Veil of Shadow and Rain ✓ [TSC #1]

Chapter 38 - The Faerie Queen's Wrath

'Surprised to see me, Wren?' Aurora said, smiling. She didn't look sick or sad - oh no, she was perfectly healthy. 'Mm. You should be. You made a lot of mistakes in the past but your mistakes were perfect oppurtunities for me.'

'You -' Wren's tounge tangled up. Bastard. Rogue.

Jake gazed at her in amazement. 'I - you -'

'I know, it's such a delightful surprise, isn't it?' said Aurora, smiling like she was not agitated at all. 'I must say, I was mad when I found out you knew about the secret society, plus my working with the Shadow Angels.' She flipped her hair to the back. 'But you know, nothing compares to being selected by the one and only Faerie Queen.'

Nicaea flashed Wren a dazzling smile.

'How did you get her to do this,' Wren said, positively looking daggers at Nicaea but she didn't flinch. 'Your -'

'Oh, she didn't get me to do this,' Aurora whispered deviously in Wren's ear. Goosebumps shivered up Wren's spine. 'It was my choice.'

Wren looked like she was going to throttle Aurora when Jake held her back. 'You see, the secreet society was there for no reason. I just wanted support. If I was gone from the Academy, there would be people to cover for me. And Estella, Duncan and Kai were the perfect trio,' she laughed. 'Duncan - too naive. Estella - too lazy to be bothered with other people's business. But Kai was something else,' she said, twirling a lock of her hair with a finger. 'Sometimes, I feel like it was a mistake in asking him in the society. He was smart. Clever. Could even say he suspected me of doing something else.'

'You were using them,' spat Wren. 'But Kai was smarter than you!'

'He was never smarter than me,' Aurora said, her eyes glinting maliciously. 'It was you, Wren. You planted the idea in his head that I was involved in the Dark Arts. Whenever we had another of those secret meetings, whenever he simply passed me by in the corridors, he would drop his voice and ask me what I was up to.'

'He was darm well right to,' Wren said through clenched teeth.

'The point is,' Aurora said, her voice rising higher up a notch, 'you played right into my hands, Wren. Just like I expected you to.'

'Why would you do this?' hissed Wren. 'What's with you and the Shadow Angels; why are you working for her?'

Aurora gazed at her for a moment. 'You and I, we're no different. You see, I'm just like you, Wren. I'm an orphan.'

Wren opened her mouth to speak but Aurora silenced her.

'I have a father, but never a dad,' she said quietly, 'a mother, but never a mum. They're the reason I am who I am today. The reason why I'm me,' she hissed, glaring at Wren. Wren narrowed her eyes.

'I had a sister,' Aurora said, 'few years older than me. My parents praised her, loved her; she was an excellent student and daughter, really. She got her abilities at a very young age. As for me? When I was twelve, I still didn't have my powers. My family had it with me. Ever since, I was just a next-door neighbour to them.

'Of course, I was jealous of my sister, Nevada,' Aurora went on, 'wouldn't you be, if you were in my shoes? I grew to resent my family, and I doubt they even noticed it!' she gave a high, bitter laugh. 'They were too obsessed with my sister. Never bothered to check on me, or anything, and they grew even more distant once I went to the Academy. And that's when I found out about the Shadow Angels, you see,' she said. 'That's when I found out you could take control of them using magic - and then you came in, Wren. You came in and ruined almost everything. Almost. You're smart, yes, but I'm a step ahead of you.'