The Convert Queen: Prophecy Fulfilled

Chapter 11: A Refuge From The Storm (Part 1)

An hour later, washed and dressed, Aleyna slipped out of the house, heading for her refuge in the Academika. Eyvan and Arner were still engrossed in conversation as she left, their voices drifting out to her in the hallway, as she wrapped her shawl about her shoulders.

The streets were more or less empty, that was until she reached the main road which ran from Lykos Bridge, the widest and most important of the bridges which linked the island of Lyknisia to the mainland, passing the Academika about halfway along it's length, before terminating at the palace gates. Here, the streets were filled with market vendors, shoppers, and errand-runners. Aleyna weaved in and out of them, ignoring the produce and the items for sale. She wasn't in the mood for shopping.

Once at the Academika, she quickly made her way to the Geography Faculty, but stopped before entering her classroom. With her hand on the door handle, she was about to open it and step inside, but something stopped her from doing so. The room was empty, as was most of the building, for it was a non-teaching day, of which there were two a week at the Academika. Looking through the glass window, her eyes fell sadly on all the things she loved, and all the things she was going to have to leave behind. Her books and posters, her rock specimens, her long dusty study robe.

Turning away, she walked to the end of the corridor and climbed the stairs to where the faculty library was housed. As it was a non-teaching day, the library was locked, so she withdrew a key from her pocket and went in. Aleyna loved the library. This library. To her, it was filled with wonder. In it was held the secrets of the formation of the world around her. How river channels were formed and altered overtime. Why some soils could sustain crops whilst others grazing animals. How, where and why coastal erosion effected the shape of Lyknisia.

Lovingly lost in her own little world, she walked amongst the stacks, brushing book spines with her fingertips, trying to imprint the feel of the bindings on her memory. Some of the books on the shelves were over three hundred years old. Books older than that could be found in the library, but they had to be stored with care and were not counted amongst the shelves.

She was about halfway through the bookcases when she spotted a book of note. The Geography of the Mynythian Borderlands by Kazimyr Vladchuk. It was believed to be the only book in existence written about Mynythia by someone who had visited the kingdom. There were three copies on the shelf. Aleyna removed one and then headed over to one of the reading desks. She was just about to sit down and start reading when loud, angry footsteps echoed up the stairs. A moment later, Leena burst into the room, red-faced and furious.

'So this is where you're hiding!' she screamed. 'Shame on you! How could you? How could you!'

Aleyna was so taken aback by the outburst, she couldn't speak.

'And when were you going to tell me? I had to hear it from my father, as he was announcing a banquet in your honour.' Leena only paused so that she could continue in a sarcastic voice. 'To celebrate the forthcoming marriage of Aleyna Rianenska, Professor of Geography at the Academika and Arner, King of Mynythia.'

The professor, shocked not only by her friend's behaviour but also by this news, fell into a chair with a thud.

'Do you really want to wait to marry a king, Leena?' the princess continued in her caustic tone. 'Your words, Aleyna, spoken by you to me, yesterday. And all the while you were planning this behind my back.'

Suddenly Aleyna found her voice. She got to her feet, so she could attempt to make Leena see reason. 'You think this is my doing? I'm a victim of circumstance, Leena. I deserve your pity, Leena, not your wrath.'

Leena snorted. 'Pity? You've taken from me what I've always wanted. How could you? And you already had Eyvan. You didn't need anyone else.'

'Leena,I didn't want anything else, but this situation is just so...complicated.'

'It doesn't look very complicated from where I'm standing.'

'Well, it is. If you knew the whole story, you might understand.' Aleyna was about to try to begin to explain what had happened in the intervening hours since she had left Leena in the palace, but the princess was in no mood to listen.

'You are selfish, Aleyna, yet you want me to feel sorry for you. Well I don't. I don't care what you have to say. No words can justify how you've betrayed me. You were supposed to be my friend. I may have expected something like this from other women at court, but I never thought to look for such calculated manipulations from you.'

Aleyna gasped at the accusations levelled against her. 'You think I want this? You think I want to give up my life, my study, my work, the man I love, my home, to go and live amongst strangers who believe in magic, and be the wife of an old man?'

Movement from behind Leena caught Aleyna's eye. Arner had reached the top of the stairs and had crossed the doorway to stand on the little landing next to it. The look on his face was one of hurt and humiliation, which told her he had at the very least heard what she had just said to Leena.

'Stop lying, Aleyna. Just stop it! Why can't you have the decency to admit what you've done now the truth is out? Oh, why am I even bothering?' With those final words spat out in Aleyna's direction, Leena turned in a swirl of skirts and stormed out of the room. She didn't even notice the King of Mynythia, whom she thought she would like to marry simply because he was a king, was waiting outside of the library as she ran down the steps.

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[Word count for chapter: 999, Word count for whole story: 13057]

Thank you so much for reading this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please consider voting for it and / or leaving me a comment to let me know what you think.

This was actually a very long chapter to write, so I made the decision to split it into two so it wasn't overwhelming to read. You can find Part 2 in the next chapter. Enjoy!

Have a great day!