Chapter 44: End of season market ( 8 )

Diana, Dune, and Hakimi sat around the dining table while Felix worked in the kitchen. Hakimi stayed mostly quiet, offering an opinion only when something called for one.

"So you were literally a dungeon?" Diana leaned forward. "Like, an actual mountain? For what, thousands of years?"

"I do not know exactly how many years," Dune answered.

"When Hakimi first told me, I honestly just assumed you were sick or something." Diana nodded to herself, filing that away. "So what did it actually feel like, being a dungeon?"

"I felt nothing. I only saw people come and go. Heard what they said."

"Hm." Diana’s eyes drifted to the cracks tracing across her face. "So that’s where these came from, then. People must have taken everything out of you, over and over."

"Yes." Dune nodded once. "Tell me about you, Diana."

"Me?" Diana scratched her head, unsure where to even begin. "I’m Diana Dietrich. My father’s Osbel Dietrich, minister of this region. I’ve got two younger siblings too, Nicolas and Martin, though we don’t talk much. My mother, my real mother, was Charlotte Rosberg. She passed when I was three."

"Wait, really?" Felix approached with a tray of juice glasses. "Your mother was queen of Roisa?"

"No, no." Diana shook her head. "Just royal family. Youngest sibling of the current king, Augustin Rosberg."

"Then how’d you end up all the way out here in Fillipo?" Felix set the tray down.

"Not entirely sure myself. Hakimi says it had something to do with my father’s second marriage."

"Still royalty though." Felix grinned. "Who knows, maybe queen someday."

"No, no." Diana snatched a glass fast. "Not a chance. The king’s already got two sons and two daughters ahead of me. Plus his siblings and all their kids too. I’m nowhere close to that line. Sounds like a headache anyway."

"Who cares about the technicalities?" Felix pressed a hand to his chest, wistful. "Just imagine it. Queen of the whole Roisa kingdom. All that land, all that gold, every bit of it yours. And then you could donate a little to us, obviously."

Diana laughed, taking a sip. "Sure, sure. If I ever become queen, I’ll shower you in all the gold you could ask for. Now go cook."

"Right, right." Felix turned back toward the kitchen. "Don’t forget your promise, though."

Diana laughed again. For her, the notion of sitting on a throne had always seemed like something belonging to another person. Perhaps someone in the distant family tree whose name she did not even know. The reality of being there in that house, with the battered wooden table and the smell of genuine food cooking for her, felt more momentous than anything else.

"I have a question." Dune said.

"Yes, ask."

"Am I ugly?"

"No. Not at all." Diana looked at her closely. "Never. You’re a beautiful girl. Isn’t that right, Hakimi?"

"Yes, of course." Hakimi replied quickly. "Who told you otherwise?"

"Felix."

"He did?" Hakimi hurled the glass at Felix as he entered the kitchen. It smashed beside him. Felix jumped back. "Hey, what did I do?"

"What did Felix say, Lady Dune?"

"He said I’m an ugly dungeon and he’d rather marry Sabrina."

Hakimi shot up from his seat. "I knew it. I knew it the moment I saw you, trash insect."

"Wait, wait. Let me explain."

"I’m done listening to your explanations." Hakimi walked toward Felix, a water ball already forming in his palm.

"Sabrina was a ghost, damn it. How could I marry her?" Felix looked toward Dune. "And that was a misunderstanding, Dune. I didn’t say that. She was twisting my words."

Hakimi stopped and glanced back. "Is that true?"

"Yes. Sabrina was a ghost with two children. She entered inside Felix and punched me."

"She hit you?" Hakimi’s eyes narrowed at Felix again. "How could you let a mistake like that happen?"

"It happened suddenly." Felix said quickly. "Sabrina entered Dune too. She wanted to kill me after I rejected her."

"It was a misunderstanding." Diana concluded quickly, turning Dune’s head toward herself. "He was being controlled by that ghost, Sabrina. He didn’t mean any of it. Right, Felix?"

"Yeah." Felix replied. "How could I say something like that?"

"See."

"Yes, it was a misunderstanding." Dune said.

The water ball evaporated from Hakimi’s hand. He walked toward Felix anyway. "I still don’t believe you."

Felix quickly ducked back inside the kitchen.

"They’re just impossible." Diana shook her head, then pulled her chair close to Dune and spoke in a low voice. "So, you’ve technically been married for weeks now, right?"

"Yes."

"So, like — did you do the thing with him?"

"What thing?" Dune questioned back.

"Oh, you know what I’m talking about. The thing you do after marriage."

"You mean sleeping together?"

"Yes. Yes." Diana nodded quickly.

"No. We did not. Felix denied it."

"What? Why?"

"He said we’re strangers. And he doesn’t want people get the word idea like Hakimi."

"That asshole." Diana slammed her hand against the table.

Hakimi leaned against the wall, arms folded, his eyes on Felix as he prepared dinner. "You didn’t tell me where you learned to fight."

"I just didn’t feel like answering." Felix kept his hands moving. "Why do you want to know anyway?"

"I know the movements. You’re always reading them before you commit to a decision." Hakimi glanced toward the girls. "A little clumsy, but I know that was Flowing Water Style."

"Was it, really?" Felix replied casually. "Guess I still have a lot to learn."

"Who taught you?"

"My dead parents."

Hakimi stayed silent for a moment. "I’m sorry to hear that. Could you tell me their names?"

"Sara and Robert Campargue." Felix glanced back. "Why do you ask?"

"I was just curious." Hakimi straightened slowly. "The way you fought — no normal person taught you that. It was the work of at least an expert."

"So you’ve heard the names before?"

"No."

Soon dinner was brought to the table. Diana kept talking while she ate. Felix shared the full story about the ghost house, and Diana came to tears.

Now it was time to leave.

Diana hugged Dune tightly. "I’ll come again, Dungeon girl."

"Yes."

Hakimi and Felix stared at each other for a moment. Then Hakimi nodded. "I’ll see you again."

"Thanks, but I don’t want to see your face again."

Both smiled faintly.

Just as they were about to step out, Hakimi remembered something and quickly turned around. "Lady Dune, I have something to give you."

"What is it?" Dune asked.

Hakimi took a small whistle from his pocket and handed it to her. "If you’re ever in trouble, or if Felix does something wrong to you, just blow it. I’ll know right away and come for you."

Dune examined the whistle and nodded. "Whenever I’m in trouble, I’ll blow it."

"Are you serious?" Felix looked between the whistle and Hakimi, already picturing the worst.

From across the rooftop, a cat with a red thread tied to its leg watched the conversation. It licked its paw and kept watching.