8. Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight
Nyx rolled over in my bed while I snugged further into the soft blue and gold bedspread, mind reeling as I stared at the drooping canopy material.
“So let me get this straight…” She paused and I waited. “The guy you spent the day with and the prince you’re supposed to marry are brothers.”
“Apparently, so,” I said flatly.
“Doesn’t that mean you can just choose the one you like the best and it’s a win?”
Within the confines of my blanket, I wiggled onto my side and looked at my friend. After the attack, my parents talked with both royals, assessed the damage, spoke to the people, then me.
We were to house both brothers, and the hopeful engagement plans were still happening. Father left to continue talks with the general about security, and to interrogate two enemy soldiers that lived.
Rune had taken out most of them. A dangerous man, indeed.
Mother stayed behind to make sure I was alright with a batch of calming tea.
It was a little too calming if you asked me.
“No, their father denounced Rune. Called him a curse and expects me to marry Tor.”
My mother informed me while I sipped tea from a diamond teacup.
Rune Wolfstrom, aged one hundred and eighty-two, had a dual core of tiger’s eye and a wolf.
Wolves were common in their bloodline, but every so often one lucky child was gifted with the werewolf core.
An ancient creature that transformed the Fae’s body during a full moon.
“My father did this.”
“He wanted everyone to know I was cursed. To fear me and stay away.”
Rune was the lucky child. A warrior with a werewolf inside him.
At first, anger flooded my veins when I put the pieces together. But I didn’t feel any of that now. Rune worked his way up the ranks in their military and became a legend all on his own.
His father feared him. I wouldn’t doubt if the whole reason the king wanted to marry off his second son, was so he had access to an army that could battle his firstborn if Rune ever challenged him for the crown.
“So, nothing’s changed?” Nyx asked, her eyes narrowed.
“Nothing’s changed.”
I’d spend time with Tor, getting to know him, and eventually saying I do. I waited for the sinking sensation in my stomach to come, but that damn tea really leveled me out.
I rolled onto my back and closed my eyes. Our breaths were even, and the steady beating of my heart almost put me to sleep. I inhaled and released, then inhaled a little deeper and pushed out the breath for longer.
My Fae senses were heightened with my eyes closed. The relaxing scent of lavender from Nyx’s perfume wrapped around me, and my body settled further into the soft mattress.
The vibrations of the world around me resonated within. Like touching the pulse of life itself. All Fae had a nature core, and it resonated with that essence.
Nyx’s amethyst core radiated ease, and protection, with a purifying edge beside me.
Sometimes when I was fretting, she would will the sensations of ease into my body and I’d feel the weight fall off my shoulders.
My dreams were wild when we had sleepovers.
Something about her core amplified my subconscious.
Should be an interesting combination between her magic and that tea tonight.
With my hands resting against my stomach, I let the magic of my sapphire core flow through me like the blood in my veins. It was always there, a part of my very being.
A tapping feeling in my head tickled my thoughts but I knew not to open my eyes. It wasn’t Nyx or anyone outside my mind. I learned a long time ago that sensation was an invitation. Sapphires were a wisdom stone.
My core had something it wanted me to feel and to see.
Deepening my breath, losing myself in that feeling, I opened myself for my intuition.
A force unlike anything I’d felt before washed over me like a tidal wave.
I didn’t see anything like visions. Our kingdom’s seer Celestine was supposedly the only one I knew with that power. This was more like a vision of feelings to come.
Being wrapped in strong, warm, steady arms. Like two souls cocooned in a blanket by a fire.
My heart beating rapidly, soft breaths against the back of my neck, and a need so strong from within that I’m surprised nothing jumped out of my skin.
I yearned for something I’d never experienced but always dreamed of.
The feelings shifted. Ice froze my fingers and clogged my throat. Pain squeezed my head like a vice.
My eyes opened and I choked.
Gasping, gagging, needing air.
Nyx shot out of bed and got me a glass of water.
“Shit, Sapphira. Did you choke on your own drool?” She sat beside me while I guzzled the cool liquid. My lungs burned with each deep breath.
“No,” I croaked and set the glass on the nightstand. “I was connecting with my core, feeling good things, then the sensations turned cold, and I swear it felt like they tried to choke me.”
Silence.
“That’s odd. Do you know what it means?” she asked, and I wish I did. I shook my head and while Nyx climbed back into my bed. “Maybe you should see Celestine tomorrow. Make sure those intuitive feelings aren’t bad.”
I slid back under the covers, fighting the urge to hide beneath them as an eerie sense of dread settled over me.
Something was coming, something dark, and cold. I just hope we were ready for it.