She's Mine

Chapter 24

Emily's POV: 

I was sitting beside the bed Lua was lying in, looking out the small window. A little frown resting on my face as I thought about what had occurred. 

I never enjoyed serving the king and queen of this land, but I was born in a poor family, so the only way I could provide for them was to work as our ruler's maid. I knew how horrible they were and how much my family had hated them, but it was the only thing I could do for my parents; being the eldest gave you that responsibility. 

They were terrifying and terrible rulers, their harshness and hunger for power meant that their people had to suffer for it. 

When Lua arrived I thought she would have been just as horrible as her parents, but she wasn't. When she showed kindness, I didn't trust it, suspicious at her behaviour since I had been convinced that she would be a replica of the king and queen. 

She terrified me at first, her eyes were just like the queens, but when the queen's eyes were full of spite and lies and coldness, Lua's had been clear, honest and flaring with hot rage. I never knew why her eyes were always glowing with anger, I always presumed she would act out on that emotion and do something. But she never did. She was just angry. Now I know why. 

From the time spending with the princess, I've begun to sort of look up to her. She was powerful, and she knew it too. Her chin was held high at all times, and she never backed down from a fight. Even when the king and queen would beat her to a pulp for speaking up, she kept her steel-like backbone straight and unbreaking. 

The way she spoke to the king and queen gave me shivers, I would be so scared for her, but she never revealed any fear. 

The first week, she was a wildfire, her shouts echoing through the hallways of the palace, as she fought against the king and queen. Even the sentries stationed all around the palace and inside, would gape at her bravery, at her will of fire as she burned through the king and queen's demands. But after some time, I began to see a change in her, as if the fire that raged so brightly within her was diminishing. To me, it seemed like she was getting tired, and they were getting under her skin, slowly seeping away at her life. 

She seemed more tired these days, dark circles under her eyes, the brightness of her night-like eyes were dim now, only a little ember still keeping her warm. 

And it hurt me that I could do nothing about it. 

I would always feel terrible for her when I looked after her, the king and queen were merciless with her, it was a wonder why she wasn't broken yet, shattered to pieces. I would have been, the time that had passed and the amount of torture that had been inflicted on her, if it were me in her shoes, I would have broke, splintered, shattered to unrecoverable pieces. But she was still burning.

Yet I could see the cracks appearing, and again there was nothing that I could do. 

I want to help her, but I was scared. Like a coward, I was scared at what the king and queen would do to me, how my parents were going to get by. 

I heard a sharp inhale of breath and my eyes whipped to the sleeping princess, and just as I looked, her eyes flew open, panic written all over her face. 

"Lua! You're awake!" I said softly, Lua's head whipping towards me, her face calming down. She must've thought she was back in that room. I shuddered, my mind flashing to the image of what had been done to her, her body was wrecked, blood pooled all over the ground. The king and queen were truly monsters.

"How long was I out?" Lua asked, and I noticed the rasp to her voice. 

"Not long; just a day. You healed faster than the normal fae,"