The next few days were hell. The tension in Remy's and my friendship was getting worse and worse, to the point where I was sure that the tie that connects us as friends would snap in half. As stubborn as she was, she wouldn't contact me. I couldn't help but blame myself for the fight, though. After all, as much as we hated it, we're all we have. It wasn't just hell for us though; the next few days everyone was working harder as the king seemed to be getting more and more agitated. It was clear what was bothering him—well, at least to me and Remy. While others were stressed out about having to take more classes and do more training, I knew it was just to prepare for the future war with Yales. The King didn't make it public yet, but it was about time until he would be forced to.
Each day seemed like we had less and less time to focus on the mission with all the running we're doing. "Hey! Newbie! Didn't I say to fix this?!" Assistant General Ramani yelled, pointing at the clutter in the storage room. I sighed, annoyed already, even though the day had just ended. Most of the time, training days that we had left ended in the afternoon. Yet, here I was still at night.
"Yes Sir." I got up, passing by him without looking at him. Since the first night we met, he's been nothing but a pain to me. Even when I didn't know that strange man on the night of graduation was him, I knew something was off about him. At first I thought maybe he was just intimidating because I couldn't see him at night. The night we met in the castle gardens with Zeke, he didn't really look at me. Now, all he did was watch me and make fun of me with others. Always ordering me around and pressuring me more than the others too. Maybe he has something against me? I'm close with the future King. That alone would be enough reason to hate me. Suddenly, the doors to the training yard burst open. All heads turned to see more people filing into the arena. One person stood out though. She didn't look at me, instead focusing her attention on her instructor. My heart was torn to see my best friend, wanting to apologize to her, but my head was telling me to stay away. I wanted to believe that Remy didn't mean what she said, just like I didn't mean what I said. But, then again, most of her words were true.
I sat there on the sidelines, watching them train while everyone in my group finished cleaning and stocking the storage room again. The annoying chatter from the guys in the group frustrated me, laughing loudly and high-fiving each other. Most of them rushed out of there as soon as they could, followed by some of the quieter trainees not wanting to be caught up in their mess. The final whistle for the other group to finish combat training went off, allowing the other group to relax for the rest of the night. I got up off the stone ledge surrounding the arena, brushing off any dust from my pants.
"Hey Whiteman. Come here for a second." I stopped, glancing over at the assistant general. I glanced down at the dirt, rolling my eyes while making sure he didn't notice. I marched over towards him, cursing at him in my head. He didn't look mad as usual. Instead, his eyebrows seemed to lay flat, his nose wasn't as wrinkled like before, and his tone of voice seemed to be quieter too. It was unsettling seeing him this calm.
"Yes Sir?" I asked, standing up straight as I soon realized how short I actually am compared to him. It made talking to him all the more intimidating. He was someone even the top leaders and other officials wouldn't dare mess with since he seemed so scary. However, seeing someone calm yet so intimidating made my blood turn cold, making it harder to move around him. In a way, I'm glad I didn't see him so clearly the first night we met. I probably would've collapsed seeing him up close as I am now. He seemed to notice my nervousness, slowly leaning down towards me with his insanely large hands on his hips. I glanced over at Remy, watching her put away her own equipment, praying that maybe she'd see me and do something to help me out. Even just thinking about her helping me made me feel a little bit better.
"Distracted by something, Whiteman?" He asked, finally showing his usual self. I shook my head, looking him right in the face. He was eye level with me now, making myself feel a bit better for once. His eyes seemed to have this glare on them, making it a bit hard to see them with some of his brown hair laying in the way. He had his hair a bit long, just enough to give him bangs but also not too long like mine. We were, in every sort of way imaginable, different. Tall vs. short, long hair vs. short hair, broad build vs. slender build. Actually nice vs. being a jerk.
"You've been working hard, I can tell. Good job." He leaned back, towering over me once more. He was always scary, had a threatening aura, nerve-wracking anyone around him. Until now, that is. I watched him step back from me, leaving me to process his words. He never said any words of encouragement to people. In the months I've been here, it was always him yelling and lecturing. What changed?
I turned away from watching his back disappear from me before looking back for Remy. Her group was gone, except for the two people training still, probably to train harder or training more because they sucked at it. But Remy was nowhere to be seen.
I groaned, rubbing my forehead. Damn, she moves fast, that was for sure. I sprinted towards the castle doors before stopping to look for her again. It wasn't hard to spot her this time, finally no longer playing hide and seek with me. She leaned back on the wall, smoking while watching me. The doors to the castle from the arena were a patio, all stone and covered in white and green decorations representing the castle. Even the light posts had white lights, which were expensive here in Paymor. The patio was decorated with some white tulips and white camellias. Along with the flowers, some tables had been sitting around, four chairs to each table. It was nice, screaming rich.
"Hey, nice job. It's weird seeing you train for once." She said, her expression not changing as I slowly crept over to her. She seemed sad, actually. An emotion she never usually showed. I stopped in front of her, not coming closer than five feet from her. It was weird seeing her like this. She never seemed sad, or at least she tried to hide it. Her tone was sharp and serious, which wasn't Remy at all.
"I'm sorry." She mumbled, pulling me from my thoughts. She sighed, throwing her cigarette on the ground before smushing it with the tip of her boot. "It was wrong for me to say that to you. To be honest, I wanted that to be true." I scoffed, running my hand through my bangs. She smiled, finally coming closer to me. "But I don't think the two of us are cut out for this." She was right. We weren't made out for this. "Not like we have a choice, though. You know, as soon as we quit, we'll be handed over to the King, right? All though, we might die doing this anyway, so it might not be all bad." I chuckled, looking down at my boots. A single tear fell from my face, and as much as I tried to hide it, I couldn't. We're being thrown into this mess with no training whatsoever. Not like we had a crash course on how to assassinate someone. I had my fair share of hurting people, whether it was intentional or not. It was do or die. And each moment I wanted to run away from it all, start over, and change names.
Move far away where no one could hurt me or force me back into this hell. Her arms wrapped around me, squeezing me tight in a bear hug. Even though we're both adults, her hugs reminded me of when we were younger. We only had each other to comfort us when we were still living at home in Yales. I remember her hugging me and telling me it'll get better. Because we wanted to believe it would. Even if we knew it wouldn't get better. She didn't stop hugging me even as tears started falling faster now, one after another.
"We can still run." She paused, letting me go to look at me. I wiped my tears, feeling grossed out about crying in front of someone, let alone having my best friend see. "And go where? We might as well bury ourselves six feet under at this point." I sniffled, wiping my nose, which only made me more disgusted. She rolled her eyes, handing me a tissue from her coat pocket. "Would've been nice to have it earlier." I laughed, cracking a smile, which made Remy smile too.
"We'll figure it out. I mean, it's worth trying. Unless you want to do this for the rest of your life. Well, not like you have a choice to not help me." She laughed. I glanced back up at her, raising my eyebrow as she continued. "I'll make sure you get out of here." She mumbled, looking away. "And? What about you?" She didn't answer, making my anxiety spike up more and worse this time. She sucked in her breath, looking me in the face again.
"Miss Will?!" We both jolted, spinning around to see a girl from Remy's training group staring at me. She smiled briefly before glancing back at Remy. "Mrs. Hart is looking for you. It's important, she said." Remy groaned, rolling her eyes. "If it's more paperwork, I swear to God." I chuckled, watching her follow the shorter girl. She glanced back at me, waving bye. I waved at her, watching her rush to keep up with her escort.
I laid down that night thinking about Remy's words. I couldn't imagine what she meant by making sure I left. Did she not want to leave? Knowing Remy, sometimes she hides things from me, even if they're important. Hell, she kept her secret girlfriend a secret until they finally broke up after being together for five years. I knew Remy hated this; she hated being here just like me. But, for the past couple months, all she talks about is killing the Royal family.
I laid in my bed, staring up at the white ceiling. Remy wouldn't, though. She'd never want to stay here doing this dirty work. Or so, I hope. But even I know that hoping for something can be one way to get your heart broken. But she was also known for doing stupid things without thinking. If she was planning to leave, she better not risk her life while trying to save me. It was something Remy would do, though. Always into that self-sacrificing shit. I couldn't help but toss and turn that night, watching the window as the sun slowly made its way up to my view.
The night was long, or so it felt. I couldn't sleep at all last night. And from all the stares I was getting, I could tell it was showing. I didn't dare stare at myself too long in the mirror, fearing I'd start to feel depressed after looking at myself in the mirror. Remy and I were fine now; we ended the little argument, and now we should be fine. But my head was a bigger mess from before now. If Remy really wanted to run away, why'd she act so serious about making sure I could escape? Did she really think I wouldn't help her escape too? The more I thought about it, the more anxious I got. I had to get this assassination over if we ever wanted to dream of escaping. It was moments like these where I wished I knew what she was thinking. If only a mind-reading machine was available.
Zeke was nowhere to be seen today either. It was weird seeing him go from practically fangirling around me to losing interest quickly. It also wasn't helping my case either. Zeke was a guarded person, both physically and emotionally, so I knew getting close to him would be hard. But, even so, the other night kept playing in my head. He always seemed so casual and calm with me, allowing me to call him by his first name even. As soon as I was caught peeping in on his conversation, he's been on edge ever since.
"Whatcha thinking?" Remy asked, handing over a green soda can to me. I glanced at the bottle's cover, seeing the cringy ad with the King's face on it. I rolled my eyes, sipping on the cold cola. I sighed finally, setting the can down on the staircase. Remy and I finally had a chance to patrol together, and it was still getting us nowhere.
"Nothing important, actually. I wish we could've patrolled elsewhere though." I mumbled, staring at the huge town in front of us. It wasn't an issue patrolling the front of the castle, except we couldn't find out anything by just sitting around here. The castle was well maintained on the outside; lines of flowers covered the sides of the castle, while street lamps were placed near the entrance of the castle doors. Outside the castle's protective doors was a bridge to get from and to the town of Paymor. Of course, the entrance of the castle was well decorated, but also laced with security cameras and even guard dogs off to the side just in case.
Finally, Remy spoke up "That's for sure. And here I was thinking that the prince was into you. I mean, you are anyway. Always flirting with him and shit." She scoffed, sipping the last bit of her soda down. I stopped drinking for a second, looking at her. She didn't look back but was grinning like an idiot. "You think so?" I asked finally, watching her get up to throw away her bottle. "Do I think so? It's written all over your face! Not like I care since you're able to get more trust and information off of him this way." She smirked, slapping my shoulder. I grunted, feeling a stinging feeling on my shoulder now, before finally standing up. I didn't want to believe her. Maybe he did like me, but I would never flirt with him. Dating a prince wasn't my thing anyway.
"What time are we done anyway?" She asked, stretching her arms up over her head, then side to side. I scoffed, opening the entrance gates. "We've been done for a while now. I just wanted to get a soda from you." I smiled, not turning back to see her flipping me off.
Everything was going well. I would get up, patrol, sleep, and repeat. And as boring as that sounded, it was easy for me to follow this schedule. But with each passing hour, I worried I wouldn't see Zeke again. Not because I missed him, but without him, this mission would be a pain in the ass.