room before the Prorex returned.

Brushing at her impossibly wrinkled dress, Leyla headed for Michael's apartments. Neither the Book Keeper nor Michael were there. Washing her face with the clean water that had been left in the guest room, she put on a fresh dress and tied her hair back. After wearing her headband, she realised she had done pretty much all she could on auto-mode. Now, she would have to think about the previous evening.

Why do you have to be so good looking? The words that had come out of her mouth flashed across her mind, making her wince. No, she wasn't ready to confront that yet. It was best to find something to eat first...

When Leyla arrived in the dining hall, she found a chipper looking Michael tucking into a pastry.

"I'd say good morning, but it's past noon," he grinned, holding out something that looked like bread but smelled like cinnamon and nuts. If only there was vela... Leyla took the offering, but refused to sit.

"So, last night -"

"Will never be spoken of," Leyla interrupted.

"Why?" Michael grinned. "I mean, I admit to having a horrible headache, but it was worth it to see you laugh so freely."

"Never," Leyla repeated while trying to remember what precisely she had laughed about. Suddenly she recalled that she hadn't only laughed last night, she had cried. Cried!

After the orphanage kids left her locked in an animal cage overnight when she was six, Leyla had not cried, no matter what happened to her, for years. But in just a few weeks, she had cried twice because of Raphael.

She put down the food in her hand. "I need some air."

"Wait, La-La!" Michael scrambled after her. "I'll take you somewhere that will cheer you up immediately!"

The cold months were drawing near, the winds from Hangman's Mountain would be making themselves felt around now at the Warrior Keep, but outside the Crystal Dome the air was still balmy warm.

Leyla didn't protest when Michael took the lead, she didn't have a better plan at the moment anyway.  She followed him to the edge of the garden, wondering where they were headed when they ran into Delphine.

Her hair in its usual sedate bun, her dress immaculate, she was walking with two other women who looked equally well kept. They had to be daughters of High Thinkers, Leyla thought. The families of the scientists also lived in the inner keep, but there seemed to be a strict hierarchy in the Land of Light and she had yet to see anyone other than High Thinkers or guards on the islands of the inner keep.

Michael noticed the women and averted his eyes. Hah! She knew exactly how he felt.

"Don't even think about running," Leyla grabbed his collar when he started walking towards a bridge leading away from the group. "We owe her an apology."

"La-La, have mercy!" Michael whined, his brows raised pitifully above his blue eyes.

"Cowardice does not become you," Leyla frowned when that sentence pricked her conscious. Hadn't she run from Raphael's room earlier? Well that had been to gain time to think before confronting him, this was entirely different. "Lady Delphine," she called to the girl, "May we have a word?"

The women beside Delphine looked at her in surprise, one of them smiling tentatively.

"Of course, Consort." Delphine signalled her companions to move on without her.

Michael was doing his best not to meet Delphine's eyes, not that she would have noticed since she was doing the same. Did something happen that Leyla didn't know about?

She cleared her throat. "I made an error of judgement yesterday and goaded Michael into drinking with me. As a result, we both acted like fools and you suffered for it. I am sorry."

"Consort, please. You don't have to apologise!" Wisps of light brown hair fell across her distraught brow.

Leyla shot Michael a warning look. "I too am sorry," he added, managing not to sound the least bit apologetic.

"Sorry my foot." Delphine muttered, surprising both them and herself. Her pale cheeks turning pink, she stuttered, " I mean, I..."

Michael burst out laughing. "We are going to the bell fields behind the keep. Why don't you join us, Lady Delphine."

"The bell fields?" A spark entered the girl's eyes, but then she was shaking her head, "No, I better not. The ministers daughters are having tea and I promised to join."

"Tea? Well, you couldn't miss that. After all you are a perfect lady." Sarcasm was fairly dripping from Michael's tongue. Leyla was sure that he used to be very polite to Delphine before. What exactly happened between them?

Delphine raised her chin, her eyes steely as she stared him down. "It would be my pleasure to accompany you, Consort. I doubt if the Curator knows the way, his sense of direction is quite dubious."

"Oh?" Leyla looked from Michael's narrowed eyes to Delphine's smile then sighed. She was simply too tired to try to understand what they were about, "Let's go then shall we?"

Delphine nodded, then turned towards the east exit of inner keep while Michael walked behind her, grumbling in Asch about confounding women.