Crimson and Gold

After the dinner, Lysandra went back to her chambers, escorted by Heron and Alkaios as usual.

Right before the door, her hand froze over the knob. “Has my father asked about who has been visiting my chambers lately?” she asked.

The guards looked at each other awkwardly. The guilt was written all over their faces.

“We had no choice, Your Highness.” Alkaios was the first to speak.

“He threatened to go after our families too if we don’t report everything to him,” Heron quickly added. He took off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his palm. “My parents are poor farmers.

“My father lost his arm during an accident, so most of the work is on the shoulders of my sick mother and two siblings. The gold I’m making is what allows her to buy medication from physicians,” he explained. His guilty conscience made him fiddle nervously with the helmet. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Lysandra listened patiently to his story, then nodded, deep in thought. “Keep reporting to my father. Tell him everything he asks about,” she said, pushing the door open.

After just a step, she paused again, then turned to Heron. “What sickness?”

“Hm?” he looked at her, puzzled.

“You said your mother is sick. What condition is she suffering from?”

“She suffers from pain in her back. We tried many physicians, but they said that without a healer, her condition would persist. The best they can do is prescribe some herbal concoctions to relieve the pain.”

“I see,” Lysandra said, and, still absentminded, disappeared behind the door.

“Do you think Her Highness is angry with us?” Alkaios asked with a hushed voice shortly after.

Heron shrugged helplessly. “But she told us to continue reporting?”

“What if it’s one of those moments when a woman tells you ‘do what you want’ as a way to let you dig your own grave?”

“And why would she do that?”

“Because we’re spying on her for her father?”

“If she had a problem with that, she would have told us,” Heron waved his hand. “Besides, she’s not just a woman.”

Alkaios blinked twice, completely dumbfounded. “What is she then?”

“She’s like not a regular woman. Royals are different than us. They are closer to gods than regular folks. Acting like this is beneath her. If she wanted our heads, she would just take them on the spot! Did you forget what happened to Sulla?”

Alkaios pondered his friend’s words deeply in silence. “You’re right,” he said finally. “I guess we have nothing to worry about.”

Reaching the conclusion that their heads are safe, the guards relaxed and went back to silently watching the door to the Princess’ chambers.

Meanwhile, inside, completely oblivious to the disturbance she caused, Lysandra was sitting by her vanity, completely lost in thought.

Having the Palace staff report about her every move wasn’t new to her. The Princess knew already that every maid, including her personal handmaid, was her father’s spy.

However, now that it reached her personal guards, the people she had selected herself, was making her feel uneasy.

It was also making it difficult to pass a message to Saria. For the time being, it was better if they weren’t seen together or at least make it as infrequent as possible. She could only hope that Saria reached the same conclusion.

Just as this thought crossed her mind, she heard a noise on the balcony and in the next moment she saw the very same person come in to see her.

“Sneaking in through the window under the cover of the night feels somehow romantic,” Saria stated with amusement as she walked over.

Leaning against the vanity, she scanned Lysandra from head to toes. “How are you feeling? Did they do anything to you when I left?”

Lysandra shook her head. “No. Unless we count loss of hearing from my father’s nagging and, well,” she looked towards the door and sighed, “being a prisoner in my own house.”

“Did he put you under house arrest?”

“No. At least not officially, but from now on, my every move will be watched very closely. I was just wondering how I should relay a message to you to avoid coming directly to me.”

Saria sighed heavily. “After what I saw earlier, I thought it would be better if we’re not seen together as often.”

The anger she felt seeing Lysandra being mistreated so much was still burning with the same passion inside her. At least now, she wasn’t forced to put up with whatever nonsense Loukios was spewing.

“It will be the best,” the Princess agreed. “My movements will also be very limited, so I’m going to need your help taking care of some things in my stead.”

“Of course. Tell me what you need me to do?” Saria smiled and took her hand, her thumb caressing her soft skin, offering Lysandra comfort.

It was a small and simple gesture, but for the Princess it was exactly what she needed in that moment. She noticed before that Saria seemed to always instinctively respond to her needs, even if she didn’t voice them.

As if she could feel her anxiety and all of the negative emotions tormenting her.

Each comforting gesture would find its way directly into her heart, turning Saria from a partner to a friend.

And from a friend… into someone more.

“I’ll need you to pass the message to Drusus to start investigating the prophecy as soon as possible,” Lysandra said, forcing herself to focus on the matters at hand.

“With Loukios around, it’s going to be much more difficult to look into things, so we don’t have time to spare.”

Saria nodded in agreement. “It’s time for me to visit Asteria again, so I’ll go to the bookstore on my way there.”

“Be careful and make sure nobody is following you. I’m confident that either my father or Loukios will be keeping an eye on you, too.”

“I will.” Saria’s gaze swept around the vast Princess’ chambers before quickly returning to Lysandra. “Are you going to be alright alone? What if Loukios tries something when I’m gone?”

“He won’t risk it when my father is watching me so closely. He already tried once and failed. My father wouldn’t be able to ignore another attempt unless he wanted the news spread out that the Crown Prince has ill intentions towards his own family.”

One of the benefits of Octavius’ watchful eyes in the Palace was that they made it much more difficult for Loukios to act without being found out, which meant that Lysandra could sleep without worries.

That security, however, didn’t extend over to Saria.

“You should be more worried about yourself. Avoid anything that could give him an excuse to hurt you,” Lysandra warned.

“Alright. I don’t want to be anywhere near him anyway. I’ll just try to avoid him as much as possible,” Saria agreed.

Thinking about the dinner earlier, she suddenly remembered something. “By the way, what is Doran?”

Lysandra’s eyebrows shot up. “What do you mean?”

“Earlier, when I sensed him about to attack me, there was something off about his blood. It didn’t feel human.”

“Have you ever encountered someone who felt like this?”

Saria nodded. “Not exactly the same, but close. It was when fighting the cyclops. At the time, I couldn’t figure out why he felt off until you said what he was.”

“I don’t know anything about it,” Lysandra admitted after a while. “Loukios must be keeping it a secret on purpose. I’ll have someone look into that.”

“No. It’s too dangerous. I’ll take care of it myself. You should avoid drawing any more of their attention to yourself.”

After saying this, she glanced at the moon slowly rising higher in the sky. “It’s getting late. You should rest. I’ll come to you tomorrow night when everyone is asleep.”

Lysandra smiled. “I’ll keep a candle alight for you.”

Saria grinned back at her and placed a gentle kiss on the Princess’ palm, before walking towards the balcony.

“One more thing,” Lysandra called after her. “When you’re in the city, find a healer and tell them to send someone to the farm in Teves. An older couple is living there, the husband lost his arm a while ago. The wife suffers from chronic back pain, she needs a healer.”

Saria looked at her. “Friends of yours?”

“Heron’s family,” Lysandra explained, “My father is using them as leverage to make him spy on me. I don’t like it when innocent people get caught in my own mess.”

Having his own people watch her was one thing, but using someone’s difficult family situation, blackmailing them into doing his dirty bidding, was something Lysandra couldn’t simply accept.

In her current situation, her options were severely limited, but one thing she could do was to lessen the influence her father had.

“Alright, I’ll make sure it’s done.” Saria disappeared into the night with a swift jump over the balcony rail.