A Veil of Betrayal

Chapter Ten.

Layle makes her way through the gardens of the Castle as she had the previous night, her heart beating quicker with every step closer to him. To Caspian. She turns the corner and her breath hitches as she sees him leaning against the exit of the maze, his face lighting up when he sees her. As she makes her way towards him, her senses seem to be heightened. He smells of rosewater and lavender. "I was wondering when you were going to arrive." He says, his husky voice piercing the silence of the grounds. "Am I late?" She replies, acutely aware of how sweaty her hands have become all of a sudden, and inconspicuously wipes them on her skirt. "Not at all." He says, his eyes resting on her lips. "I was an hour early." Layle chuckles at that. "An hour?" and she's rewarded with a wide smile. "I was restless. I haven't been able to stop thinking about you all day, Layle Farley. My sister kept chiding me for not listening to one of her dresses being damaged." Layle keeps her face neutral. "Oh. My...Condolences?" Caspian's eyes crinkle. "God, you are a breath of fresh air compared to the other ladies I have to talk to." He holds out his hand to take hers. "Come. I have been wanting to show you something." 

They chase each other up a winding stone staircase, their footsteps and quiet laughter echoing off the walls. Caspian stops and prizes open a trap door before pulling himself up and grabbing hold of Layle's hand and helping her into one of the highest turrets on the Castle. Layle makes her way over to the window and peers through the diamond shaped muntions in the windows. Caspian treads lightly behind her and brushes his arm off her shoulder as he points out the window. "On a clear day, you can just make out Dealorory from here. It's the only place in Lockbroalm you can, in fact. It has to have just rained, no dust in the air. And then...Just barely it's there." They stare out through the window, to the moon, casting a silver path on the dark, rolling waves underneath it, and the stars, twinkling  like scattered diamonds strewn across a velvet cloth. "I wonder what it must be like to live there." Layle muses softly. "To call that waste land of ice and barren land your home. I heard that the ground over there is so frozen people can't even dig graves for their dead." 

Caspian suddenly shifts, bends down and picks up something off the ground. "What's this?" He asks and Layle swivels her head around to see. So comically small, compared to his large hand, rests the love potion. Layle's blood freezes to the same temperature that the people of the Territory of the Dead have to endure. It must have fallen out of her pocket. She stutters, trying to come up with something plausible. "Caspian, it's-that's, um, I can explain-" Caspian shakes his head and chuckles lightheartedly. "I've had desperate women throw themselves on me before, but I've never experienced one try to enchant me." He uncorks the vial with a small pop and sniffs it before pulling a face. "Oh,  that's sickly sweet. Do you think it even works?" Layle takes a step closer. "Caspian maybe you shouldn't try and find out-" But he laughs and his brown eyes glitter as bright as the stars outside. 

Before he puts the vial to his lips and downs it in one swallow.