STRUVLAND
Chapter 15
The Couple
Alessandra

Antonio rides in front of Lorelei and I as we make our way to Ostra. Lorelei sits behind me on the horse and asks me questions about myself.

"Are you from Pentoya? You look like you are. Antonio's father is from Pentoya but his mother is from Struvland." Lorelei says.

"Yes, I am from Pentoya." I answer.

"Where in Pentoya?"

"Twenell."

"The capital? You must be quite wealthy."

"Yes."

"You don't talk much do you?" She asks. I sigh and roll my eyes.

"No." I answer.

"Antonio doesn't speak much either, he's shy and gets confused by little things like sarcasm and people lying. He doesn't understand why people feel the need to lie when they can just tell the truth, I agree with him." She says.

"Did you just tell her I'm shy? I'm not shy, I'm just not comfortable talking to people who I don't know." Antonio says, turning his head towards us before looking back in front of him. Lorelei chuckles.

"That means you are shy, love," She says. She moves her head to whisper to me, "He's a bit naive as well, honestly, you could tell him anything and chances are he would believe you wholeheartedly. I love him though, probably always will."

"Revealing his weaknesses to someone you just met sounds dangerous for the both of you." I say. She chuckles again.

"Trust me, I'm more dangerous than you might think. When it comes to doing our job, we get it done, regardless of weaknesses." She states. I raise my eyebrow at her words but shrug it off.

For the rest of the ride to Ostra we are silent, except for the occasional words between Lorelei and Antonio, which I am thankful for.

If those disgusting thieves harm Ysabel or Mei I will make them pay.

We arrive at the bridge to cross over into the city and my dread gets worse. What if Antonio and Lorelei overestimate their skill and we all die? I could never forgive myself in the afterlife if I ever let that happen.

"I assume the inn she wants to meet you at is Ducane's. It is the most popular inn in Ostra, not to mention the biggest." Lorelei states, gesturing towards a large building not too far from us.

"Ducane is a surname, is it not?" I ask as our horses grow closer to the building. The hooves of the horses splash in puddles of mud and melted snow, I wrinkle my nose in disgust.

"Yes, the owner, Geoffrey Ducane, inherited this inn from his family about fifteen years ago with his wife, Margaret." Lorelei answers. Antonio suddenly stops his horse and turns his head towards us to lock eyes with Lorelei. She somehow understands his silence and nods before stopping our horse and getting off. I move to get off but she stops me.

"We want you to go inside of the inn and then make your way to the back. When you see the people who want you, convince them to talk to you out back behind the inn, they would be foolish not to agree. Once you get them outside, speak to them for a bit and we will take care of the rest, alright?" Lorelei asks. I nod my head in understanding. Lorelei nods back and removes her hand from my knee, allowing me to get off the horse. I grimace as my feet splash mud onto my already dirty dress. Lorelei and Antonio lead the horses towards the back of the inn as I make my way to the front.

I notice the wooden columns, supporting the overhanging roof, are wrapped in blue and cream-colored linen. I frown at the decorations and reach towards the handle of the door to open it. Before I can though, the door swings open and a man stumbles outside. I quickly back out of his way and grimace as he gives me a yellow lopsided grin and throws an arm around my shoulder.

"Well, hello dear-" He hiccups before continuing to slur his words, "where have you been all my life?"

I gag at the smell of his rancid breath and hurriedly push his arm off of me. He staggers back and waves his hand in dismissal towards me. He then turns around and stumbles away. I make my way into the inn and close the door. The inside of the inn happens to be more decorated than the outside with silver strips of velvet wrapped around several bouquets of white roses hanging upside down from the ceiling and more blue and cream-colored linen hanging from various areas around the room.

A tall bronze man with short curly black hair and a little bit of a belly greets me from his place behind the bar cleaning a tin cup with a rag.

"Hello, my name is Geoffrey Ducane, it is a pleasure to serve you, happy Day of Soryn! May your secrets stay hidden as the seasons change and our faith in Soryn grows." He calls out to me, a big grin on his face. I nod my head in acknowledgement.

Right, Day of Soryn, the celebration of our goddess of the seasons and secrecy. I always forget we celebrate her at the end of each year after my birthday.

I search the room for the woman and the group she was with before. I see no signs of my missing...friends and loving adorable cat as my eyes land on the woman and three strangers. The woman catches sight of me and smirks. I walk up to the table she is sitting at and glare at her. My heart stays calm but my mind is racing with thoughts of fear.

"Hello, darling. Your hands seem to be empty, I hope your pockets aren't. It would be a shame to kill someone so handsome such as your male friend, Oliver, is it? Ah, wait, Prince Oliver, someone you have mentioned many times in that little journal of yours." The woman says, moving a piece of long straight black hair out of her face.

"Killing the prince would be high treason, you would be executed once you were found." I respond. She softly chuckles with her companions.

"I am not above killing royals, dear," She says, locking eyes with me, "or their pets."

I wipe all emotion from my face and calm my breathing, that had suddenly sped up at the mention of murder.

"Let us continue our conversation outside, in the back." I say. The four strangers all nod in agreement and take one last sip of their drinks. I move towards the back door and they get up from their seats to follow me. The air chills my body as I step out of the warm building but I refuse to let a shiver pass down my body in the presence of my enemies. Something wet lands on my cheek and I use the sleeve of my dirty dress to wipe it dry. I lift my head looking for the source of the wetness only to see that it had begun snowing.

Great, just what I needed, another inconvenience.

I turn to the people I consider some of my many enemies and cross my arms.

"Where are they?" I ask. The woman smirks.

"Where is your coin?" She responds. I huff out a breath.

"You won't get any coin until you show me that they are alive."

"That's fair. I can show you that they are alive, but I can't promise they are unharmed."

"I will accept that, now show me them." I demand. The woman nods and looks at her companions. She makes a gesture with her chin to the inn. Her companions nod in understanding and go back inside the inn.

"It will be just a minute." She says, pacing slowly through the snow in little circles while we wait. I hear the door to the inn open once again and the soft crunch of boots hitting the snow. I lift my head and meet Oliver's emotionless face with my anxious eyes. I let out a breath of relief noticing he is almost completely unharmed besides a faint bruise on his left cheek and a scabbed over cut by his upper lip. Behind him, Penelope walks out with a prominent scowl on her face. They are both followed by two of the male kidnappers and pushed to their knees in the rough and dirty snow.

"Where is the child and my cat?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. The woman sighs a few feet away from me.

"Can you wait a moment? I'm sure Raquelle is getting them now." The woman replies, annoyance clear in her voice. My nails dig into the palms of my hands as my anxiety grows worse with each passing second.

How am I going to get them out of here with no money? Can I trust Lorelei and Antonio?

Finally, the door opens once more and Mei shivers from the cold as she walks outside, Oliver's black fur cloak wrapped around her little frame. Raquelle holds Ysabel in one arm and guides Mei to the spot in the snow next to Oliver. Mei gets on her knees and leans up against Oliver's side for support. Oliver wraps one of his arms around Mei in silence. Ysabel meows when she sees me and I fight the urge to run over there and steal her from Raquelle's arms. I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and lock eyes with the woman.

"Well, as you can see, they are all alive, I kept my promise. Now, pay up, dear." The woman says, holding her hand out. I hesitantly walk towards her.

Where are they? What do I do?

Suddenly, a horse screams in pain as it runs through the snow behind the end, just barely missing me by a few feet but knocking the woman flat on her back, the air leaving her lungs with the impact. The man standing behind Penelope rushes to check on the woman while I stand in shock. I see Lorelei out of the corner of my eye sneaking up behind the man who stands behind Oliver. I notice flames coming out of the palm of her hand as she grabs the man in a headlock with her arm and uses her other hand to burn the man's face with her flames before he can do anything but scream out in agony.

At the sound of his screams, I rush over to the woman holding Ysabel behind Mei. I wrestle Ysabel out of her hands as she stands there in shock and grab Mei by her arm before the woman can snap out of it. After, Lorelei is finished with the man she moves on to the woman with her attacks and thats when I notice Antonio had arrived at some point in the chaos and has already taken out the other two.

I stop to lift Mei and carry her in the arm I was previously holding her arm with. Once Mei and Ysabel are safely in my arms, I run as fast as I can through the snow without looking back to the inn. I have no idea if Oliver or anyone else is safe or behind me but at this point I do not care. I struggle to keep hold of Mei with Oliver's fur cloak around her but I refuse to let her down. All I can hear is the loud pounding of my heart, Mei's breathing, and my heavy footsteps against the soft snow.

My body grows tired from all the running and I fall to my knees in the snow. I seem to have made it far away from the inn and to a clearing in the woods. I let Mei out of my arms and turn around to lie on my back with Ysabel pressed to against my stomach. My cloak shelters my skin and Ysabel from the freezing winds and snow that continues to come down in soft little flakes. I stare at the sky and try to calm my breathing as Mei wraps Oliver's cloak tighter around her and lies next to me. A few moments pass with no sound but our breathing.

"Alessandra! Mei!" A voice calls out. I sigh and sit up, setting Ysabel in my lap. I hear the sound of hoofbeats from behind me following another shout of our names by the familiar voice. I turn towards the sound and see Oliver riding to us on one of the horses.

"Oliver? How did you manage to get here so fast?" I croak out, my throat dry. He dismounts the horse hastily and rushes towards us, snowflakes dotting his black hair. Mei gets up and runs to him, her small arms held wide for a warm embrace. Oliver wraps his arms around her and picks her up.

"Mei, I am so glad you are okay!" He exclaims, his voice slightly muffled by Mei's shoulder. He puts her down and locks eyes with me while he moves closer.

"Where is Penelope and the others?" I ask in a whisper. Oliver moves to my side and gets on his knees.

"They'll be here soon, Alessandra." Oliver says in a soft voice. I nod my head in understanding while he continues to look at me with an odd look on his face. I break eye contact with him and look down at Ysabel, ignoring his odd look and the snow that falls down on us. I feel a hand under my chin and turn my head towards Oliver, who's face has gotten strangely close to my own. I watch as snowflakes land on the long black eyelashes surrounding his honey-colored eyes and furrow my eyebrows in confusion.

"Oliver, what are you-" My question is cut off by Oliver putting both hands on the side of my face and pulling my lips to his own. I feel heat spread from my cheeks to the back of my neck as I sit there in complete shock.

Oliver is kissing me. Why is he kissing me?

Oliver's warm soft lips release my cold ones and I look at him bewildered. A slight rosey pink tints his cheeks and I watch his breath come out in small white puffs from the cold.

"Alessandra, if you weren't who you were, I would murder you right this moment!" I hear a voice yell. I snap my head towards the voice and realize Penelope, Lorelei, and Antonio have arrived. Oliver jumps back from me and stands up abruptly as Penelope storms over to us. I stand up and wait for her to release her anger out on me. As soon as she makes it close enough, Penelope raises her hand and slaps me straight across the face with such a great force that my head whips to the side and I tumble to the ground in pain.

"Why would you run away like that? Why would you refuse to find a safer way to save us instead of ditching us the moment trouble started and you got what you came for?" Penelope spits out. Rage boils in her eyes like water and I am at a loss for words as I try to process everything that has happened.

"You have no right to slap me, you pointy-eared twig!" I shout once I have gotten my bearings.

"Oh, really? I'll do it again!" Penelope responds. I scowl and struggle to get up, only to slip and fall back down into the snow. She crosses her arms with a scowl that mirrors my own.

"Help me up, right now." I demand, holding my hand out to her. She lets out a humorless chuckle.

"No."

"You are supposed to. It is your job."

"My job is to serve Oliver and his family, not you." She states. I let out a frustrated huff and look to Oliver. He stands a few feet away with wide eyes and his lips parted.

"Oliver, help me up?" I ask. Oliver starts to make his way towards me before Penelope stops him with her arm on his stomach. He looks at her confused and she glares at him, shaking her head. He looks back to me, the look of helplessness covering every inch of his handsome face.

Handsome? No, we arent going there.

Antonio, Mei, and Lorelei watch everything in complete silence, none of them moving an inch. I bang my fists against the freezing rough snow in frustration. I attempt to get up and instantly fail once again as I fall on my back into the snow. I scream out in frustration and start flailing my body around.

"You're acting like a child." Penelope states. I stop flailing and stare at the sky as I start to cry.

"Now, she is crying like one." Antonio mumbles quietly. Lorelei smacks him in the chest with the back of her hand. I wipe my tears away from my warm and red face. Ysabel comes up to me and stands over my head with her white fluffy face. She lets out a meow and I let out a strangled cry in response.

"You are the only one who cares for me, Ysabel." I state. Penelope rolls her eyes.