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∞ | Chapter 6 - Aftermath | ∞

Rebellion Lands

"Where are you going?"

Adrastea turned around to see Rhydderch standing a few meters away in the middle of the path. His eyes staring her down and despite the distance between them, she could feel the heat of it.

"Vonsworth," she replied and tilted her chin a little defensively, preparing for him to bar her from going. "I've heard from some of the men that Murstein Keep finally surrendered and I need to get some of my stuff back."

To her surprise, Rhydderch shrugged and nodded, "Alright, let's go."

She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him, "You don't have to come with me." To be honest, Adrastea felt that it would be wise if he didn't come along. Despite meeting him a few days ago, she recognised that he was the type of person that had to know everything and right now, she wasn't fully comfortable with him nosing about. "I'm sure Jarek is fine to accompany me instead."

"Jarek?"

If she had only just met him, she would have thought he was genuinely confused. But no, she could only say that he was a fantastic actor when the occasion came to pass.

"Yes, you don't have to give me that almost-perfect performance of yours, I know he's been following me around under your orders," she raised her eyebrows challengingly, daring him to deny it.

Rhydderch smirked and strolled confidently towards her. "Well, Jarek has plans today, so I'll be coming along with you."

"You don't have to. I'm sure maybe anyone else could accompany me," she offered.

He was now standing beside her, his gaze on her and she could see a hint of amusement in them as if he knew that she was trying to avoid him. "Well, I have to admit that I'm very curious about what you were up to before arriving here."

His tone was firm and Adrastea knew that she couldn't convince him otherwise before resigning herself to be on guard. "I see," she said. "Well, what were you up to before starting the rebellion?"

Rhydderch smiled enigmatically but it didn't reach his eyes. "Come, I'll get the car," he said, ignoring her question.

Adrastea sighed and steadied herself, even though the feel of his hand on the small of her back made her want to fidget about.

* * *

Town Center, Vonsworth

"This is where you work?"

"Yes," she said and looked at him warily. "I would recommend you to not touch anything you're not familiar with," she warned before heading up the stairs.

Now that he was alone, Rhydderch allowed a scowl to appear on his face. Looking around, he could see the place was well furnished and seemed to be quite respectable which was a surprise. Vonsworth was a big city and there had to be many medics about and he knew that despite the fact that medics were respected, they weren't paid much.

How on earth was Adrastea able to afford anything? Could she have sold the formula for the antidote? No, that couldn't be. If it were, he would have heard about it already. Secrets and news like that wouldn't stay quiet.

Another surprising fact that he noted with much detail was that her medical centre hadn't been broken in and ransacked regardless of it being unattended for almost a week, especially with the political unrest. Well, the mess on the table in the main room didn't count considering that was self-inflicted due to saving Jarek that night.

The entrance of the medical centre led down a hallway on it's right and he entered, eyeing the place with mild interest. There was a door on his left but he could tell it was just an examination room - nothing of interest he would find in there. There was another door on his right and one more all the way at the end of the hallway. He would investigate that one later.

Rhydderch still hadn't quite figured out the link between the missing people and Adrastea managing to develop the cure. But no one could claim that he wasn't determined.

Entering the room on his right, he could see that it was a sort of private office for Adrastea. There were a few books on the shelves and a desk but what caught his attention was the last bookshelf tucked away in the corner. He wouldn't have seen it, as it was not in his main sight of view.

Striding over to it, he was met with rows of clear glass jars and bottles with contents that he recognised. Most of them were medicines and remedies for illnesses he knew about but he could one shelf dedicated for the mystery cure for the Bloodberries.

Finally.

He took a step closer but frowned. The bottles had labels on them but he couldn't read it. They were in some form of language or coding system that he didn't know.

Rhydderch's eyes flitted over the numbers and symbols on each of the bottles, his mind trying to decode them to tell him about the mysteries the contents of the bottles held.

"What are you doing?"

He looked up and smiled innocently as Adrastea's gaze darted between him and the shelf. He could literally see her counting off the bottles on the shelf to see if he had taken any.

A smirk formed on his face.

"Just taking a look around your office. I'm just curious about your work. Are these the cures? I recognise the contents."

"Yes," she answered warily and went back to shoving more medical instruments into her bag.

"What are the labels saying?" he asked. His eyes studied one of them, tracing over the letters and the foreign symbols. "And what are these symbols?"

Adrastea looked up and a wry grin appeared on her face. "That's only for me to know."

He cocked up an eyebrow at her words. He didn't like it when secrets were kept from him, he only liked it when he was the one keeping secrets. Narrowing his eyes, he opened his mouth to press but the sound of knocking caught her attention and she strode past him and out to the foyer.

He did not like being brushed aside like an inconvenience.

A dangerous glint entered his eyes and he walked silently to the doorway and stood in the shadows as Adrastea smiled genially at a young man who was speaking bashfully to her while gesturing wildly.

An eyebrow was raised as he studied the man vying for his soul mate's attention. From what Rhydderch could see, the man had nothing on him. Seeing the young man blush once more as he stammered a reply that he would be back later with more baked goods, he left and Rhydderch went back to Adrastea's private office and pretended he had still been attempting to figure out the codes on the bottles.

Hearing her approaching footsteps against the wooden floor, he called out nonchalantly, "Back so soon?"

He didn't have to look up to know that she was rolling her eyes at him. "Are you sure I can't know what the labels are saying?"

"Why do you want to know so badly?"

He looked up at that and answered in a tone that conveyed diplomacy with a guileless expression on his face. "I've learned that knowledge is invaluable."

Adrastea merely smiled benignly but her eyes were hard. "For knowledge, there is always a price to pay," she said and turned out of the room.

He cursed inwardly, struggling with the fact that his usual charms and smiles weren't working. Stalking out of the room, his eyes narrowed in irritation to see her carefully packing her things into another larger bag. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw her place several journals into the bag followed by other medical instruments and medicines.

Logically, he knew those journals contained all the information from her research and his hands itched to open them so that he could devour its contents.

However, it would be his luck if they were all written in that same mysterious code that her bottles were labelled in. But then, surely she must have a list to decode everything, didn't she? There was no way her mind could remember all the different symbols and codes she used.

Mentally, his mind began devising plans and backup plans to get his hands on that list.

"I'll be done in a few minutes. You could always load these other bags first into the car," she said.

He ignored her and strode towards her predatorily, like a hunter hunting his prey. "Why do you have codes for your medicines and cures and is that blood?" He gestured to a lower shelf that had just caught his notice where there were separate vials of blood arranged in the same codes.

Again, Adrastea barely spared him a glance as she looked through some of her files as if deciding if she should bring them or not. "So that only I would be able to use them."

"Are you not afraid of what being the only person who knows about your miraculous medicines could do to you?" He asked quietly, his voice tinged in concern.

"What are you suggesting?" she asked defensively.

Rhydderch shrugged casually, now that he had her attention. "If our enemies knew about this, they could torture you for it." At that, she laughed and gave him a disbelieving stare. "And I suppose you care about my well-being?"

"Yes," he said as he took a few more steps, pressing her closer towards the wall.

She looked at him passively before a corner of her lips tilted up wryly. "From what I remember and observed, you didn't even want a soul mate."

He cocked an eyebrow and his lips twisted into a sardonic sneer. "Whoever said I cared about your wellbeing because you were my soul mate? It could be because you're the only one who knows about the cure. You being tortured and dead will be a disadvantage for the rebellion."

Her smile faded at that and her eyes glimmered with a tinge of hurt before they were shuttered off and her blank facade was back on.

Rhydderch could admit that if she intended to be an actress, she would be a pretty good one.

"Of course, that's all hypothetical," he said dismissively and finally stopped moving. Her back was against the wall and there were only a few inches of space between them. He could tell that she was nervous for her gaze kept flickering between him and the space around them.

Good.

"You believe me, don't you? After all," he paused and lowered his tone, dipping his head towards her, his breath fanning against her face as his lips found her ear. "according to the words on your skin and mine, we're soul mates," he murmured against the shell of her ear.

Her body was trembling a little bit and Rhydderch knew it wasn't from fear or pain. A pleased smirk bloomed on his face and he continued to press in when he heard the approaching footsteps of the man from before on the sidewalk just outside Adrastea's medical centre.

Inwardly, he scowled. He knew that the arrival of this man would capture the medic's attention instead of her being utterly focused on him while he tried to get her to tell him about the enigma of her damn codes.

His hands settled on her waist and he was surprised that he could feel her body heat emanating just from just those mere touches. Ignoring that, his mouth pressed a simple kiss on the side of her neck, just over the pulsing artery and feeling her sag slightly against him, Rhydderch began trailing kisses down the side of her neck, occasionally nipping the delicate skin and laving the sting away with gentle strokes of his tongue.

He was pleased to note that despite her calm and blasé countenance, she wasn't completely immune to him.

His hands tightened their hold on her waist as her fingers curled into the lapels of his coat while his mouth began working on the soft skin of the side of her neck.

"Adrastea I- Oh."

Against him, he could feel her body stiffen and began to push him away. Not wanting to let her win, he lingered, savouring the - surprisingly good - feeling of her body against his before pulling away slowly.

He slowly took a step backwards, ensuring that he was still a few inches away from her - close enough for others to think that they were together but far enough to be proper by society's standards - before shifting his eyes towards a particular flushed soul mate of his. A smirk curved on his face as he took note of the crushed expression of the third party in the room.

Yes, that was good. Adrastea was his, even though he didn't want a soulmate. He needed her for her antidotes and not for anything else. He didn't like anyone having a claim on what was his.

Feeling the tension, Adrastea quickly stepped further away from him and wrung her hands together and began explaining to the man on what was going.

Rhydderch took much - much - pleasure from the man's disappointed gaze before slipping his hands into his pockets and walked back to her private office where he could attempt to figure out those damn codes of hers.

He knew he was brilliant, he had a gift or perhaps a skill for strategising and solving puzzles or riddles that thank fuck wasn't destroyed while growing up. He also knew that just staring at those symbols to figure them out wouldn't help.

There was one thing he could do and that was to find that list which would be able to decode the strange symbols and codes she used. There wasn't any hurry, Adrastea would clearly bring it along with her back to the camp and then back to Vonsworth where they would settle for a while to ensure that the recently captured city was behaving before going after to the next city - The Sage Cliffs.

Yes, he knew that particular city was the fairest and the kindest among the rest. Unofficially, it was dubbed as a city for refugees. The people were kinder and not as prejudiced and the Regnant there, Circe Moreau was kinder than most, but that didn't mean that he would spare that city.

If he did, Regnant Circe would still be in power and that would cause the Affluents to think that there was a chance that they could take to regain their former standing in society. Which he would certainly not allow. For if that happened, Rhydderch himself would lose his own standing and position among the rebels.

Deciding to look into that last door in the hallway, Rhydderch headed towards that door. Briefly, he could smell the cloying scent of antiseptics and he knew he was going to discover something when a voice stopped him.

"Why are you going there?"

He stopped. "Is that door off limits then?"

Adrastea frowned. "Yes," she said but avoided his gaze. A sardonic smile formed on his face. "I don't like secrets."

"And I don't like people who can't mind their own business," she retorted. "Let me have mine and I'll let you have yours."

He narrowed his eyes at that but decided to concede to her. Antagonising her wouldn't do him any good and if he wanted to know what she was hiding, it was best that he get on her good side.

But that didn't mean that he was going to stop digging for answers just because his soulmate said to stop.

"Do take note that you don't have to pack everything. Most of us will be settling in Vonsworth for a short period of time before moving on. We have to appoint a governor as well as settling any potential disputes the people might have," he said as he moved away from the door and back to the main room.

Right now would be a good time to inspect parts of the city. It was good to know if the people were cooperating and that included the Valiants and the Affluents. Having said that, it was also an opportunity to mildly probe Adrastea about the missing people of Vonsworth.

For someone who could be a little distant, she was incredibly bad at hiding her thoughts and feelings from him. If it was true on what his gut instinct was telling him, she would be giving the information he wanted to know through her facial expressions.

And as if the universe knew what he was planning, Adrastea entered with two bags in her hand. "These are the important things that I have to bring along, the rest can wait."

"Alright, leave in the car and we'll go for a walk," he said as he tried to remember which was the bag that had her journals in them. Both were identical except for their sizes, where one was slightly larger than the other.

"A walk?" she questioned wryly.

"Yes, I would like to see how the city is," he replied and reached for the larger bag where he guessed correctly as they contained the journals due to the sharp edges pressed against the material.

"Right," she nodded and grabbed hold of the other bag before locking the doors and trailed after him while glancing around the streets.

Once her bags were in the car, Rhydderch nodded at a man on the street who came by and took the keys before driving off. From that, Adrastea wondered how many people here in Vonsworth were really part of the rebellion. It was impressive how they grew their ranks in just a few years and how it was all so organised.

As they walked, she could see groups of the Valiant in chains as members of the rebellion led them to be judged for their inhumane acts. She could also see others - mainly people of higher class like the Affluents and the Astutes arguing and shouting at the injustice they were now facing. But what she wasn't prepared for was the lack of Destitutes on the streets.

She was so used to the sad sight that she was momentarily taken aback by their absence. Nearing the town centre, she could see that some of the Destitutes were being fed and tended to and she was so stunned by the sight that she stopped in the middle of the walkway, her eyes wide and her mouth ajar.

Things had changed irrevocably but they were for the better.

"An improvement isn't it?" His smooth voice sounded and she nodded mutely.

For the first time, the reality of the change that was taking place was sinking in. And the fact that she was a part of this change made happy tears well up in her eyes.

If only the rebellion took place more than a decade earlier! She could still have her family. But there wasn't much of a point to deal with the what-ifs. She was in the present now and she had to focus on that.

"The Affluents don't look too happy," Rhydderch observed lightly after a man - who was clearly an Affluent judging by the quality of his clothes - began shouting and took out a pistol to shoot the tent full of injured people was apprehended.

"You don't say," she replied dryly.

Despite being in Vonsworth all her life and she had walked down the streets countless of times, it felt like the very first time she was doing so as she took in all the drastic changes. The debris from the battle were all piled in corners of the city where they would cause no obstruction, the Destitutes weren't being tortured for the sake of fun and the atmosphere that lingered was... positive despite the unhappy Affluents.

"Of course, it doesn't help that there is still a group of them missing even before the rebellion. That could possibly be a factor," Rhydderch said nonchalantly as he gave a nod of acknowledgement to a group of men who bowed as they walked passed.

Adrastea couldn't help but freeze a little. What could she say? Forcing herself to gain back her composure, she shrugged carelessly. "How interesting," she uttered.

"Do you know anything about it?"

His tone set her on edge. She stopped once more and stared at him passively. "What are you trying to imply? Yes, I know about the disappearances How could one not? But I can assure you I have nothing to do with them."

The even expression on his face said it all. He suspected and that meant he knew. "Of course, if you say so. But I really do hate secrets, especially when they are being kept from me," he said in a light conversational tone as he emphasised on some of his words but his eyes told a different story.

They were a lighter blue in the sun and the shade of them took her breath away. The fact that the sun cast shadows over his sharp cheekbones giving him an intimidating but handsome stare didn't help either.

Shaking herself from her stupid thoughts, she replied evenly. "Don't you trust me?" she questioned mockingly as they continued their walk.

"No," he replied shortly before sparing her a quick glance. "Do you trust me?"

She smiled, "No."

The corner of his mouth quirked up and he nodded. "It's good to know that we are on the same page then."

Adrastea couldn't help the amused scoff that came from her lips.

* * *

A/N: One word. GIFS. Yes, I've finally gotten around to posting them and there is one for every chapter including the prologue so check them out! I've also decided who gets to play Adrastea, Rhydderch and Medeia and if you have suggestions for the other characters, please shoot away! :) Please vote and comment and let me know what you think and also, have a great day! :)

Chapter is dedicated to @Quotingourdailylives for the man encouraging comments given! I really appreciate it! :)