Chapter Twenty-One

I help Frederick and his dad spread the word. We get the council on board, and they rally the guards. Some of the richer folk need convincing; the people who fled the lower district the night a shadowstorm crossed the outer walls need a place to hunker down while Invictis and I fight it out. They don't want to share what they have, but I make it clear to them they have no choice if they want to survive.

I don't know how this is going to work, what'll happen during the fight. I don't know if Invictis will summon a shadowstorm or not, but it's better safe than sorry when it comes to the scourge.

We do what we can. Frederick manages to convince one of the nobles to allow the animals from the grazing field to huddle inside his house. Can't be too careful, since those animals are all these people have.

They're scared. Of course they are. They're scared because they never thought it would end. For the past twenty years this entire kingdom has had its fair share of bad luck. Woe after woe, each one more debilitating than the last, Book of Revelations type shit. And after spending the last two decades living like this, they probably thought they'd slowly die out.

But they won't. I won't let them.

Hah. Guess I'm a fucking hero after all. How stupid.

By the time everyone gets the word, the sun is setting. I grab an apple from the stocks that have been brought up and wander to the ramparts by myself to watch the sun set in the distance. I crawl up onto the waist-high wall that is basically just a fancy guardrail and sit on the stone as I stare out at the expansive land outside Laconia's outer wall.

It will take a long time for Laconia to recover from this, but it will, and I… I guess I'll be there to see it happen. Man, that's a weird thought.

I bite into the apple as I stare at the world beyond, full of magic and wonders I never thought existed. If things weren't shit when Krotas was pregnant with me, what would my life have been like? Would I have spent half my time here and half my time with my dad? Would she have eventually invited my dad to stay here with her?

Did he know? Did he know who she was, how powerful she was? Did my dad know when she left him, she came home to another world? He never spoke to me about it, never acted like he knew, and since he's gone I'll never be able to ask him.

I sit there for a while, finish my apple, and toss the core away. It tumbles down the other side of the ramparts, the high wall that surrounds the upper part of the city, landing in the dirt below. The sky above turns dark, full of purples and dark pinks, the colors playing off the bottoms of the few clouds that are scattered across the sky.

I hear footsteps behind me, someone coming up the stone stairs to the ramparts, and my first thought is it's Frederick or his dad. His dad to ask me the questions he couldn't ask me earlier and Frederick to finish the awkward conversation we had when I first woke up today.

But it's not either of them. It's actually the last person I expect.

Ravenno stands beside me, holding his head high as he gazes out at the horizon. He still wears his fancy red garb, the same outfit he wore when he called for my imprisonment. Yeah, still a little bitter about that. With the dying sun, the wrinkles on his face look deeper, more set in his skin. He looks his age: fifty or so. His short, reddish-brown hair is reminiscent of my mom's hair, actually. Same with his eyes, a warm amber color.

I don't say anything to him. Whatever he came up here for, he can spit it out on his own.

"I heard an interesting rumor today," Ravenno starts. "That rumor claimed you are Empress Krotas's daughter."

Okay, I don't want to look at him, but when he says that, I pretty much have to. I turn my head slightly, just enough to see his face. His expression, how, for the first time, he doesn't look angry. He looks… sad.

"I was here, in Laconia, before the first woes crossed the lands. Even then, it was a few years since I saw my lady in person. I was unaware she was pregnant when everything began to crumble around us." Ravenno sighs as he looks down. "Is it true? Is it true you are my lady's daughter?"

"Does it matter?"

"Yes, it matters," he snaps. "Of course it matters. Perhaps it does not matter to someone like you, but to us—to me—it matters more than you could ever know."

"Someone like me," I echo. "You don't know me, Ravenno. You don't know the world I was raised in. You don't know my dad. You don't know that I lost him years ago and I've been on my own ever since. You don't know that I found out who I am just moments before I had to watch my mom die. So cut the sanctimonious bullshit already and save it for someone else."

He has to lean on the wall near me, his chest rising and falling with a heavy breath. "It is true, then. You are my lady's daughter. We had no word out of Magnysia. You say you watched her die?"

I close my eyes and turn my head away.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry, for both her death and that you were there to witness it. She was… a remarkably strong woman. She is what we all should aspire to. I—" The man sounds as though he's having the toughest time coming out and saying this next part. "—I also wish to apologize for everything that was said when you first came to Laconia."

"Ah, so now that you know I'm no demon, you want to apologize?" I glare at him. "Now that you know I'm your precious empress's daughter, you want to make nice?"

"You are not just my lady's daughter," Ravenno speaks, and he turns his body away from horizon, facing me. "Lady Krotas is—was—my great-grandmother's younger sister. You are family to me, I suppose."

My mouth falls open. I can't help it. That's the last thing I thought he'd say. Ravenno is family? He doesn't sound thrilled about it, but I can't blame him because I'm not exactly thrilled, either.

I stare at him. He does have the same warm brown hair as my mom—and me. And the eyes, now that I'm really looking at them, I can see they're not just a similar color; they're almost the same. Eyes like that must run in the family.

"My only family left," Ravenno adds quietly. "As a councilman, I am forbidden to have a family of my own, lest they be used against me to try to sway my opinion on certain subjects. My sister and her family succumbed to the scourge before they could make it to the city."

"I'm sorry," I whisper, because I am. I don't like hearing about anyone who didn't make it. So many. In the end, it always makes me think about Prim. That girl deserved the world, and all she got was a lonely death.

"I know you plan to face the beast that you believe is causing the woes in the morning, and I want you to know that I… I believe in you, whether you are my lady's daughter or not. You have proven yourself to be something incredible, and I've no doubt you will continue to do so. You have all of Laconia at your back, Rey."

I want to laugh. The guy sounds vastly uncomfortable admitting all this to me, like he'd rather be anywhere but here. Can't exactly blame him for that, because like him, I'd rather be anywhere but here, too.

But, in the end, all I say is, "Thank you."

He bows his head and wanders off, leaving me to sit with the revelation that I actually do have some family here in Laconia. One guy who's kind of an asshole, but hey, it's something. Not saying Ravenno and I are ever going to be close, but I guess it's still nice to know I have someone.

I sit there on the wall for a while longer, letting the sky turn dark before I hop off. Here's hoping I don't have any dreams of Invictis tonight. I need some deep, uninterrupted sleep if I'm going to kick his shiny, golden ass in the morning.

My plan is to sleep in the same bed I woke up in earlier that day—but Frederick finds me and tells me where he and his dad will be. They're staying with the council members in their shared house, near the chambers where I was originally brought in chains.

Man, how things have changed.

Frederick rubs the back of his neck, appearing uneasy as he stands before me. We're alone in the makeshift hospital area; no wounded right now. Everyone else is bunking where they'll be tomorrow morning. Everyone except the man in front of me.

I can tell he wants to continue the earlier conversation, but I still don't want to hear it. Not now. So, I say, "Frederick, I need to sleep."

"Right. Of course. I should go." His hand drops to his side, and he turns to walk away, but he doesn't take a single step. A second passes, and then he turns toward me once more. Before I know it, he reaches for me and pulls me into his chest as he wraps his arms around me in a hug that catches me so off-guard, I can't even avoid it.

"I know you don't need it, but… go in power tomorrow, Rey," he whispers against my head. "Go in power, beat Invictis, and come back in one piece. I need you to come back in one piece." His arms tighten around me, and I can hear the pleading in his voice.

This man will be devastated if I don't come back, if I don't win.

Guess it's a good thing I don't plan on losing, then.

Frederick is slow to release me and take a step back, giving me some much needed space when it comes to him. I'm not dumb. I know what he was going to say earlier and what he's dying to say now. I just…

I can't hear it. I can't do it right now. Me and feelings like that don't really mix.

"Don't you worry your pretty head," I tell him with a grin, trying to break the seriousness of the air between us. "I'm gonna win this thing, Frederick. I have an ace up my sleeve."

"I… don't know what that means, and I won't ask. I'll go so you can get some sleep." He bows his head as he whispers, "Go in power, my lady." When he straightens out, we meet eyes, and I'd be lying if I say I don't feel a certain way, hearing him say that.

Not the go in power part, but the my lady part.

I'm not a lady. I mean, technically I am, but I'm not this world's definition of a lady. A woman, sure. But a fancy lady with pretty clothes who commands everyone's respect when she walks into a room? Not me. It'll never be me.

But hearing Frederick say that… it's kind of nice, not gonna lie.

I watch as Frederick leaves, and then I heave a sigh and crawl onto the bed. I think of the stakes, of what'll happen if I lose—but I won't. I know I won't. It's bizarre, but I've never felt more confident before. It's like, after all this time, I'm finally accepting the truth.

My name is Aurelia Smith, and I'm here to kick ass and take names… and I'm all done taking names.