Chapter 20 To Be Free #2
Luella felt trapped by his soft amber eyes as she ate the morsel. She realized how ravenous she was as the flavors melted on her tongue.
Graves passed a waterskin to her. "You rested three days, but your body is still weak. You didn’t eat, and barely kept down the sweet waters we trickled over your lips."
She took the waterskin, with a soft nod in thanks.
The way he said those words made her think that he was the one to watch her sleeping body and trickle water over her lips in a quiet cabin, with no one else around.
His deep blue eyes seared into her skin, lingering hottest against her wings.
He watched her… and kept watching. And when she dared to meet his gaze, his eyes flicked away—only for the weight of his attention to settle on her again the moment she looked elsewhere.
A soft mewl stole her attention, and she couldn’t help but smile as tiny Ven padded across the deck, golden eyes peeking at her from a mass of black, silky fur.
Bastian hissed as the kitten trailed by him, her tail held upright, nearly brushing his arm.
Ven ignored the vampire entirely, butting her head against Az’s thigh as she trilled.
Luella reached out a hand, cooing under her breath.
Ven leaned into her, whiskers tickling her fingertips.
"Tharen," Vale called, breaking Luella from her stupor.
She glanced up, finding Tharen procuring something from a crate by his side—a small, purple book.
"No more secrets," Vale told her when she met his green eyes. "Unless they are not mine to share."
Her brow furrowed at that.
Tharen sat before her, and his wolves perked up from their slumber, sensing their master nearby. Her body tensed as the trio grew nearer, the smallest staring at her from a mass of pure white fur.
"What exactly do you know of the prophecy?" Tharen unlatched the book, flipping it open to reveal blank pages.
She shared with him the lines that haunted her, feeling the words spill free from her lips, and then said, "When I found the Compendium of Fates, I was not able to read all of the prophecy. There was a line… it—it broke off. As though the page had been torn. It wasn’t until later that you all shared with me you had the other piece.
" In that strange in-between, after she had awoken.
"A child born in the dark, with hair white stark.
Eyes of moonlit blue, an enchanting hue.
Bound to the thee of might, who wickedly plight.
Fated to be in the stars. For eons, they are.
The Vincire will be bound, and the Queen will be crowned.
" Vale recited the lines perfectly. "Two halves of a whole. That is not all, however."
"We didn’t realize until we understood the truth of your heritage." Tharen tempered his tone as he spoke to her. "A splintered lineage, to bring together the kingdoms. She will be one over all elements, the sun, and the stars, to defeat the malevolence."
"The prophecy has come true thus far," Bastian said. "The malevolence is the Tenebrae, which you will defeat. Your heritage is… splintered, and we can assume that will pave the way for the union of the kingdoms. Luna and Serpentis."
She was trying to understand. Her brain hurt. She had known of the prophecy, known in small bits and pieces of what she must do, but they had never simply sat down and laid it all out. Hearing it like this made her wonder if—
"Queen," she breathed. "I am to be… Queen?"
"Yes. That is what we believe. In time, I will make you Queen," Vale answered.
"H-how?"
She was scared for his answer, but it came as no surprise to her when Vale said:
"We will be wed."
Luella shook her head. Something hot and angry bubbled up inside her. "I will not marry you."
Vale focused on the sea before them, steering the ship, knuckles white as he gripped the wheel. "It is written."
She was still shaking her head. "There has to be another way." She reached for the Compendium, and Tharen gave it up easily, as if mocking her with the prospect of blank pages.
As she gripped the book, her thumb slipped on the metal part of the latch that kept it closed.
Blood welled in a small pinprick. A ripple of familiarity coursed through her as something sharp cut into her flesh.
She hissed, nearly dropping the book, but she caught it before she could, treating it reverently.
That did not stop a droplet of her blood from smearing across the pristine, empty pages, leaving a streak of scarlet.
Ink took form, bleeding to life like the blood that bloomed across the pages. Elegant, looping scrawl, written as if by an invisible hand.
She held her breath. As did the roaring wind.
And when a small dot formed, signifying the hushed end of the lines, she could only stare at the words on the page.
"What the fuck?" Tharen breathed. He moved to sit by her other side, braids tickling her cheek as he leaned over her, staring down at the open Compendium in her hands.
Az placed a steadying hand on her knee, breath warm against her. "What does it say?"
"Luella, read it. Now," Vale demanded. He couldn’t leave his place at the wheel, but she saw how desperately he yearned to at that moment—not one to give up control.
The Binding mark etched onto the skin above her heart—one done in blood and ink, tethering her will to the King’s—pulsed slightly, and the words were tugged from her shuddering lips.
As she spoke, she felt anger at him using his power over her. She had thought she had won against him in this, but it appeared her ability to break free from his orders had been short-lived.
"She will have power over all. Purest wings, of a winter’s snowfall. A splintered lineage, to bring together the kingdoms. She will be one over all elements, the sun, and the stars, to defeat the malevolence."
The food she had consumed churned in her belly.
Parts of the prophecy they had already known. But not all…
"Purest wings, of a winter’s snowfall?" Vale echoed.
Tharen’s hands wrapped around hers as he tugged the book from her. She was reluctant to let it go, found her fingers unwilling to unlatch from the sides. She stretched out her arms as he brought the Compendium to his face to study it.
The red streaks of her blood faded away, but the words remained. It was as though her blood had never even been there to begin with. But the scent still lingered in the air, the tang of iron mixing with salt.
Thick hunger lanced down one of the threads, tightening her throat. Bastian was in such agony. He was suffering. Because of her.
Luella found the vampire’s eyes, the shade just like blood, dark with desperation.
Her plea streamed to him like tendrils of air. How can I help?
Bastian ran his tongue over the tip of a deadly fang. She did not feel him inside her mind. He was honoring her wishes.
For what seemed like an eternity, they were both trapped in a snare crafted from their eyes.
He was the first to look away. With a twitch to his eyelid and a muscle fluttering in his jaw, Bastian exhaled deeply, leaving her wondering if her blood was even pleasing to him. Why else would he resist her so?
"We’ve never seen this part of the prophecy," Tharen said from her side.
Graves hummed, breaking his silence. "What if there is more we don’t know?"
"But what if there’s more we don’t see until it’s already come to pass?" Tharen countered. "Like her wings."
Graves locked up, staring out at the sea she was trying to ignore.
"Thinking of all the possibilities could be our demise," said Vale. "Focus on what we know: that line of the prophecy is new, we did not see it until Luella’s blood touched the pages, and it has already transpired."
"Fate… works in mysterious ways," Az mumbled, fingers tracing over her wrist, making her stolen bracelet catch the light. "We could be given just enough information to allow the prophecy to come to pass."
Bastian, voice thick with strain, not looking at her, said, "Too much and we risk disrupting everything. Not enough, and we fumble around in the dark. Information is power. We are being carefully fed enough to ensure those words are brought to life."
"The other part," she started, hating how distant her voice sounded, "about the splintered lineage. That is about…" She couldn’t say it. No matter how intensely she tried to gather the words, they would not break free from where she had tucked them down inside her, hidden from the light of day.
"The King and Queen of Luna. Your true parents. We knew that the King and Queen of Solis could not be your birth parents, and that was made more clear when your glamor was removed—the first one," Vale clarified. "Though, we never thought you were the Princess of Luna."
He spoke so calmly, as if this was not her life, her history, he was discussing.
As if she were not fraying, cracking, shattering.
She imagined herself to be a teacup, splinters in her porcelain, light shining through the cracks with brilliance.
One more crack. Just one. And she would break into a thousand pieces.
The truth she had tried to ignore was growing inside her like a cyclone. The air around them swelled. The puffy white clouds overhead turned dark in an instant, casting them all in a layer of false night and thick, wintry chill.
She stared at nothing, feeling everything.
As they conversed, their voices washed over her, falling on unhearing ears. She felt their worry, flowing down the threads. It was but a distant thing to her.
Luella was the Princess of Luna. Her whole life had been a lie.
She was fated to four villains—and a too-kind demon who thought himself to be a villain.
She was half-angel. She had wings. And she couldn’t fly.
She had magic, more powerful than anyone, or so they all said.
But she couldn’t use it. She was worthless. Broken.