The Kept

The Lake

Despite the prince's protests, the treacherous little dance master had made his suggestion to the queen, ensuring that Gereon practiced dance with Nerys daily. Gereon and Nerys's forced companionship carried on through the afternoon lull before her other lessons. The hours spent with him left her feeling frustrated and raw from her constant struggle to control her contempt enough to avoid being force-fed Martyr's Tears, while simultaneously imagining the prince's increasingly gruesome end.

Gereon, for his part, managed to put on a much more convincing performance. Where Nerys could barely maintain her facade, Gereon seemed to become more tolerant of their arrangement with each passing day. Even Nerys's most caustic remarks had little effect on his patience, drawing Gereon's laughter instead of his ire. It was driving her insane, and she was sure he was doing it intentionally- perhaps trying to bait her into a fight so that he would have a reason to follow through with the queen's threat.

Her own guard's constant supervision did not help, either. Even now he stood silently nearby while she waited for Gereon in the library. She could feel him watching her carefully, as usual, while she ran her fingers along the archaic symbols on the spines of ancient books.

"Don't you have anything better to do?" Nerys snapped.

The guard furrowed his brow at the absurdity of the question.

"I mean...I understand it's your duty to stay near me, but couldn't you at least sit down and pretend to read a book or something? I'm not going to disappear through the floor. Relax, and, for the love of... just... stop staring at me like I'm some sort of beast in a cage!"

Nerys instantly regretted her outburst. The guard hadn't actually done anything to deserve it. She was trying to form an apology when Gereon entered the library. He quickly noticed the guard's brooding expression and Nerys's own guilty frown.

"Is he troubling you?" Gereon asked, scowling.

"No. I was feeling restless and my guard just happened to be the closest target," she said. The prince's obvious dislike for him made Nerys want to defend the tall, quiet man.

"Perhaps the library isn't the best location for our rendezvous today." Gereon turned to the guard, "You are dismissed. I will escort the princess back to her room, myself."

Nerys's guard looked as if he would rather eat glass than leave, but did as commanded without protest.

Gereon and Nerys wandered far across the palace grounds to a lake with sparkling green water. The bright fish inside stared at them with ridiculously large eyes and thick, gaping mouths. It seemed to Nerys that their arrival had shocked the strange little fish into permanent expressions of disbelief.

"When we were children we would chase the lords' daughters around with fish during picnics. They told on us, of course, and we got into so much trouble. Mother was no less terrifying then, but Dadien somehow talked me into it every time," Gereon said with a small laugh.

It was the first time she had heard the prince mention his brother at all, and his complete lack of resentment piqued her curiosity. If she could keep him talking, perhaps he might mention something Nerys could use to her advantage— a secret passage they had explored as boys would be ideal. Gereon realized his slip and instantly quieted.

"Are the fish hard to catch?" she asked casually. Gereon looked back toward the palace for a long moment before responding.

"Not particularly. I would show you, but you'd ruin your dress."

Nerys pulled her skirt up to her thighs and tied the excess material into a knot. When she looked up from her task, Gereon was turned away and a bright flush of red crept up his neck to the tips of his ears. It was an odd reaction, considering his now infamous intrusion on her bath.