Fever Blood

Chapter 125: The Question

"Assault?" Laidu asked.

"You jumped on the guard, remember?"

"Oh. Is he alright?" Laidu asked.

"From what I know," Kyra said. "My father was in a rage. That stunt you pulled really angered him, and made him look bad."

"He did slander my good name." Laidu sighed. "The guy deserved it, in my mind."

"Maybe so, but he's still angry. You made him lose face. You disrespected him at his own party, and to make matters worse, you put everything he said in a dubious light."

"It wasn't my fault he decided to engage in moral preening," Laidu protested. "Of course he'd seem like a hypocrite when all he does is praise himself for how wonderful he was. He's a jerk behind his mask." He paused, realizing what he was saying. "If I'm to be completely honest."

Kyra nodded. "It's unfortunate, but true. He can be that way." She sighed. "He's the kind of politician that bolsters his own ego, but that bears a double-edged sword. Cydari found out. He was arrested for his... proclivities, and his image of a champion of the law was forever shattered." She gave Laidu a look. "That's what he's worried about."

"Ah," Laidu said. "I see." He paused. "Anything else? You mentioned bad news."

Kyra nodded. "We're leaving tomorrow for our country home. It will be a few months before I return."

Laidu nodded. "If you're going so soon, there's something I want to show you. Turns out the view from above is quite nice."

"Above?" Kyra asked.

"Yeah, you can get onto the roof from this window," Laidu explained. His heart thundered in his chest. He was going to do it, was going to surrender to the madness. He had no choice, given that she was leaving. Those thoughts terrified him, yet somehow he still managed to walk over to the window and open it. Immediately, a blast of cold air swept through the room. "Politics is a dreary subject," Laidu said with a smile. "Say we change the subject and speak of more cheerful things."

Kyra smiled, and stepped closer. "It's cold out there." She leaned in, stood on her tiptoes, and her lips lightly brushed against his. "I'll need someone to keep me warm." Laidu laughed, and they stepped out onto the roof.

***

The roof was flat enough that Kyra didn't have much difficulty standing or walking. Of course, even if the roof was as slippery and steep as a snowy mountain, with Laidu holding her up, her steps were sure and steady. "You know, where my manor is, you don't have that much of a good view. And the other home is hidden away in the wilderness, so I don't get to see much of the city."

"That's a shame. As cities go, Caeld is pretty," Laidu said. He guided her over to a flatter section of the roof. "Though not as beautiful as you."

They were little throwaway comments, but she loved them all the same. Kyra smiled, moved a bit closer to Laidu, and settled down next to him. She let her gaze wander over the city.

The landscape of stone and strange, artificial angles seemed alive somehow. Light seemed to drift out of the streets, slowly making uncertain ventures into the black night sky. There was a life to the city that Kyra hadn't seen, a life hidden away from the cold and frost of the air. And as the first of the early autumn snows fell, it seemed like something out of a dream. Perhaps it was not always what you were seeing, she thought, but how you saw it that made it wonderful. On second thought, she dismissed that entirely. Such wonder and beauty had always been there, but she had been taught to ignore it.

Getting kidnapped had been a trial, but it had probably been the best thing to happen to her. After all, she had met Laidu this way. She had seen the wilderness of Alberion, had got a taste of freedom.

She looked over the bay, staring at the Coldspire. It seemed something unearthly, lit up in soft shades of blues, purples, and whites, casting its reflection across the sea and on the soft clouds above.

It reminded her of that vision she had, when they had activated the mage's circle in the University. She had seen Elysion... and something had entered her then. It had frightened her and still did today.

She pushed the thoughts far from her mind. The cloying cobwebs of fear, especially fear that can't be resolved by her actions, but only by fate, was not healthy for the mind. Instead she stayed in this moment, standing by the man she loved.

That brought up a hundred different problems. The man who loved her had also set her father's political persona on fire. She was plotting on how to get that fixed, and ease the situation over. Her father loved her, and his protectiveness, mixed in with some of his philosophy and general snobbery, meant he saw Laidu as a threat to his daughter, and saw her love for him as a passing phase, a mix of hero-worship and infatuation. Laidu saw her father, it seemed, as an obstacle preventing the two of them from being together. If she and Laidu were to be together, she'd have to be the diplomat between the two of them. She couldn't risk alienating her father, and that meant taking the slow route.

She turned to face Laidu. It was clear something was wrong. He was staring off into the distance, a troubled look on his face. "Is there something wrong?" she asked. "You look like you need to tell me something."

He sighed. "Yeah. Might as well, but first I need you to do something." He gave her a nervous smile.

"Yeah, what is it?" Kyra asked.

"Close your eyes for a moment." She did, wondering what was going on. She could hear his clothes rustling as he shifted positions. "Okay, you can open them."

She opened her eyes.

She saw everything, but she didn't understand it at first. She saw the snow drift down around them. She saw the blue diamond, on a ring of silver. She saw Laidu on bended knee, offering the jewel to her. It took the words that came tumbling out of his mouth for the realization to crash onto her.

"Kyra, I love you." He took a shaky breath. "Will you marry me?"

She saw her choice, and either choice would sow chaos. Should she take the safe route, and play the diplomat, and try to reconcile her father with Laidu, she would have to say no, on the off chance that she could find him, and that Lord Solstael relented. She could keep her old life in Saefel Caeld, with the hopes of getting a new one in the future. It was the safest option for her. But she would break Laidu's heart to do so.

Should she say yes... chaos. Her own social persona would erupt into a thing of scandal, a source of gossip. Her father would be enraged. He wouldn't hurt her, of course, but he'd be irate and he'd do everything in his power to make her break off the engagement, for her own sake. Her friends would regard her as a freak who belonged in a twopenny circus. But she would have Laidu.

She chose.

God help her, she chose.