Chapter 35
Eliane
I don’t mean to, but a loud gasp escapes me. I clap my hand in front of my mouth as Braxton catches my stare. I stutter, trying to make words but they come out in a blur.
His eyes are on fire with rage I haven’t seen before, his body covered in blood. Behind him lies a man.
Dead.
One hand undone from his body.
The man who was in our nightmare.
“Brax,” I stutter, coughing the fear and the rising panic attack away. “What the fuck happened?”
“Let’s go,” he taunts, not giving me the satisfaction of answering.
He moves towards me.
I am frozen in the doorway as I take in the dead body.
Dead, the thing he tried to protect me from.
Now he is the monster who did it.
The monster who took a life.
I look up at his raging eyes.
“Let’s go,” he erupts again.
I shiver at the hard tone of his words. I might be sensitive, but he can’t force me into doing anything. I fold my arms together, lifting my chin. Two can play this commanding game.
“Not before you tell me what the fuck happened,” I bite back, reflecting his own rage with my eyes.
He blinks his eyes, like he hasn’t heard me correctly.
He scans me and at once I feel naked in my satin pajamas.
His gaze is nothing like the Braxton I have learned to know.
It burns me and not in a good way. His jaw ticks as fast as my heartbeat and his pupils are huge because of the anger in his eyes.
I reach forward, my hand brushing away the splash of blood under his eyes.
He softens under my touch, eyes lightening. His jaw unlocks and he shakes his head, finally coming out of the trans.
“Fuck. I am sorry,” he whispers, avoiding my eye contact.
I would say it is fine, but as Da taught me, no man should talk to you that way. So all I do is shrug as I step to the side. He walks past me. The shift of energy pulls my gaze into his direction. As he strolls away, every step he takes gets weaker. I scan his back.
It is blood drenched.
And three knife stabs are the cause.
My feet hurry towards him.
“You need a healer,” I demand. He argues back at me as I hold on to his stumbling pace.
“I am fi–ne” The words leave his mouth, and he starts to collapse. I catch his huge body. He is only half awake as I drag him with me. Panic raises. My heart thundering in my ears, chest pounding with every step we make.
“I need a healer!”
Only at the palace entrance do healers come rushing out of their rooms. They lift him off me and drag him toward a chair in the healer’s section. I hurry after the crowd helping him. Someone else rushes down the palace’s huge stairs.
Zephron.
I nod my head, leading him into the direction and he follows without asking a single question. I try to go to talk to him, hold his hand. An old man with grey hair pushes me by my shoulder.
“No visitors at the prince’s treatment,” he explains with a sour face.
I stutter.
“But I am his—”
“He is my brother and she is his duo. Now please let her see my brother,” someone interrupts me.
I look over my shoulder to see Zephron walking in.
His chin high, chest forward. I nod at him thankfully.
My calves burn under me as I kneel in front of him, still only wearing a little top and shorts.
A woman in her sixties is fixing his back.
He opens his eyes and a smile comes out, as I am kneeling in front of him.
“Hi, Honey.”
I slap him with a flat hand in the face.
I shake my hand as he holds his jaw and widens his eyes as he looks at me.
“You can’t scare me like that again,” I whisper, and a healer next to me gasps. “And you can’t boss me around like I am a little maid or poppet of yours,” I hiss, but only so he could hear.
“I deserved that,” he mocks.
“Yes, you did.” I feel brave for once, but the image of that man flashes through my eyes. I have to ask him. “Did you kill that man because of me?”
His eyes go towards his brother and then back to me. He thinks of his words before telling me them.
“Yes, and because of Hazel.”
My jaw drops.
“Is he the one who killed her?” I whisper so softly I am scared he didn’t hear it.
“Yes, he killed her. That pervert should have died more painfully,” he spits out.
And I would swear some people literally stopped moving.
The guilt from before washes away a bit, but something else fills me.
Fear—panic. My voice is stuck in my throat and sweat breaks out.
I would never kill—I could never actually kill someone, I think.
It makes me weak. Da says it makes me human, but I am sure people will think otherwise.
I have the power to rule or ruin the world and I can’t even kill.
I don’t want to and don’t have the heart for it.
But that man deserved it, maybe he deserved even more.
Braxton lifts up from his chair and turns around.
“How does it look?” he asks, moving his muscles in a tease. All my eyes can do is trace the scars of his past, but I don’t show him.
“Good.” I give him a little pat on the back, before walking out, letting the panic attack wash over me as I hurry outside the door all alone.
To my surprise, Braxton lies down next to me in bed when I open my eyes. My nightmare at night did not wake him, so I am probably no screamer.
I saw her. Hazel’s neck snapping in front of my eyes.
The man trying to do things to her. I almost have to puke as I think of the bad dream, so I hurry to the bedroom.
I sit down on the toilet and push my hands on my head.
I look down at my hips, where the prints of the man’s hands are still visible.
I lift off the toilet seat and turn around, pull up my shorts and puke until there is nothing coming out anymore.
I wipe my mouth and walk back into our room.
The sun shines through the window between the soft curtains.
A piece of parchment catches my eyes. I throw the blanket away and tiptoe towards the door.
The cold wood cracks under my feet. I open the piece of paper.
The next trial is tomorrow morning.
Please rest and make sure your powers work on full blast.
Be prepared.
Z.
It is written fast, hurried. The Z. on the bottom tells me it was Zephron, Braxton his brother. He is giving us a hint.
Ah.
We won.
Of course we get a hint. But for a second, I thought it was just a brother-to-brother hint. A rule breaking hint if you know what I mean. I change into other clothes and as I try to leave, Braxton wakes. I freeze as I tiptoe around.
“Leaving without a goodbye?” he asks, his voice just awake, low and raspy. A flirty smirk on his face. And manes those dimples.
I curl my toes in my shoes, straightening my spine.
I love what that voice does to me. And I hate to admit that it felt good, knowing he did what he did was for me. I kind of hate myself for it.
But I am not going to let it bother me.
Because his actions told me one thing.
If you need to get revenge, you should do it.
“Yes, I am giving you a taste of your own medicine.” I stick my tongue out at him, a sour and bitter taste still on my lips. He laughs as a response. I swing my backpack over my shoulder. I look over my shoulder as I march out.
“Oh and your brother left us this.” I throw the piece of parchment at him. He looks at it flabbergasted and sits straight up, revealing his naked chest.
“No, but really where are you going?” he asks, his eyes filled with concern, his smirk dropping.
I lift my nose in the air and I scrunch it up, the left corner of my mouth twitching upwards.
“I am going to steal back what was mine all along.”
And with that, I walk out.
First things first. Finding Annie.
Where could that little witch be? She used to spook around the side building all the time, but I assume she works for the king, so the palace it is.
Something nasty fills my stomach. I hate that she betrayed me, because I really liked her.
Braxton has told me once where all the bedrooms of the palace are.
The king and the princes have their own sections and so do their workers.
I stroll up the staircase towards the section I remember him telling me about.
Can I just break doors open? How am I going to find her room? As I stand in front of the next door, relief fills me as I watch name cards on the door explaining whose room it is.
Well, the king did make it easy for me. Almost so easy I might suspect that something is wrong. I go deeper into the hall until my name falls on a name I recognize.
Fintan Galathor.
My da’s room. He never had the chance to show me around the place, but he did inform me that he had a room here for the nights it was too late to go back home.
Without thinking, I push the door open.
A moan fills my ears, and I gasp.
Da with another woman in bed.
I clap the door close and slap my hand for my mouth.
“Sorry,” I blur out, a little laugh escaping me. Of course I knew Da must hook up sometimes, I just wasn’t prepared or wanted to see it. Ew. I shake my head, trying to erase the image out of my head.
My quest moves on.
At the end of the hall, her room comes into sight.
Anasté Kaelith.
Well, there it is. My hand moves towards the door, knocking three times. Within a second the door swings open, my hand still in the air. Annie, her eyes wide.
“Well hello, Annie, or is that even your name?” I sneer at her. She makes an amendment to close the door in my face, but with my hand in the air I stop her.
“Not so fast.” I grin.
I march into her room. She had the courage to steal my memories. So I will have the courage to find them back.
Power pulls me into her direction, forcing me to look at her. “What do you want?” Her hands spin in the air, clearly using her magic. I reach for my dagger, but it goes stiff.
“I want an apology, and I am going to get back what is mine,” I bite back.
Her eyes well with something, like the girl I met is in there.
No, she is nothing more than a liar, I tell myself, fighting the inner debate.
“Nice haircut,” she curses.
Oh she is dead.
I jump forward, my body tingling and the light in her room shining out of their reach. She looks in shock and loosens her hold on me. She isn’t good at fighting because I have my dagger against her throat in no time.
“Where. Is. It.”
I command, instead of ask. She presses her lips together as I push her in a corner. I press harder, a little droplet of blood dripping over my dagger.
“I really thought we were friends,” I breathe out and emotions well up on me, but as I notice my dagger releasing, I press on again.
“Where is it,” I hiss.
“I can’t tell,” she whispers. She starts to stand on her toes trying to get away under my dagger pressing in her flesh. A ball of bright light starts to dance above my free hand as anger bubbles and boils my blood.
“Do you want me to blind you? So that I can search in peace?” I snap at her, pressing the ball off light further towards her.
She is locked between the wall and me with my dagger and light ball.
She holds her words and I see it as a confirmation she will not tell me.
How could I have not seen that she wasn’t telling the truth.
I saw her as my friend. My first friend ever.
I release the dagger, leaving her reaching for her neck. I march away, leaving her with the ball off my light. It increases as I walk away and I let the magic rush through me. I am glad it is back. It took a while, but came back when I needed it. Perfect.
If she opens her eyes and looks into the light, she will be blinded. If she moves through it, she will burn.
She better not try. But I’m not going to tell her that.
Where would she keep it? She showed me the little bottle. It was glass, with a cork cap, filled with glitters. The bottle wasn’t bigger than her hand. I pull the drawers of her nightstand open.
Nothing.
Maybe her wardrobe?
Nothing.
I pull every door or drawer open and find nothing. I turn to her. “Where is it?”
I am screaming. The light presses her harder against the wall as she holds her eyes close firmly. And I am so happy my magic is back.
“Don’t bother trying to find it.”
The words roll over her lips softly. My skin tingles and burns. I look at my hands. Light so bright comes from my skin making the lines blurry. My skin glows.
“Don’t you dare act like this! You are the reason my sister is dead!” I yell and she freezes.
My feet step towards her until something croaks under my feet. My skin dims and my sight reappears.
A loose floorboard covered in blood marks lifts a bit and makes a croaking sound. I smirk as I watch her swallow hard.
“You could have just told me you know?”
I kneel down and lift the floorboard.
There it is. A small bottle of memories.
I shake it a bit, letting the sparkles dance.
I hold it in front of my face. I focus on every individual sparkle.
I open my mind, trying to reach the sparkle, watch through it.
The good memories replay in my head. I close my eyes and press the bottle to my heart as I watch me and Da play by the waterfall.
I lift up.
“So how do I get these back?” I demand. She opens one eye carefully, but closes it fast again as my light presses against her face.
“It can’t be put back in your mind,” she whispers. I bolt towards her, looking hard and close at her face since the light doesn’t do damage to me.
“What the hell do you mean? You appear to be a strong witch. Put it back!” I fume at her.
She stumbles over the words leaving her mouth.
“Even I can’t do that.” She moves uncomfortably. “I am sorry, Eliane.”
She isn’t sorry, she just shouldn’t have done it. I stomp out of the door and slam it close hard. Only then I release the light wall I built against her.
As I stroll out of the palace, holding my memories at my heart, not sure what to do next, I realize I didn’t listen to Zephron’s tip carefully enough.