TKATP: A Coronation of Blood

Chapter X: Aurelianna

The news crashed through the Springwater Keep the next day like a tidal wave.

Lady Myreia delle Rivera Florjes was pregnant. She bore the child of Manwell delle Rivera; their child would one day be the Duke of Rivièrra.

Aurelianna felt so ashamed for the way her family had received her sister. The news had done nothing to soothe everyone's nerves, nay, the air was still thick with anticipation, draped over the Springwater Keep like a heavy blanket. Aurelianna noticed the shuffling of men in the depths of the night, the sense of preparation that permeated the keep. Multiple of her mother's mercenary companies and freelancer knights had returned to Fiorá. Something was about to happen.

Aurelianna watched the children played in the waters of the Springwater bathhouses which ran with springwater from, well... the Springwater. She drew them playing in the pool, just far enough away that the water from their horseplay didn't splash onto her canvas. It was an assignment that her tutor had given her class―to draw a meaningful scene of somewhere in the city. It could be in the keep or out on the streets. Aurelianna had chosen the children's bathhouses, to represent youthfulness, playfulness, and cleanliness. She smiled, thinking that one day, the children of her siblings and even her own would someday swim in these bathhouses. The springwater was of such a quality that not even the waters of the bathhouses in Navitium could compare. Although those bathhouses dwarfed the ones in Fiorá.

Boys and girls played together in the pools. Aurelianna had remembered the look on the face of an Eregardi lady that had come to court Carlos when he hadn't been married. But oh her face when Carlos had completely disrobed to enter one of the baths filled with men and women alike. And he had even expected her to join in. Aurelianna had to stifle her laughter lest she distract the children from her play.

"What's this, Aura?" Aurelianna heard from behind her. She immediately recognized it as Jelynnda delle Noronya, her classmate and friend. She was a dark-skinned girl with a swirl of

Aurelianna ignored her, focusing her entire attention on the last few pencil strokes. Jelynnda sighed. "Fine, ignore me. But just saying, you must've lost track of time. Mistress Xelmyra wants us back in thirty minutes. And it's quite a walk back to the classroom."

Aurelianna added the last few touches and admired her finished work. She safely stored the paper in her folder. "Alright, what is it?"

Jelynnda rolled her eyes. "Class. Now."

"Alright then."

The duo went off to the keep, exiting through the courtyards of the Springwater Bathhouse Complex. The scenery was beautiful, filled with the songs of macaws, parrots, and seabirds, complemented by the rustling and shaking sound of spider monkeys dancing through the trees. The beginning of Amaratius was always a beautiful time. There were couples strolling through the courtyards and gardens of the keep. Others sat on benches together. Meanwhile others...

As Aurelianna and Jelynnda approached a bend in their path, she heard the soft sounds of sensual moaning. Aurelianna quickly steered Jelynnda away to a detour. Best not to interrupt the couple.

Jelynnda was having a giggle fit. "What?" Aurelianna asked. They'd run into enough situations like that to where it was truly no surprise.

"You didn't notice? That was Sabynna!" Jelynnda explained in a low hush. Sabynna was another one of their classmates. If Aureliana remembered, she had been seeing a squire to one of her mother's household knights.

"Doubtful," Aurelianna said. "How could you tell from a moan?"

"It's her voice. You can't tell."

"No, and neither can you."

"Yes, I can!"

"We'll have to find a way to test that out."