There were so many strange things happening tonight.
His freedom was the first.
His actual freedom!
It was the strangest.
Lytio had expected to be struck down while he left the dungeon or lead to the Execution Ground afterwards, or pulled right back behind bars but none of that had happened. Instead, he had, indeed, been set free.
The other strange thing was the presence of two Royal Physicians that were waiting for him, along with his family, to go to Inaymi.
It was puzzling for many reasons.
They had Physicians in Inaymi, why did the King have to send Physicians along with them?
It wasn't like they had done something of great value that he had gifted them two of his best Royal Physicians as a show of gratitude.
If nothing, their presence at his ceremony had brought him nothing but trouble.
Before Lytio left though, he had asked if he could at least see Belladonna, but the guard that had taken him down to the carriage had not said a word to him despite his pleading and his attempts to bride him if need be.
Silence had been his only response until they got to the waiting carriage.
"The King will send you instructions on what to do with the rest of the criminals when you arrive, Head Lytio." He had addressed him with respect and taken a step back.
Lytio wondered what the instruction would be about.
Was the King going to make him come for the Trial by the Councils where he would be the judge? Then this freedom would have been for nothing, he was guilty after all. Belladonna would not plead his case either. She might have pitied him now, but with the effect of time on her heart, would she still pity him when the trial would start?
He was too worried about himself to worry about what the King had in mind for the rest of them.
For that witch of a mother-in-law and her snake of a daughter.
They deserved it, whatever it was.
They ruined his life!
Lytio had not said a word to Aniya and neither did he pay attention to Arlo who she was breastfeeding, instead, he thought back to the words the King had told him.
She pitied him.
Belladonna pitied him.
Although that hadn't been what he wanted, it was, at least, something.
She didn't hate him.
He could live with that, and he would hold onto that until he could figure out his feelings and take the necessary next step.
The ride was silent, asides from the sound of the wheels against the ground, the gate as it was pulled open, and horses as they galloped away.
Inside the carriage was really quiet except for the sound of Arlo's light snoring that soon took over.
They both hated each other and wished the other death.
It was no secret between them.
The fact that the other was alive and they were in the carriage together was unbearable and it left a bitter taste in their mouths to endure the other's presence without committing murder.
Yes, this was what they had become.
___
Belladonna had been shocked to find out that Aniya and Arlo had left the castle overnight.
Hearing that Lytio had been set free was another surprise.
She had not expected that at all.
Something about it felt off.
She had expected him to be punished, not released, but perhaps she had over-convinced Eli with her speech of sympathy to do the former.
That was most likely it. There just wasn't any other explanation.
Belladonna had spent the day working, right after she had searched for Eli everywhere and just couldn't find it.
She had questions, those questions that she had asked while she was trying her best to fight sleep last night.
Well, she needed the answers to them.
The guards that followed her around were another thing to deal with.
An entire headache on its own.
With every step she took, she could feel ten more steps following her. Their movements were silent too and it was a strange thing to feel followed and openly watched at every turn.
So tiring.
She had preferred it when it was only Anok.
That was another thing that worried her.
Anok had suddenly just disappeared after rescuing her. She had not seen him and had not even been able to thank him.
Somehow, she felt Eli had something to do with this.
She just hoped that he had not eliminated him and he had just sent him on a mission somewhere, instead, a sort of assignment.
Or had he thrown him into the dungeon?
That seemed unlike Eli. He was a very understanding person and he would know that her attack was in no way Anok's fault.
Or maybe it was like Eli, maybe this was how he was and she was just seeing it. That Eli with her was different from the King with his people.
She folded the last dress and put it in a basket, a man fetching it from her before he joined the cue and they left the room to deliver the supplies to the market.
The suggested trade deliveries expansion hasn't started yet, Belladonna would have to discuss it with Eli, the same one who had suddenly just disappeared into thin air.
Before Belladonna retired to bed, she had gone to Eli's room, making use of the key once more.
His room had been empty. So she went to hers instead and slept.
She wondered where he was. She wasn't worried about his safety though, Eli could take care of himself, but still, she worried about what she believed was keeping him busy.
__
They were getting closer to Inaymi. After a day's journey, finally, they exchanged the first set of words to each other at their stop, when the Physicians had left the carriage in search of a particular herb they claimed to need.
"Slut." Lytio muttered, his voice raising from a whisper the more he spoke. "My father's whore." With bitterness, he added, "My wife."
Aniya's eyes fluttered open and she sat up.
"It has been so long since you called me that."
"My father's whore?"
"Your wife." She looked at him but found him staring daggers into the back of her sleeping son. She pulled him closer to her chest in a protective hold. "For how long have you known?"
There was silence. Not because he was thinking about her question, he already had an answer to that even before she asked. What bothered him was the memory of his father's death. He could remember nothing of it, all he remembered was waking up with the murder weapon in his hand.
He clenched his fists at the memory.
Did he harbour that much anger that it had fueled him to murder his own father like one of the fishes he captured?
At first, he had been in denial but after living with the secret for a while, he had come to terms with it.
Maybe he did and just never realized it, until that night.
"That night. Immediately I saw you two together, I knew."
"It is your fault. If you had loved me---"
Something cut through the carriage sharply, digging itself sharply into the wooden carriage wall, where Lytio was seated.
It was a dagger, buried right over Lytio's shoulder, slicing through his robe, the cold blade resting against his skin.
Lytio yanked his robe away in fear but the next one was quick and had gone through his hair, cutting a good chunk of it off, the blade resting against his scalp.
Aniya's lung-wreaking screams confirmed his fear.
They were under attack.