Mark of the Assassin

47tth summer 89 N.W.

Aeria,

Thea has died. She died shortly after I wrote to you. The midsummer festival has not been canceled, but many people will not be attending. There are many sick people in the country and many have died. The death has made it worse.

I hope where you are that everything is better. Mother said that she hopes that you are doing well during dinner once. She never mentioned it again, but I think that she misses you and wishes that she hadn’t sent you away. The babe is doing well and I think that mother is looking for brides and grooms for us. She says that we are all old enough now.

I do not wish to be married. I am hardly out of the nursery. Mother says that father waited too long though, so we will be married to the first eligible people that are our age. I hope that never happens. At least you don’t have to worry about being married off in your new home.

You never talk about what you do that often. Do you just go to school? Do you do other things? Have you done anything interesting? What sorts of foods do they have there? I wish you would tell me more about your new life. I also want you to know that I am jealous of your new life. You have freedom of not being royalty any longer.

I sent you something for the midsummer festival. I hope you like your gift. I have also sent another coin to you. I hope that you are saving them so that when you are out of school you have money. I love you and hope everything is going well for you.

Love Francis.

The mood of the midsummer festival was nearly overshadowed by the mourning of the king and queen and the anger that the country had been betrayed by someone trusted. The riots had been quickly crushed by the military. Everything had been cleaned up by now.

The festival was loud and colorful. Women were selling flowers from baskets that they carried on their hips. There were people selling baked goods at stands that had been built in the week before. Although mourning was on everyone’s mind, they remembered that the festival was a time for celebration. The gods and goddesses were thanked and gifts were left at their temples.

“Is it different in your country?” Peter asked as we walked down the streets.

“A little less flowers.” I said. I took a bit out of my pastry and wiped my hands on my breeches. Neither of us had to get dressed until it was time for the ceremonies. Until then, Isabel and Arabella gave us permission to roam the city.

We walked around for a bit longer before I had to pause to catch my breath. Sometimes it still hurt to breath if I had been out too much. I supposed I should have expected this, especially since it had only been a little over a week since the fight.

“Does it still hurt?” Peter asked.

“Don’t worry about me.” I said, taking a deep breath.

“You’re the one with a pretty nasty spell still on you.” Peter said.

Rose had taken a crack at the spell while she had been in the city. She couldn’t figure it out either. None of the guild could get the spell off of me, but they said that it should wear off by the end of the year. Rose had told me there might be ill effects until then.

“It’s my chest, not the spell.” I said. I still didn’t know what ill effects meant, but I was sure that they couldn’t be as bad as the original fight. Whatever the effects were, Ronald was dead regardless.

“Let’s sit down for a little bit.” Peter said.

“Let’s get more food first.” I said. We had skipped breakfast to come out for the festival and so far we had only eaten a pastry between us. I wanted real breakfast today.

“There’s a pastry man-“

“I want real food.” I said. He nodded and we made our way to a stand that sold grilled vegetables and bread. It was delicious, so we bought another one for later. The festival ceremony was long, so we would have to eat before it.

“If you two like my food so much, you should visit the actual shop.” The man running the shop said. He scratched down where his shop was on the bag he gave us for the food. “Has anybody ever told you that you look like the prince?” The man added after staring at Peter for a moment.

“All the time. It’s a wonder I haven’t been mistaken for him before.” Peter said, smiling to the man before we left.

“He’s in the area of the pub.” I told him.

“We do lessons at the castle now.” Peter said. “There is no reason to go to the pub.”

“There is if this man sells food in that area. Don’t forget the best pastries in the country are sold in the lower city.” I told him.

“How could I ever forget.” Peter said. “We can still go to the lower city after our free time.” He said.

“Someone has to give all the extra food from the school away.” I said. “So we could always give away the food and grab dinner from one of the shops in the lower city before coming back up to the castle.”

“You’re terribly convincing.” Peter said, grabbing my hand. “You ready to take a break?”

We ended up sitting next to one of the fountains that people typically washed clothes in. No one was washing clothes today though. Younger children ran around while their parents supervised, using the fountain as a place to watch their children from.

“What do you think it’s like being able to run free?” Peter asked.

“We run free all the time.” I told him.

“Not truly free. We have duties to return to.” He said.

“We might have duties, but we still run free. We can do anything we wish with the wave of our hand.” I told him. Once we were old enough and ready, we would take our place as the kingdom mage and master spy. We would have a job to do, but we would still have the ability to do what we wished.

“They run without worries.” He said.

“As did you as a child. What are you upset about?” I asked.

“Mother and father wouldn’t be dead if-“

“If Ronald had not been evil.” I said. “Their death had nothing to do with you. Ronald wanted to be king. You know that he killed every other of your relatives. It didn’t matter who you were.”

He sighed and leaned against me. “You’re correct.” He decided.

We sat quietly and watched children and animals play until their mothers called them to clean up for the festival. It was probably time for us to return to the castle as well. It was nearly time for the festival to begin.

“We should get back.” I said. Peter agreed and rose from the fountain. We slowly made our way back to the festival. It was livelier now that the festival was about to begin. The entire city seemed to be buzzing.

“Do you sometimes miss you parents?” Peter asked.

“No. I am glad that I am here.” I said.

“But do you miss them?” He asked.

I thought for a moment before deciding, “No. I miss Francis for he was the only person ever good to me.”

“Would you like to invite him to the castle?” He asked.

“No. Then my sister would come too.” I said. I would never forget the things that she had done to us and I would never be amicable towards her if I was forced to communicate. It was best if I didn’t have to communicate with her at all.

“I could invite him to find a wife.” Peter said. “Then he would come alone.”

“Perhaps it is best if I only send letters.” I said. If my sister or mother were ever to find out that the letters were sent by me, then he would be in severe trouble- even more so if he was sent to find a wife, only for them to find out that he was visiting me.

“Does it get lonely?” He asked.

“No. You’re always there.” I said. I would never be lonely because no matter what happened, Peter would be there. I could talk to him no matter what.

“Do you think that mother and father knew what we did?” He asked after a while.

“Not unless someone told them.” I said.

“So you don’t think that they know that we have killed people?” Peter asked.

“No.” I said. “Would you like to get flowers for their graves?” I asked.

Many other people had the same idea, as there were so many flowers on the graves of Eliza and Josef that I couldn’t see their grave stones. People had left tea too, knowing Josef’s love of tea. His citizens loved him.

We left flowers with everyone else’s before heading back to the castle. The ceremony for the midsummer festival would start soon and after that was Isabel and Arabella’s wedding. Isabel gave in and decided to buy the wedding dresses for Isabel and Arabella, since she didn’t have enough time to make her own.

Nearly all the noble’s in the country were at the castle for the festival and the wedding. There was a mound of presents in the dining hall nearly as tall as Isabel. The presents would be opened tonight at dinner, which would extend dinner by at least two extra hours.

Hopefully Isabel and Arabella would open their presents quickly. I wished to go to bed as soon as dinner was over. Although I was better, it still wore me out to walk around. Once school started, I wasn’t sure how I would begin training again.

If I was lucky, I would be exempt from training for at least an extra week. If that happened though, I would be behind everybody else. It was difficult to decide whether or not I wanted to be behind or in pain.

Peter would be able to train immediately once we returned from the school. He still ached, but he was just as energetic as he had been before. It was nice to see him acting normal again. He was still slightly paranoid, but he wasn’t nearly as paranoid as he had been a few weeks ago.

Life seemed more peaceful now, probably because there weren’t assassins trying to kill us every week. It was nice to not have to be on guard day and night within the castle. With the guild as the kingdom mage, the castle felt secure.

“Do you think we’ll still have lessons tonight?” Peter said. I had forgotten that we were supposed to do lessons after dinner. I hoped that the guild would excuse us tonight.

“I don’t know.” I said.

We got dressed into our festival clothes, which were the same as the clothes that we would wear to the wedding. I had asked Isabel if that was alright with her, and she said that she didn’t mind since my dress was so pretty.

She had finished adjusting the green dress. She adjusted the dress so that when I grew bigger, she could just let the hems out. I was glad, especially since this dress was so pretty. Isabel’s dress for the festival was different than her wedding dress. Both were beautiful.

“You’re wearing the shoes I got you.” Peter said, smiling as he tied his shoes.

“Of course. They are the nicest shoes I own.” I said. They were also my favorite shoes.

“Wait until you see what I got you for the festival.” Peter said.

He took out a small bag and gave it to me. I did the same. I had gotten Peter a custom knife set from the castle black smith. They came with straps so that he could have a knife on his person all the time.

I forced him to open his presents first. He loved them and strapped the knives to his body immediately. His knives fit much better than the ones that I had, but they were also considerably more expensive as well. It took two gold coins for two sets of knives. One set was bigger so he could have it once he grew larger, but I was saving that until he needed the larger set.

“Open yours.” He said, shoving the bag into my hands.

There was a pet collar inside the bag. I had no pets aside from Fox Glove.

“Why-“ I had not finished getting the sentence out of my mouth when Peter opened the closet. A dog came charging from the closet and jumped on my lap. “A cat!”

“I prefer to be called Kreak.” She said as she rubbed her face against my arm. She slipped into her collar the moment I held it out.

“Wherever did Peter find you?” I asked as I pet her.

“We’ve got to go.” Peter said, opening the door. Kreak ran from the room before we had a chance to do anything.

“Is she coming back?” I asked.

“We’ve got food.” Peter said.

He was correct. As long as there was food and a place to stay, Kreak would likely return every night. Hopefully the school would let her in. Normally pets were not allowed, but they probably would not protest against Peter.

“The Ofrey children have found brides and grooms.” Peter said as exited our rooms in our festival clothes. It was a wonder they had found someone to marry so quickly. They undoubtable didn’t know their future brides and grooms.

“The girl will be staying here. She is marrying one of the nobles in our year.” He said.

We saw them as we entered the main hall. All of them with their future mates. I recognized the boy in our year immediately. He was one of the ones who had made fun of me when I first got to the school.

“We’ve found brides.” The eldest boy said as he held up the girls hand. She looked happy. They all looked happy. It didn’t matter that they did not know one another, as long as they were all happy.

“Have you found one yet?” One of the twins asked.

“The rumors are that you are to marry the girl who helped you kill Ronald.” The twins bride said.

“That would be me.” I said, “And do not put credence to rumors.”

The boy that had been in our grade snorted, “You do not know magic. How did you manage to help you, Peter.”

“She and I will be the kingdom mages once we are finished with school.” Peter said. He wrapped his arm around me and grinned, “And you might believe the rumors.”

“You cannot marry a commoner.” The boy said to Peter. His future wife slapped him.

“He can marry whomever he wants. Aeria is nothing but nice.” She said.

“Sorry.” The boy said. He had maybe taken on more than he could handle with his future wife. I hoped they were good to one another.

“We are not getting married.” I told them, and Peter. I didn’t want to decide on marriage until we were older. We had not yet finished school.

“It is inevitable.” Peter said. He might have been right, but it didn’t mean I couldn’t wait. There was no rush to be married.