Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty
About five minutes passed, and there was still no sign of her.
“Empress!” I called out. “Empress…‘
Just then, she broke through the surface. Her face looked different–youthful. She had entered the pool looking to be in her forties, but when she emerged, she appeared to be in her late twenties.
“Empress, you look…”
“Beautiful, magnificent… I know.”
“How?”
“The water, many believe the god of light once bathed in these waters; it’s called the Lake of Youth–It was once bigger than this, but, well, this is all that remains of it.”
She put on her clothes.
“It was like time had reversed, and she was given her youth again.” I said to Trian when we were back in my room.
“It seems to me that you would like to take a dip in the Lake of Youth one day.”
“Of course, not… the Empress would never let me.”
“You fear the Empress like she is a god.”
“She is a powerful woman.”
“I agree, not many men alive could build a community as big as this one. But have you ever thought about how exciting it would be to go against her, even once?”
“I—I…..”
Of course, I’ve thought about it so many times. I wanted to run away, but it was impossible; Empress Julia was going to find me, and when she does… she is going to make me pay.
“I really want to oppose her, I do. But I fear what she will do to me when she finds out.”
“What if she doesn’t find out?”
“She will; you cannot hide things from her.”
“Well, I have succeeded in doing that more than once; perhaps I will try my luck once again.”
“You don’t understand; she would kill you, and this wouldn’t be the first time she did something as cruel.”
“Killing me is the last thing on Julia’s mind right now.” He said, and there was something about how confident he sounded that was indeed off–putting. “How many times have you been outside this building?‘
“A couple of times, when we go to have meetings.”
“How many times have you been outside this building just to explore on your own?”
I was silent, because the answer was never. I could go nowhere without the Empress’s permission; the one time I
tried, I paid dearly.
“I want to go outside… I want to see the people.”
1/2
Chapter Sixty
“Then I will take you outside. Get ready; we will leave in two hours. We have to be back before midnight.”
+25 BONUS
Trian was back in exactly two hours.
“I’m ready.” I said, but my voice sounded shaky even to my own ears, and my palm was all sweaty. I shouldn’t be doing this, and yet I wanted to leave this place so bad, even if it was just for a few hours. I was in a long black gown as I needed to be fully covered.
Trian walked to me; he drew the hood of my gown over my hair.
“Your hair draws attention.” He said, and I nodded, pulling the hood lower to cover my face.
“What of the guards?” I asked.
“I handled them.” He said, taking my hands.
He led me out of the room and through the many winding passageways. He seemed to know this place even better than me, and I spent most of my life here. We passed a couple of soldiers, but none of them questioned him, and finally we got to the back door; there were about five soldiers stationed there.
My heartbeats were so loud I feared they would hear it.
“Stop.” One of the soldiers called to us.
“Can I help you?” Trian asked him.
“Who is the girl?” the man asked. Trian drew me closer to his side, his hands wrapped around my back and going lower. “The Empresses don’t like whores in their castle.”
Had he called me a… whore?
The man laughed and stepped away, but he wouldn’t stop trying to get a closer look at me. I couldn’t meet his eyes, but I saw the smirk on his lips. Trian led me out of the castle; the moment we were out of sight, I pulled away from his touch.
“What was that?” I asked, and he smirked—he had the audacity to smirk at me.
“I was trying to get us out.”
“I don’t appreciate being called that.” I said since I couldn’t say the exact word he had used.
“Are you a whore?”
“No, I am not.”
“Then why are you angry?”
