Without The Grace

Your highness

We'd been walking for what seemed like days when we finally reached a road. An actual road. I didn't think I'd ever see one again.

"Don't you have a watch or anything?" I asked him.

He didn't answer.

"I'm hungry Ezekiel." It was the first time I had said his name.

"And my feet hurt." I added.

He crossed the road and entered the woods on the other side.

"Oh great. More trees. Ezekiel can we please stop?!" I exclaimed. I was tired and hungry and very unsure of how to feel about what I learned about Kenneth and Blu. Now I wished I really had killed her.

"We have to keep moving if you want to make it before the next apocalypse." He finally said blandly.

I groaned. We didn't talk for the rest of the way through the woods except for when he silently handed me a donut which I verbally thanked him for. I didn't receive a response though.

"Once, when I was seven, Raul took me on a trek through the woods.
We were bored one day and the stepmother was in one of her moods.
I had been extremely uninterested until I saw the most beautiful thing.
There was a peacock standing right in front of us as if it encountered wandering humans on a daily basis.
My fath-Raul, he told me that it was a male because the males were the ones with the multi color feathers. He told me the males were more beautiful and majestic than the females. I didn't believe him. I called him a liar...I found out he was right some years later."

"Why-"

"He was always taking me places. Teaching me new things. We went to every zoo in the state, and even nearby states." I laughed. "We even used to go to amusement parks and tell the stepmother we were going to museums or shopping, or something. There was a never dull moment when I was with him..."

I felt tears in my eyes once again.

Ezekiel hesitantly put his free arm around my shoulders. When I didn't flinch or move away, he spoke.

"He doesn't have to stop being your father. You're doing him a disservice. He probably still feels like your father."

"What would you know?" I asked Ezekiel. "You don't even know him." I moved out from underneath his arm as Kenneth's face appeared in my mind.

He shrugged. "I can imagine, I was on the other side of your life story. I've known your real mother for years."

I'd forgotten he knew my mother.
"What's she like?" I asked him.

"Well, when I wasn't trying to please my father, I would visit her in her cells and we would talk for hours. She spoke of you. She wished she could see you, but she hoped you wouldn't come."

"Why would she wish that?" I questioned.

"My father is quite cruel. Everything is different in Solveige now. There's hardly any freedom." He informed me.

"She thinks she's gonna die." I corrected him.

He stopped and looked at me. "We're not gonna let her." He said confidently.

I glared at him.
"First you kill someone I love and now your insistent on protecting me. Why?" I demanded.

"I had a change of heart. Maybe I want to get rid of my father as much as you do." He told me.

And when I looked into his eyes, I knew he was telling the truth.

@

It was getting dark by the time we stopped for a real meal.

Ezekiel made me stay in the shelter of some trees with our stuff while he went into some building.

He was disguised as well as he could be.

It had been four days since Kenneth was killed. His face was still prominent in my mind. But this time when I pictured him, I also saw Blu.

I wondered when he had the time to see her. Maybe when he told me he needed space. Or when I was busy with karate or out with my d...dad.

"We eat like royalty tonight." Ezekiel said when he returned.

I snorted. "Is that supposed to be funny?"

He cocked his head in thought. "No pun intended. But now that you've pointed it out. You're right. I have to take care of my princess."

I sighed as he bowed and placed the covered trays in front of me.

"Bon appetite. Your highness." He said smiling at me.

I looked away and occupied myself by uncovering the silver trays.

He'd bought some kind of chicken with potatoes and broccoli in one tray and pasta in the other.

"I didn't know what you liked." He said shrugging sheepishly.

I chose the pasta and bread. "This will do." I said. "But next time be sure to inquire with me to ensure my utmost contempt."

Ezekiel snorted. "My apologies."