When The Stars Align

chapter six | it goes downhill from here

I raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you have experience."

Victoria chuckled as Lysander blushed red. "It was a dare and we don't speak of it because I was sixteen and learned my lesson, alright?"

From the corner of my eye, I saw the two guards holding the bikes exchange awkward glances. There was no way any regular citizen would address Lysander like that, knowing his rank. They were probably growing suspicious.

I walk up and take the blue one, knowing red was Lysander's favourite colour and whenever he went to select a bike, it was always a red one. It made him "go faster" apparently. Even if it was a stupid thought, from back when he was a kid, I let him ride that one. The blue one looked nicer, anyway.

Victoria dismissed the guards, them exchanging another set of confused expressions to each other, seeming very un-guard-like and unsure. The walked away, not looking behind themselves. We waited until they were out of sight until we continued.

"Bikes? Really? I don't even remember how to ride one!" I cried, fidgeting with the break pedal. "I'm gonna end up hitting my head against the sidewalk and get a concussion and lose my memories and then I won't be able to tell you the the details you want from me," I say, overexaggerating.

"Please, like Dad said, you never forget how to ride a bike," Tori said, placing her foot back on the pedal. "If it makes you feel better, the first time I rode a bike after my marriage was a couple months ago when I was teaching Izzy," she recounted, telling me about her older daughter.

"Also, you do know that two days ago, Tori was still pregnant, right?" Lysander pointed out, taking position on his own bike. "She can ride a bike after two days, you can get your ass on one too and ride."

"I've barely ate and slept for weeks now." My thinning body was an obvious sign of that. Let's be honest here, even just standing here is making my head turn. "You really think this is a good idea for my health."

"The king wants you dead."

"And what's he going to say about this? What will the public think, too?"

"Why are you the one thinking about the consequences when you're the one benefitting from this?"

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want you to get in trouble. These are my mistakes. You're supposed to be mad at me, you know."

Lysander gave a small smile as thoughts ran through his head. "You know what else Dad said? You can never be mad at family. And we're not mad."

I shook my head, not understanding my siblings at all. "Whatever, okay, but if you lose your job because of me, Lys-" I swing a leg over the bike, my dress getting caught. Ugh, you could hardly move in these things, why would anyone want to wear this constantly. I end up making it work so nothing got caught while I pedalled - which was a challenge, thanks to Tori's choice in shoes.

"There you go... you got it." Lysander pushes himself off the ground, pedalling behind me. "You remember the way home, right?"

Home. The place I grew up in, where I held my fondest memories of my family and friends, plus the one thing I don't want to remember. I gulped, knowing exactly where it was. "Yeah, yeah I do." I was going home, and it wasn't for an assignment.

"I'll take front, Tori take the rear. Wait, actually, no - last one there can rake the leaves in the front yard instead of the gardener!" Lysander exclaimed, bursting into a dash, in seconds riding out the castle gate. I put my foot on the pedal, gaining momentum, Tori doing the same.

It was weird, being out in the daylight, especially when I was supposed to be locked up. I knew a thing or two about being locked up, and it was never found. Even after that, I was always out in the dead of night, when most people were sleeping, safe in their beds from the horrors of the night.