Chapter 79

Gerald breathed through his mouth as he descended into the dungeon, making sure not to slip on the irregular stairs.

The argument with Renard from two days ago was still on his mind, ringing in his head with no intention to stop. He could still recall the naked threats Renard had spoken. They grated at him, at his heart and also at his patience. It was by some uncanny luck that he could keep the two at balance, preventing his fury from bursting out and at the same time from consuming him.

This was the deepest he'd gone into a dungeon yet. His forefathers had built a deeply rooted dungeon for their convenience, and it had become convenient to their descendants as well.

After finishing his descent, a guard led him towards the prisoner he wished to see.

Unlike the last time, prisoners here were kept behind iron bars, instead of reinforced doors. As he came before the bars, Gerald labored with his eyes to see through the darkness. The torches were next to him while the prisoner was inside, shaded.

After a moment, he noticed movement. It seemed that they had roused her from her sleep. A body that had been lying down for who knew how long sat up with the support of the wall, feet rubbing the ground as if making sure it was still there.

"Who is it?" Grina's hoarse voice came from within.

Gerald gestured for the other guard that had been following him. The latter placed a chair in front of the bars and stepped back.

Gerald sat down. "Leave us."

Moments after the guards left, Grina began to gather her bearings. "Ahh, so it's you. I knew you would eventually come."

Gerald leaned back. "Hmm? What made you so sure?"

"You needed something from me," she said. "You wouldn't have left me alive otherwise." She turned herself slowly, leaning her back where the walls met and formed a corner. Her legs stretch in front of her, somewhat lifeless.

Gerald chuckled dryly. "You're quite mistaken. I need nothing from you."

She chuckled as well, but her chuckle was drier than his, not by choice but by necessity. Her voice had not recovered yet, and didn't seem to be improving much. "Out with it. Tell me what you want."

"Are they treating you well enough here?" he asked. He wasn't awfully surprised that her life had been hard down here, however he hadn't given any commands for her to be mistreated. But then again, perhaps he didn't have to. Traitors weren't the most welcomed lot anywhere.

"Spare me the worthless words, cousin," she said, the old sharpness in her eyes returning as she glared at him. "Tell me why I am still alive."

"I truly need nothing from you," Gerald shrugged. "You were kept alive to serve a purpose, and you've already served it. The branches of the family are losing their influence in the Viscounty, and there is no going back now."

She shook her head and let out a few short coughs. "If that had truly been the reason, then you would have killed me by now." She grew silent for a moment, staring at him. "Or is this it? Are you here to send me off?"

"No, Grina," he breathed out, slightly irritated. "I'm here because I have a question for you."

"I will answer nothing until you tell me why I'm still breathing."

Gerald breathed out again, a faint growl accompanying his breath. "Why do you want to know so badly?" He wondered why she wasn't simply glad that she was alive, even if in a deep hole in the ground. Being alive meant that she still had a chance to be free, if not tomorrow then the day after that. He didn't intend to give her such a chance, but he knew the power of that cursed word, 'hope'.

Grina snorted. "Because ignorance is weakness, cousin. And I refuse to be ignorant of my own fate." Her gaze was fixed on him with grim determination.

He met her eyes and realized that she wouldn't give in. She had nothing more to lose, except that life of hers that he hadn't taken. But she seemed determined not to comply anyway. He took a breath and leaned back in his chair again. His shoulders had fallen forward due to his temper. The one that he often didn't show, but the most recent incident had set it on fire. "I kept you alive because I agree with you." He paused, moving his eyes away from her and landing them on one of the walls illuminated by a torch. "Power is everything."

Grina's shoulders had abandoned the support of the walls and she had leaned forward as well, but as she heard the answer, she leaned back again.

He was surprised at how easily she seemed to have believed him, or perhaps she could somehow tell that it was indeed the truth; the only truth. Power decided one's fate. They both believed that. The only difference between them was that she had learned it here, while he had learned it in Malfi City."

She took deep a breath, a much needed one considering her disposition. "Ask away, cousin," she smirked.

Gerald didn't begin with his question though. He took his time and spoke. "You seem to care deeply for your brother."

"I do." Her answer was curt but certain.

"Your intentions seemed to say otherwise," he smiled. She didn't need to be reminded of the letters in which she had planned to take her brother's seat for Edgar and herself. Even though he didn't doubt for a moment that she would have been the one truly ruling.

"I don't need any faith from you," she said, "I do care for my brother. It's the truth. I have nothing to lie for anymore."

He nodded. "I often wonder, if I were to offer you freedom in exchange for his imprisonment in your place, would you take my offer?"

She grew silent for a moment then glanced at him, perhaps with disdain at the question. "I would only accept it if I was certain I could free him from outside."

Gerald snorted and shook his head. "A colorless answer." He stood up and stepped away from the chair.

"That's the question that brought you down here?" she mocked him with her gaze.

"No, Grina," he said. "What brought me down here was a real offer."

She grew silent, pressing her lips. "You wanted to know what I was thinking." She seemed to reprimand herself silently with twitching features. "Regardless, is it the same offer?"

He shook his head, a faintly sad smile on his face, almost apologetic. "My true offer is your freedom for his life."

"Huh?" she gaped at him for a moment. "What do you mean?"

He knew that she was already aware of what he'd meant, but sometimes one needed to be certain once, twice, and perhaps thrice. "He would have to die, but you can be free after that. You don't have a claim on the Viscounty. He does. It was through him that you wanted to inherit the territory. If Estor dies, there is nothing to worry me in the days to come. I just need enough justification. Hopefully, you can provide—"

"Never," she growled, the obvious signs of insult appearing on her countenance as she leant forward, bathing in the torch's light for the first time.

Gerald shook his head again, helplessly. If she was playing a game and feigning insult, then this was his killing move. "He will die anyway, Grina. Simply, help me, and you will at least gain something in exchange." An ultimatum was what he needed to give her now, if he wanted to know her truth.

"No," she got to her feet with much difficulty, then she stepped forward into the light with her whole body and leant on the metal bars. "You can't kill him. You can't murder him, Gerald. He wouldn't have gone after your seat without me. He is harmless. Just . . . " She grew silent and panted loudly. "I can help you, in any way you want. I know merchants, and I'm certain I can still pull strings in the family. There are people in Ard that you would like to know. Anything. He doesn't deserve this, Gerald."

He gazed at her, quite surprised. He had come here with little hope, but she hadn't disappointed him. "So you do love him."

Her answer was silence, and piercingly determined eyes that fixated on him.

He nodded in understanding. "I see. I will consider your proposal. But . . . " He frowned as he prepared his question. "Sometimes I wonder, does it make us weaker? This love we have for them?"

Grina breathed out as it dawned on her. He reckoned that she had already realized by now that he had been playing with her. He'd only wanted to know if she truly cared for her brother.

She sighed and smiled. "I suppose this is about your sister, yes?" She stepped back from the bars. "Whether it makes us weaker or stronger, it doesn't matter."

"It does," he said, with an almost fanatic certainty. He'd seen first-hand how much a loved one mattered. He and his sister were enough to influence the fate of the Viscounty through his father, even though they hadn't been here. And now his sister was affecting the territory with her absence more than she would have been able to with her presence.

"You don't understand, Gerald," she said. "Without them, it's all for nothing. So if they make us weaker today or stronger tomorrow, it doesn't matter. We cannot be without them. Have you heard the story of the gluttonous hunter?"

Gerald didn't reply but his questioning stare provided an answer.

"My father used to tell me this story every fortnight. 'So you wouldn't forget it,' he would tell me. And I did not." She stopped for a moment, her gaze shifting as if floating in nostalgia. Perhaps she didn't notice it, but Gerald saw a slight smile appear on her lips. Her eyes quickly came back followed by her attention and she began, "the story tells of a talented hunter who lived in a paradise. The smallest prey there tasted better than the grandest meat in our lands. The hunter was young and he was still learning. He only managed to hunt flying hares. He was talented but he couldn't hunt the grander game and at the same time, he couldn't wait to taste the meat of the shining deer or the mysterious stag. One day, he woke up with one aim in mind, to hunt one of the mysterious yellow stags. His stomach was churning with pain that day, demanding the best meat in the paradise. He couldn't resist it, and so he followed its call and tracked the elusive stags.

With such determination, it didn't take him long to find a trail, only two days. He followed and followed, with each step his stomach burned and itched for the greatest meat one could hope to taste. He tracked it for days unending. He lost count of how many days or perhaps weeks he'd kept on its trail, until the day finally came. The day he met it. The gorgeous beast that he'd only caught glances of in the past. He finally met it, looked it in the eye and gazed at its wondrous horns. The stag's head wasn't crowned with the same bone of an earthly stag. No, it was crowned with four horns standing side by side, each one like that of the fabled unicorns. The horns stood proud, pointing at the sky.

The stag eyed him quietly, and the hunter watched the stag. His stomach was losing all patience and he almost leapt at his prey with savage instincts. He barely calmed himself and raised his bow, aiming it where it would strike true. But the stag only lowered his head, touching the ground with his nose then raising his head proudly again. The hunter didn't move his eyes from the prey, awaiting his perfect moment. With steady hands and an urging stomach, he loosed his arrow, barely holding himself back from following it at the same instant to attack the feast that would fall. The stag fell. It did indeed. And the hunter didn't wait. He fell upon it with an open maw and chewed on the heavenly meat. His stomach swallowed and swallowed, and it never had enough. It was as if the meat of paradise turned to air in one's stomach. When he was done, there was nothing but bones and the head. It was only then that the hunter noticed a missing horn. One of the grand horns that had pointed at the sky not long ago was missing. Where had it gone? A shooting pain ran through his chest, and he looked down to see the thicker end of the horn sticking out of his heart. Only then did he remember when the stag had lowered its head and touched the ground, aiming its horns at him. The urge of hunger from his stomach had numbed his heart. He forgot about that which kept him alive. And he paid for his negligence with his life. For a man can live without heavenly meat, but can never live without his heart."

Gerald met Grina's meaningful gaze after she finished. He'd understood the meaning. A fine line was to be seen; the line between being an ambitious hunter and a gluttonous one. He and Grina were of the same cloth, and they had to tread the same path with care. He nodded to her slowly and turned to leave. Perhaps all he needed was a rest, and time to think about what he'd heard today.

"Do you need anything else?" Grina's voice came from behind, more tame than it had ever been, and he knew why.

He turned and looked at her. "No. That was all." He smiled. "That was my question."

"And my brother," she said with a pleading tone. "You won't harm him. You were only fooling me, right?"

"I wouldn't stoop so low, cousin," he said. Then he tapped his lips with his finger. "It was this mouth that uttered your brother's sentence after all."

On his way back up, he met the warden. "Treat her well, and feed her well."

"Yes, my lord."

"Also, let her see sunlight sometime."

"How often, my lord?"

"Just once should be enough. We mustn't risk repeating it."

ß-------------------------------------------------à

Lena stood straight, fixing the thin fabric of the dress below her breasts. The dress was just enough properly present her pair, pushed up and seemingly larger than they actually were.

Aya was behind her, tightening the straps. "Is that enough?"

"I think it is," Lena said, twisting her body from side to side to get used to the feeling. "This is enough."

Aya let go and Lena turned around, looking at her life-long companion, her supposed maid. But Aya was more. She was her friend, and her protector too. Few knew that the kind-looking maid was an Earth Warrior. She was Uncle Rudolf's daughter, after all.

There was a knock on the bedchamber's door. Aya trotted to the door while Lena gave a few last pulls at the side of the dress.

Aya opened the door and the Duke's third son, Lorgo, came in.

Lena looked at her betrothed whose eyes were fixed on her raised bosom for a few moments.

He remembered to take a breath and began, "my Lena. How are you today? What a lovely, lovely dress this is."

She pretended to blush and giggled softly. Meanwhile, Aya moved to the corner of the room, where she would stay for the sake of propriety.

"It is worth every piece of gold indeed," Lorgo walked around her, scrutinizing every part of her.

Lena preserved her smile on the outside, but she was impatient inside. She'd had to satisfy the bastard's perverse tastes for a while now because it was the easiest way to get coin out of him. If she had a choice, she would try to repel him, for she had other plans.

Lorgo was the Duke's bastard and third son, but he was acknowledged and legitimized. That, however, didn't change that his two older brothers didn't seem him as an equal. They always excluded him when they had the chance, and most of the time it was the Duke that gave him responsibilities and influence in the palace.

Lena knew for certain that if the Duke passed away, the two older brothers would monopolize power and divide it between them, despite the Duke's efforts to involve his beloved bastard.

They sat next to each other, Lorgo inching closer every moment, and glancing at Aya scornfully. "You choose these dresses very well," he told Lena, glancing at her breasts again.

"There is a much better one, but I could not afford the coin," Lena muttered. "If someone else gets it, it would be such a loss."

"It cost even more than this one?" he looked appalled at the thought.

Lena didn't give in easily though. The two older brothers had more than just one advantage over Lorgo. The bastard's worst trait was his naivete. He was easy to fool when excited or anxious.

"I heard it was made by a master," she said. "And it looked better than anything I've worn before. Much better."

"How much gold?"

"A hundred," Lena said faintly.

"What?" Lorgo froze. "That's . . . " He gulped, and glanced at Aya again. Then he looked at Lena. "That's a lot, but I will try to procure the amount. If I do, I'll send it with my steward."

She knew the gold was nothing considering the Duke's wealth, but she didn't want to attract attention, and even Lorgo would be suspicious if the dresses were even more costly than this.

She raised a brow but retracted it quickly. He seemed distracted to her. He wasn't difficult to manipulate, but it was quite a bit easier today. Her belief was further solidified when he left after a short amount time, instead of staying and feasting his eyes on her, the dish he could not have yet.

After he left, she changed into a more appropriate dress, and Aya pulled a bag of gold from behind the dresser. "We've already saved a hundred and thirty, Lena. Isn't this enough?"

Lena pressed her lips, uncertain. "I don't know. But after this, we won't be able to get gold from him again. We need a considerable amount if my plans are to be fulfilled."

"I've already found someone," Aya suddenly added.

"You did?" Lena gaped. "Are you certain that she wouldn't become a malleable whore at the first sight of gold?"

"No. I picked this one from the top of the ladder, like you told me," Aya said. "I'm already planting the idea of being a noble lady in her mind. She's clever enough to be able seduce him though. That's for certain.

Lena nodded. They had been looking for a girl, preferably one who hadn't broken her first blood. If Aya could get such a girl to catch Lorgo's attention then she would have a chance to approach one of his brothers. But the matter was much more complicated than just that, and they would have to prepare the girl for things to go as planned.

If she was lucky, the betrothal could even change from the third son to one of the other two in the coming months. It would be odd, but as long as none of the two Houses was shamed by the incident, it would be of no harm. Of course, she knew that there would be a lot of words spoken behind her back if that were to happen, but that was the least of her concerns.

Her greatest concern was Gerald. How are you brother? She hardly knew anything about him. Lorgo was never allowed to handle the matter of Gerald, and she had no influence over anyone else.

She steeled her heart and decided to begin. The opportunities were obscured, and the odds weren't in her favor. But if she could gain some power here, it would do a lot for her brother. He was likely under the Duke's command, and suffering from it, there was no mistake.

And she was here, buried in obscurity. The first step she had decided to take was to get her head above the ground, to see what was happening. It was only then that she could determine how she could help.