Chapter Sixteen

Lord Devratha

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"Mentally unstable?" Kazia lashed out as she stalked into the park toward Abrizhen.

This end of the bailey had been cleared, and a number of guards formed a wide ring about them, standing back at a respectful distance.

Abrizhen jumped up from the stone bench and turned to face her. His ocean-blue eyes narrowed and he smirked.

"Where is the lie?" he asked with a hint of amusement. "Just look at you."

"I am angry, not crazy!" she retorted.

"You can't be both?"

"Abrizhen!" Kazia sighed in exasperation, then lowered her voice, speaking softly. "How can you go along with this? You need to please him so much that you'll harm me for it?"

Abrizhen's lips twitched, and his expression fell. He raked a hand through his dark brown, shoulder-length hair. Kazia watched his forelocks fall back around his face and curl around his jaw and she almost smiled to see the familiar mannerism again.

His lips opened to speak but he hesitated, glancing furtively at the guards around them. Forcing a smile, he reached a tentative hand toward her.

"Kitzi, come home," he said sweetly. "We are your family. Let us take care of you."

"You really are doing this?"

"Kazia, you know you can't be out among all these people. It's only a matter of time before you hurt someone. Let our Alchemists help you."

Kazia froze, her face going still and ashen, with only a slight tremble showing on her lips.

"They don't intend to help me," she said, her voice lowered even further, to almost a whisper. "Only themselves."

She bit down on her tongue, trying to push away the memories that were surfacing now. She began to think that this was a mistake, if dealing with Abrizhen meant remembering.

"What nonsense are you talking?" Abrizhen asked. "Only they know how to treat your condition."

"There is no condition!" Kazia hissed. "Do you even know what they did to me? Of course not, you weren't there. You said you would help me, but you were never there."

She took a shuddering breath and stared long and hard into Abrizhen's eyes until he looked away. He was being stubborn, but she could feel shame growing in him. Maybe she had him.

"I'm here now," he said quietly.

"Are you?" Kazia said skeptically. "I think Gorvan's lapdog is here, not my brother."

Abrizhen's eyes flashed as Kazia felt a surge of anger from him, but he only clenched his jaw and said nothing in response. That may have been an overstep. Kazia altered her course.

"Alright, I didn't come to argue with you," she said gently. "I only thought I should come see you. How have you been?"

Confusion crossed his face.

"Me?" he asked. "How have I been? You mean since the day I came home and you were gone? Or how have I been not knowing where the hell you were for the past five years, or if you were even still alive?"

"I was living on a farm," she told him. "No one knew who I was, and I just fixed machines and lived peacefully. I was very happy there. "

"That's great," he said scornfully. "So you were happy."

"Now I have to be here in the castle because I can't be allowed happiness, can I?"

"If you're not happy here then you may as well come home," Abrizhen said crisply.

"What made me happiest on the farm," Kazia said, ignoring his remark, "was that the machines I repaired there were all meant for the sustaining of life. For feeding people. That may not sound very exciting. But all I work on now are machines meant for war, because due to our country's aggression, that has become the priority."

As Abrizhen began a response that promised to be both defensive and belligerent, Kazia waved a hand.

"Never mind," she said. "You and I will not bring about world peace today in the castle yard. Tell me what you've been doing these years."

Abrizhen paused for a long moment.

"Raising horses," he said finally, his tone tentatively friendly. "That's what I do now on the estate. Breeding and selling. I even have a few set aside just for you. Do you remember that toy horse I gave you once? I have a breed with the exact markings."

"I wish I could see them," she said with a genuine smile. "But I'm twenty-two years old now, Zhen. I am no longer a child. I won't be mollified with toys and horses. If the horses give you some happiness though, that's a good thing, isn't it?"

Abrizhen returned her smile and she felt him relax.

"They do. And Father is satisfied that I have something productive to occupy me and bring a bit of money into the estate. It makes him... somewhat less unpleasant."

"I want you to be happy too, Zhenzhi," Kazia said sadly. "You deserve it."

They stood in a peaceful silence for a moment. Then Kazia decided to step out onto a ledge.

"All things considered, I really am doing very well here," she tentatively began. "If you need reassurance, perhaps you would like to speak with my direct supervisor... Master Tamyn Ilianus."

Abrizhen stared at her in astonishment.

Kazia felt his heart lurch wildly with an excruciating pain, as his expression slowly darkened into fierce anger, and Kazia felt any goodwill she had established instantly vanish.

But she had already said it, and couldn't reverse course now.

"You..." He slowly growled the word out.

"So... you do know him, then?" she said gently, but pointedly. "I think that he would like to see you while you're here."

"You dare..." Abrizhen snarled through clenched teeth. "You fucking dare."

"Zhen, I think you're misunderstanding me. I don't mean to use this..."

"Who the fuck do you think you are!?" Abrizhen shouted, taking a threatening step toward her.

All around them, Kazia heard the sound of swords loosened in their sheaths, of pistols being drawn.

Abrizhen stopped in his tracks.

"I'm your sister!" Kazia shouted back at him. "I love you and I just want you to be happy! You clearly feel-"

"Don't!" he interrupted. "Don't say another fucking word."

"You don't have to do everything Gorvan wants! Your life should be your own!"

"What life!?" Abrizhen screamed.

Kazia took a step back as his resemblance to their father showed itself.

Although he had his mother's sea-storm eyes instead of Gorvan's glacial blue, he was quite tall, and while far from a hulking man, he was just broad-shouldered enough to menace when he wished.

While his cheeks reddened in unbridled anger, the cold set of his face, the narrowing eyes, the clench of his jaw and the threatening curl of his lips were all Gorvan.

Kazia faltered at the sight.

"I don't get a life!” Abrizhen continued, his voice thundering. “I'm the heir of a principality! I have to be ready to rule it..." He leaned in and lowered his voice to a venomous hiss. "...to provide future heirs to rule it!"

"Zhenzhi, calm down," Kazia said, her voice low. "If that's all it is, then maybe I can do that part, someday..."

"You?" he sneered. "Don't make me laugh! Any spawn of yours would be a... whatever you are! And who would you accomplish this with? What man in his right mind would have you?"

Kazia folded her arms around herself. Her eyes were filling with tears and a knot formed in her throat. She glanced around the bailey. Of course people were looking at them now. Keeping her voice at a near whisper, Kazia pleaded with her brother.

"Abrizhen, you have an opportunity now that may not come again. Just go see him."

Abrizhen pointed a menacing finger at her.

"Fuck off, Kazia!" he roared.

He advanced a step toward her, his eyes blazing, and the guards gave another warning.

Abrizhen just continued to jab his pointed finger in the air toward Kazia's face.

"You stay out of my head, you psychotic freak! You stay out of his head! That is none of your fucking business!"

With that, he turned and rushed furiously back into the castle.

 

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Abrizhen