Chapter 9 #2
The song came to a close. Looking around, I couldn’t see the other half of my party.
‘Where’s your sister? Where is my Master of War?’ I asked.
He shrugged, not knowing where she was. After he left to look for her, I stepped towards the long buffet table of food and drink that lined the right side of the hall.
There were golden trays filled with pastries, fruit, and cheese.
I ignored all of it, instead opting for another glass of wine.
I have always had an incredibly high tolerance for alcohol.
Behind the table of food, there was a door.
It used to be a storage room, but as the door opened before me, I realised it served another purpose.
Vivianna walked out, fixing her hair and looking around as if to check whether someone had noticed.
When her eyes met mine, she looked crestfallen and then embarrassed.
She panicked and glanced behind her, hoping that whoever was there would not follow, but it was too late.
Prince Acheron, the first heir to the Cazina throne and Lejla’s brother, walked through the door.
I almost dropped my wine, not believing what I was witnessing.
Acheron was tall, with reddish hair pulled into a bun.
He had blue eyes like his sister’s, but they were kinder.
As he redid the buttons of his navy formal jacket and looked up to see why Viv had not moved, since she was blocking his path, he saw me standing there—ever the dutiful Queen—not showing a lick of surprise or shock on my face.
‘Prince Acheron, it’s a pleasure to see you again.’ I said. He smirked while looking between Viv and me. He could see the panic on her face as she stepped away from him and took her place slightly behind me.
‘Believe me, Queen Skylar, the pleasure is well and truly mine,’ he said, grinning at me. I raised an eyebrow at the sheer forwardness. He laughed as he walked away, immersing himself in the fray of the ball.
I turned on Viv in an instant. ‘Explain.’
She looked at me with a touch of fear and hesitated, clenching and unclenching her fists before finally finding the words. ‘I, we… I don’t even know how to say this. While you and my brother had your fling at the Academy, I had mine. Acheron and I are… compatible.’
It took everything within me not to convulse and retch at the thought of them together the entire time. How had I been so blind? Was I so self-absorbed that I had never noticed what was happening right in front of me?
‘That arrogant prick? Please, Vivianna, where are your standards?’ She flinched at my words before I continued, ‘How did you manage to keep it a secret?’
‘It happened not long after your father became sick with the rak. After that moment, the world and all those around you disappeared from your view. You were consumed. You stopped asking about what was going on in my life, so I never lied, and the eternal flame never alerted you.’
Viv was right; that time in my life was a blur.
It felt like I was in a never-ending fever dream.
I don’t know when or how I started functioning again; I just know that for a long time I was in a world of my own, wallowing in grief and despair.
She wasn’t wrong that I checked out of all my relationships beyond what I immediately needed from the people around me.
‘He’s the enemy, Vivianna. He’s King Tiberias’s son and heir to Cazina’s throne. The same realm that has allied with Morgad throughout our history. How fucking could you?!’ I spat, disgusted by her choices.
‘He’s not my enemy.’ She said looking away.
‘Are you fucking stupid?! Your swore an oath! My enemy—our land’s enemy—will always be your enemy,’ I all but screamed, trying to contain the rage that seared within my bones. She betrayed me, betrayed our people.
‘You can’t control who I love,’ she said, looking at me unflinchingly now, challenging me to push her on this. Little did she know she had already pushed me five steps too far.
‘Have you lost your fucking mind?! Love? You think that man loves you? He is using you, you stupid girl. Get the fuck out of my face before I draw blood. I am done with you. You’re absolutely worthless to me now,’ I seethed before turning away, ignoring the whispers of those around us who had overheard, and stormed back out onto the balcony.
Once on the balcony, I threw myself at the bannister, breathing deeply and quickly.
I clenched the stone as grains of sand fell to the garden below from beneath my vise like grip.
A voice called from the shadows behind me, ‘Having a bad night, Skylar darling?’
I whirled, instantly recognising that deep, timbred voice. Demir.
‘Leave.’ I didn’t turn back. Instead, I kept my eyes focused on the sea of light in the garden below praying to the spirit realm that it would open me up and swallow me whole so that I did not have to deal with this mess.
He walked up to the edge of the balcony and stood behind me, staring out at the garden below. Placing his drink on the bannister, he turned toward me.
‘You look… different,’ he said as his eyes traced the contour of my gown, the black mark that lay on my chest and the piercing blue eyes that he had never seen before.
‘You look like the same piece of shit, princeling,’ I sneered.
Though that was a lie. He had always been breathtaking in the most infuriating way.
In Maureia, to call someone by their name was a sign of respect; I would never call him by his name.
Grabbing his glass of brandy, I downed the whole thing in three large gulps.
He looked at me, bemused, and when I threw the glass over the balcony in frustration at the night I was having, he laughed.
I had never heard a genuine laugh escape his lips before and I wanted to hear it again.
In that moment, all I could recall were the sneers he would throw my way at the Academy.
I turned to leave without so much as another word.
But Demir stepped in front of me, blocking my exit.
‘That’s not very kind of you, Princess.’
‘That’s Queen Skylar to you, swine,’ I bit back. He smirked at my challenge, unperturbed.
‘Would you rather I get your plaything—Visarous, was it?—to come and comfort you?’ he said, mocking me. I rolled my eyes at the sheer gall.
‘That is quite rich coming from someone who kept Lejla’s bed warm all throughout our Academy days. A ground worm has a bigger brain and would be far better company. Would probably be more hygienic too.’ His eyes flashed with amusement as he gave me a crooked smile.
‘Is that a note of jealousy I detect? Well, I must concede you are right about her, but as you know, I love giving back to charity. For example, after what you did to my underling Blake, I have decided not to slit your throat where you stand.’ All traces of amusement faded from his face as he became cold and ferocious in his demeanour.
‘Jealous? I think you’ve hit your head one too many times during your sparring sessions and as for Blake, you would have done the same,’ I added, meeting his gaze in solid defiance.
‘That is where you’re wrong, Princess. I’m not nearly as cruel as you are, but I promise you this.
If I see Cain fly through my lands one more time, I will catch him and break his precious wings.
Then you will see how cruel I can be when I’m backed into a corner.
’ A flash of fear coursed through me; he meant those words.
This was why I kept my distance to protect those around me.
I didn’t mind being the one to slit the throats of my friends and foes alike if the situation called for it, but I never wanted anyone to die as a result of my choices. That felt wholly wrong.
‘Says the little princeling who spent all his time in these halls finding ways to torture me. And as for Cain, why stop at his wings? Kill him. If he’s foolish enough to be caught, I have no need for him,’ I said, trying to believe every word I had spoken so that Demir would too.
It was far too risky for him to know the importance he played in my life.
‘There is a difference between schoolyard politics and carving your name into a child’s head.
Do you even have a line that you’re not willing to cross?
Judging from the black mark on your chest, the answer is no.
’ He looked almost forlorn; gone was the arrogance and amusement.
What was left was pity and something else I couldn’t quite place.
‘There is no line I will not cross for my land and my people. You did this. Did you think I would smile and accept my family’s and people’s deaths at the hands of your father?
You drove me to this. While you were sitting in your castle, drinking wine and cavorting with sluts, I was on that battlefield protecting my borders, watching body after body fall to the ground as your father stood there smiling.
I promised him there on that field that for every life of mine he took, I would take ten of his.
This black mark is one I wear with honor, so get that look off your face.
I do not need your pity. You are the son of a madman—it is you and your people I pity most in this world. ’
Without so much as an acknowledgment, he changed the subject as if he hadn’t heard a word I said, distracted by something that burned curiously within him. ‘What happened to your eyes?’ he asked.
Not deigning to respond, I stepped aside to walk around him. Demir gripped my arm, holding me in place.
Beautiful, I heard him say—but as I looked at him, his lips remained sealed shut.
‘Dance with me,’ he demanded, pulling me along behind him as though he were suddenly in a rush and had to be somewhere urgently. Shocked and confused, I couldn’t tell if I had just hallucinated the interaction.
As we made our way to the dance floor everyone stopped their conversations and looked at us, slowly backing away to give us space.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the same shock that was coursing through me reflected on Lejla’s face and the faces of the quieting crowd.
Before I could even truly register what was happening, what I was allowing to happen he pulled me in tight, my body pressed against his as he gripped my waist and pulled my chin up so that I was looking at him before placing his other hand on my waist. There was nowhere for me to place my hands other than on his shoulders and around his neck.
His grip was unyielding, and although I could have easily fought my way out of his hold, I had to admit I was curious about the bizarre display.
‘What are we doing?’ I whispered, barely audible so that no one else could hear us.
He didn’t respond. Instead, he continued to gaze at my new piercing blue eyes.
What am I doing? Maybe I am the son of a mad man but those eyes.
Gods! Those fucking eyes, I heard him say.
But this time I was sure I hadn’t imagined it.
I was hearing him without him even speaking. I was hearing his thoughts.
Panic raged inside me—not at this new power, but at the words he had spoken.
Was he…? Surely not. I shook the thought from my mind before it could take root.
I wasn’t shocked by the new ability to read minds; magic was, and could be, an unpredictable thing when one had their mind tampered with.
And although Sienna had not said this could be a possible side effect, I was sure it would settle as I got space from the Awakening.
Instead, I diverted my attention back to him, finding a way to needle my way in and get him off kilter.
‘Tell me, what fascinates you so much about my eyes?’ I asked as we slowly spun around the dance floor.
He looked at me hesitantly, wondering if he had spoken his thoughts out loud, before shaking it off. You’ve been staring like an idiot. Reign it in, Demir, you dumbass.
‘There is something deep within them that is…’ he trailed off. Calling to me, he thought, shaking his head and trying to dislodge the thought from his mind.
‘They are my mother’s eyes,’ I said, not wanting to explain what now coursed within my veins—especially not to my enemy.
‘They’re not. They’re your eyes.’ They were always meant to be your eyes.
The music came to a stop. I had been lost in my thoughts, trying to understand what was happening and reconciling the man I knew with the thoughts that sounded nothing like the way he spoke.
I stepped away from Demir, breaking the trance I had been in, and suddenly, I felt the eternal flame within me turn ice cold.
I had not realised the sense of warmth that enveloped me in his arms. It was not a way the flame had ever reacted before, and something in me yearned to feel that warmth once again.
Visarous stepped into my field of vision behind Demir, seething with rage.
Without looking back, he left the hall, slamming the large wooden doors behind him.
Not caring to acknowledge the still shocked crowd or Demir in front of me, I followed Visarous but found the hallway empty.
I sighed out every bit of frustration from this night out of my body.
How had everything gotten so spectacularly confusing?
I turned to look down the hall, only to find Demir standing there.
‘What have you done?!’ he bellowed, his voice echoed through the halls. I couldn’t hear his voice inside my mind like I had in that hall, so I could not understand why he was so angry.
‘What nonsense are you spouting?’ I snapped at him, no longer having the patience to deal with anyone—least of all him—when I knew Visarous was already on edge prior to that display.
‘You’re... you can’t be,’ he said, stumbling over his words, unable to articulate them as if he were waging an inner battle within himself, trying to understand what it was he wanted to say.
If only I could hear his thoughts again.
Why had it stopped? The only thing that was different now was that we weren’t touching.
Shocked at the realisation, I curiously stretched out my hand toward him.
He stepped back as though my touch would burn him.
I took in the scene before me, where we stood, and the emotions that ebbed and flowed in this space.
It was the scene from the Oracle that meant Visarous was down the hall, watching us.
Without another thought, I pulled up the bottom of my gown and ran down the hallway to where I thought I would find him, but he was already gone.