17 We were sold

After the door closed behind the Head of the Black Castle, Paris suddenly felt wildly tired. As if those nettle forces that kept him on his feet all this time in an instant left with the departure of Lord Trevelyan. The guy managed only to get to his sister's room and fall on the already familiar stool before the darkness covered his mind.

Paris did not want to wake up at all. The sun's rays gently touched his cheek. And someone's fingers tenderly slid over his forehead, playing with his curls.

Paris had not woken up so smoothly for a long time. He wanted to turn to the other side and continue to bask under the soft touches.

Suddenly, the head was filled with memories of the past days. The young man sharply opened his eyes in a panic and leaped up. But the body seemed too stiff and wasn't ready for such a sharp movement.

From sudden changes, he fell off the stool on which he slept to the ground. The blackness appeared before his eyes for a second. When he finally came to himself, Cali was kneeling in front of him.

"Paris, are you okay? Sorry, I woke you up, but I didn't expect that you will jump up so abruptly."

Her face was still pale, and haggard, but it looked much better. Wounds and bruises disappeared, and her eyes instead of a coldness now clouded with anxiety.

Paris, not believing his eyes, stretched out his hand, trying to make sure that Cali was not a vision, not a dream, but a real one. The girl a little hesitantly leaned forward, offering her face to the searching fingers of her brother.

The skin was still a little cool, but the complexion became significantly better. Recovering himself, Paris swung up sharply, embracing his sister by the shoulders and trying to lift her from her knees.

"Why did you get up? Quickly go to bed. You can't get up yet." - He started fussing, putting Cali in bed and looking around. His father wasn't in the room, and the afternoon sun was shining outside the window.

"I woke up a long time ago" - the girl said peering into her brother's face. - "Just waited when someone will finally make father go back to his room."

"Why?" -Paris asked with puzzlement, straightening nonexistent folds on her blanket.

"He is exhausted, as well as you. You were so deeply asleep, and they couldn't wake you up. And if I had shown that I had regained consciousness, he would not have left me at all. He needs to sleep in his bed. And you too." - The last sentence she said a little harder.

With surprise, Paris began to discern the presence of light emotions in Cali's behavior. A small change in facial expression, a slight shift in tone of voice and feelings flashing in the eyes. Paris even opened his mouth in surprise.

"Shut the mouth, brother, the fly will get in." - Cali instantly responded and the corners of her lips barely noticeably flinched.

Paris could no longer fight his own feelings. Tears rolled down his cheeks. He wanted to say something, but the only thing that came out of his mouth was sobbing. Cali looked confused at her brother first and then stretched and hugged him tenderly.

"Shhhh. You're not a kid anymore, calm down, I'm alive, and I'm not going anywhere yet." - She whispered softly in his ear, stroked the shoulders, shaking with sobs.

Apparently, it was the right moment for the family drama as Cali heard another sob from the door. On the threshold stood her father, covering his mouth with one hand and clutching the door handle with the other. Catching his daughter's eyes, Lestor, not waiting for an invitation, rushed to embrace his children.

It took a long time before the men could calm down and pull themselves together. Although perhaps the main cataclysm was still Aunt Davenport, who burst into the room like a reverse hurricane, putting everything in its place.

Paris and Lуstor were sent to put themselves in order. Maitre Gerard was instructed to inspect every inch of the girl's body, and Cali was forced to lay down and not even move a muscle until the doctor confirmed that she was not dying. It was advisable also not to open the mouth, which by the way Cali tried to do a couple of times, but even a Stone Beast couldn't argue with the duchess.

Only when Aunt Valeria was convinced that Cali had eaten and was examined from the bottom to the top, did her brother and nephew get permission to re-enter the girl's room.

The Duchess herself was not going to go anywhere. She settled on the bed, as if doing it every day, and began to comb Cali's hair.

While the girl was unconscious, the servants cleaned her as they could, but her matted hair was sticking out in all directions. And it made Valeria grumble and lament relentlessly.

"What is it? It is like you washed the floor with your head! Such beautiful hair, and now look. No, baby girl, that won't do. Your Aunty will take care of it, just you wait."

She grumbled while Paris and Lestor sat down beside the bed.

Lestor could not get enough of looking at his daughter. How many times he prayed to Gods to return his baby to him. How many times in desperation he cursed himself and everyone around him. And now she was here, and he didn't even know what to say. But he did not have to be silent for a long time. Cali herself, steadfastly enduring the torture from Valeria, turned to him.

"Father, I .."- she faltered, choosing words, - "I am very sorry. All that happened ... I did not want this, I didn't expect that everything would go so far."

Lestor stopped his daughter with a gesture.

"Sunny, no one could guess. But I want you to know. Me and Paris, we know you're not guilty. We only found out later when ..."

His voice broke off. He did not know where to start. How to explain to the daughter all that happened.

"So," - Valeria entered into the conversation, her brisk commanding voice attracted everyone's attention. - "Since Gerard said that you are already better, then let's just say everything straight. And when there are no secrets left, we as a family will be able to decide what to do with all this."

"Paris, first tell me about others?" - Cali looked at her brother.

"Oh, Gash, what a pretty adorable group of friends you got there, I tell you," - Valeria threw up her hands. Answering instead of the guy. - "Already a couple of hours ago, they began to recover. Scared off all the servants. All are rushing to you. Do not be afraid for them. Сeras already checked them. It's a fantastic thing. Only a couple of days ago they looked like chunks of meat. And now they jump around like mountain goats."

The news clearly calmed Cali.

"Dad, can we call Konrad? I think it will be right."

Lastor grimaced like from a toothache. But Valeria jumped off the bed and immediately went to the door.

"Well, no need to call him. He has been sitting by the door for an hour now."

Indeed, as soon as Valeria opened the door as Konrad, without waiting for an invitation, slipped inside. He swayed slightly and looked pale, but overall the man looked fine. Especially if compared to his previous state.

Looking around the audience, he walked to the bed without hesitation and sat by the right arm of Cali, twisting his left leg under him.

Lestor wanted to reprimand such inappropriate behavior, but seeing as his daughter visibly relaxed and even slightly leaned on an old friend, all the protest died down.

"So, as a person who was far from all this commotion, but who is now ready to take part in all this. I would like to hear everything first." - Valeria began to set the tone for the conversation. She looked inquiringly at her older brother, non-verbally giving him the right to speak first.

"Well, maybe like this it will be easier for us to sort things out. I think it's really worth starting from the beginning." -sighing, said Lester, trying to choose were to start.

"As you know, Valeria, my wife Elois has always been an exemplary lady, the pearl of any ball, but she apparently took the role of the mother the same way as all her palace adventures." - began his story Lestor turning to Valeria, with an unwillingness irritating old wounds in the depths of his memory.

"Probably her biggest mistake was a marriage to me." - he admitted, forcing Valery to raise her eyebrows in surprise.

"But, dear, how is it possible? At that time you were already appointed as the head of the green castle."

"That is right. Only, you know, Green Castle - a stronghold of science, a temple for inventors, craftsmen. But people call us bookworms, dreamers, and for a good reason. We can build miraculous mechanisms in a couple of hours but often cannot cope with everyday life. No matter how prestigious my position was, I could never use it for selfish purposes. I passed on my discoveries and inventions to the Yellow Castle, the Brown Castle and the Palace for free. This manor and my salary, that's all I had, but she always wanted more. She wanted to shine, wanted to be envied and admired. Perhaps the whole thing in its origin. After all, she was the eldest daughter of a petty nobleman, with lands almost on the border with the Arian Empire."

"She always had a lot of ambition. At first, when Paris was born, I thought she would calm down, find herself in the family. At first, she put her all in raising you, determined to make you, my boy, a real leader." - continued Lester, with a sad smile looking at his son. - "She even read you bedtime stories, two times. But as soon as you grew up, it became clear that you are not reaching out for science or politics. You were always quite straightforward and unsophisticated to her taste. She quickly lost interest in you, seeing with what ecstasy you run around the yard with the kids, fighting on sticks. She plunged herself into the palace life again."

"Then you were born, Cali." - father turned his weary eyes on the girl. - "When I first saw you, my heart almost stopped. You were beautiful as a little angel. Everyone was fascinated by you. At first, Elois didn't pay much attention to you, leaving your upbringing for the nurse and me. And I really liked to spend time with you. Besides, Paris then went to study in the youth corps of the Red Castle, which he so dreamed about. But then, apparently noticing how everyone around you reacted to you, how you easily could wrap anyone around your little finger, she again set herself the goal. I stepped aside, hoping that at least you will develop a close relationship. I saw how Paris worried about the coldness of the mother and thought that the girl definitely needed a mother, a female model. But how wrong I was." - Lestor's voice began to tremble and by the end of the story has completely broken.

"Father, no one could know how it all ended. A mother was always proud and ambitious, but who could have foreseen that she was capable of such?" - Paris tried to support his father. - "Besides, we are all not without sin. I always wanted to apologize to Cali." - he turned to his sister, who during the whole conversation was silently looking out the window as if recalling the days that had long passed, but when she heard her name, she turned her head to her brother.

"I was young, but my behavior is also unforgivable. I was so jealous. Mother did not pay attention to me, was not interested in my successes as though I did not try, but with you, she spent all her free time. And then Conrad appeared, and I thought that I had lost my father too."

"My boy, what are you saying? I have always been interested in your life. Was in all your tournaments. Konrad ..." - Lastor halted, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the man beside his daughter.

He had changed a lot. Although his face was still the same, barely noticeable lines, scars and wrinkles made Konrad look much older. Gray hair appeared in his hair, although now he was 26 at most. The difference between him and Paris was only a couple of years. But sitting so close to each other, they seemed completely different.

Previously, Konrad looked even younger than Paris. He was angular, thin and eternally slouched. The sword fell out of his hands like a slippery fish, and as soon as he ran a little bit, he could not catch his breath for another ten minutes.

But in the workshop among the books, drawings, and layouts, his eyes began to shine, and his voice became more confident.

Remembering this, Lestor could not believe that in front of him was reallyKonrad. For the entire conversation, the man did not utter a word, not a single emotion slipped through his face, and his gaze was directed somewhere far away.

"This is all clear. I actually had long guessed about the intentions of Elois," - Valery finally interrupted the conversation that was going nowhere and directing everything in the right direction. - "But many mamas dream of the same. And Cali really was a diamond. If I were her mother, I would have tried to get her the best party too. She really was worthy of a prince." - This phrase made everyone wince, even Konrad. Suddenly, Cali spoke up. Her quiet voice made everyone turn.

"I understand you, aunt. And everything would be fine. Only, mother prepared me not solely by lessons of manners and dance. She stuffed my head with how to lie, use, pretend. Ball after ball under her leadership, I learned how to manipulate people, how to use a friend, to appear better against her background. How to spread gossip and remove from the road competitors. And over time, I even started to like it. I know how disgusting it sounds, but then it seemed right. Everybody does that - the mother said - if you don't learn to control, you will be controlled. I did it, and I enjoyed it. I was happy when my mother praised me. If then Viscountess Brant had not appeared, I would have played my part. Only here, apparently in comparison with her, all the blackness of my soul became visible from afar."

"Honey, but she was an absolute simpleton. Everyone then was shocked that the prince preferred her to you."

"It does not matter anymore. The prince has never really been interested in me, and so have I. It was just another court game. Only we played too much this time, and I realized it too late."

"What happened then?" - Carefully asked Paris the main question.

Cali hesitated a little. Apparently feeling that she needed support, Konrad took her hand in his and put it on his knee. The gesture was very familiar to Cali, while others frowned in surprise, trying to guess the essence of this strange couple's relationship.

"When the court began to notice the attention signs the prince was giving to the viscountess, the mother immediately began to act. At first, everything was as usual. Gossip, a couple of simple tricks. Like making a girl stumble during a dance, spill juice or wine on her. Then, when the prince did not hide his feelings for the girl, the mother began to press me. She was inventing new and new ways to get rid of the rival. At some point, she even persuaded Konrad to participate in her adventures. He spied on the viscountess and reported about her every step. Konrad never liked it, but mother threatened that if he did not follow her instructions, she would send him back. Father, you should know that Konrad only had a mother and four younger brothers and sisters. He came to the capital just to go to work at Green Castle and at least somehow support the family. He could not refuse her. But then the mother's plans became worse. I asked her to stop. But she already entered into a rage. When Konrad declined to help her with organizing an accident with a Viscountess coach, mother was furious. She somewhere got a very rare poison and tried to convince me to pour it into Miss Brant's glass. I was petrified then. Even earlier, all these games have ceased to amuse me. And when the mother deceived and threatened Konrad to participate in all this, the adventure entirely stopped to be funny. I was only sixteen. And I suddenly woke up. All this time I looked at the world through my mother's distorted rose-colored glasses, but the glass had cracked, and I realized how much dirt had been all along. I decided to stop this madness. But no one wanted to listen to me. Of course, who will listen to the whining of a spoiled, wicked aristocrat? Then I went to Konrad. We agreed that together we will go to the Black Castle, and we will tell about everything. We did not care. The main thing is to stop this madness. Only now the mother was smarter. She had friends and helpers everywhere and in a Black Castle too. It all happened so fast. We were caught right in the middle of the street when we returned from the Black Castle. And then everything was as if in a fog. We were taken out of the capital at night."

She fell silent covering Konrad's hand, seeking support. No one dared to ask a question that tormented those present for a long time. Only Konrad apparently decided not to dance around the bush.

"We were sold," - he said quietly, but confidently. On the faces of those seated, there was a general expression of horror. But Konrad apparently decided to finish up. - "Countess Marsters led more than one game. We never knew what she was doing with the Arians. She used us till the end and then sold like livestock to her partner in crime. Calisto should have become a concubine to one of the merchants of Ligar, and me as a slave with her in the appendage. On the road, we learned about the plans of the mercenaries who were taking us to the border and tried to escape. Only we were not so lucky. I lost my arm, and Cali suffered a severe burn of her right leg. Our price has fallen significantly, so the mercenaries, in order not to be responsible for the damaged goods, decided to say that we died while escaping. And they sold us to the knackers from Glako on the border. I will not tell you what they are doing to humans and nonhumans in the Glako arena. You must have heard a lot of tales. Only all of them cannot even describe closely all the horrors that we had to endure. We were offered to become Stone Beasts, we had no reason to think for a long time. About our life later, you can probably guess."

Konrad paused, dropping his eyes to his knees. Cali closed her eyes and laid her head on his shoulder.

Lestor stared at the two young people that looked as if cut off from the world. Everything Konrad said seemed so wild and nightmarish that it simply did not fit in his head. Dry words could not describe how much the two of them had to go through. A lump stuck somewhere in his throat, Lestor did not know what to say. Everything was much worse than he could have imagined. The wounds that he saw on their bodies couldn't even be compared to the deep cuts that existed in their soles.

" We were sold" - echoed in Lester's head. Her own mother sold Cali. Betrayed and left to die...