Unlike My Enemy ( MxM )

68. The Speech

Hadrian

"My people! My friends!"

The crowd erupts in cheers. Aurelia stands straight and tall on the platform in the middle of the square, looking around. Even from such distance, she's beautiful. Her white skirts fly in the wind, a bright contrast against the grey castle walls and the equally grey sky. She has a breastplate on, adjusted for a female chest. It gleams dully in what little sunlight filters through the clouds. She raises her hand, and the cheers gradually subside.

"You are all—my children! Just like the son of Oliver, my beloved late husband, and the best king this country ever had." Her strong voice rises as she puts her hand protectively over her still flat stomach. "Now cradled safely in my womb, this child will grow up and continue what his father has started. But for the time being, I will be your good queen and I will cherish you like a good mother should—and protect you, too, if need be!"

With that, she raises her other hand. A long sword gleams in it, and together with the pieces of armor she's wearing, it makes her look like some warrior goddess. The crowd roars with delight.

"Is she even really pregnant?" I whisper, turning to Philto. "How could she know so early?"

Philto glances at me sideways, his face mostly hidden under the shadows of his hood.

"She could be," he says. "Either way, if she is, it could be Jasper's son as likely as Oliver's."

"What if it's a girl?"

"Finding a baby boy to replace her wouldn't be too hard." He leans closer to me, lowering his voice even further. "As well as disposing of him when he gets old enough to threaten Aurelia's position."

I glance back at Bruno. He stands facing the stage, unmovable like a rock. With his hood on, I can't see his expression, and even if I could, it's hard to read anything on his swollen face. Out of the three of us, he's the most noticeable, with his eye patch and the bruises. It gives me chills, the thought that someone could recognize us. Even less rationally, I fear that Aurelia could do that. Despite us standing on the very outskirts of the crowd, wrapped in traveling cloaks, our faces shadowed by the hoods, it feels like she's capable of somehow identifying us and sending this whole crowd to stomp us to death.

It was dangerous to come here, but we both felt it necessary, and Philto obeyed, following my wishes just like he always had. It comes with a pang of guilt, the realization of how much this man whom I barely noticed was prepared to risk in order to help me, and how little, if anything, I could do to show him my gratitude.

"Thank you," I whisper, putting my hand on his sleeve.

He shrugs, avoiding my eyes. "I couldn't let you perish there." He glances at me. "Even if I couldn't have you...I wanted you to live. To be happy somewhere else...with someone else."

I look at his thin, intelligent face, and the wounded expression in his eyes, and I can't find the right words, so I just squeeze his hand harder and repeat, "Thank you, Philto."

"If you really want to thank me," he says, carefully extracting his hand from my grip, "you will leave. It's a big world. I will give you some money and arrange a place on a ship." He looks at Bruno over his shoulder, then at me. "You can't defeat her," he says firmly. "More than that, you shouldn't. She's good in what she does—and isn't it what this country deserves? Isn't it what this whole rebellion was about, to give us a capable ruler?"

"She'll hunt us down," I say.

"She doesn't know you're alive. No bones were found, true, but the fire was fierce, and most of the tower had collapsed before it could be put out. Nobody knows you've made it out alive. This is your chance to start anew."

The first drops of rain tickle my hands and find their way under my hood. A rumble of thunder comes from a distance. Aurelia is still speaking, and Philto is saying something else, but it all begins to feel too much, too big, too overwhelming. A new life, unlike anything I ever knew. No family, no home, no friends. Starting everything from scratch, alone. It makes me feel empty and small and scared.

Then, hands wrap around my waist, pulling me back, and I can feel Bruno's wide chest against my back, and I remember that I'm not alone, and that Philto wasn't the only person who was prepared to risk everything for me.

"Let's get you inside," Bruno says. "You don't like thunderstorms, do you? "