Crazy Duke and Fallen Queen

The rest of the travel towards the sea is done through many small villages. Since I like them so much, Alexander decided to avoid big cities and focus on rural environments.

When we feel tired, we stop a couple of days in a single place.

I guess it's when I feel tired, as Alexander is indestructible. But he always notices when I'm feeling down and proposes to rest.

Regardless of how slow we proceed, time flies away. In two weeks, I feel as if we just parted from Stoneyard.

Travelling is nice, especially when one has enough money and doesn't need to worry about inconveniences. When the carriage breaks, somewhere in a forest, we just send a knight towards the village we just left in search of a craftsman.

«It just had to happen here,» Alexander mutters while walking in circles around the carriage.

«It's better here than somewhere further from the village,» I point out, tilting my head with an expression full of questions. Why is he so nervous all of a sudden?

I walk to him and catch his hand. I take the opportunity to hug him when he turns to me.

«It will be all right,» I reassure him while his hands stop clenching in haste and start rubbing my back.

This is better. Now, finally calm, he can explain what's the matter.

«A journey can't happen without little incidents. Not one as long as ours, Alexander.»

«I know, Thea. It's just that I don't like this place.»

«You don't like woods now?»

We're in the middle of a forest, and it's not the first time we stop between trees. Is he worried because of the wheel?

«This is Grahm's land,» he sighs in the end. «I don't want to stop here.»

«Why?»

Is there any reason for him to avoid it?

«Has anything happened here that makes you sweat like this?»

«No, it hasn't.»

«Then why are you like this?»

«Because they want you dead, Theodora. I'm worried, and I don't want them to know where we are.»

«We just have to pass by without making anyone notice,» I giggle. «We don't have any sign on the carriage; they won't know it was us.»

«Also, the Count isn't here, so he won't insist that we stop by,» he remembers. «It should be safe, right?»

«Right, right...»

He's still so tense.

«We can spend the night in the carriage. So that we leave these lands faster. What do you think?» I propose. It's better to get out of here, I don't like seeing Alexander like this.

It makes me feel vulnerable, as he's the firmer point in my view. If he shakes, I'll be nervous as well.

We should just flee from here and forget whatever is on Alexander's mind.

As the artisan from the village arrives and fixes the carriage, we sit nearby and wait like sentenced.

«I'm done,» the man says once finished, and one of the knights pays him a silver coin. One from the capital and not from Kyre, just to avoid leaving traces.

I've thought about this and delivered the coin to the knight beforehand. Luckily, I was quick enough to notice that my husband wasn't thinking anymore.

We get on the carriage with haste while the knights collect our things and pack them.

«My Lord, there's a river nearby. I'll go collect some water.»

«No!» Alexander stops him. «Let's go. Let's leave this place at once. We'll get water from a well on the way. The river isn't good.»

The next few days, we don't stop anywhere.

Only after crossing the border, Alexander sighs, relieved, and accepts to slow down.

After another week, we can smell the scent of the sea.

I'm the first to notice. Alexander just sees my expression brightening up.

The breeze is calming and scented, the air warm. We can't see the coast yet, but I know it's there.

«I've missed the sea,» I murmur.

The city we reach early in the afternoon is a town with a small harbour. There's a single dock, but there are signs of vessels passing here.

«Are we headed east now?»

«Yes, we are.» Alexander nods. «We'll stay in an inn for a few days. I think a ship passes every two weeks. With some luck, it won't take that long...»

«Which port will we dock?»

«Oh, it's a surprise,» he whispers.

«You don't have a clue, do you?»

His lips curl downwards as I giggle, hiding my mouth with a hand. This journey is getting longer, but I'm not in a hurry to arrive at the capital.

«Can we eat fish?» I ask. Oh, right, I can't stand the smell...

But the harbour is full of fish, and I'm feeling all right. Maybe, I won't vomit this time.

Indeed, I manage to eat a bowl of fish soup without issues. It looks like the problem has been solved by itself.

After two days only, the ship we're waiting for docks.

Alexander talks with the captain to agree on the travel, and the knights carry our things on board. The ship departs tomorrow, so we have one night more to pass on the ground.

I haven't been on a ship too many times. Just a few when I was very little, and it all regarded special ceremonies. I haven't crossed the sea yet.

It's weird because I was the Queen of a harbour city. I hope I won't feel sick from the movement of the waves. It's something that happened to a few of my aides back then.

They were so sensitive that they couldn't stand on the ceremonial ship with me, not even for the short trip around the islands in front of Polis. They passed those hours vomiting, poor guys.

«This ship will dock at another small port, but that one is still more trafficked than this one. We'll be able to find a ship towards our final destination,» Alexander murmurs while looking at a map. «It should take us around a week to reach it, and then... Another week? Depends on the weather, I guess...»

«You're so fast at estimating navigation times,» I notice.

«I've asked some sailors and the captain.»

«It will be my first time travelling by boat,» I tell him. This is the third trip of my life, not that I have any experience travelling on large distances. But I feel like this is special.

«Mine too,» Alexander declares, leaning back on the chair. «A first time for both.»

He then smiles and observes my curious expression with his brows raised.

«What?» he queries when he can't understand my surprise.

«You've never travelled by sea? Never, in two lives?»

«Not even once,» he chuckles.

«I can understand that you didn't, in your first life. You spent most of the time in Stoneyard or at my court. But you've travelled a lot during this life!»

«Always by ground. It was faster, and I usually travel by horse and almost alone.»

Makes sense. I've seen from his march tables till now.

During the journey from the capital to Kyre, the breaks we had were rare and brief. I guess he wouldn't have stopped that often if it wasn't for me.

He passed most of the time looking around with nervous glares as if he wanted to be on a horse instead of in the carriage with me. I understand it now. He was eager to finish the journey.

The first time, I couldn't witness his reaction with my own eyes. But I remember how the army stopped its march only to sleep. And it happened for a few hours only.

The soldiers were so tired, but they couldn't rest until reaching the capital. At least, they were returning home, so their mood wasn't too dark.

Alexander didn't travel with the army. He arrived in the capital a few days earlier, as he had time to prepare everything for my arrival. He never told me, but I'm quite sure he did that. I don't think those dresses and the room for me were ready before he left for war.

«I'm glad I'll share a first with you, then,» I chuckle. «And I'm happy that you accept to slow down your journey just to appease me.»

He would have already reached the capital three times by now. Yet, not only he slowed down. He's also chosen a longer road.

All just for me.

«I like travelling like this,» I confess. «Seeing new places, many faces. Eating all kinds of food and talking with different people. It's all so exciting.»

«We can travel like this more often,» he proposes. «Maybe not every year, but we can take longer roads from time to time.»

Next year, we'll have a child with us. It might be wise for me to stay at Stoneyard instead of the capital.

But in two or three years, our baby will be old enough to stay a couple of months alone. I'm not willing to drag children back and forth to the capital.

«I agree with you, husband. We should at least visit Kyre and the lands nearby.»