"But I don't know if marriage was what's best for me," her husband said after a great pause.
The admission didn't hurt her. Chuli had been hurt by how dismissive her husband was, saying the words as if they were a matter-of-fact truth. It wasn't going to derail her from what she planned to do before the ceremony began, but it sat in the back of her mind. She should've said goodbye first, letting him know she wasn't angry.
She let her temper steer her wrong again.
That's the issue with lying, eventually, the truth slips out.
She shuffled around where the Campground visitors settled--thankfully, outside the palace, and searched for the Prince.
He owed her an explanation and, truthfully, she owed him one. It didn't take long before she caught him, oddly, leaving the carriage by himself with only one of the Captains, a red-haired angry looking one, at his side. Their eyes met for a split second and she caught the tightening of his eyes, the furrowed brows before he excused himself to the fountains around the corner.
The public fountains by the palace were placed in threes on all four corners of the outer exterior for anyone to use. She entered the palace with a sharp nod at the guard before turning around the corner and exiting through a corridor leading to the outer exterior. As soon as she twisted around the corner, hands grappled at her chest and she reacted flicking out six daggers with four of them sliding across her finger before realizing the attacker who knocked the air out of her chest was the prince. Her daggers fell to the ground and coughed until her lungs recaptured the air. The Prince now had a bleeding cut across his cheek but no worse for wear.
When did he get so strong?
There was nothing but tall, stone walls, brick paths, and grass around them. It was about as secluded as anywhere could be. Not even the sun could peek through.
"How dare you show your face around me?" He hissed. "Akira is involved with all this madness, isn't he? Does my father know?"
"He's the one," Chuli coughed out. "Who paid us off."
The Prince lifted up his arms as if to hold himself up, he paced back and forth, before dropping his arms, lifelessly. He laughed then, "Of course, my father didn't just want my mother and me dead. My sister was the clever one out of us three. She probably noticed the signs first."
She had seen his countenance as odd. In the Great Hall, he was smiling, grinning. A prince that she heard rarely smiled and not a grin since he became a man. His juggling of the books and posturing all a russ to appear weak. And it worked. No one in that room remembers their enemy's son is at their doorstep, except the Empress. Her eyes when he showed up--
She shivered at the memory of the hooded, threatening eyes, like a blade swinging out from the shadows.
"I have more information," Chuli offered. "Her husband, Alfred Ziegler, is the one who led her into the trap, knowingly."
"I knew that much," the Prince breathed heavily. "That's why he's dead and no one can find the body. Oh, poor Eliza. Is there a way for you to return the body? Or at least, tell us where she's buried?".
Her informants told her he was killed by dogs. Perhaps he was.
Chuli frowned and then said, as she listened to him, slowly, "Princess Elizabeth Mari isn't dead."
"Then why hasn't she--?"
"Akira Lin is. . . he's keeping her."
"What do you mean he's keeping her?"
There was only one look she could offer him--one of pity. And then apologetic, while the other searching until the Prince found what he had missed in her eyes.
She turned away to the ground. The Prince punched at the wall with a hoarse and muffled howl, chipping a piece of the stone fountain. He fell to his knees punching the stoned ground until he stained it and his fist red.
His hoarse breathing and pained sounds reminded her of animal's taken to slaughter. Xiaotzi had often told her the pain of a royal surviving one catastrophe could break a person. And they were meant to survive multiple ones, tens upon tens of them just to survive. For those who fought for the throne?
It was worse.
A royal who could survive that far would never be well.
"Are you--?"
"I'll eventually be," the Prince hissed. "Is there a way to break her out?"
"Of Akira's prison? His networks have networks have networks. He can meet with the Emperors and Empress by appointment. It would take more than you to save her. Besides, I--I don't believe she wants to return."
The Prince scowled. "Our people can be cruel. Her suffering to people like my father is a shame."
"The only thing either of us can do is break his network."
"And how will that be done?"
"With you being Emperor."
"And you?"
She pursed her lips and then laughed. "I--I can't do anything but my husband, an omega like him can find a way."
"You will sacrifice yourself?"
"I will find someone who can help him have more and not less. A better alpha"
"You sound as if you already have someone in mind," the Prince said as his temper inked out. "I don't understand, actually. You're related to Akira Lin. You're his niece, aren't you?"
"My omega father is his cousin."
"And you'll betray him? For what."
"For Xiaotzi."
The Prince scoffed but shook his head. "You didn't need to tell me she was alive still. Although, not entirely sure that helped me or her. What's the collateral? People like you require something of equal value to prove trust. Do you want a seat on the merchant council?"
"I don't trust you," Chuli said and then crossed her arms as she looked off at the elderly woman wobbling past. "I don't know if you actually love your sister. And I don't know if you're willing to fight and kill your father for what needs to be done."
The Prince tilted his head with humor lining his face. "Then what are you here for?"
"You need an army and I need an alpha who can give Xiaotzi what he needs," She said and then unraveled a missive, handing it to the Prince. "There's a rebellion in Zhuong but it's in its infancy. All you need to do is hand this missive to General Orellano. He'll know what to do."
"And what will I say when he asks how I know whatever this is?"
"Say that one of your contacts met her by accident."
"And this is true?"
Chuli cocked a grin. "It is."
"You realize that you've requested the Prince of the Carolingian Empire to be your messenger boy."
"I realize that you, of all people, know the tenuous balance between our empires," she said. "And how easy it would be for it all to snap."
"Well, it may help me gain the trust of the military at least."
They shared a nod.
It would be done.
The Prince shuffled off and barely made it to the end of the corridor before the angry, redhaired man appeared with a few other recruits searching for him. She hid against the cornered shadow and the Captain barely blinked before leaving.
She pulled out her satchel, revealing the golden earrings Xiaotzi refused to wear to his hearing. If she had known things would spiral so far out of control, she would have said her goodbyes.
But as it was, it seemed there wouldn't be time.
She lifted her hood as she disappeared into the crowd of civilians readying for the naming ceremony celebration.
Jata Niara was raised in a family of blood, violence, and murder. No, not the Imperial family, although it was true. The Orakpo family did not suffer fools.
She realized this as a young child watching her omega father deal with the illegal market as its king. At one point, she wanted to let her Imperial Mother know only to find out such a thing wasn't a secret.
It was at night, when she was still small, she peered through the open sliver of the door seeing her Imperial Mother and omega father speak.
"The al-Busiri know their place. Any people who get sent there will be sold and they get a small portion of the cut as does the Empire. They won't bring in any citizens of our Empire but as for the rest--"
"You have ways of making sure?"
"My love, our Empire is grand but there are more people outside of lands than inside. It wouldn't be to our benefit," her omega father, Imperial Consort Malik said slyly. "After the introduction of relieving servants, our business has boomed both our neighbors are buying them like candies."
"As long as it isn't any of our citizens."
"Love, your Highness, I swear, not one will be a citizen."
Jata Niara crept away from the door and across the halls where her bedroom sat connected by one door to her omega father's. Unlike her siblings who resided in the same areas of the palace of even opposing distances, her omega father in his paranoia that someone may try to end her life, had it built soon after she was born. Before that, she kept only her clans guards and guards the Empress handpicked.
She knew it could've happened but she was sure more people feared him and her more than she could ever fear them.
With guards and her omega father clutching her hand, she was introduced to their Patriarch, Mshairi Orakpo. His hair was gray, and scars marked half his face, with the upper body bare and the lower wrapped in silk, bright colors even. He pushed a bowl of sweets and fruit to her that she happily munched on as she listened to them speak.
"It won't be easy but it'll be doable," the Patriarch said. "She's already more clever than the Crown Princess and prone to stay out of trouble. Part of me can't imagine she's a Malik."
"The child is well-behaved and loyal," his omega father said affectionately as he brushed his fingers through her braided plaits. "She'll be our family's crown jewel for sure."
The violence, blood, and murder must've been things the both of them were used to.
"Patriarch, someone tried to steal from the family cache," one of the wayward family members burst into the room with a few others huddled behind. "We caught the bastard, too."
The person they tossed at the Patriarch's feet was a young omega, not much older than her. He shivered already carrying bloodied bruises on his face. The Patriarch grabbed the kid's face and then laughed. "No need to beat him further. He'll fetch a decent price at the Campgrounds."
"No," the omega boy begged. "Please! They told me to--"
The Patriarch kicked the boy as he shouted, "Take him away and tie him up. Make sure to stuff some cotton in his mouth to keep him quiet!"
Jata Niara didn't recognize the omega boy until she was out wandering many years later, as she often did for reconnaissance, as a relieving servant clinging to the arms of Commander Berman. His eyes were expressionless but his brows, lips and even cheeks pretended as if they could.
After the Naming Ceremony ended, the smoke, incense, and pomp, even the laughter pushed her to leave the palace. She often wore the clothing of her maiden clan for travels like this. White paint streaked across her skin with beads and crystals, expensive but not too far that nobility would be presumed, necklaces of varying sizes hanging from her neck. Lush fabric of cottonsilk wrapped around her waist in degrees of orange, yellow, and brown. She wore a delicate velvet cap sewn with gold and swept into the crowd. People moved out of her way, but none took more than a brief second to look her over.
Shops were spilling over with visitors and foreigners. Somehow the Naming Ceremony had become a larger than life celebration.
"Are you visiting the city for the ceremony?" the foreigner's voice was a soft, melty baritone as he spoke their language. "I was going to ask for directions but--"
Her eyes fell over an omega with curls caressing his ears and deep brown eyes with delicate brows. His lips were round when not speaking but as he spoke she could see his tongue flicker out. His eyes blinked at her and then said, "I can't tell if my accent is making my words unclear."
"Your voice is fine," she said as her eyes overlooked the docks in the far distance. There were more than a few ships docked into harbor. "Where are you looking for again?"
"The Campgrounds? I believe that's the word."
She nodded as he did appear to look distinctly of the Carolingian general likeness but his tanned skin and brows were quite similar to some clans in the Sonhrai. Her mind brushed it off.
"I will send you off, if you don't mind," she told the omega and tilted her head at the guards who followed her from a distance. "You went a bit too far."
"I did?" and the omega laughed. "I had a feeling!"
They waited for a rogue kajawa but the celebration made it difficult for them to hitch a ride without a bigger group taking precedence. She offered, "We could walk if you don't mind the distance."
"If you don't mind the time," the omega yawned. "I should've taken a nap earlier on the boat, but I was too excited."
Their feet led them down the street but the people crowded so far that she had pull the omega out the way of rushing kajawas and horses.
"What are you most excited to see?"
"The artwork," he said and then grinned. "I've heard of jewelry, the necklaces, and statues of people tucked within a world within a world on their creations. The tales of gods and immortality in a world of mortal violence and protections. It's a beautiful sight! Or so I imagine."
Jata Niara couldn't help as the words stumbled out of her mouth, "I kept statues and armlets from our ancestors in the library of records for the scribes to take respectful care. I'm sure if you're interested in that process either but--one day, if you are ever available, you can find them there."
"Oh," the omega laughed. "You saw how lost I was today. I can't imagine trying to find my way into a library."
As the Campgrounds slipped into her vision, she was reminded that she did have work that needed to be settled, including her appointments to attend to new recruits.
"I will be visiting the Campgrounds, often," she added. "One day, you might be able to take another walk and see?"
A bright smile spread across the omega's face and he nodded before entering the Campgrounds. She watched him greet the Legionnaire guards and enter the camp. Relief spread across her chest.
For a moment, she believed him to be too good to be true. How cruel would it have been if his existence were a lie? And he was a thief playing pretend.
These days were running her ragged.
It didn't help that there was a sense of disconnect in wandering the Campgrounds. Her hands delved into the dirt and sprinkled the dry granules. The al-Busiri Patriarch who complained before had a point but there was a greater issue here.
If this is fertile, even formerly, farmland, why is the land so dry? Her eyes trailed the horizon beyond the back of the Campgrounds, where mountainous regions provided a natural barrier. The portion of it shared with the Campgrounds was arid but behind it was lush with green vegetation. Even if he was returned the stolen land, he wouldn't be able to grow enough for a harvest. Now that she remembered his words, he said that his land was slowly becoming more and more barren.
There was no wonder that the people thought the foreigners were cursed. She would believe it too if she didn't find this too unnatural to be anything but human-made.
Her ears caught the sound of water splashing and went to investigate. A split-off path from the main road paved her way as the sound got louder but the more she walked, the less likely it seemed she would find out where the sounds were coming from. Nothing but sand, sprouts of grass, and remote Campground housings.
After a certain point, she could no longer hear the splashing, and the paved pathway had somehow spun her around the Campground towards the Portyard Docks.
What happened?
The blistering sun above began to lower, and she knew the official parts of the Naming Ceremony would begin soon. Missing such a thing would insult the Malahi side of the royal family, but it had been so long since something interested her.
It wasn't as if Lawali had the power to do anything. Imperial Noble Consort would likely simmer down for the next year or so after all this chaos involving the Shu Twins. The only one she worried about offending was Sylas but lately their talks in the family garden had led to several important things that couldn't be ignored.
Sylas wanted to be the brother of the Empress, not just the Crown Princess but he would eventually marry off into a powerful politically advantageous family that would be wasted on Lawali. He was clever enough to know that waiting on Heirut to grow up was equally as unhelpful. It was the sort of think her omega father would think up. Simple and not enough.
Their tenuous allyship was on troubled waters after what happened in court though. It stunk of the scribe's work. The biggest thorn in her side that she would handle in due time.
Her ears caught the gurgling of water again as she retraced her footsteps. This time she walked slower and the second the sounds started to quiet she turned around. It left her in the awkward position of standing above a paved piece of road with nothing attributed to the sound. She lifted up her nose and couldn't smell the crisp freshness of water, not even from the docks. So, she kneeled and pressed her ears to the ground.
There it was.
A heavy gurgling sounded below. There was an underground aqueduct around here--an illegal one, if she had to guess. Most of the Carolingians' initial structures were torn apart in the early wars. Anything that still stood the test of time would've been seen openly, as they did not fear repercussion then.
And then she remembered again who the al-Busiri were.
What need would they have for an underground system of water? To treat and deal with the trafficking of people out of sight.