Chapter 34
Alora
Ihad awoken to the distant sound of humming. Soft white sheets are pulled up to my chin, the silk texture sliding as I twist to my side to locate the sound.
My head throbs with a pulsing tension so severe it feels as if drums were being beaten together.
The room is dark except for a circular window in the ceiling.
The moons' light that illuminates the stony floor is a pale silver, cloaking the rest of the room in dark blue shadow. There’s no lanterns or candles lit.
But yet, that persistent humming still weaves through the darkened room, offering more warmth amid the disorienting space.
I go to speak but find my voice is nonexistent. Instead, my throat spasms and seizes with a harsh crack. My vocal cords feel snapped.
Pushing up to my side, I let the sheet slide the rest of the way to the floor. Glancing down, a pale blue dressing gown is now in place of where my tunic and leggings once were.
I reach for my throat as the ache begins to roar to something more.
Movement from the corner of my eye has me quickly turning my head in the direction.
Long navy drapes flow from the ceiling, clinging to the walls. It all looks very ethereal. The billowy fabric blows from a breeze that I can’t trace.
What in the earthen realm is this?
I lean forward and place my toes on the cool marble floor.
This whole experience is beginning to feel like a fever dream as I step towards the beam of light centered in the room.
Clinging to the shadows, I raise my eyes to the window and see the dual moons covered by soft clouds and brilliant stars that are possibly brighter than I’ve ever noticed before.
Looking down, my thoughts scramble to put together where I’m being held. The streaked marble of black and dark emerald forces a memory to the surface.
Cruel green orbs surrounded by wisps of black float like an evocation I’ve summoned.
Lips pursed and curled into something more sinister.
The Devourer, looking down at me like I was repulsive.
And I hated him for it.
Emotion surges in my heart and before I know it I’m falling to my knees. The hard surface collides with my body and I raise my hands before slapping them down in frustration. A glint of a silver bangle reflects in the light. A culling band.
How easily I was blinded by malice masked as intimacy. That deception was mistaken as longing.
“Foolish, little warrior,” he had said.
I slam a fist against the marble floor again, this time until my hand smarts from the force.
With a sob, I lay my chest against the cool stone.
This is a hurt that cuts too much, deeper than I’d ever done to myself. This pain feels like it’s carving a piece of me with a jagged blade, twisting and slicing as it removes any goodness left in me.
I roll onto my back, until I’m facing the sky. My lungs force air in and out too fast and my chest feels like it’s squeezing with each inhale.
The rest of the world falls away as my hearing dulls, replaced with a sharp ringing that fades away into my shaky breathing. The ragged sounds tear from my lungs. Ugly, wracking sobs cleaves my soul from my body.
Hot, heavy tears spill and this time, I let them mar my skin.
They paint my face in rage.
Allowing myself to feel this devastation, this betrayal—I let it fill my veins. The dark poison courses through, flowing between breast to breast, sewing the jagged slices with thick cords that’ll certainly not heal without scarring.
I lay like this for gods knows how long until my eyes ache from any tears there once were. My chest vibrates as I suck in hefty breaths trying to regain my control.
Brick by brick, I wall up the brokenness, letting the void spaces fill with vacancy, replacing what’s left of me.
A heavy sigh is all I have left. With it, I breathe out the finality of my wounds before hurling myself forward to sit up.
I’m hollow.
It’s strange, to be suspended in emptiness, as if I’ve finally been forged into something else entirely.
Leveling my gaze to the bed I awoke on, I notice someone sitting on rumpled sheets. She sits there, ever so delicately, with her legs crossed and hands in her lap.
Her raven blue hair hangs loosely over her shoulder that’s draped in a rich wine colored fabric, her porcelain skin far fairer than even that of Lees’. I eye her curiously, suspicious of why she would be sitting watching me.
Her neck cranes as she returns the stare, her pointed nose delicate like the rest of her features.
She releases a soft murmur before sliding off the bed with a feline move.
I swipe my hand across my eyes. Not that it would help, I’m sure she witnessed my unravelling anyways.
Her soft voice fills the silence of the room, “You need not be ashamed of your tears, Alora.”
The hair on my arms raises. It feels like I’ve swallowed gravel but I still try to reply.
With a croak I begin, “How—”
A coughing fit interrupts my sentence and the woman steps closer to me, stopping at a small side table. She quickly meets the distance between us and offers me a small glass of water.
“Drink this,” the woman says, “it’ll help your throat. You screamed so much when you were under the nyghmargh.”
I eagerly take the cup with my shaky hand and down the contents. The water eases some of the soreness and I swallow much more freely now.
Continuing, I began again, “How did you know my name?”
Though my voice still is scratchy, at least I can now bear to speak.
She comes closer into the moons' light and I gasp when her eyes come into view. One eye is split down the center, half of the iris a deep brown while the other half is an icy blue similar in color to the other.
Her peculiar gaze bounces back and forth between mine and her face drops slightly.
She whispers, “Orlin told me your name when he threw you in here with us. He left you there,” she gestures to the bed with her hand, “and I thought it would be best if I dressed you in something clean…” her voice trails off as she watches my brows settle into a vee.
“You dressed me in this?” The question rushes out faster than I mean it to.
The woman settles back onto her heels, uncertainty on her face mirroring my own.
Her lips purse and she closes her eyes, pausing for a moment before speaking once more. “You were covered in filth, gods knows what else but I imagine that you were dragged here like most of us were upon—”
I cut her off, “Where is here?”
Her eyes soften before understanding washes over her expression.
“Ahh,” she merely murmurs before she leans forward and pushes herself upwards.
Standing, she outstretches her hand and waits. I swallow again, debating on if I should trust this woman.
“Forgive me for being suspicious, but I don’t know who the fuck you are.”
Her heart shaped lips lift in a grin. Amusement melts in her airy voice as she tells me, “Come on, let me show you something.”
She motions her hand at me again.
Reluctantly I stand, making it a point to ignore her outstretched palm.
A chuckle escapes her as she watches me. “I think we’ll get along well.”
I eye her as she turns and watch her as she makes her way towards the opposite side of the room furthest from the bed, leaving me standing in the center.
I mutter a curse under my breath before deciding to follow after her.
“There’s nothing left to lose anyways,” I say quietly to no one in particular.
Her raven hair sways with each step and I notice little braids crossed in the back with three silver hoops intertwined within them. It forms a clover shape in the back of her head, securing her hair halfway up. It only adds to her unusual allure as I’ve never seen these styles before.
She pushes a curtain aside and behind it lies a large alcove that exposes a balcony. I rush towards it when I see the opening, eager to see if there’s an escape.
I meet up with her and stand by her side as she leans over the stone barrier.
She’s the image of serenity except there’s a certain sadness that shadows her face as she looks down.
My eyes follow hers and I nearly choke as I gasp, taking in the view that’s below me.
I can’t help when I stagger back until I’m flush against the cobbled wall, thankful for its sturdiness.
“How in the gods can you be that damned close to the edge?” I practically screech out.
We’re high in a tower, too high. Unnaturally high. So much so that when I brave getting close to the edge again, I’m suddenly overcome with dizziness. I grasp the ledge for reassurance and peer down.
Mirth laces her words as she says to me, “they look like ants don’t they?”
My only reply is surprised laughter, disbelief riddling within me.
“How is this possible? I’ve never seen this tower in all my days when visiting Ezmelir.”
The same shadowed sadness washes over her face before she replies, “The Tower of Creulein is charmed. No one can see it from the outside.”
A soft breeze blows again, chilling my skin and causing gooseflesh to form.
The woman must notice because she promptly stands straight and returns through the curtains at my back.
I take one more glance over the railing, this time awe replacing the disturbing feeling I had before. Laid out before me is the whole capital, faint dancing lights twinkle below before stopping abruptly at the walls surrounding the city.
From here, I can see the beginnings of the sea and the Meadows of Scyleyre all the way to the range of the Lieth Mountains. It’s as if I were flying. The thought makes my heart ache as suddenly the image of Oak flying off is forced into my mind.
I turn to go back inside now that my curiosity is piqued.
Slipping through the heavy curtains I’m greeted by the mysterious woman, she sits at a small table while shuffling playing cards.
“My name is Lisiantha, you can call me Lis.” She doesn’t look at me when she says this, her focus is solely on the cards in front of her.
She continues, “come have a seat so we can talk.”
The oddness of this all has me complying.