"I don't remember the last time I was in a gazebo." I murmured, watching the light of the lanterns dance on the poles of the structure.
The way it hit the yellow flowers made them turn brilliant and vivid, like live jewels that brought colour to a grey thought.
"I do."
That took me by surprise. His coarse voice. A lingering feeling rushed through my skin, telling me that something lay beneath those simple and short words. My eyes fell on his. My gold against his. They mirrored what had escaped to the surface, but barely anything else. On me, they stirred distant memories I wished to forget. That was best forgotten.
He went to the rail, to where princess Lola had wandered after my rude awakening. He helped her with her loose tiara, his lips forming the ever-so-concerning foxy grin.
"Nice name for Miss spider." he told, leaning in my direction, his voice but a whisper. Then his smile widened. "You know that if Odette catches her, I cannot stop her from killing your friend."
I watched him. Having seen the transformation from a hard topic into one easier for him to digest. One, he would have a bigger advantage. Or maybe it was all a simple distraction from the darkness within.
Whatever it was, I decided to move away from it.
I crossed my arms in a defiant mood after throwing a side glance at the little spider.
"Unlikely. I am not seeing how Princess Odette could accomplish such a feat." I retorted.
Prince Francis laughed, his back, like his hands, leaning on the rail. "Indeed. Though be sure, my lady, that my sister can be quite obstinate."
I looked at the garden past the lady spider, the lights warm and inviting, like the happy sounds of the guests on their adventurous hunt for those mysterious eggs.
"I am aware." I said, softly.
The silence propagated with my thoughts, my ideas. My tongue was trapped in what I needed to say. I heard steps approaching, but it took me a minute to look back at the prince. To see him.
He had his cheeky smile and an air of inquiry on his face. I could have answered his unsaid question, but I let him speak. Voice it to make it real for me. To propel me.
"What is making the great Lady Lucreatia so desperate to talk to me?" he asked while tilting his head to the side. "I would have guessed princess Lola, however, I feel it is more than that." His chin tipped, his eyes glancing at me from above. He had grown so much since we first saw each other. "How can I help?"
I stepped back, surprising him. My body took me to the rail to watch the partygoers. As if I were spying on their happiness and carefree life. They laughed, unconcerned. Not a sin, yet a knot formed in my stomach. A knot, I was afraid, would never leave, no matter what.
I heard the prince call me. The cheekiness was long gone, substituted by concern and a veiled fear.
There was no reason for more delays.
I took a breath and turned to face him. "Have you heard about the slums on the outskirts of the capital?"
His eyes hardened, and his whole body stiffened. And beneath all, I sensed a trapped guilt trying to escape to the surface. So intense, he turned away from me and focused on the little spider instead.
"Yes, I have heard about the place." He replied, mincing his words carefully. "Though, I am surprised a lady such as yourself would know about it."
"I went there." I replied, and his head swirled back.
He left the rail, confused and utterly shocked. "Why? Better yet, how?" he asked, coming closer again. The space between us, a little more than the length of my hand.
I circled him, feeling the closeness suffocating with such a difficult topic.
"I think the how is meaningless right now." he threw me a look that showed me how much he disagreed with my assessment, although I continued my walk and my talk. "The why is, however, of a more pressing importance..."
I glanced back at him to see him silent and waiting, listening. Attentive. And so I told him of that afternoon, of my discoveries. Of Raphaela of Rivera.
His face distorted with each new piece of information. A storm of emotions laid bare for me to see. By the end, the shock and disbelief took over.
"It can't be." he exclaimed. This time he took to himself to leave some space between us, walking to the opposite side. "She was sent to an institution for young girls of the kingdom..." His back was on me, but his voice, cracking, was enough for me to grasp his emotions.
I breathed and tugged his sleeve, forcing him to face me again. "She was supposed to go. But someone took the money she was entitled to and threw her in the slums..." his eyes were full of questions, scrambling as if searching for the answers in mine. "Lady Di'Mello will take care of her and Father will find who did this."
He caught something on my face that I tried to cover. "It looks to me it hasn't been easy to locate them."
The fox was smart. I nodded.
"I will ask for Fridh's help. His father is the Lord of Treasury. Nothing can escape him when it comes to numbers." he said.
I nodded again, and silence reigned over us in a new wave. My chin dipped, and I saw my hands clutched together, each hand crushing skin and bone of the other. "She was selling herself for food, Francis." I dared to look up to see the pain in his face. "And she was not the only one." I finished with a murmur, so soft I wasn't sure he had heard.
But he did, and the realization broke him as much as it had broken me days ago. His shining golden eyes shimmered as anger overpowered the shock.
I reached for his hands. "Francis, we need to do something..." my cold fingers warmed with the touch. "That place is full of death and misery." he kept himself quiet, unmovable, like a daring and harsh mountain I had to climb. "They are also the people of our goddess. They are your people, too."
"Lady Lucreatia..." he was at a loss for words.
But I was not.
"The place is under the responsibility of the Sacri."
He grasped my hands back.
The Sacri were an order inside the Temple that promoted sacrifice in the Goddess' name. Their focus was on spirituality and chastity. Of all orders from the Temple, they were the most faithful to discipline and the belief that it was through the pain that their connection with the Sun Goddess was the purest.
They were also the order most allied with the Empress family, the Novadintos.
Something Francis knew.
"I was told that before they took over, the place was under the Royal Family's responsibility." I said.
A piece of information shared by Amelia. One I trusted to be right. It was then unsurprising when Francis nodded, confirming it. His eyes moved away from my face, though his grip stood strong on me.
"Indeed..." he stated, his stare far off, somewhere deep in his mind. "Social work in the capital belongs to the Empress house. However, mother, as years went by, grew disenchanted with the crown and its duties and gave away her work to those who were loyal to her."
"She simply gave it away?"
I knew his words shouldn't surprise me. Of course, that was what happened, yet it stung. My whole body ached at the thought. My skin hurt and my hands under his were on fire with outrage.
"Yes." he added, freeing me. A sorrowful sigh escaped his lips. "My sister would have taken it next, but like my mother, her interest was not in that direction."
Or in any direction, I concluded.
I heard the steps of princess Lola as she approached us. Then I saw her jump to Francis, who instead of being startled by her, simply extended his arm to ease up her climb to him.
Owner of her actions, Princess Lola was no common creature in this world. She had a mind of her own. And no matter what, those ladies thought, she had a bigger heart than the most beautiful bird in existence. So it was no wonder princess Lola patted Francis's cheek to give him some solace.
She was understanding.
I was less. Not of him. But of his family.
"Those people, your people, were tossed just like that? As if nothing..." I gulped hard, anger building up in my heart. "No one is there to help them in the royal family? Do I need to ask my aunt t-"
"If you believed your aunt could have helped you, Lucreatia, you wouldn't have come to me." he argued back, his upper body now closer to me.
I bit my tongue. Unfortunately, he was right.
If not involved, Belladonna was for certain complacent about it. And nothing guaranteed she would have truly helped.
"The ones in charge were chosen by mother. It won't be easy to remove them." Francis ruffled his hair, letting the blond strands run wild on his face while he thought. "I can try to take the task, but the Emperor would for sure be against it. I have already a full schedule with lessons and state affairs." he looked at me in between thoughts.
"The best way would be to involve the great families. However, the dukes and the duchess are busy people as well. We could ask their sons for help, but I am afraid social work would not interest them." He swallowed for a painfully long time. "It brings little prestige to their name."
So the people of the Sun Empire were bound to the "prestige" one would get from helping them... This was the great Sun Empire. The gracious land, a holy nation created by the Goddess of warmth and kindness. Yet the bitter truth didn't seem so shocking. Like any other, this land was cruel to those who had no protection or richness. Whose power protected those in power and not who needed the most.
It was a land of lies.
But as an idea came to mind, I figured I could turn it into a land of opportunity.
"What if instead of the sons we asked the daughters of the great families?"
I said daughters, but I really meant me.
Which Francis figured as well. "You cannot be serious..." he whispered.
I crossed my arms. "Why not?"
"It wouldn't give you anything but work. No one would praise you or acknowledge your effort. And the duke... I am certain he wouldn't be happy about it." he said as if he was explaining to a toddler it was wrong to chew furniture.
I tilted my head to the side. "Have you ever known me to care about that?"
Gobbie included.
He laughed. Loud. "Indeed. You are right."
I returned the smile. "I will take care of Gobbie. The rest does not matter." Then I extended my hand and exclaimed. "Let us be partners!"
Before taking my offer, he looked down at my steady fingers for a short while. "Very well. To a good partnership." he said, finally pushing his hand forward.
But instead of shaking hands, he turned mine up and took it to his lips and kissed it gently.
You sly fox...
What did you think???
This talk was charged with feelings and information, but I hoped this was still entertaining to read!
And as I said this was a turning point in Lucretia's Journey. How do you think this will work out??
It is daughter's time now!!
See you soon (next chapter another person takes over- any guesses??)