Kings and Thieves

Chapter 25

**SURPRISE!! Y'all get an extra chapter today. Mainly because Lyla's chapter ended up being too long, so I had to split it in two. Enjoy**

Chapter 25

Lyla couldn't remember the last time she had felt so free when she was dancing.

In Benodet, the partners switched frequently, each person skipping down the line and joining hands with the next dancer. Lyla had danced with nearly everyone in the square; none of which she knew, but their smiles were so easy and open that she didn't mind at all.

Her cheeks were pink and her hair had loosened from its bun, winding around her flushed throat by the time Aveline proposed they go find Ari and Jamie. The water on the beach looked so clear and inviting, Lyla was almost tempted to jump in, if she hadn't been wearing full skirts.

"Did you have fun?" Jamie seemed a bit discomposed as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, but just managed to return Aveline's buoyant greeting.

"Lyla did!" Eli said gleefully, winding an arm around Lyla's shoulders. She blushed.

"Where are Inez and the rest of the crew, by the way?" She was sorry that they had missed out on the festivities- though she couldn't imagine Inez danced much, the rest of the crew likely did.
Ari raised a shoulder. "I told them to meet us back at the ship for dinner." Now that the investigation had been put on a temporary hold, Lyla could see that tiredness had perhaps finally caught up to Ari; he seemed faraway.

"Perhaps we could go back to the ship early," she suggested, "we need you and Aveline to catch up on sleep, and I need to freshen up, anyway." She'd slept in her now-rumpled gown and couldn't imagine what her hair must have looked like.

They agreed, to her surprise; and as they walked back, Lyla thoughtfully turned her arms over to examine the pinkish hue left from the sun. It didn't hurt now, but it would probably sting in her bath that night, she predicted.

Everyone headed to their own rooms as soon as they returned. Lyla soon found Henry and Inez and joined them for an intense game of chess, which lasted for a few hours.

Most of the day passed by uneventfully, for once, and after washing and changing her clothes, Lyla spent most of it in the library reading. She found a few rather fascinating books about gardening, and fell asleep on a large volume of flower breeds.

She awoke to find that she had missed supper but someone had left out a pot of broth for her on the dining table, and she groggily ate it with a hunk of bread, gazing into the bowl and slowly letting the past few months wash over her.

Something about it didn't seem real; like she was trapped in a dream, and soon she would wake up in her over-cushioned bed in the Apreuna palace to the sound of her maids banging on the door- at her mother's request.

The familiar image filled Lyla with a sense of revulsion that surprised her. She was quickly falling into a routine here, all the while finding that with more of the world she saw, the less she wanted to return.

--

Later that week, Aveline and Ari came back to the ship late, when everyone else had retired for the evening. Lyla visited the children's bunk downstairs just as Inez was putting them to sleep. The room was dark and Lyla hurried to close the door on its open sliver of light as she joined Inez, who knelt beside the bed.

"Lyla," Imani languidly muttered around the thumb in her mouth. Inez hushed her, not unkindly, and then she began to sing.

Inez had a surprisingly lovely voice, that lilted and swam over the notes of an unfamiliar lullaby that Lyla had never heard before. The melody seemed to come from some distant kingdom, perhaps where Inez was from. Each of the children's eyes began to close as they huddled together on the large bed. Lyla almost felt like falling asleep herself yet again, relaxation seeping into her limbs at Inez's voice.