by E. L. Todd
Roslyn Thoroughfare
23
Aleco and Accacia traveled across the desert towards the south of the Continent. By the time the stars appeared in the sky, they had crossed the desert and entered the Roslyn Thoroughfare, which stretched between Roslyn and Morkarh, acting as a divided road to the southern provinces.
Aleco enjoyed the woodlands of the thoroughfare because of its unlimited hidden dwellings and frolicking game. He hadn’t eaten a meal in many days, just nibbled on a few seeds and chunks of dried fruit Accacia had in her pack. The hunger was gnawing at him so deeply, it controlled his every thought. He led Accacia into the thickened populace of trees and found a familiar den he used during his travels. They crawled through a tunnel within a formation of rocks until they came to the other side. It opened to a small meadow surrounded by the height of the boulders. It was the safest place they were going to find. He instructed Accacia to remain behind while he hunted in the forest.
When he returned, Accacia had already constructed a fire and she sat beside it, letting the warmth of the flames dispel the chill of the nighttime air. If she would have bought the cloak like he instructed her to, she wouldn’t feel so numb. He had no sympathy for her.
He brought two conies and a squirrel to the campsite and skinned the carcasses. Accacia looked away in disgust at the sight. The death of the animals was murder in her eyes. He returned with so much game, she assumed some of it was for her. She sighed in annoyance. “I don’t eat meat, Aleco,” she reminded him.
“I know,” he said as he continued to skin the animals. He didn’t look at her across the fire.
“Then why did you bring so much?”
“I’m hungry,” he snarled. “What I don’t eat now, I’ll eat later.”
Accacia said nothing. She felt her own hunger grow as she pondered what she would eat for dinner. It was too dark to search for anything in the woods. She would have to eat the meat or starve. It wasn’t a difficult choice; she would rather die of hunger.
Aleco placed the skinned carcasses on a stick over the fire and rotated the branch in the flames, allowing the heat to thoroughly cook the meat to the bone. The flesh sizzled in the fire and juice dripped from the meat as the outside charred from the flames. Aleco finally looked at Accacia as she watched his ministrations. When the meat was fully cooked, he withdrew his dinner from the fire and placed it on his handkerchief. He reached into his pack and withdrew a sack of wild berries he found in the forest, and another small bag of assorted woodland nuts he knew to be edible. He tossed them to Accacia.
She looked at the bags quizzically. She smiled as she saw the contents of the sack and immediately began to consume the dinner he brought for her. “Thank you,” she whispered.
She was touched by his actions. The darkness must have made it difficult to locate anything for her to eat, but he did it anyway because he respected her eating choices, even though he didn’t agree with them.
“It went well?” he asked over the popping sounds of the flames.
“Yes.”
“Is there anything worth mentioning?”
Accacia thought back to the information Lydia revealed about the connection between Aleco and Father Giloth, but decided to hold back the revelation. Last time she discovered the events of his past, he lashed out in anger and betrayed her trust. It was better not to say anything. “Lydia has two children,” she said.
“How is that worth mentioning?”
“Because they were absolutely beautiful.” She smiled. “You would have adored them, Aleco.”
“I doubt that,” he spat. “I’ve never harbored affection for brats.”
“They definitely are not brats,” she said.
“Either way, I don’t see the relevance.”
Accacia sighed. “She isn’t the mother.”
“So?” Aleco said. “Why do I care about that? Why would anyone?”
“Well, why do you think Devry wanted the money to go to her?”
“I couldn’t care less,” he said. “That’s his business.”
Accacia threw a seed at him. “Obviously those children are his, you idiot.”
Aleco shook his head. “And why is this is so obvious? It seems like a stretch to me.”
“Lydia is his sister,” she said.
“You know this how?” he asked. “Or is that obvious, too?”
Accacia threw another seed at him but missed. He laughed at her poor aim. “She told me so,” she said as she threw another seed, which hit its mark.
“I think it is very unlikely,” he reasoned. “Brothers are prohibited from procreation. I doubt Devry would risk his life fathering children.”
“Why is having children prohibited?” she asked with interest.
“It dilutes your allegiance,” he explained. “The Chief wants your sole support, which he can’t have if you are giving it to others. The Brothers of the guild are your family.”
“That’s barbaric.”
“I agree,” he said.
“Can you marry?”
“What do you think?”
Accacia sighed. “Are you celibate?”
“Me? Or the guild?” he asked. “Because I am not a Brother of the guild, so don’t include me in it.”
“Fine,” she said. “Are they celibate?”
“No,” he said. “We have a very large brothel in the Vast. We passed it on our way to the prison.”
Accacia remembered spotting the shop, along with the other stores they saw in the city. “Is its use common?” she asked.
“Very much so.” He laughed.
“Did you—go there as well?”
Aleco looked at her. “Why are you interested, Accacia?”
She looked away and said nothing. It was an inappropriate question to ask, and she regretted invading his privacy. Besides, it was obvious he had. “Are the women slaves?”
Aleco turned his gaze away. “Yes,” he muttered.
“That’s barbaric,” she repeated.
“I know it is,” he said.
An awkward silence enveloped the night. Aleco reached over to put out the fire, but Accacia stopped him. “Can we leave it going?”
“No,” he said. “I needed it to cook the meat, and now that I’m done, it needs to be put out. It’s too risky.”
Accacia removed her hands from his, and he drowned the flames in water. He placed a sheet over the dying fire to quench the rising smoke. The enclosure plunged into darkness. After a few moments, Accacia’s eyes adjusted to the lack of light, and she looked over at Aleco. “What if he had the children before joining the guild?” she asked. “He sent them to his sister and sends money to support them. It makes sense.”
Aleco lay down on the opposite side of the dead fire. “He did mention he had a wife who died years ago,” he said. “Though, he didn’t say how she passed away.”
“Probably in childbirth,” she reasoned.
“Maybe,” he agreed. “Why do you care so much about this?”
She was quiet for a moment. “I couldn’t imagine having children that I couldn’t see,” she said. “I couldn’t handle it.”
“Well, if it makes you feel better, Devry voluntarily joined the guild,” he said. “Therefore, he knew what would happen.”
“Or maybe he was forced to,” she said. “He had no other way to support them.”
“Possibly,” he agreed.
“I’m surprised so many join such a despicable organization, not just because it steals from good people or implores slaves, but because it strips away their basic freedoms, like the choice to marry or sire children,” she said. “You were almost put to death because you wanted to leave the guild. I just don’t understand what attracts so many members. They need to change their ways.”
“Most men don’t care, Accacia.”
“But not all,” she said.
Accacia lay down on the freezing ground and tightened her cloak about her body, a futile attempt to keep warm. Aleco was covered in his cloak and th
e thick hooded jacket he always wore to hide his face. He saw her shiver across the fire.
He wanted to encompass her within his arms, to keep her warm with his body heat, to breathe his hot breath into her lungs with his kiss, but he knew he couldn’t; she didn’t want him. The painful conversation still hung heavy in the air from the day before, and he knew she was thinking about it as well. Accacia had ripped his heart from his body and incinerated it in fire. He wasn’t sure if he would ever grow a new one. He would give anything to be back into the blissful relationship they had for such a short time. Even though their time together was miniscule and the prospect of death was hanging over him, he still had never been happier. He wanted to invite her into his arms, but he didn’t know if he could control himself from pressing his advantage. He was very attracted to her. Aleco saw her shiver again. He rose and walked toward her, then covered her with his warm cloak, which was blazing with his body heat.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“You’re cold,” he said.
“I don’t want it,” she said as she pulled it off.
“Take it,” Aleco commanded her. “I don’t need it. I have my other cloak.”
“No.”
Aleco sighed. “You won’t sleep well if you are shivering the entire night. Then, you’ll travel like a snail tomorrow because you’ll be exhausted. You are doing us both a favor by taking it, Accacia.”
“No, Aleco,” she said firmly. “Thank you, but no.” Accacia didn’t want his aid in any form. She wanted to keep her distance from him, keeping him at bay. She had hurt him deeply, and she didn’t want to encourage his feelings by accepting something that belonged to him. Accacia still thought of Drake when she looked at or spoke to Aleco, and she didn’t want anything to do with him.
Aleco gave up and walked back to his side. He bottled his anger at her stubbornness. She could be so infuriating sometimes. “You are welcome to lay with me if you want,” he offered.
Her only reply was the sound of her clattering teeth. Aleco waited until she was asleep before he surrounded her with the warm cloak, disregarding her earlier rejection of the jacket. Her shivers ended, replaced by pleasurable sighs, and she slept undisturbed for hours. Before the sun rose, Aleco retrieved his cloak, anticipating the fit she would throw if she knew what he had done.
When she awoke, Accacia drank from her waterskin and ate a small breakfast of fruit before they packed the campsite and moved on. Aleco wondered how her body could survive on a diet of only fruits and nuts.
They traveled across the Roslyn Thoroughfare and headed towards Orgoom Forest. Aleco knew the borders would be crawling with guards, checking the entrance and exit of any citizen, so he had to plan their infiltration carefully. He doubted the guards would reside within the actual forest, because Father Giloth would reject the hostility they were impregnating into the woodlands. If Aleco could get her past the border unseen, she would be safe within the forest.
Aleco’s mind daydreamed as they traveled in silence, which was now a routine. Unless they had something important to discuss, they did not speak. The sun had risen and blanketed the earth with much appreciated heat and light. Aleco spotted the bumps on her skin and knew she was freezing in her poor attire, so he offered her his cloak, which she rejected immediately, again. Aleco hated himself for what he had done to Accacia. If he had just kept his emotions under control, he would be kissing her right at that moment. However, he knew his ferocity reminded her too much of his twin, and she couldn’t stand the resemblance. Aleco understood her apprehension, but hoped she would overcome it eventually. After all, they experienced so much together, and she must have noticed all the positive things he did for her. He doubted Accacia only kissed him because she thought he was going to be executed. He knew there was more to her feelings than that.
The Hideaway
24
“The woman was spotted in Morkarh by several people, but she escaped,” Pons said. “Somehow, she bypassed the detection of the guards.”
“With Aleco’s help,” the Chief added. He slid the point of his dagger across his palm. The blade could not penetrate the dry and weathered skin, and it wouldn’t bother the Chief even if it did. His anger made him reckless. He watched the knife glide across his open palm. “She never would have escaped without it. Accacia has been rescued from that city twice. You were right, Pons. I should have killed Aleco when I had the chance.”
Pons smiled. “We’ll find him, Chief.”
“Yes, we will,” he promised. “We must retrieve those stones. His actions are unforgivable.”
The Chief pressed the dagger into this skin and released a line of blood. He’d never had such an incident, but he had never been so angry either. “The duke can never know of this transgression,” he said. “Nor can he know of Aleco.”
Pons stared at him. “Why?”
The Chief removed his gaze from his bloody palm and met his look. His decisions were never questioned. “For many reasons,” he said. He replaced his dagger into his pocket and wiped the blood with a handkerchief. “I realize you are as angry as I am, Pons, and you want retribution for his crimes. But the duke cannot know.”
“He is our most lucrative asset,” Pons reasoned. “We cannot afford to betray him. Think of his vengeance if he finds the truth from another source.”
“We will find Accacia and return her as we promised to do, but he can never know of Aleco’s involvement. That information needs to be protected at all costs.”
Anger swelled inside Pons. The affection the Chief carried for this man disgusted him. “Why do you continue to protect him?” he said. “He doesn’t deserve your special treatment.”
The Chief looked at him. His eyes widened at the rebuttal of his inferior, but he controlled his wrath and steadied his hand before it reached for the bloody dagger. “I do not hide this information to protect Aleco, but to protect us,” he explained. “I do not need to justify my decisions to you, but since you can’t figure out the reasoning behind this, I will explain it to you.
“If we tell Drake about Aleco, that we suspect he is the man who rescued Accacia, how do you think he will react?” he asked. The Chief locked his eyes onto Pons’s unflinching ones. “He will assume we were involved with Accacia’s capture so we could scam the award money from him. Can you imagine what he would do to us?”
Pons ran his hand through his hair at the revelation. The Chief was right; he hadn’t thought of that.
“Now that our stones have been robbed from us, he could strike us down—easily. When he realizes the stones have been stolen, he will be furious that we let something so powerful slip from our grasp. He will be even angrier when he discovers who took them—the very man who took his prized bitch to begin with.”
Pons’s eyes widened as the knowledge flooded his mind. There was a possibility that the duke would discover this information eventually, but it would be on better terms if they retrieved both Accacia and the stones before that time came. “I agree,” Pons said. “He can never know.”
“No, he can’t.”
The duke could never know of Aleco’s true identity. The Chief didn’t hide that information to protect Aleco anymore, but to protect himself. If Drake knew that the guild had this information the entire time, he would kill them all. And he would start with the Chief.
Roslyn Thoroughfare
25
Aleco found a concealed enclosure he utilized during his travels and suggested they rest in the safety of the hidden area for the time being. Accacia looked exhausted, so he offered to stand guard while she slept. After she dozed off, he covered her with his warm cloak, enveloping her limbs with the scorching heat of his body.
He watched over her while she slept. He leaned his straight back against a tree stump and rested his arms on his knees. He pressed his fingertips to his lips, lost in thought. Aleco gazed at the isolated den and examined the dynamic wildlife. He noticed the birds bouncing in the trees and squirrels harvesting fallen nut
s. He knew they were preparing for the approaching winter, and he pitied their efforts. Most of the creatures wouldn’t survive anyway.
Aleco removed his fingers from his lips, suddenly realizing who he reminded himself of, and returned his gaze to Accacia. The redness of her exquisite lips became more prominent in contrast to her ivory complexion due to the cold. It complemented the chestnut color of the long, brown tassels that tapered around her high cheekbones. Her unnatural features almost appeared inhuman, so flawless she seemed surreal.
“Accacia,” he whispered as he stood over her. He reached down to squeeze her small shoulder, but thought better of it. She made it clear she didn’t want him to touch her. If he wanted to regain her trust, he knew he had to obey her wishes and fight to ignore his own urges. “Wake up,” he repeated.
She stirred from under the bulky cloak and opened her green eyes. Her perfect face looked serene while she slept in peace, but now it resumed a look of indifference. She rose to her feet and flung his heated cloak back at him, clearly angered that he had given it to her. Her thin body looked immediately frozen without the heated aid of his coat. Accacia’s lithe body was slim, with substantial curves around her hips and chest, along with toned muscles in her shapely legs and formed arms, but she still didn’t have enough mass to keep herself warm.
“Just wear it, Accacia,” he said. He held the cloak out to her. “I have no need of it. Winter has just arrived and the temperature is only going to drop.”
She shouldered her pack without looking at him.
“Accacia, stop being so stubborn and put on the damn jacket,” he said. “I don’t know when we’ll find another.”
She walked away. “Let’s go,” she said.
Aleco sighed to himself and followed her.
They stuck to the thickened brush on the side of the weathered path as they advanced to Father Giloth’s woods. Accacia shivered as they moved forward, and Aleco saw her rub her arms to stay warm. He wished she would take his jacket. “I sent a message to the old man,” he said. “He will be expecting our return.”
