She spent the rest of her time above the deck, stewing in her anger as she looked at the waters around the ship. Roxane was there for a long time as she didn't fully realize the sun had long disappeared, replaced by the moon and all of its fullness.
She turned around to leave but she stopped in her tracks when she saw a lone figure standing at the front of the ship, staring out into the sea.
"Kian?" She said as she approached the familiar looking man. She almost never saw him as he really only left his room a handful of times since they had first got on the ship.
He didn't look at all surprised to see her as he turned. He stood within reach of the small lamplight the ship's captain had placed all around the ship's deck. Although his eyes probably couldn't see her in the limited light, she could see him. He looked just as comfortable as Thatcher had been in his plain clothing.
She didn't know if it was her heart clouding her judgement or if he really appeared to her that way, but she found his unkempt ashen hair endearing.
"I had thought you had escaped. I almost never see you out and about the ship." She joked with him, but to her ears she sounded lame.
"I've been trying to catch up with my work." He said as he blinked slowly at her. No emotion could be seen within his violet eyes. "I've also been trying to find anything else out from the records I," for the first time since she had met him, he was hesitant to say something, "borrowed from the temple."
She couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her.
"You can say you stole the records. I don't mind. I was never really much of a Priestess anyway."
He regarded her profile carefully, observing her with those languid eyes of his.
"Right. I guess I didn't want to anger you any more than you already seemed to be." For a man that hardly showed any emotion himself, he was strangely very perceptive of others' emotions.
Her golden eyes darkened at the mention of her anger, and in turn, made her remember exactly why she was so angry.
"Is he always so stupid?"
For a second, she thought she had seen the corners of his lips move up but by the time she blinked, whatever she thought she had seen was gone.
"Ah, yes. Thatcher." He spoke as if he knew exactly what she was going to say.
"He invited Diana and I over to his room for tea. Then he proceeded to ask us all these personal questions with a phony smile on his face." She seethed as she recalled the disastrous events that had occurred at their little tea party. "And after making Diana sad, he still had the gall to imply that I somehow knew Diana was a Saintess all along."
Although he hadn't asked, she still found herself spilling all her thoughts about what had made her angry. He still listened to her silently as he leaned over the ship's railing, and for that she was grateful.
"Did he ever do the same to you?" She asked him.
"With me it was a little bit different. He had already known everything about me from the start. So yes, he is conniving, but I don't know if I would say he's stupid." He looked out into the ocean and Roxane joined him at the railing.
"I suspect that is how he was raised. Being a part of the royal family would twist anyone's personality. He must have learned how to dig into someone's past and tear into them."
"That might be so, but it still doesn't absolve him from any fault."
Kian shook his head, "No, but it does provide us with a clue on how to protect yourselves against his interrogations."
"Really? How so?" She leaned her head to the side, curious to what he was going to say.
While his body was still leaning against the railing of the ship, he tilted his head slightly, she could see one of his violet eyes looking directly into her from the corner of his eye. In the moonlight, he looked mysterious as his silver earring gently swayed in the breeze. The ship kept moving through the pitch black waves. It was a sight she had not been prepared to see.
She was terrified.
"It's simple. The next time he tries to weasel his way in," she held in her breath, "you tell him to piss off. I found that is the fastest and simplest method of dealing with him."
She released all her breath at once, coming out as a chortle.
"That is your method?" Roxane said, amused at his unexpected response.
"You laugh, but it's the most effective way of dealing with nosy people like him. It has never failed me once."
To her horror, she snorted. "I don't find that in the least bit surprising, coming from you. You look like the sort of man who tells everyone he doesn't like to piss off."
He turns back his attention to the ocean beyond.
"I vary from time to time on how I go about it. Though sometimes I need to hold myself back from saying it, like with the Crown Prince. There were many times when he was talking that I wanted to tell him to piss off."
She smiled while looking at him. Roxane found that she enjoyed hearing his inner thoughts.
Some time passed before she realized that they had gone a long time in silence. She cleared her throat to break the awkward atmosphere.
"Do you believe in what he says? About these supposedly prophetic sightings signaling the end of times?"
"I don't know." His candid answer took her aback.
"When Thatcher first employed me, he did it because he needed my expertise in magic. Fully trained wizards are few and far between in the western continent. He needed one he knew wouldn't be motivated by money. So at least there, he would be certain I wouldn't sell him out to anybody."
"Thatcher may be cunning, but I know from the five years that I have worked for him, I can at least place my trust in him. Although I don't believe in Saints and prophesies, I understand that he believes they are real. As it is my job, I will help him to the best that I can. That includes making sure Diana doesn't fall into the wrong hands."
Roxane found one piece hard to believe.
"How can you not be motivated by money?"
He turned his whole body over to the side to face her.
"The reason why I ultimately chose to join Thatcher was because he wanted to keep other people from abusing the Saintess' powers. Holy powers are still a form of magic. In the wrong hands, that magic can do horrific things. I, and many others from my country, have seen what power can do to an entire nation. Imagine what may happen when Holy magic is used to carry out all sorts of evil deeds."
"Your country?" Roxane whispered, she had suspected he wasn't from Solstine, but she had never had the chance to ask him.
"Yelendra. It's on the eastern side of the world so you probably wouldn't have heard much about us."
"What happened to your country?"
A sliver of emotion appeared in his eyes, before it was quickly wiped away. He straightened out his body, his eyes leaving her and settling on the rolling waves.
"When I was still a boy, a very powerful wizard made a very stupid decision. She wished to use her magic to force everyone into submission. She took many lives in order to achieve this, but in the end she was defeated. Since then, Yelendra is known for its strict laws as well as its magic. After one wizard ruined it all and did the unthinkable, it made life for all other wizards much more difficult."
"Even though we were highly sought after because of our magic, many people could only see our destructive capabilities. All because of that one wizard. Everyone with even a hint of magic in them were put under heavy watch. Even a baby, barely born, would need to have identification on them. Once they reached a certain age they would be forced to enter into their region's tower where they would be taught properly how to control their magic. Every time they wanted to leave the tower to go visit their families or to go out into the other villages, they would have to ask their towers for permission first. I've heard some towers don't allow some of their wizards to ever leave."
He looked down at his hands, gripping onto the ship's railing, before he continued.
"I couldn't live that kind of life. So, I left Yelendra. Illegally, I might add. Wizards don't just get to pick up and leave from the country without the proper paperwork. I went to a neighboring kingdom and it was there that Thatcher found and recruited me."
She didn't know why, but as she stared into the side of his face, she thought he looked sad. His face was cleared of all emotion, but for some reason she felt overcome by sadness as she looked at him.
"I'm sorry. I know how hard it is to leave one's homeland."
"The dragons." He said out into the ocean air in front of him. Kian looked at her as he then propped his chin on his hand. "I couldn't help but notice that you are a cross between a Red and Black Dragon."
She matched his stance, leaning on the railing as her chin rested on her hand.
"Yes, I am. My mother was from the Red Dragon Clan while my father was a Black Dragon."
"Then they must have loved each other very much. Dragons don't often intermingle with other types of dragons."
She nodded her head, impressed that he knew that much.
"I would assume they did. I was raised by my mother in a community that didn't shun crossbreeds. My father had passed away when I was still very young to even remember him. But from what she had told me about him, he was just like any other from the Black Dragon Clan. Their battles to the death would be truly terrifying as each and every one from the clan are ferocious fighters. But," She held up a finger and smiled, "my father was also very sensitive. He hated to fight."
"And your mother?"
Roxane put down her finger. Her golden eyes radiated warmth and she could tell her whole smile changed when she thought about her mother.
"What could I possibly say about my mother that truly captures what kind of person she was?" She whispered, her eyes weren't on Kian, but somewhere far beyond. "She was frighteningly beautiful. She was also incredibly strong as well. Even among the Black Dragons she could hold her own, and above all, she never gave up in a fight. Never once had I seen her lose a battle with another dragon. She taught me everything I know about being a dragon."
Her smile was goofy, she knew, but she didn't care. Talking about her mother was something she almost never got to do, as Diana didn't like to talk about her own parents, she never wanted to make her feel bad when she talked about hers.
She looked to the side then, wondering if she had spoken too much about her parents, and quickly realized what a mistake she had made.
With his face still in his hand, he stared at her with his beautiful violet eyes. What took her breath away was the smile he had on his lips. It wasn't an almost smile like she had seen before, but a much different kind of smile. There was something written in his eyes too, but she couldn't read it, much less understand it.
Roxane knew the price of the sight before her then. She knew what she was witnessing was exceptionally rare, and her eyes drank it up. From his eyes to his smile, she wanted to remember the way he looked tonight. Hopefully, the memory would be forever engrained into her mind.
Then she blinked. And it was gone.
Kian cleared his throat, pushing off of the ship's railing.
"It's getting late," he said, "I should probably excuse myself and head off to sleep."
"Oh," Roxane nodded her head, "I didn't mean to keep you up so late. Don't worry about me, I want to stay here a little bit longer." She forced the smile on her face.
He nodded once, then left. Roxane could only watch his retreating back as she felt all sorts of emotions running wildly inside her chest.
There was no way out of this now, she thought to herself. She had really begun to fall in love with the wizard.