Page 66 of The Deathless One
Muttering under her breath about men who picked on small women, she left the alley and started back toward the inn. Hopefully, the crowd would be a little more welcoming during the day, so maybe she could ask a few questions about Callum. Someone in this district had to remember the young man who had grown up to be the right hand to the queen.
Rounding a corner near the spot where she had left her message, Jessamine almost bumped into the back of a tall woman standing at the edge of a crowd. So many people were gathered here that it was impossible to cross the street.
“Excuse me,” she said, placing her hand on the back of a smaller man to her right. “I just need to get through. I’m going to the inn.”
The man gave her a dirty look but let her sneak in front of him through the crowd. It was then that she started hearing the murmured words.
“It can’t be true, can it?” a woman asked, pulling her dirty hair band off her head and wringing it in her hands.
“Course not,” the man beside her scoffed. “We all watched her fall off that cliff. The royal wedding was a sight for everyone to see, even all the way down here, and we all saw her hit the water. No one could survive that.”
Her breath caught in her lungs. They were talking about… her?
Glancing toward the alley where she’d left the message, she realized the crowdwasthere for her. They were all staring at the message, and those who were closest didn’t even touch it. Like they were afraid the mirage would fade if they did.
“The princess is dead,” another man shouted. “We all watched her die!”
Someone dragged a crate in front of her message and stood on it, dropping their hood from their face so the crowd could see a blond woman with wild eyes. “I believe it! That damned new king wants us all to bend a knee and suck his dick. Well, I ain’t doing it! If the princess is alive, then fuck the king!”
A few other people shouted the words as well. “Fuck the king!”
Her heart had never felt so full. These were the people she spoke of when she said her kingdom was strong. These were the people willing to stand up for justice.
A man behind her chuckled, then she felt a meaty hand shove her shoulder. “Don’t look so happy, girl. That princess is dead, and this is all a trick. I heard the new king is a wily one. He wants to know who to off next. Just you wait, everyone in this crowd who’s falling for this bullshit is going to be missing their heads in a few days.”
She didn’t want to think like that. Everyone in this crowd was so close to the truth. If they reached for it, just a little more, they’d see it. They’d realize that there was still a chance the kingdom wouldn’t fall to ruin. If they just hoped and held on for a little while longer, she could take back her throne and destroy the usurper once and for all.
But the fear that spread after that man’s words was strong. The crowd started to peel off, pieces of it ripping and tearing like Leon himself was slashing through them with a knife.
She stood there and watched them all leave, hardly able to believe that they were so willing to give up. They had been so excited just moments before and then… gone. Heart heavy, she waited until there were only a few people left, including the blonde who’d clambered down from the crate. She stood there, her back to the leaving crowd, as she stared at the message on the wall.
Jessamine couldn’t help it.
She walked up to the woman and asked, “So you really believe she’s not dead?”
The woman was taller than her by quite a bit, and significantly more muscular. Broad and strong, she glanced down at Jessamine and scoffed. “Oh, this nonsense? No, don’t believe it for a second. We wouldn’t have a new rush of infected every day if the princess were alive. There’s hundreds of them down in the pits below the city where they’ve been dumping ’em. The princess and her mother used to take care of us. If she was still alive, one message wouldn’t be the only thing that was left. I just had to keep everyone distracted while my boys pickpocketed the lot of those fools. Best check your pockets, dove.”
Her jaw dropping open, Jessamine quickly patted herself down and then swung her backpack around to look inside it. The bag of coins she kept near the top was missing.
“Wait,” she said, throwing the backpack over her shoulder and trailing after the woman. “My coins! You can’t just take them and leave like that. Give them back.”
“Not gonna happen. You best keep a better eye on them, yeah?”
“You just admitted to robbing me!” A dark rage rippled through her body, and for a moment she felt powerful, almost hungry for revenge. But in a flash the woman whirled on her, grabbed her by the biceps, and tossed her against the wall. Jessamine hit her head hard, and the cracking sound echoed in her skull for a few moments before she slid down onto her buttin the dirt. The muscular blonde crouched in front of her with an expression that looked almost like pity.
“Listen, you seem new here. I know it’s hard to get used to the Factory District. You’re going to get stolen from, roughed up, and someone as delicate as you is probably gonna die here. Toughen up, or someone will take you out. That’s the reality of living here. So no, you’re not getting your money back. A pretty little thing like you will do well enough in a brothel, and you’ll make it back in a couple months.” She tilted her head to the side and added, “Just make sure his cock isn’t too big. You’re a small one, dove.”
Jessamine watched the woman walk away, horrified at what had just happened.
But then again, before she’d been robbed and thrown against a wall, the woman had said kind things about Jessamine and her mother. The people still trusted her family to do the right thing.
One message wasn’t enough. She had to do more.
After getting to her feet, she wandered through the city until she could find another spot to write, somewhere others would see when they were walking home from the factories, but not as public as this one. No crowd would gather in front of this message, but word would still spread fast.
The same as last time, she found herself a bucket of rainwater and left a new message. A better one.
This city still breathes, and so do I, with the messy sketch of a butterfly at the end.
