The Poison Prince

JULIUS still appeared bitter come the morning. Taiden saw it in his narrowed eyes when the captain came down for breakfast, choosing to sit at the opposite end of the table rather than with the prince. It hurt to see Julius so angry with him. He knew he had frustrated him over the years by acting reckless and keeping him out of so many of his plans, but Taiden had believed that he was acting in his best interests. Julius would only have tried to stop him from facing Devanna in the beginning, or he would have insisted on playing messenger while the prince remained at the castle. More harm may have come to him that way if he had been caught by the queen and Taiden had considered Julius his only comrade not too long ago; he hadn’t wished to see that ruined.

Xylia was shovelling food into her mouth like she hadn’t eaten a meal in weeks. Zechariahs watched her with a bemused expression, his hands wrapped around a bowl of oatmeal as though he needed to guard it from her.
“You’re going to be sick.” He warned her, watching as she gulped down her second pint glass of milk.
“I don’t care.” She insisted, reaching for another warm crust of toast. “I’ve never eaten like this before.”
Taiden blinked at her in amazement. It had never dawned on him until now that Xylia had only survived on what she caught or scavenged. Even when she had been in his company she had foraged for their meals and hunted to make sure they had food in their bellies. This journey had seen him go hungrier than he had ever been in his life, and at the same time he felt he had eaten fresher meat and fruit than ever before.
Xylia hiccupped and he chuckled as she clutched her chest, wincing as another hiccup made her jump in her seat.
“Told you.” Zechariah’s mumbled, only to be smacked roughly in the arm by the brunette a second later.
It triggered a small coughing attack from The Draca, which caused other guests to glance over at them. Taiden hid further under his cloak, just in case a sharp eye recognised him even beneath his hood. Xylia watched over her old friend with a concerned expression, but Zechariahs waved her away as he gulped down some icy water.
“Don’t fret about me. You’ve got bigger things to be bothered by.” He said hoarsely, wiping a speck of blood from his lips with the back of his hand, which he then wiped with on his trousers. “Did you read the letter from your uncle?”
Taiden noticed how Xylia stiffened suddenly and began to pick at the buttery toast in her hands. “Yes, but it was nothing important. He just wanted me to know that the village of The Draca is no home to me now. I already figured as much.”
“I am sorry, Xylia. I know no apology can change anything, but I truly am.” Taiden whispered, reaching across the table to touch her arm lightly.
“It’s fine. Let’s just stop Devanna before she makes another attempt on our lives.”
Julius cleared his throat and loudly slammed his mug down on the wooden table top. “I don’t think this is the sort of topic we should be discussing in a public arena.” He hissed at them all, glancing around to be certain that no one was still paying them any attention. Thankfully, the rest of the inn’s guests were preoccupied with their own breakfasts again and talking amongst themselves once more. No one seemed to have heard the queen’s name fall from Xylia’s lips. “Finish your food and let’s move to the road again. We have just a few days before the banquet.” Julius discarded his plate and mug where he had been sitting and left the room without glancing back at them.

“Julius seems angry.” Xylia said quietly, falling into step beside Taiden.
“He’s frustrated.” Taiden settled upon for an answer after a moment of hesitation. “He often is with me.” He flashed Xylia a boyish smirk and tried to play off the deeper problems lurking in his mind.
Julius and Zechariahs were slightly ahead of them, travelling on the horses. Taiden had insisted on Zechariahs keeping his horse given the state of his poor health and Julius was adamant about leading the way back to the capital of Lyris. He wanted to make good time and apparently did not trust anyone else to do so. That left Xylia and Taiden on foot, bringing up the rear for the most part, since neither fancied trying to keep pace constantly with the proud stallions.
“I thought he’d be glad to see you were alive.” She commented, fixing her gaze on the captain’s back.
“He is, but he still believes that I’m mad for all that I hope to achieve.” Taiden smiled a sad smile. He wished he could just tell Xylia that he didn’t want her to be a part of the fight against Devanna, but he knew she wouldn’t just walk away from it.
“Maybe you are, but maybe that will be what makes it possible.” She shrugged, pushing her hands into the almost ruined pockets of her trousers.
“You really think so?”
Xylia shrugged again and looked up at the canopy of trees above them. “I don’t know. How could I? All I do know is that you took a girl who was raised to believe she was worse than the dirt she walked on and made her see that she could fight to be more than that.” She offered him a shy smile and glanced away once more. It was the smile that broke him.
“A Seer told me I would find you.” The words fell from his lips before he could stop them. The second they were out he wished that he could take them back, but it was like the gates had opened and once more secrets he had clung dearly to toppled out. “He told me to go north and that I would find someone with brown hair and eyes like ice, with a fire that burns both cold and hot.”
Xylia had stopped walking and was just staring at Taiden with a confused look in those pale blue eyes. Her hands were clenched at her sides and she didn’t know if she wanted to hear him continue, but he did all the same. He couldn’t stop.
“He told me that this person would save Lyris. That’s why I was so insistent that you join me back when we first met. I had no idea what power you held or even what you come to mean to me.” Taiden reached out for Xylia, but she ripped her hands from his grasp and stepped away from him. “Now I know both of those things and while I have no doubt that you could fight Devanna, I don’t want you to.”
“Excuse me?”
“I’ll find another way to stop my step-mother’s tyranny. I’ll slip her poison in her wine, or I’ll find an assassin who is brave enough for the job, but I don’t wish for you to risk your life for Lyris!” His voice cracked and strained as he confessed to Xylia his deepest fear; that he might lose her in their attempt to stop the queen.
Xylia blinked at him and then crinkled her nose in disgust. “That is no longer your choice to make. You have turned me into a murderer. I killed people to save your life. And then I discovered that I have no clue as to who I really am, but that I am more than mutt; I’m a freak.” Taiden moved to stop her, but Xylia held up her hand and shook her head, tears stinging her eyes and threatening to fall. “I have no home, no family, and at this point, no future. All I have left is the desire to see the queen rot. You don’t get to take that away from me, Taiden.”
“Xylia, please-“
“No. I don’t care if it kills me. I would rather die making her bleed than be this.” She turned and stalked away, making certain that she put enough distance between herself and Taiden so that he couldn’t see the ice frosting over her hands as her emotions stormed and raged within her.

The prince wasn’t the only one poisoned with secrets anymore.