Chapter 26
A flash of lightning illuminates Rose’s soft features a second before the clap of thunder rumbles, shaking the stairs towards the Kingdom of Storm. I shift my gaze away from her and eye the edge of the cliff. What are her chances of surviving if she harbours an inkling of suspicion towards me?
To think that the few elemny I want to avoid have found me instead.
The anxiety-ridden thoughts plague me when my mind drifts to whether I spoke too carelessly in front of her.
There’s even a chance that the Knights of Eraminia fed her information, and she’s not here to escort the children up the stairs, as she said.
The Knights want to get me once we’re inside her kingdom.
Fuck.
What do I do? I can’t push her off the edge when she’s holding a damn child…can I?
No, I can’t do it.
The thought of imagining an innocent child falling to their death causes a sickness to churn in my stomach.
The anxiety-ridden thoughts plague me when my mind drifts to whether I spoke too carelessly in front of her. Even knowing she’s not responsible for their deaths, her kingdom did nothing about it when they are inherently stronger than fire elemny!
I know the air is thinner in my kingdom, but they could have aided in pushing the ships away or something. Or, if they couldn’t do that, the bare minimum would have been to pay their respects to the fallen kingdom.
Yes, King Ragan’s strong, but not in their domain, where their palace swarms with the clapping of thunder, flashing lightning, howling wind, and the pounding of heavy rain.
They did nothing, and the thought of their daughter within my reach sends intense hatred boiling black and blue inside me.
I turn my head and notice the two teenagers close behind us.
Then, I look ahead at the kids, sluggishly moving, as I see them through the flashes of lightning that occur every few seconds.
If I time it well, I can act like I accidentally tripped and bumped into her.
Rose seems like the type to sacrifice her life for the one in her arms. This means that if she fell, she wouldn’t turn into a water droplet; she would protect the child in her arms.
A flash of lightning illuminates our surroundings as I lean into her. Rose’s bright smile beams when she faces me. Stiffening beneath her watchful gaze, I shuffle away and grip the railing.
Fuck.
I can’t do it. I can’t kill her because she has done nothing to me yet to warrant an attack. I’m not like my fucking mother, who will kill out of utter jealousy—even when there is none! And here I am, acting like her and thinking of killing an innocent. Isn’t Queen Ji-Sun enough collateral?
I killed the one I sought revenge on.
Unless Rose tries something first, I can’t hurt her. If I do, then I’m as bad as my parents. And I’m trying very hard not to spiral down the rabbit hole I’ve known my entire forsaken life.
“What will you do when you enter the kingdom?” Rose asks.
I force an exhausted smile. “Honestly…I want a shower.”
“Me too!” Rose beams a smile. “But I have to talk to my dads first. They’re going to be so mad!”
“Why?”
“My dad is overprotective. And after hearing about King Ragan, he doesn’t want me to walk around alone.”
I eye her and then look away. “Wasn’t it suicide?”
She stares ahead. “Right. Yeah…I forgot.”
Rose is lying to me. Why? What the fuck is she hiding?
Have additional details been revealed that I am not aware of? Something they’re keeping from the rest of Eraminia. It’s not like I can press for more intel. Even if I act like an obsessed fan of King Ragan, pushing her when she’s standoffish on the subject will make me look criminal.
Let’s put two and two together ourselves.
The castle knows it’s not suicide. So, they gave the royal families from Oria, Cloud, and Storm a hint of information that whatever happened, it was murder. This new and private information causes them to keep it to themselves.
She doesn’t know who, though. If the mutt or the new King had given them a description of me, Rose wouldn’t have mentioned the worry her dad had for her over the ordeal.
She would have kept that information to herself and lured me somewhere instead of giving me ammunition to flee at the earliest opportunity.
No.
The castle withheld that information but gave them a hint that it was murder.
It’s weird. Wouldn’t they want to find me as soon as possible?
A strange funk swirls inside me about what’s going on. I hate being surprised since my life is full of sudden blows from a sledgehammer. Over and over a-fucking-gain.
I take a deep breath before spitting out the water that slaughters my soul. Sopping wet hair sticks to my flesh, and my clothes become an uncomfortable second layer of skin. A burn shudders across my calves with every step up these unforgiving fucking stairs until, finally, I take the last step up.
As bad as it sounds, the ache flees, and it feels like I’m walking on clouds. It’s like I’m floating.
“We’re here! Tempest Hall entrance!” Rose slumps her shoulders, and her chest rises erratically.
The Tempest Hall entrance looks nothing like the entrance to the Kingdom of Flesh. They don’t use broad and tall stone walls. Instead, I’m looking at an electric fence covering stone boulders that waver with static in the air and overlap with the sound of clapping thunder.
Not only that, but there’s only one entrance instead of four. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not well-guarded. Twenty guards or more are posted around the entrance, armed with guns in case of any trouble.
Aside from that, elemny can walk through the gate without signing in, which seems strange to me. Maya gave me what I needed, but it seems I don’t need it anymore, as I stand here, soaking wet, and stare with utter confusion.
“The sign-in sheet is inside the cave,” Rose tells me. “It’s easier to see a fake passport when you’re not standing in the rain to do it.”
I bob my head up and down and say, “Ah. That makes sense now.”
She eyes the crowd. “Are you alright finding your way? I’m going to find the parents.”
I glance at the edge of the stairs behind her and then at Rose. My clenched hands relax, and my shoulders slump when I say, “I’m fine. Thanks for the company.”
“No problem! Enjoy your visit! I may see you around!”
Please, fucking don’t try to find me. I won’t be as sympathetic a second time.
I wait until she departs. My focus never leaves her sight until she weaves through the crowd forming around the Tempest Hall entrance. When she’s encased among them, I grip the strap of my bag and head towards the line of elemny waiting to enter.
The line dwindles quickly, even though there’s only one entrance.
Out of the slaughtering rain and the chaos of deep rumbles of thunder, the hollow sound of droplets showering down onto the top of the cave echoes through the dimly lit space.
A blue hue of light encases the interior, and water drips, glistening across the walls and flowing through the cracks in the stone floor.
There are four stone oval archways inside the cave.
Two guards are posted on either side of the archway, but unlike the Kingdom of Flesh, where I had to hand Toma multiple forms of identification and jump through more hoops, the guards here don’t care.
The two guards eye the passport the man shows them, and once cleared by them, he’s good to go.
Murmured conversations encase me, vibrating against my irritated eardrums. It forms a pulsing headache that thumps at my temples.
As much as I want to ignore them, I need to listen to the conversations in case there’s a sliver of a sentence about the Kingdom of Flesh and what’s happening within the thickened smoke.
I want to know how much time I have here until they’re on me and trying to cage me like a mouse around prowling cats.
By the time I step before the two earth elemny staring down at me, I hand them my passport.
After the dark-skinned elemny scans the passport, he passes it to the other.
With a swift glance, he hands my phone back to me and nudges his head for me to enter.
A cruel and conniving smile spreads across my face after I pass them.
Danger and excitement stir inside me, knowing I’m getting away with something I shouldn’t, like an adrenaline rush.
The rain greets me when I exit the other side of the cave.
Even though it was difficult to see, with a thick layer of rain muffling my vision, Nancy taught me to memorise the way to the orphanage from the Tempest Hall entrance.
It was hard to do in the beginning, and whenever I got a street address wrong or made a misstep in how the scenery looked—even the layout of Sweethearts Orphanage—it would earn me a dagger look.
But being here now, it’s like this is my second home. Easy as breathing in the stuffy, thick, rainy air.
I navigate through the streets, down alleyways, and across footpaths without second-guessing where I need to go. Soon, I’ll be in a dry home with a bed and women’s hygiene products.
A tingling sensation works across my waist. My skin will dry out when I’m out of the rain, and when it does, I need to find moisturiser to prevent the itch of a burn that hasn’t gone away after two years.