Dark Dreams, Bright Nightmares

Chapter 25

Tony was confused when I told him Jinsei left. And angry. Not only for leaving like that, but also because he lied to me. He had lied about something that should've been so important, and... I don't even have the words to try and explain what it's like for me, knowing I have a soulmate. If I wasn't in this situation but still knew all this, I'd probably be out looking for him. I wouldn't just settle on the first soul seeker and pretend it was my soulmate, keeping the other from finding his true soulmate.

How do you even know when someone is your soulmate?

I'd told Tony that Jinsei lied about us being soulmates. And just like that, Tony and I were once again stuck with that one question:

'What are we going to do now?'

'How about staying away from Christopher and Basteon?' My head rested upon my hands, my elbows in turn resting on my knees. Tony and I were sitting on a tree trunk, side by side.

'We could...' Tony trailed off, thinking. '... go to Arieille again. I guess. Maybe they can help us.' I sighed. Honestly, I didn't really know what to do. 'One way or another, we have to stop in some town to resupply.'

I stood up and stretched my arms and legs, before turning to Tony. 'How about we start off with that?'

And that's how we started walking again. Tony had a map with all the towns around here, in no-man's land, hidden with his arrows. We had gotten the map the first day after leaving the city of trees, as I like to call it, in the first town we found.

And that was convenient right now.

So I was turning the map, trying to figure out how to look at it. Tony said I should be able to read a map, since I'm a girl. Which didn't make any sense. But lucky for him, I used to get lessons at home. In these lessons, I learned all the ranks and places from every country and who ruled them, since I was the princess and should know those things for when I'd become the queen. And with all that, I'd learned to read a map.

'That way.' I said, pointing a little to the left from where we were going, eyes still on the map.

Tony looked around, then focused his eyes on the trees in the direction I'd mentioned. His eyebrows were slightly furrowed, as if he was doubting. He took one more look around before he shrugged and started walking again, saying: 'Well, everything looks the same to me, so I'll just trust your map-reading-skills.' I just rolled my eyes and followed him, map in my hands.

'Do you still have the coins?' I asked as Tony pushed a branch out of my way, since my eyes were still glued to the map. I mumbled a 'thank you' to Tony.

'You're welcome.' He chuckled. 'And to answer your question, I do. Not much, but something. You?'

I finally lowered the map and held it in my left hand, careful not to crumple it as I leaned that hand on Tony's shoulder. I lifted my right leg, my hand going in my boot, searching for the little bag. My finger grazed my knife, the one I got from a guy in the city of trees. For a moment, I thought back to the fun we had there, how short it may have been. When we still thought we would be safe in Basteon, and when we still thought Christopher could be trusted.

How naïve of us.

And how good are boots for hiding stuff?

Seriously, I've been hiding a knife in there, and... 'Five coins.' I muttered as I found them. They hadn't been very comfortable in there, but they were still there. One gold, three silver and a cupper piece.

'We should be able to buy some from that, and with what I have, we should be able to make Arieille, right?' Tony and I continued walking again. He held the map this time, after I pointed out where we were and where we were headed.