Chapter 20

Alexander entered his tent, finding Mathias waiting for him with a nervous expression that had been there since Mathias returned last night. "You missed meeting with the commander so he is not happy with you right now. You will need to take a drink to him and apologise."

"Alright," Mathias answered.

Mathias had too much to think about to be concerned about the commander being angry with him. What he knew at the moment was that Rose had run away from the brothel. What if she were to come here hoping to see Alexander and then reveal what had happened?

It was evident that Rose finally had the sense to realise that he didn't want anything to do with her since she ran when she saw him. If she were to tell Alexander what he did, then Alexander might never forgive him even though Mathias thought he had grown closer to Alexander than Rose ever got.

Alexander had enough of waiting for Mathias to speak up and share what was troubling him. "What is it that made you forget your duty to speak with the commander? Is it because we are back here? You were the one to seem most comfortable to return."

"I am fine. I was just thinking about something from last night. I will do as you say to get the commander back in a good mood. When are we going to the palace? I am ready to leave this town," said Mathias.

Hopefully, they could leave before Rose came here or she would be captured and taken back to the brothel before then.

Alexander didn't believe Mathias but he had to let it go for now. "If you went to the meeting today, you could have shared your thoughts on how soon we would leave here. We are to stay at this camp for a month, but we are to visit the king when the foreigners go there for the truce."

Alexander noticed how Mathias sweated. "You, tell me you didn't gamble most of your money away last night and now you owe someone."

Mathias had made the mistake of gambling money meant for their food when they were young, making them starve for a few nights and have to be on the run again.

"Have some faith in me that I am no longer that foolish boy," Mathia said, forcing a smile to get Alexander off his back. He had forgotten how Alexander noticed everything. Worrying about Rose would not help his case if she ended up here. "You should go drinking with us tonight and not stay here."

Alexander began to take off his uniform. "I don't see it a good idea to be drinking when our enemy has a camp on our land. Until that truce is all the way completed, we should stay sober to keep an eye on them. And I didn't stay here last night. I went looking for clues about Rose."

Mathias balled up his fists. He warned Alexander not to do that. "Why would you go out looking for her? You'll bring attention to us. I told you that she is gone. She has to be. You remember how much that man was obsessed with her. You need to let the past go."

Alexander was going to ruin everything they had if he continued to be this way.

"I couldn't sleep knowing we were in the same town we left her. I had to look around for her like we promised," said Alexander.

He knew that Rose was going to be sold to a brothel back then but he didn't know where. Alexander's memory of this town was a mess since it had been eight years since he was here. As a slave, he wasn't allowed to walk around so he didn't know much about the town. 

He couldn't remember the name of the bastard who liked her, but he would never forget the face. It felt like Rose didn't exist in this town since when he mentioned her name and description, no one could point him toward her. 

"Well, you did your part in the promise so let it go now-"

"Mathias," Alexander said in a low menacing tone. "I understand your concerns but watch your tone when you speak of her. I keep my promises. If not for her, you would have been sold back then. I don't mind if my past is revealed. Our positions are not important."

Mathias wanted to laugh at Alexander being this way now. How weren't their positions important? They started from nothing and now there was a woman high up in the palace that had her eyes set on Alexander. Alexander was being ungrateful right now.

'Why is he still hung up on her?' Mathias couldn't understand it. Maybe if Alexander knew that she ended up becoming a whore like they knew she would, he might finally move on.

If Alexander had any sense, he would not want to chase after a woman who had laid with a lot of other men. 

Mathias once more had to try talking some sense into Alexander. "Listen-"

"Mathias!" A soldier called from outside the tent. "You have a guest."

Mathias was confused by him having a visitor since he didn't know anyone in town, but then it came to him quickly that he was forgetting about Rose. "Excuse me," he said to Alexander.

Alexander found Mathias's behaviour to be odd. "Did you bring back a lover from last night?" He joked.

"Ha," Mathias laughed. He heard how shaky his voice was and knew that Alexander would continue to be suspicious. "Is it a woman?" He asked the soldier, looking back at the tent to check that Alexander wasn't near.

"It is a man and he says that it is urgent. He is waiting for you by the gates."

Mathias was relieved to hear that it was not a woman but now he was left puzzled as he shouldn't have a man coming to see him. "Who? That bastard," he muttered, thinking of the man who stopped him from going after Rose.

The soldier didn't mention the fact it was a foreigner so he might have guessed wrong but that was the only person he could think of wanting to see him.

Mathias moved quickly to reach the gates of the camp to get this over with but slowed down after he recognised the familiar face of a guard he saw at the brothel last night. Why would a guard be here for him? How did they even know his name? 

'That whore,' he cursed Rose in his head. She had spoken of him. He should have known that she would try to drag him back into that filthy world. 

As much as Mathias wanted to turn away and hide, they already knew that he was here so he didn't have a choice to go. He had to clean up the mess that Rose made for him and Alexander. Luckily, he had the money to buy his way out of it.

Mathias wanted to punch the brothel guard for smiling when he saw him. It was bastards like this who hunted him down when he tried to run away from being sold. He would like to see the men who chased him back then and kill them. 

"You are the man named Mathias who kicked a woman named when you rode through the town, right? Master Graham wants his property back."

"I don't have her," Mathias replied.

"Oh, he wasn't only speaking of her. He means you, slave."