Song of Blood and Silver

𝐢𝐯.

THE CAPITAL, UNLIKE in all the fearsome stories I'd heard in my childhood, was ablaze with life. There were no dilapidated homes riddling the streets, no gruesome bodies dangling from ropes and chains which used to constantly invade my head during those nights of sleeplessness. The place, in contrast, was overflowing with nobles on horseback, villagers bargaining relentlessly with reluctant merchants, and unburdened children enjoying their fleeting youth.

They were all unaware of the bloodshed committed outside these walls.

My gray cloak, one I'd bought to cover myself as soon as I had entered the outskirts of the Capital, flapped in the rushing wind. It wasn't fulfilling against the bitter cold, but it concealed the weapons I'd recovered, drawing the people's attention elsewhere. The last thing I needed here was the interest of outsiders interrupting my plan.

I drew the heavy hood over my hair, now cropped to my shoulders and bound back like I'd seen many of the adolescent girls do around me. Even though the glamor I had cast over myself once I passed the Capital gates did deceive the careless and half-drunk guards, it was impossible for it to wear on until I finally found a way through to the castle to accomplish what I came here to do. People were bound to see through the shield and recognize the Maga's signature cool eyes and pale demeanor. I would be reported before I had the time to scour out a safe path.

If it hadn't been for the rotund and aging innkeeper warning his unbothered customers of the changes the king had brought to the Capital only a week before, I wouldn't have been so inclined to comb the streets like a hound to memorize each alleyway, each deathly turn and corner. Once the day came where I would be discovered by those more than eager to unmask my identity, the routes around the Capital were my only ally. I didn't have the strength to fight them all off guard by guard and shackle by shackle, but I did have a very good chance of escaping once I knew how to travel around.

Merchants called out to potential customers once more, gesturing at their displayed goods, exaggerating their original value. Women with flowers in their silky hair or carrying woven straw baskets continued to flatter arrogant nobles with attire bedazzling beyond compare as they ambled past everyone else like kings and queens. Their smiles alone were enough to buy the hearts of the Capital, yet all they wanted were more and more riches.

My gaze eventually lifted from the chaos of energy to take in the spires of the castle, grand and full and dead.

With only a few gold coins gambled out of the grasp of two greasy older nobles to spare after I'd spent half renting out a room in one of the crooked taverns along with purchasing new clothes and materials to replace the blood-splattered ones I had dumped into the treacherous sewers, it would only be a matter of days before I had to leave the Capital in search of any way that could stop my sister and her vindictive ambitions. I had already wasted two days laying out a scheme to get me into the palace — more time in the Capital would mean excavating my own grave.