Determined to take control of their fates, Arjen and Arien escape Derolina Castle at the age of sixteen after their cruel mother dies. They adopt new names and find a home in the city of Aramore, while the Emperor of Yuriana searches for his missing...
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It was surreal. They had never seen anything like it, and yet there was nothing remarkable about it. How was it that something so ordinary could seem so foreign?
Arjen and Arien walked down the rough country road, taking in the wide open spaces of the farm fields and rolling hills dotted with clusters of trees. The warm, muggy air shimmered on the horizon, and the odor of freshly spread manure touched their noses. The blue dome of the sky, both vast and deep, contrasted with the vibrant greens and rich browns of the fields and crops growing next to the road. Columns of clouds expanded upwards in the sky, appearing like castles drifting through the heavens.
"It's..." Arien began. She squinted as she thought. "It's...not Derolina Castle."
Arjen pulled his gaze away from the rows of sunflowers in a field to look at her. Even after all their planning and research, it still didn't feel real. They were really outside of Derolina Castle, a place he had thought would be their tomb. This countryside, although plain in many ways, was probably the most beautiful landscape he had ever seen, a thousand times better than the garbage pile that was Derolina.
He stared at her. "I still can't get used to this."
"Neither can I. You look so different." She took up a lock of her hair. "This won't last but three months, right?"
"Right."
"And then we'll have to renew the spell."
They had turned their hair brown using magic, and changed the color of their eyes as well. Arien had insisted upon blue eyes because she always thought they were the prettiest.
"We wouldn't be able to disguise ourselves like this if we hadn't found those books in that hidden library," she said.
"And we never would've been able to read them had it not been for Jamila."
At the mention of the name, they became downcast. It hurt to remember Jamila. She had been the only servant at Derolina to show them kindness. She had taught them how to read the imperial language so they could read the books they got from the library. She hadn't cared that they were illegitimate children, let alone illegitimate children of the emperor. They hadn't known much about her, but Arjen suspected she may have secretly been illegitimate herself, and that was why she took to them so well.
But once Rurahel found out that Jamila favored the twins, she immediately banished her from the castle, and the children never saw her again.
They owed Jamila a great debt.
As they continued down the road, a wagon came trundling towards them, sacks of produce piled high in the back. The driver, most likely the farmer, tipped his hat at them as he passed, although he gave them curious look. They were two teenagers walking alone in the countryside with heavy packs. Arjen worried the man might become suspicious of a couple of non-locals. It was something he had taken into account before they left Derolina, but he had learned through some of the books in the library that it was not uncommon for people to migrate while looking for work. Perhaps the twins could pass off as migrants. As long as the magic held on their hair and they didn't turn blond, they should be fine, right?
