The Green King's residence was a glitter with lights and festive decorations made of colourful leaves and woven dried wheat stalks. The moon was bright, casting a magical glow over all those who danced in the gardens beneath the palace and the sunset forest beyond. The celebration to honour the foreign guests was in full swing, but Leyla did not feel like celebrating.
Her last chance to find her father was gone.
"Don't look so down, Lieutenant. Weren't you the one who was always telling Michael not to let the past get in his way?"
Leyla narrowed her eyes on Raphael, who looked as relaxed as ever as he watched the Greenlanders dance. "I should have burned those notebooks while we were still on Asch."
The Prorex laughed so suddenly he almost spilled his wine. His golden eyes settled on her face in amusement. "Those notebooks are Michael's babies, you care too much about his feelings to destroy them. In any case, my point holds. Why should it matter who your father was?"
"You don't understand," Leyla frowned, looking out over the dancers. "You don't know what it's like not to understand yourself. Not to know why you look different from your people and why you were left on your own. If I found my father, I might have found a place to belong to, but now it is impossible."
"How can you be so sure? Just what did that old Greenlander say to you?"
Torus, the forty-seven year old retired soldier who had served as point of contact to the Warrior outposts around the time Leyla should have been conceived, was a courteous man. His bushy moustache had stretched with his wholesome smile as he invited Leyla into his home when she called on him that afternoon. Torus's wife, Melly, offered her home-made pastries filled with Greenland jam. They were a sweet couple who had never had children. They couldn't, due to an accident Torus had when he was just seven-years old, that had left him impotent for life.
As much as she would have wished it to be so, Torus was not her father. And as far as the older man knew, the Warriors residing in the outposts will not have been in contact other Greenlanders. They certainly would not have had time alone, Torus had explained, as the few Greenlanders who did make deliveries to the outposts always went in groups of at least three; it was for their protection.
Torus believed there was little to no chance of an affair between a Greenlander and a Warrior from the outposts; both the Greenland and Warrior rules forbid it and the opportunity just was not there.
"My father is not from the Giant Forest and it turns out he is not from the Greenlands either." Leyla muttered, feeling defeated. The only logical option that remained was that her father was a No-Lander. The thought was a depressing one. If he really was a No-Lander, either he was taken prisoner, interrogated and killed or he was somewhere out there and Leyla had no way of finding him. "I'll never find him now."
She took a sip from the cup that had been handed to her during the toast to the King and grimaced at the bitter taste. Why anyone enjoyed this kind of drink was beyond her.
"If it's true that there is no way to find out who he is," Raphael spoke looking into his own empty up. "Then you have to accept it and move on."
"Move on," her laugh was hollow. Why did it feel so hard to do? She hadn't felt this conflicted even when she realised she would have to spend several years in Asch. Was it because she had someone to protect then? A mission that kept her from thinking of herself? "Even if I am not a full Warrior, it is the only thing I know how to be. Now that the Warriors know me as Lady Alessa, how will I go back?"
The question was not directed at Raphael, but he replied nevertheless, "Tomorrow we will go back to the Land of Light. You will have time to think things through then, do not rush yourself, it will only make you feel troubled."
"You're right," Leyla snorted. "I suppose I'll have plenty of time to think while waiting around in a room for you to convince your father to cut me loose."
"I told you that I have a plan," Raphael shook his head sadly. "Lieutenant, one of these days, you are going to have to learn to depend on people. But until that day comes, at least for this moment, let your mind rest." He took her cup from her hands, set it on one of the many small wooden tables that were scattered around the gardens and smiled kindly. "An engagement, an ambush, a short stint in a prison cell. You've had an interesting week. Why don't I honour you with a dance?"
Leyla laughed, surprised by the warmth in his expression. For a cocky Prorex, he could be quite sensitive. "I think I'll have to pass on that honour. I don't know how to dance."
"I'll teach you," Raphael took her hand, ignoring her protests, but he had only managed to take two steps in the direction of the dance floor when they were intercepted by a servant dressed in the gold brocade of the Green King's mansion.
"Lady Alessa, I beg a moment of your time."
Leyla raised her brows in question, but when he refused to say more, she pulled her hand out of Raphael's grasp and followed the servant aside. The youth was visibly nervous, his eyes shifting from her face to the Prorex standing behind her as she waited in silence. Was it Raphael's displeased look that was worrying the boy?
"Go on?" Leyla prompted, and he finally managed to find his voice.
"Sorry, yes. I...I have a message for you from the Warrior General. He asked for you to meet him by the pond on the other side of the gardens. He said it was a matter of some urgency."
Her heart picked up its beat. Leyla had managed to avoid speaking with Alec all day, and would rather have continued in this vain. But matter of urgency? It was not like him to use words lightly. If he said it was urgent, there must be something very wrong.
"Do you know the way to the pond?"
The boy nodded.
"I will be back in a moment." Leyla told Raphael, not giving him a chance to protest as she followed the boy.
The boy weaved past long food filled tables, dancing couples and musicians. On the outskirts of the celebrations they came to a small path that wound round tightly knit trees into a small clearing.
"I'll take my leave now, my Lady." The boy bowed and ducked away as quickly as his legs would carry. Leyla was left staring at the magical scenery in front of her.
The small path she was on was lit with propped up iron torches that curved all the way down to a beautiful pond full of Lilly pads. At the edge of the pond stood Alec. With his back to her, he was watching lotus lanterns float on the dark water, like small stars in the night sky. Her heart picked up its pace and nerves made her stomach tingle. She wanted to leave, had promised herself she would stay far away from him, but she pushed forward. If Alec said there was something urgent, she couldn't ignore him.
He turned at the sound of her foot steps, "Leyla!"
She froze when he covered the distance between them and pulled her close. "I know you're angry, but please, stop pushing me away."
"What?" She tried to take a step back, and only managed to move far enough to see his face. Worried that she might make a fool of herself again, she cleared her throat. "I'm not sure what you're talking about, but please, let go of me."
"Leyla " Alec smiled sadly, then he stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. "You have no idea what you mean to me, do you?"
"What could I possibly mean to you?" She wriggled from his grasp, annoyed now that he was confusing her again.
"Do you really not understand me?"
"No, I don't. I bloody well don't understand any of this!"
"I love you."
The air left her lungs in a rush. Love? She blinked, staring at the clear blue eyes that were watching her with an expression no one had directed at her before. Was that love? Did Alec love her? Alec, who came from a wealthy aristocratic family, who was respected by all men and desired by all women; Alec who could be with whomever he wanted...loved her?
"Your joke isn't funny, let me go." Leyla was starting to feel a little sick. She had been on the receiving end of many pranks in her life, but this one had to be the cruelest.
"You're going to pass off my confession as a joke?" Alec ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I know I pushed you too far last night. It wasn't my intention. It's just that seeing you with that bastard Prorex, listening to the way he called you his... I lost my reason."
Leyla crumpled the material of her dress between her fingers, trying to gain some sense of balance. Was he saying he got jealous? A part of her thrilled at the idea, but she knew it couldn't be.
"I know you were upset when Finn mentioned my engagement over dinner." He continued, taking her hands in his. "But I never wanted to be engaged to the Princess. I've never been interested in her and I will find a way out of the commitment, I promise you."
"You want a mixed-blood nobody rather than a Princess?" Leyla's laugh was humourless. "Do you think I'm a fool?"
Alec's fingers tightened on her arms, his brows drawing together as he lowered his face to hers. "Yes, when it comes to this, you are a fool! All this time, how could you not see my interest? Everyone else in the blasted Kingdom noticed, but you. The recruits, the officers, the servants, by the time you gained your first crescent they were all beginning to whisper. Even the Princess noticed and started treating you unjustly because of it."
Was that why? Did he start treating her coldly because his interest was getting her into trouble? Her heart was pounding furiously now. Was it from excitement? No, she shouldn't get excited, none of this could be true. Alec couldn't love a nobody like her. It didn't make sense. And what was the strange pain in her temple? "Alec, I don't feel so good. Please stop with your jesting and tell me the real reason you called me here."
"Damn it Leyla, I am not jesting, I...wait, what?" His body stiffened, his eyes suddenly alert. "I didn't call you here. You called me here."
The fog in her mind was getting thicker. "I didn't call you." She looked around; the lights from the torches were blurry. When she looked back at Alec, he had his hand raised to his head as if in pain. Concerned, she tried to reach out to him but her arm wouldn't listen to her command. "I'm losing feeling in my arms. Have we been drugged?"
Alec pulled her behind him, his movements unsteady as he stared out into the trees.
"Don't worry, I won't let anyone hurt you." The words came to her from far away. Her sight was starting to slip.
"Alec." She said his name just as the spinning began. A moment later, the world went dark.