"I don't trust easily, so when I tell you, I trust you. Don't make me regret it." --Anonymous
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"That's all you do! Ever since Mom di--"

Slap!

I gently reached up and prodded my cheek. It stung a little.

Definitely a bruise. How do I get to explain this one?

I sighed and stared down at the water below me, trying to make out the color of my cheek through the ripples. I was at the river, where my feet carried me from my encounter with my father. I had no clue how I ended up there. I guess I wasn't thinking clearly and went wherever I was most comfortable.

Which, apparently, was at the water.

My more pleasant memories of the town had happened at the river. The memories themselves mostly involved me and Joshua pranking people. Shocked faces of the Watsons--who were the town doctors--and Margaret Carter--the only person who I could halfway call my friend--circled around in small waves of the water. Jokes gone awry, embarrassing asking-outs, everything that I laughed at had happened at the banks of the river.

With Joshua.

Needless to say, being at the water wasn't helping me calm down very much.

My stomach growled, roaring so loudly that I could be mistaken for a lion or bear of some kind.

Shush, stomach. You've been hungry before.

And the saddest thing was that my thought was completely true.

After we had left the Upper Kingdom, my father, brother, and I had to find food and a home. We had gone hungry for weeks, eating the few things that we knew were safe, like berries and sticks. When we finally found a house that we could live in, I immediately had to start working somewhere to pay for everything that we needed.

That was when I was eight.

The baker had kindly allowed me and Joshua to come in on the weekends and work for him. Joshua found a job a year later and registered for the yearly draft. He told me once I asked that all he had to do was to scribble his name down on a slip of paper and place it in a large bowl. He said that the king would draw names from it whenever someone was needed, and the people who were drawn had to go to war.

"It's just one name in a bowl full of thousands, Zara. What are the odds that it'll be me?"

The odds were never in our favor.

Stop thinking, girl.

I tuned myself out before my thoughts overwhelmed me and sat at the edge of the river, feeling the water slosh up at my feet. The rays of the sunset reflected off the surface, making the water catch the colors of the sun. A rare-in-the-spring cool breeze blew, rustling the leaves of the trees around me.

How have I missed this?

"It's so beautiful," I whispered to no one.

My days would normally start out with me coming to the river to bathe and wash the few pieces of clothing my father and I owned. There was never anyone down at the banks in the morning; they were always sleeping. Of all the times I had come down at sunrise, I had never seen the sun actually rise. I was always too caught up in my work. Watching the sun set was an even bigger rarity.

The corners of my mouth twitched up into a smile. I let it spread.

"Ono prekrasno, nyet?"

A colorful word flew out of my mouth as I scrambled to my feet. My heart pounded in my chest as I glared at the person who disturbed me.

A man stood about ten feet behind me, at the edge of the trees, staring up at the sky. His mouth curved up a bit on one side, no doubt trying to hide a snicker at the word I blurted.

"Vadik," I breathed. "What are you doing here?"

He tore his attention away from the sky and back to me. His footsteps seemed to be like small explosions in the quiet.

"It's going to rain," he stated, not answering my question. "The clouds are gathering."

With that last sentence, he motioned up, pointing to a few black clouds that were starting to form. He was right. There seemed to be more and more rain clouds forming by the second.

"Fine, Vadik. But what are you doing here?"

"May I join you?"

I wonder if anyone will notice the sudden murder of a king's guard.

Vadik was already walking over before I nodded, not giving me a choice in the matter. He sat, then patted the ground next to him, telling me to join him.

I sat down, trying to get the time spent with him out of the way as soon as possible.

As different as we were, and as much as I pretended he didn't need to be there, I was thankful. He'd been my friend for ten years, even since my family came to the Lower Kingdom. Over time, we'd grown apart. Since he "worked" for the king as a guard, he got extra bonuses. "Extra bonuses" as in getting time off, having his pick of girls, seeing the king personally, all that junk.

There were times we disagreed and times we got along. Our paths crossed in different ways, some good and some bad. He had his job, and I did things I had to for survival.

"You never answered my question," he mumbled.

I stared. "What question?"

He crossed his arms like he had won something. "I said 'It's beautiful, no?'"

"Oh. I guess so, yes."

Satisfied by my measly answer, he brought his attention to the water.

I watched him. The last time we'd spoken, I was leaving a jail cell--one he put me in. Only by sheer luck was I chosen to be freed.

After that, and before, he was nothing but nice to me (a little demanding, but nice). We tried to avoid each other, but still managed to be close. The last few times I'd seen him, I was working and he was less-than-sober with a group of his friends.

It was when they were around he was at his worst.

The people always asked why he chose to be a guard. I even wondered it. He was easily in his mid-twenties, which was the age you'd have to be to be a guard. His hair was dark, dark brown, so much that if you looked at it right, it was a deep midnight black. His eyes were a beautiful blue-green color. He was strong. Tall.

A lot (haha, all) of the other girls in town would hang onto his arms when he came galloping in on his horse like some kind of hero. They'd flutter their lashes at him. They'd rub his shoulders. They'd flirt.

They'd look about as stupid as a human being could be.

All in all, the only reason I would even be outside when he came in was to get some entertainment from the girls. It was funny.

Before I lost my father completely, he'd say Vadik looked like a noble. Sometimes, I wondered that as well.

We sat in silence, watching the sun set. I could feel him glancing at me every few seconds, and it was kind of starting to freak me out. I turned to him.

"So why are you here?" You never answered me. Answer me. Now.

He raised his eyebrows in amusement. "I'm waiting on you."

He said it so simply, I was taken aback. "You're waiting on me?" I was positive that my mouth was dangling all the way down to my toes.

He laughed at the face I was making. He had a loud laugh and an even louder voice.

"Is that honestly so shocking?"

"I guess not," I mumbled, still surprised. "I'm just not used to having somebody wait."

That's a new one.

"I miss this. How we used to do this." Vadik crossed his arms over his chest as if he was hugging himself. With a bitter laugh, he added. "What's happened to us?"

I missed it too.

"Life happened."

I got up. We had sat through the whole sunset together, and it had quickly become dark. It seemed to be a combination of 'it's dark' dark and It's-going-to-rain-really-hard dark.

Besides, the conversation had taken a turn for the awkward.

He stood up next to me. "You want me to walk you to your work?" he asked. It was an honest question. As I opened my mouth to reply, the sky lit up as a flash of lightning arced through it. I swallowed the sneer I was going to give him and smiled quickly, my eyes wide, nodding my head furiously.

"Yep."

*****

A jug slammed down in front of me. "Another!" the man shouted.

Honestly. It's his fifth one, does he really need more?

As I was supplying the man with his wish, I looked around the building. Vadik was sitting at a table across the room, drinking with a few other guards. A few women were prancing around near him, each striving to be the one who got noticed first. I rolled my eyes.

Another guard walked in the door. I immediately started getting a glass ready for him until he looked at me and shook his head. He scanned the poorly lit room for a second, then found who he was looking for.

My attention was snapped away from the guard and back to the man in front of me as he threw up. I closed my eyes, trying to stop myself from vomiting as well. I cast a glare at the man's friends, who looked back at me sheepishly.

"Could you, maybe, take him outside before he does that again?" I asked forcefully. It was time to get my inner "tough bartender" out.

They nodded. As they all stumbled out the door holding the big man up, I yelled after them.

"Clean this up after you're done with him!" There was no way I was going to get near touching the vomit that the man spewed across the floor. I moved over to another section of the bar, my eyes searching the crowded place for the guy that walked in before all of the excitement. I finally spotted him, leaning down next to Vadik, whispering something to him. They both looked up at me.

Okay, then. Not inconspicuous at all.

After the man finished speaking to Vadik, he left, nodding goodbye to me as I watched him warily.

Someone shouted my name. Well, they didn't really shout my name, but they did say the equivalent of it in the bar.

"Hey, girl!" I sighed, serving another beer to the smelly, bearded guy who had just got up in my face.

"No, no, no, sweetie. That's not what I wanted." The man's gruff voice tried to sound suave, but it did the exact opposite.

I recoiled. Ugh. This guy has no idea what the word 'space' means.

"It's what you're getting though," I spoke as calmly as I could through clenched teeth.

Don't hit him.

He grabbed my arm, his calloused hands scratching at my skin. "No, I think I'll be getting exactly what I want tonight."

My breath sped up involuntarily. His rough hand tightened around my wrist. A vision of a man in a black mask popped up in my head. Panic felt like it attacked me at once.

This can't be happening. Not again.

"Let go of the girl, buddy," a deep voice boomed. Vadik. A sigh of relief escaped my lips as the man sized my rescuer up, then let go of me, mumbling something under his breath about "stupid king's guards".

"Thanks," I squeaked, still shaken. "That guy was nasty."

He smiled. "No thanks is necessary, milady." He gave an unsteady bow. All my nerves vanished as I held back a laugh.

Yep. He's a little drunk too.

He stood straight and stared at me. "Although..."

"What is it?" I questioned, hoping he wasn't going to say that he wanted more drinks. Even if he had asked, I wouldn't have given them to him.

"What is your name?" he asked.

I looked at him like he had suddenly grown a set of antlers. "You know my name," I said slowly, "it's Zara."

He grinned again, wobbling a little on his feet.

The women sitting at the table he was at were glaring daggers at me.

If looks could kill...

He followed my gaze, then frowned and shook his head. "I want to know your full name, not just what everybody calls you."

"Why do you need to know?" I demanded. I hadn't been called by my full name since my mother died, nor did I plan to start being called that again. My full name brought back bad memories, and reliving those memories wasn't on my agenda.

"Just do."

I sighed in defeat. He wouldn't leave anytime soon or drop the name question. Then an idea hit me in the head. I could fix that problem.

"If I tell you, will you go? Mr. Bigshot over there looks like he wants to start a fight with you, and I'm not really in the mood to try and fix another of your bar brawls." I was half-lying. The guy that Vadik had made let go of me glared evilly at us as he talked to his buddies, but mostly, I just wanted Vadik to leave. As soon as he goes, the rest of his rowdy crowd would leave too.

He nodded his head in agreement. I grabbed his arm and walked him to the door.

"It's Lizaveta Zara Tribeka." I spoke my name softly, trying not to hear it myself. The one thing I didn't like talking about was my name.

He made a weird face momentarily after I told him. As soon as I opened my mouth to ask why, he spoke.

"Thank you kindly, Lizaveta."

I cringed. "Call me that again, and you won't know what hit you. You call me Zara."

I gently shoved him outside into the pouring rain, grinning as I did. "Now shoo."

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Translations

*Ono prekrasno, nyet= It's beautiful, no?

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This chapter is dedicated to cleverwren, because without that teensy little suggestion you made at the beginning of this book, then it wouldn't be written how it is today.

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