Chapter Three: Sea Of Faces

            “Welcome to the castle!”

            Brennan gestured grandly to the white stone walls gleaming in the dying sun, the tall spires winding up into the sky, and the crystalline, clear moat, glistening in the light. I looked up in awe, stolen away from how impossibly…big it was.

            “I thought it was deeper.”

            “Excuse me?”

            “I thought the moat would be deeper,” I explained. “And be more cloudy and murky. That way if someone tried to sabotage the castle, they wouldn’t know how deep the moat was and perhaps not take the chance to go through it, and then take the longer way in which have guards stationed near, as indicated by the small windows in the walls. I’m just saying that now, everyone knows that the moat is not as deep as they thought, they might just swim right through it. And they’d be able to see whether the carnivorous fish in the water were coming, as indicated by the bare bones stripped of meat at the bottom which you can see.”

            Brennan stared at me, dumbfounded. “How in the world did you figure all of that out in a matter of seconds?” he asked.

            I shrugged indifferently. “I’m a quick observer and an even faster talker.” I’ve been doing research on the castle’s architecture and anatomy ever since I was a little girl so someday I could break in, my mind answered honestly. Thank goodness he couldn’t hear my thoughts, or I’d be finished.

            “Well, deep moat or not, it is what it is,” Brennan sighed as he made a discreet hand movement. It was so swift I could barely see it and it was impossibly complex, so I couldn’t remember it. He’s good, I thought to myself. I couldn’t even catch that. I made a mental note to ask Brennan to go out sometime so I could learn that signal.

            The drawbridge over the moat started to lower, as a result of Brennan’s signal. I could faintly hear the shouts of men from inside, operating the drawbridge and calling that the prince had arrived. A thud resonated through the ground as the drawbridge hit the ground, making a few small pebbles rattle and come out of place.

            “Shall we?” he asked, gesturing to the long wooden stretch leading the gate in the walls. “There are plenty of other suitors in the castle right now. We’ll give you room near them, in the guest quarters. You can make some friends.” He elbowed me teasingly.

            I laughed shortly as I stepped onto the wood and started walking. “I don’t really play nice with other kids,” I warned lightly as we made our way across the moat. Unless they’re from the guild, I thought. But the guild is my family, albeit one with way too many brothers and sisters and too few parents. Even the adults act like children sometimes.

            “I’m nearly positive you’ll do just fine,” Brennan sighed as we reached the halfway point. I could see an angry Ronan standing in front of the gate, presumably fuming. My eyebrows rose a little in amusement when he stormed up to us, breathing heavily.

            “Where in the name of God were you two?” he growled furiously, grabbing ahold of Brennan’s earlobe and shaking him like a little child. He turned to me angrily and with his other hand grabbed my arm tightly, causing me to exclaim in protest and pain. “You had the entire castle in a frenzy looking for you. You were gone for hours. Hours!” He glared at me, his grey eyes burning with a subdued flame. “If you put even one of your dirty peasant fingers on Brennan then--”

            “Ronan!” Brennan exclaimed angrily, jerking himself away from him and slapping his hand, releasing his grip on my arm. My face flushed red with anger and annoyance as Brennan got right into Ronan’s raging face, two angry men face-to-face.

            “Ronan,” he repeated, softer this time, and twice as deadly. “I will not tolerate a crossword about Tygre, Ronan. She did not touch me and I in turn did not invite her to. I’m not sure what you think it looks like, but I can tell you one thing: If you try that again, I can easily replace you.”

            Ronan growled right back at him, but his eyes flashed to me, pits of boiling hate. “I see the way she looks at you,” he said dangerously. “You may not recognize it, but she has killer in her eyes. She’s just waiting for the right time. She’ll pick you up, take you higher than the atmosphere, run her hands over you, and give you the most pleasure you’ve had in all your life. And then she’ll break you. Break you into tiny shards of glass and stomp on the remains with her high-laced leather boots. You see her eyes, her body, and her stature?” He left Brennan and put a rough hand over my neck, and I chocked a little, feeling his callouses rub against my delicate skin. “She was born to make you cry.”

            Ronan huffed angrily and stormed off into the gate, heading off to the left, where the castle entrance was. His robes swished behind him and a few guards followed his stride with their gaze. Brennan glared in the direction he walked for a few moments, and I stood there, dazed and in shock. He had come so very close to stripping me down to my roots, my primal desires, and then just left it all in the dust. I cautiously walked up to Brennan and put and hand over his strong arm.

            “Come on,” I said quietly and meekly, tugging gently toward the castle entrance. “Let’s just get inside.” He nodded grimly and started to walk toward the doorway to the main building. He pushed open the doors with some effort, and we were in a large room with doors on all sides of it, all leading to different corridors and hallways. There was a staircase in the middle, leading up to the next floor. I breathed in softly, smelling the scent of freshly washed rugs, clean furniture, and expensive perfumes and makeup.

            “The guest bedrooms are up on the second floor to the right,” Brennan instructed. “A red thread tied around the doorknob means that it’s occupied. You’ll find that all of the rooms and are all connected through the bathing rooms, so you’ll be connected with other suitors. At eight, meet me in the main dining hall, the second door to your left when you first come in. You’ll be having dinner with me and my family. It’s a custom we have with all suitors.” He paused and sighed a little, obviously put off.

            “That must be a lot of dinners,” I tried lamely, squeezing his arm a little. Pausing, I turned so that my entire body was facing him head-on. “Brennan, I know you’re upset about what Ronan said about me back there, and it’s not true. Please, just let it go.” I sighed a little and looked into his eyes. They were very dark blue, like the depths of the oceans in the trenches waiting to swallow you. They made me shiver.

            Brennan looked back at me, a little smile in his eyes. “Alright,” he said, a little weakly, and I noticed the dark circles under his eyes. “I’ll see you at dinner.” He leaned over to me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek casually, his lips touching me for only a split second. I knew it was just one of those meaningless kisses that men give women to try and seduce them, and disregarded it. He briskly walked away into a hallway to the left and disappeared into the castle.

            “Alright,” I mutter darkly, heading toward the staircase. “Second floor to the right.” I walked up the stairs lightly and soundlessly. Turning the corner, I was surprise to find that I nearly ran into someone. We stopped just short of each other, and the other person, a small young man carrying a tray of dirty plates, jumped a little and his pile of plates cascaded to the floor.

            “Oh!” He exclaimed in a soft voice as he rushed to pick up the plates he had dropped. None of them had shattered, due to the thick rug on the ground cushioning the fall. His light brown hair fell onto his forehead and his small body crouched down and tried to gather all the plates.

            “Thank goodness for rugs, huh?” I said as I leaned down and picked up a few plates. He looked up at my face and gasped a little. His flustered face turned a little red.

            “Th-thank you for helping me,” he stuttered, taking the plates from my hands shakily. I could see his legs trembling a little.

            “No problem,” I replied simply and started to walk away. I needed to get to my room because in a few hours I had to be at the table with the royal family. I felt sort fed up with people at the moment, though.

            “U-um, pardon me?” The boy called from a few feet away. I turned back my hair swishing. “Wh-what’s your name?” He asked shyly, his face and neck scarlet. He shuffled his feet and clutched his plates tightly as he tried to organize them on his steel platter.

            “Tygre,” I replied, trying to keep my voice indifferent and neutral. I briskly walked away before he could say anything else, and I could’ve sworn I heard him sigh dejectedly from across the hall.

            I saw a door marked with a red string on the handle, and I walked past it. I heard a voice coming from inside, arguing with another voice. Both were feminine, and I figured that they were fighting over who would wear which dress, or another petty thing. The next door down was bare, and I turned the handle with a brisk motion. I opened the door soundlessly and observed my room. It was a healthy size with a plush carpet all along the floor. It had a wooden wardrobe on the left wall towards the back and a large, plush bed leaning against the right wall. Before the wardrobe was a doorway that I presumed lead to the bathing rooms.

            I sat down on the bed with a thump, threw my pack into a corner of the bed, and looked at the far wall. There was a door made of glass on the far wall that lead outside to a balcony. I nodded in approval, noting that the balcony provided me with an easy escape route. I decided to wash my face to get the grime of today off of me and then apply some of the herbs that Madame Elmara gave me. I started towards the bathroom but crashed into another person, knocking both of us to the ground.

            “Watch where you’re going!” I barked irritably at the other person, a woman with long, straight, sandy blonde hair and a pretty, young face. Her freckles disappeared as her face flushed as she opened her dusty green eyes.

            “I could say the same,” she retorted in a scratchy voice. She got up quickly, looking me over. I stood up as well and stood my ground. “You’re a new suitor?” She sniffed, her nose turned up to me.

            “Yeah,” I said, hostility beginning to bloom for this new girl. “Why? You think nobody else has a chance because you’re here?”

            The woman glared at me, obviously annoyed that I was as swift-tongued as she was. “You may think that you have a chance with him,” she growled, walking closer to me. “But he’s mine.” She sized me up once again, and smirked a little when she saw that she was taller than me by about two inches. “What’s your name?”

            “Tygre,” I growled, clenching my fists and trying to sidestep her to get into the bathroom.

            “You’d better run, little kitty,” she sneered, blocking me. “Because nobody beats Lupa.” She stalked into the other room, across the bathing room from me. She pushed aside another girl who was just entering the bathroom from another door from another wall. The other girl was small, short, and had wavy brown hair and brown eyes. She timidly walked up to me with an apologetic look on her face, and she couldn’t have been older than me. I scowled down at her.

            “I expect you’re here to tell me that you’re going hard after Brennan as well?” I asked dryly, trying to walk past her. I’d had enough social interaction for one day, and I was getting very irritated.

            “No, not at all!” She exclaimed lightly, trying to keep up with my long strides. “I just wanted to apologize for her awful behavior. She can be a complete…” she paused a little, trying to search for a word. “…jerk sometimes. But her bark is worse than her bite.”

            “Yeah, well, not everyone is a ray of sunshine,” I said, turning back to her. “Anyways, I appreciate your sympathy but it’s not needed.” I picked up a basin of water and splashed the cool liquid on my face. It felt amazing.

            “You’re scared,” the girl said suddenly. I froze, wondering how in the world she knew that. I could see her out of the corner of my eye, just standing there calmly. I turned around to face her.

            “What’s your name?” I asked her softly in a low voice.

            “Miranda,” she replied, perfectly calm and innocent. I was in awe of how young she was, just speaking her mind out and predicting a woman’s most inner thoughts.

            “Well, Miranda, I suggest that you stay away from me,” I said softly as I splashed more water on my face. I tried to ignore the fact that she just stood behind me eerily. Little ringlets of my hair fell into the basin and floated on the top delicately, and my hands were splayed out on the marble surface the bronze bowl rested on.

            “You’re having dinner with Brennan tonight?” She asked softly. “You should get ready. You only have an hour or two until you have to go. I can help you if you want.” She offered her hand graciously. I was internally touched by her willingness to help me and her kindness, but it was simply a painful reminder of how cruel I was. I thought about it for a moment, and saw images of my past flash under my eyelids. I saw myself assassinating my first person and almost crying for him, but holding back the tears of fear that Master would find out. I saw myself kissing a man passionately as I dug a blade through his chest. I saw myself betraying Brennan and seeing the life leave his eyes. His dark, deep, intense eyes draining of life and becoming lackluster and lifeless.

            “Please, I just want to leave,” I muttered as I left the bathing rooms. “I took a shower before I came here anyways.” I trudged back to my room and collapsed on my bead, suddenly feeling exhausted. My eyes closed involuntarily, but my body was still awake. Before I went under, I was aware of hands stroking my back comfortingly. Soft, gentle hands that never knew the pain that I had suffered through. If they did, they would be doing completely different motions. Much more painful ones.

            The last time I had been stroked like that was when I was a little girl and I had fallen off a horse. My back was bruised badly and it hurt to move. I had lain on my bed, crying, and my mother had come in soundlessly and stroked my back. It made me feel reassured and safe. Now, it just sent shivers down my back. But they were different shivers. Good shivers. They brought tears to my eyes, despite all my training. Despite years of drills and tests of becoming an emotional rock, this simple gesture made me start to cry.

            The hands stopped stroking me and I could feel the bed move as my mysterious comforter started to get up. I choked a little as I tried to breathe through the pillow that was getting wet with tears. I heard the door close quietly and small footsteps subside. I could see Miranda in my mind’s eye walking away, with her innocent young face of a child. The pillow I lay on was damp with my warm salty tears.

            I fell asleep wishing Miranda was still there, comforting me. 

Author's Note

This was really a bit of a filler chapter for me, just trying to get in more chapters, and introduce more characters than just the main ones. As always, comment and share your opinion!