Chapter 13

"Miss!" Someone called.

"Miss!" That same someone began shaking Aris violently.

Her eyes flew open and she abruptly sat up. "Is the manor on fire?"

Solin tilted her head. "No."

"Then I'm going back to sleep," the black-haired girl sighed, falling back on the bed.

The younger girl caught her before she could land on the mattress. "You can't, Miss!"

"Why? Did someone die?" 

"No, but-"

"Then why can't I sleep!" She whined. "It's still early."

"But, my lady, it's already eleven o'clock."

"Oh..." Aris replied, feeling awkward. "Wait, how did you get in? I locked the door and placed a chair under the handle." She had learned from previous mornings. 

"I borrowed a ladder from the shed and climbed in through the balcony," the maid replied coolly, removing the covers from Aris’s body.

Her expression showed her bewilderment as she looked towards the balcony doors. Indeed, they were open, letting the breeze blow in.

"Let us get you ready, my lady–" Solin pulled her off of the bed by her arm. "–we only have an hour!"

"Solin, you know I insist on having you call me by my name,” Aris protested, getting shoved into the bathroom. “It’s not as if I’m a noble.”

Her statement was left unanswered as the maid slammed the bathroom door shut and left to pick out a new set of clothes. Sighing, the black-haired girl reluctantly followed Solin’s instructions.

“Wait, an hour until what?”

________________________

Here she stood, in the foyer of the Hinor marquessate, waiting for someone to show up. 

Granted, she hadn’t been standing for very long, but was it wrong to expect someone to already be there? Considering she was the one who was practically kidnapped on such short notice, she thought not. Solin didn’t give her much information after Aris had gotten out of the bath; only put a red velvet dress in her hands and gave her a frantic look. As she was shoved into one of the Basileus carriages, she heard the coachman yell, “to the Hinor marquessate!”

Hinor? Aris questioned in her head, as the carriage began to move. Where have I heard that before?

Indeed, it was the lady from last night. Despite no one there to greet her, the family portrait that hung in the middle of the foyer in front of the doors answered her question. Marquess Hinor stood in the official lieutenant commander uniform of the Royal Navy with Marchioness Hinor on his right. The woman stood in a similar uniform reflective of a battalion captain in the Royal Army– Aris had recognized the design from one of Irwin’s portraits– one hand on the sword at her hip. The portrait must’ve been drawn years ago as the lady from last night couldn’t have been more than twelve in the picture. She stood next to a boy while holding his hand and on her other side was seemingly her older sister, dressed in a knight-in-training uniform. 

“My lady!” 

Aris looked away from the picture to the woman sprinting through the hallways to come to a halt in front of her. 

“I apologize on behalf of House Hinor,” she managed out, heaving. “We’re currently in the middle of a turnover right now so it has been a hectic week.”

“No need to apologize,” Aris assured. “I haven’t been waiting long.”

After taking a few more deep breaths, the woman adjusted the tie around her neck and looked her square in the eyes. “Please follow me, Miss Alin,” she directed. “Marquess Basileus is already with Lady Hinor in the sitting room.”

He’s here too? Aris questioned, the flames of annoyance beginning to flicker. 

________________________

“I’m not going to hurt you.”

“Then why are you looking at me like that?”

“Like what?”

“Like you’re going to hurt me!” Irwin yelled, currently hiding behind their blue-haired host. 

The manor’s butler had led Aris to the sitting room near the house gardens. Unlike the conventional sitting room, this one led you further into the house. Double doors opened to a room whose ceiling was entirely made out of glass in a dome form. Several windows lined the walls, giving the guests a magnificent view of the gardens. 

“I’m not,” Aris sharply emphasized. 

Although the thought had crossed my mind, she admitted silently. 

“I was going to ask why you didn’t just wake me up when you left.” She let out a sigh. 

“You had a long night,” he explained. “I told Solin to bring you when you woke up. I didn’t think you would take three hours.”

“You know as well as I do that-“

“Alright, alright,” Lady Hinor cut them off. “This is not why I requested a meeting with you today.”

She gestured for Aris to take a seat on the sofa while she moved away from Irwin, who gave up hiding behind her. 

“Miss Anumea,” she began, staring at her. “My name is Tia Hinor, you may call me by my first name if you’d like. It’s lovely to finally see you without a mask.” 

“Please, Tia, call me by my first name,” Aris insisted.

“So I will–” A pause. “–Aris.”

At the sound of her real name, she whipped her head in Irwin’s direction so fast she could’ve sworn she heard a crack. 

“Before you kill Marquess Basileus,” Tia warned. “I believe you should at least hear him out.” 

If Aris was a witch, the marquess would be on fire right now. 

“I know you may be upset with me,” he began. 

“Upset doesn’t even begin to describe-”

“But I had a good reason, trust me,” he begged. 

“Tia’s mother, the late Marchioness Hinor, was the Captain of the Second Battalion of the Royal Army, the same unit that she’s serving in now. Three years ago, there was…an incident within the second battalion. Their vice-captain was found dead in his tent in the middle of the night while they were stationed away from the capital. The next morning they arrested Captain Hinor and threw her in the palace dungeons. She was executed the following week.” 

Aris’s eyes darted to Tia’s at this, but the younger knight simply stared at Irwin as she waited for him to continue. Her stare bored into his, still waiting for a justification.

“Since then, Marquess Hinor has been trying to get his wife’s name cleared– searching for evidence that she was framed, witnesses the Minister of Justice might’ve missed– anything. But there was never anything. Every single thing pointed to Captain Hinor.” 

He stopped and turned to Tia, signaling that it was her turn now.

“Now let me explain why I wanted to meet with you, Aris,” she said, the light from the windows turning her blue hair to a shade of pastel. 

“Every murder suspect since the beginning of Vemalla’s history has had a trial. Some lasted months while some only one or two weeks. No one has ever been sentenced to execution without one. The kingdom’s death row list is also unfortunately notorious for being backlogged. And yet, not only was my mother’s so-called ‘crime’ not even given a trial but her execution was expedited. Assassins who have threatened the king himself have been on death row longer than she was.”

There was an edge in her voice.

“Our paths cross here: my father. My sister. And I have all gone to petition the king for another investigation into the former vice captain’s murder. He’s agreed every time but every investigator who reported back to us has said the same thing. Exactly the same thing, like they’re reading off of a script. Someone set my mother up for death, and the king signed off on it.”

Irwin, just how much did you tell her about me? Aris questioned, her eyes questioning his. 

“If I may be so bold, Tia,” she started. “How are you so sure your mother didn’t do it?”

“I know it sounds biased coming from me but it’s impossible for her to have done it. I know there was an ungodly amount of physical evidence that she did, but there’s even more not physical evidence that she didn’t.”

“I’m not quite sure what you mean,” Aris admitted.

“Every member of the Hinor family has served the crown as a soldier in the Royal Army. Captain Hinor grew up learning the greatest sin you could commit was betraying your comrades. Not to mention where the battalion was stationed was swarmed with monsters, and the vice-captain was a skilled fighter. She wouldn’t jeopardize the safety of her unit over any grudge she might’ve had… with what you know about the king, can you honestly tell me it’s impossible this outcome wasn’t tampered with?”

No one spoke as Aris tried to let the information sink in. She knew this was something not out of the king’s wheelhouse. The idea of setting someone up wasn’t foreign to him, but to need to kill off a Marchioness…

Is that so hard to believe? He’s done worse…

“There’s more to the story we don’t know about,” she finally spoke aloud. “What do you need me to do?”

A smile slowly made its way onto Tia’s face. Her shoulders slumped slightly, showing her relief as she tensed up waiting to hear Aris’s response. 

“But,” she added. “I need to know what Irwin’s told you about me.” 

And Sae.

Tia nodded and crossed her legs; it was then that Aris realized she had traded conventional skirts for long black pants. The white button-up shirt that she was wearing was rolled to her elbows, showing a couple of jagged scars. A glance from afar would reveal the girl’s status as a capital knight. 

“Your faith in Marquess Basileus is not misplaced. I only know the vague details besides your name. I know your circumstances have forced you to live under different aliases for almost a decade. You have my sympathies, but you can see why I believed you out of all people would hear me out.” 

Aris did not move. 

“I know your plan to take back what you’re owed. A plot against the highest power we know. And the marquess here has been your closest companion and confidant for the same amount of time. Beyond that, I am in the dark.” 

Aris turned to try to catch Irwin’s gaze. He had been trying to make eye contact with her as little as possible.  

“I understand,” she responded, blue eyes still directed at Irwin. “It seems my faith in him was indeed not misplaced. I regret that I ever thought otherwise.” This last statement was directed at him, and he knew it. 

“That’s the closest I’ve ever heard you come to an apology!” He exclaimed, moving closer to her.

“I wasn’t apologizing.” 

“Oh, sure you were!” He dug a deeper hole. “Well, I accept your apology for not placing your trust in me. Although it would be nice to hear you say-”

A kick to the shins cut him off.

“You ruined the moment.” 

So that’s where all his shin bruises come from, Tia noted mentally, a small smile on her face.