Chromatically Cursed

CHAPTER 10

Song: Dulcet Relapse by Cloud

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Emberly

It was an art, being a pickpocket. When I first started, my speed was what kept me safe for the most part. My hands were untrained and bumbling, so I just grabbed and ran. Hinge slowly taught me how to act and be gentler. It took time to learn how to read people's movements and to sense the natural shifts. I was blessed with long legs and long fingers. My hair was a problem. A rare few had platinum blonde hair like I did, and mine was bright, practically white. It was a candle in the night, moths flocking to it unless it was snuffed out.

The most handsome moth wrapped himself up in a tendril of my flame, and the thought forces me to catch my breath. Remembering how it came and brushed against my collarbone, the beat of his heart pushing against my fingers, I felt a swell rise up and crash against my ribs.

I take time to roam around, visiting districts I hadn't gone to in quite some time. Part of me wanted a change of scenery, but deep down I wanted to stay far away from where the prince had found me. Life had to go back to the way it was. He was never going to remember me, especially when I cleared his guilty conscience. Nothing tied us together anymore. Except maybe destiny, if I followed Avia's theories.

I forgot about her theories after a while. Days passed. Then weeks. Then months. Each day was a new district, new pockets, farther and farther away from my run in with Killian. Eventually, even the season started to change, and thoughts of Killian were minimal. Deep in my bones I felt an ache still, like a longing for something once had. I refused to attribute it to him, though. Not even when I dreamed of his hands in my hair, pulling me into his hearth, his flames reaching out to consume me. Maybe I was foolish, but I couldn't help but feel safer that way.

When the weather warmed and the scent of distant flowers drifted through the streets, I started to notice extra bustle and chaos. It was a gradual shift. The closer I came to the city center, nearer to the market, the worse it got. Women and mothers running around, buying dresses and fabric. Solum women were cleaned up and the coal marks scrubbed from their skin. Well, their faces at least. The higher strats looked flawless, as usual, but they looked even shinier now. They congregate in groups of two to four, fawning over colors and gasping about feathers. The larger groups seem to have a leader who has either fancier pieces, or just more of them. They wore extra bright colors and extravagant gems in their hair. The men seem both eager and disturbed, many eyeing up the dazzling women who don't spare them a second glance.

I keep to the sides, staying out of it all. In some ways, it makes it easier to pick. People aren't paying as much attention to their purses and belongings when they have fabrics and beads to worry about. The Altums are the laziest of all. Something catches their eye as they start to shut their purse and they forget instantly. It just hangs open, for the taking.

My pockets are filled to the brim. I have to make the trek back to my stash before I could begin picking again. I take a detour to the tracks. The tracks were loud and dirty. There were eight rail lines that ran to, from, and around the city. They overlapped and split away in different spots, eventually convening into four main rails, but they efficiently got people and goods where they needed to go. Freighters were the dirtier engines while the gleaming cars belonged to the passenger train. Most of the people who took the train were Altums at least. A scarce few Terres could afford to take the train, but would occasionally save up to visit family in other kingdoms.

I came to the section where all four lines converged and ran together to the main city station, Supra. It was the largest in the kingdom, and it practically glittered with glass and gems. Steam from the engines rose up and floated through the stained slats in the ceiling. You could see it from anywhere in the city. I typically stayed away from it. It was a death trap with thousands of people all in one place, Mags surrounding it all for security. Today I felt bold.