Chapter 22.

Trigger warning: inappropriate language and mentions of violence.

“Oh, sometimes you're angry

Sometimes you're hurting

Sometimes you're all alone

Sometimes I'm anxious

Sometimes it makes me

Feel like there's only now…” Tales of Dominica - Lil Nas X

March, 2137

Eveline

We walked to the stables at the back of the property and where we found Nathan yelling at one of the staff members who was saddling and feeding the horses, automatically I really wanted to slaughter him but I had to keep my posture even though I hated him.

Roman walked away from me to go to the groom and see what was going on, he put the basket down beside him on the ground and I walked over to my fiancé who was scowling at the two employees, with a palpable hatred in his eyes, and when he saw me he smiled cynically.

"Looks like you are with the little soldier again, should I worry about you my dear bride?" He asked and I just rolled my eyes at him and ignored him wanting that fucking torture to end soon.

I watched as Roman finished saddling the horses and notice that he had taken off his coat and was only wearing his thermal uniform blouse and underarm holsters, and only watching him did I realize he was very tense but was trying to hide it, Nathan beside me was grumbling and I turned to him annoyed.

“If you can, please shut up! It would be a blessing for all of us here!" I told him with a dry tone in my voice and his blue eyes sparked with anger.

"I will be your husband and you owe me respect!" He said and tried to take my arm but I pulled away from him and almost spit in his face.

“Firstly, fuck you! And secondly I don't owe anything to the idiot who touched me without my consent, you're disgusting and I deeply hope my dad backs off with this crazy idea, and if you threaten me again I'll make a point of exposing you and all your dirt!" I said without an ounce of fear but when he smiled I knew I was more than screwed.

He always had something up his sleeve. Ever.

“You can try, but you're not the only one who has something to lose," He said poisonously looking at Roman and I wanted so badly to kick him in the balls but our little exchange of pleasantries was interrupted when my guard brought the saddled horses to us.

Nathan soon hurried to get the brown Mustang that looked very stressed in his presence and Roman brought us a black one that as soon as he saw my outstretched hand he rested his head on it, I walked over and kissed the muzzle of my guard's mare, since each of the guards had one to use on patrol in the woods, so we had several horses of the same breed, one of the few left over after the war.

"What is her name?" I asked enchanted by the beauty of the mare in front of me.

“This is Storm, the other is Oak, who by the way is stressed out today," He said chuckling softly and patted the muzzle of the mare who rested her head on him "Are you ready?" He asked and I nodded as I saw Nathan watching us already astride his horse.

Roman helped me mount his mare and then sat behind me and I set the basket in front of me as he took the reins and gave the command for the mare to walk, Nathan followed in silence as we started to gallop and we entered the woods.

Those forests were icy even in spring, and as we walked slowly through there I saw some patrol guards scattered around, Roman stopped a few times to ask if it was safe to be there and when it was confirmed we continued our journey to the clearing in the middle of the woods where there was a beautiful lake flanked by papyrus flowers and dandelions.

Our trip was short and when we got to the lake my guard came down and helped me and Nathan to jump, as soon as Roman walked away to tie the horses into the trees and didn't come back Nate came forward to me.

He was pretty clueless anyway.

I just grabbed the basket and ignored it and went to settle things at the edge of the lake and heard a click not far away and I frowned and lifted my face to look around and apparently we were alone as people rarely went into the woods, only the guards did, but as I opened the basket the same noise caught my attention and when I looked I saw something sparkly not so far from where I was kneeling.

Nathan was complaining about something behind me, but I ignored him and got up casually and started running in that direction hearing my fiance's screams behind me, and whoever was in the woods ran too and I went into the woods behind him or her.

The leaves slapped hard against my face, arms and legs and the person who was dressed in black jeans, combat boots and a dark hoodie didn't stop for a minute to breathe as he jumped and rolled through the hollows of the woods holding a camera, from the size I assumed it was a girl, but I wouldn't know until I got her.

“Hey! Who are you?" I yelled and the person quickened their pace even more and I was grateful that I was wearing pants and boots that afternoon.

We ran like crazy freaks until we realized that ahead there was a huge depression that ended in a canyon. She noticed before me and stopped running, turning in the other direction, but I ended up falling when trying to stop running and rolled across the floor full of dry leaves and twigs.

He or she heard my fall and stopped for a few moments, I rose and propped myself up on my elbows to catch my breath and when I lifted my face I realized I was right, it was a girl, the same age as me or younger, her face was covered in a gray scarf and his blue eyes were fixed on me and sweat trickled down her forehead as her sunburned skin gleamed.

Her hood had fallen to reveal blond hair in a low ponytail and for a second I thought it was Adela until the girl pulled her scarf and I realized the features didn't fit, but looking at her from a distance they looked almost like sisters.

"Who are you? Why were you taking pictures of me? Is it for the newspaper?” I ask again between gasps and she's in the same situation as mine, her hair as tangled as mine as she leaned against a tree to catch her breath.

“You know who we are Your Highness, I don't need to explain but maybe I should show you to refresh your memory” She says happily and then pulls up her sweatshirt sleeve and I see on her forearm a tattoo, a phoenix bursting into flame over a golden crown melted and then something inside my head pops and I remember the newspapers of earlier this morning.

“You are one of them, you are part of the Outbreak Crown rebel group!" I say startled and she laughs as she rolls down her sleeve and smooths her hair into another ponytail and I see it hits her waist just like mine.

“I'm glad you paid attention to the newspapers, we thought they wouldn't let you read them, but I see you finally noticed our presence,” She says and slowly approaches me still sitting on the floor and reaches out a hand to me and I notice her hands had a lot of scars “Let me help you,” she says sincerely and I ponder whether I should trust her but again the girl starts talking “I didn't come here to harm you, I'm just following orders and unfortunately you got it, but we don't mean to hurt you, you're our last hope,” She says and I frown at her doubting it as I remember the riots that ended in hard death.

“Why should I trust you if you killed my guards and innocent citizens earlier this month?" I say annoyed and she widens her blue eyes and I see they are full of pure terror.

“What are you talking about? It's not possible!" She said bewildered and I was again the first to be confused.

“What is impossible? Your conduct?” I speak completely nervous at the turn of the conversation but she denies it and holds out her hand again and this time I accept it and pat my clothes off the dirt and leaves before turning back to her again “Tell me what's impossible, I know you came here to do your work and I saw your group in the newspaper, but what guarantees me that you were not responsible?” I ask and cross my arms as she seems to ponder before giving me a hard look.

“We are not a single group, we are several and each one fights for something different, the OC don't kill anyone, we just protest and do peaceful actions, we never hurt anyone, but I know who killed your soldiers and our people too, they are coming back with total force,” She says startled and stares at me as I ponder.

"Who are they?" I ask approaching her.

“They are…” But before she can tell me what I want to know I hear screams and footsteps coming towards us and she widens her eyes and I do the only sensible thing to do.

"Run! Go!" I say and she smiles at me and pulls the hood back on top of her head "Go around the cliff, the guards don’t look over there," I said and she nods but before running again she looks back at me inside my eyes.

"Thank you so much Your Highness, I hope you honor our trust in you," She said and smiled at me and just then I noticed the scar that snaked down her cheek and ended in her hairline, a horrible scar that wrinkled her cheek but won't take the beauty of the girl, and she made a little bow to me which only confused me even more and in a blink she was gone.

Whoever the girl was had placed much more than trust in me and my actions, my people had hope in me, and as hard as it was to put up with a fiancé who disgusted me, people were counting on me and I couldn't let them down, I need to be the shield that would protect them.

Even the strongest shields break at some point, and I forgot about that at this moment. So sad do you know?

I stood there on the edge of the cliff watching her run and disappear through the trees and a few minutes later several guards appeared in front of me to lead me back to the lake.

I climbed onto one of the horses, a white mustang, and with the guard's help I rode to the lake, realizing that I had run far into the immensity of that place, and I was grateful when no one asked me anything.

But when I got to the lake I saw Nathan furious and distressed pacing back and forth in front of the lake and Roman, he looked like he was on the verge of having a syncope, his face was expressionless but the tension in his shoulders and mouth, tight in a rigid line, denounced him.

When he heard the horses he looked up at me and his expression lightened to see me right on top of the horse but Nathan had something much more mysterious in his eyes, he seemed happy to see me well but not completely happy, and realizing this I saved the fact for later and jumped off the horse and handed the reins to the rider who had helped me watching them disappear into the woods again after saying goodbye to Roman.

He tried to come to me but Nathan was faster and he backed away and turned away. My fiance reached out and tried to touch my face but I pushed him away and he stopped with his hands in the air and looked at me angrily.

"Why are you pushing me away?" He asked, annoyed and I almost laughed in his face.

“You know why, not to mention the way you treat the people around you, I'm disgusted with you, I just support you because of my people and nothing more, let this be a lesson for you to learn never to touch a person without being welcome or mistreating the people who work for you as if they mean nothing, because they all mean something!” I say loudly and see anger take over him and his hand tries to reach me but then I hear the click of metal on metal and looking back I see Roman with a gun in his hand pointing it at Nathan's head.

Holy fucking shit.

“Get away from her or I'm going to shoot you.” I hear his thick voice resonate across the clearing like lightning and a thunderstorm, Nathan swallows hard but smiles and turns to my guard and I watch as he takes off the safety.

Bloody hell.

"You can shoot, but do you want to pick a fight with MacQuoid?" He asks in a venomous way and smiles as I feel a shiver run through my body "Coming from that end of the world that is De’Ath I'm not surprised at all with your attitude you asshole, come on, shoot!" He says while laughing and I definitely don't know what my dad had in mind when he picked him to be my husband.

Maybe one madman attracted the other, it was hard to say.

"Shoot!" He yelled again as he laughed and his flawless hair was totally messed up and I took a deep breath before I sorted it out and begged for mercy.

Fuck that shit.

“You shut the fuck up Nathan! And you,” I said pointing to Roman who was frowning with the gun pointed at Nathan while his green eyes seemed to burn towards my fiancé “put the fucking hub down, now!” I said seriously as authoritatively as possible and he continued with his arm outstretched.

“Are you going to let her boss you around, Little soldier?" The asshole said and I sighed deeply before glaring at him which made him shrivel up for who knows what reason but it was great.

"Shut the fuck up asshole, and put the fucking gun down Roman!" I yelled loudly and finally they obeyed me.

Holy crap it’s bad news and when this shit hits my dad's ears we all will be fucked up, but I will think about this later.

I then took a deep breath and closed my eyes for a few seconds enjoying the calm of the place and when I opened them again I went to sit beside the picnic basket and pulled out the towel and spread it out on the grass and then removed my boots and socks so I could run my feet through the grass like I liked to do to try to calm down and protect myself.

I was angry at Nathan for being a disgusting idiot, at Roman for his recklessness, at my father for the situation he's going to put me in, and at me for not having a better idea months ago, and I realized that things were moving in one direction that I wasn't sure that I would like.

That was the day I realized the siege was starting to close.

I would probably hate the next few months or years of my life, but I would always remember the reason for all this and soon the thoughts would be pushed to the back of my mind and I could go on with the goal I had in mind.

Ending my father's shitty reign.

I then took a deep breath again and started to listen to a little discussion. I didn't pay attention and adjusted myself beside the picnic basket and continued to run my feet through the grass and closed my eyes trying to calm down.

I listened as the two walked away to wherever it was in the clearing and I stood there in silence enjoying the few minutes of quiet I would have until I had to return to the palace.

When I opened my eyes again I looked at the beautiful lake and heard the birdsongs and wondered if the girl from earlier had managed to get out of the clearing safely without being seen, I really hoped so since her group at first wouldn't offer me any danger.

I then asked myself why the photos, what was the need to record my steps? How many other times had they done this? How long had I been being followed? What interested them the people I hung around with? Was someone from my own court involved with them? Was I still being watched? I honestly didn't doubt anything else, but I couldn't say for sure.

It would be better to be extra careful with my actions and my words from now on, I wasn't sure or in control of what lurked for me in the shadows.

I then sent these thoughts to the back of my mind and decided that I would deal with them later in the peace and quiet of my studio, so I opened the basket and nibbled on a cinnamon bun and scanned my surroundings for one of the guys but they were out from sight, and my anger was still present as an itch in my skin and muscles.

They were both extremely reckless, but worst of all was Nathan trying to provoke Roman and him almost giving in in the end. This could be used against him, this and so many other things that could be forged, he had to be careful because Nathan wasn't a flower to smell and he could set one up for my guard.

I then lay down on the towel and watched the sky as dusk began to arrive, the noise of the birds somehow calming my mind enough for me to briefly close my eyes and rest my mind.

My feet ran across the grass and I smiled faintly in that small moment before it was all over with Nathan's voice in my ear.

"Will you be lying there for how long?" He asked dryly and I opened my eyes to watch him, his body language all wrong and irritable.

“I would lay here as long as I want, it doesn't depend on you dear fiancé, if you want to leave you can call another guard to take you to the palace," I said as dry as he was and saw him grit his teeth which made me smile.

“You'll regret treating me like this, dear,” He said, smiling with pure hate in his eyes and I just rolled my eyes in response and sat down to put on my boots and gather my things before answering him.

"Don't threaten me Nathan because you don't know what I'm capable of, I'm not a spoiled little girl like you made a point of saying, and I might as well finish you in front of everyone with one word, it might not seem like it but I have more allies than I look like,” I said mysteriously and took advantage of the fact that earlier the OC group offered me support, and I hoped that wasn't a lie because the expression on his face was priceless.

"Bitch!" He hissed angrily and I just smiled and with that Roman appeared to the sound of our exalted voices with a cigarette in his mouth and green eyes flashing in Nathan's direction.

"Make sure you treat me with respect dear Nate, before I dump you," I threatened using the poison-filled nickname and he huffed in anger and stomped off towards where Roman had come to pick up his horse I imagined, and the brunette in question just puffed on his cigarette and watched me, I smiled minimally at him before picking up the basket and pointing in the direction where the blonde had disappeared “Come on, please? And don't think I'm not mad at you, but for now I'll deal with it later, okay?” I said and he nodded before extinguishing the cigarette and dispensing it in a small box in his pockets and I was glad he wasn't one of those polluting the environment.

He then helped me carry the basket to our horses, but Nate was long gone, so I mounted and he sat behind me, but I remained silent and thoughtful as we walked back.

There was a lot to talk about between us, but for now I needed to calm down and organize my thoughts, so nothing better than a painting session to end my day.

And I hoped it would really calm me down, otherwise I didn't know what else to do about it.