She's Mine

Chapter 29

"Just who are you?" Nora's voice was filled with venom.

But I've trained to keep my emotions off my face for a while now, so my face gave off nothing that could increase her sudden suspicion. She didn't need to know who I was, where I came from, who I shared blood with. It was none of her business after all.

So I replied with - "My name is Lua," I said with utter calmness. "The rest is none of your concern," My voice turning sharper.

She rolled her green eyes at me, crossing her arms, then turning towards her king, "Grayson, you bring this random female to our land and won't tell us the slightest thing about her?"

My eyes travelled to Azule, who remained silent throughout all of this, I found him sitting on a chair besides Grayson, and I also found his gaze already on me, the clockwork ticking behind his snake eyes. I quickly looked away.

Grayson had shrugged at Nora, and she fumed, "I thought we were one of your most trusted people. You clearly don't trust us enough to tell us who she is!"

"Why do you even care?" Grayson replied to that, "She is just a female with powers at equal strength to mine. There is nothing else to her,"

My energy felt like it was sucked out all of a sudden. 

No. Enough. I shouldn't let a word that comes out of his mouth affect anything. Just like I didn't matter to him, he didn't matter to me. 

"But-,"

"Everything else is none of your business, Nora," I interjected, "So, keep out of it," Yet, my voice lost its sharpness, that burst of adrenaline from before was gone. And I couldn't be bothered with her anymore. I couldn't be bothered with any of this. I was tired. I wanted to reach for my shadows and disappear from their burning gaze, the accusations being flung here and there. I just wanted to vanish.

"Lua." His voice called out and I snapped out to my sinking thoughts, I snapped back into reality. He was staring intently at me, his eyes showing a flicker of concern before he concealed it. 

Before any thoughts could enter my mind, I looked away from him, from his eyes. 

He didn't care about me. He didn't care about me. 

I chanted the words, to keep myself rooted in reality, to the truth. 

Nora was silent, her eyes on me, then they flicked to my now healed arm, her cold assessing eyes taking everything in. As if she was trying to figure something out.

Then Azule spoke up, his voice bright, a stark contrast to the tense mood surrounding us all - "Where's the food? I am absolutely starving,"

Without saying a word, Grayson clicked his fingers and the once empty table was now brimming with steaming mouth-watering food. I didn't want to linger on the fact that he was still keeping his eyes on me. 

Wordlessly, Nora sat on the chair next to her brother, who had begun to pack his plate with meat. His eyes were greedily taking in the steaming food on his plate, drool wetting his lips, as he continued to pile more. 

Quicker than I could blink, Nora whacked Azule with the large salad spoon, "Don't eat it all, you pig. There are others at this table too,"

Azule's eyes snapped to me, without his head even turning the slightest, "Right, you should eat Lua, you're as thin as a stick." He began, biting off a hunk of meat. "Didn't they feed you from where you came?" 

A ringing silence screamed in my head. 

Poisoned food, sadistic smiles, powder that winked my powers out as if blowing a cold breath on a single candle flame.

It felt like someone was squeezing my chest, it was getting harder to breathe.

Enough. Enough. Enough.

Don't let it affect you. It is in the past now. You're not there anymore. 

I tried to reassure myself, keep myself from spiralling at the words like a coward. But there was a roaring in my head, which I couldn't control. 

They were just words. Words. Why did I have to react like this?

"And looks like you haven't slept for years. I mea -,"

"Enough," Grayson's voice was like two giants rocks clashing together, and Azule instantly went silent.

I was staring at my empty plate, my hand gripping the poor spoon with slightly shaking fingers. I suppressed the whirlpool of thoughts and feelings that got triggered by his words. I didn't mean to be thin, I didn't want to be weak. I didn't want any of it.

It felt like I could never escape this. This constant weight on me, these feelings that plagued me day in and day out.

I wanted to scream. I - 

I felt a flicker of warmth.

The breeze of winds. 

The whisper of darkness. 

The prick of ice.

The flutter of light. 

And then something ripped out of my back. Large, powerful wings rested on me, my muscles burning and aching even more from their lack of presence. I flared them out, my back screaming at the pain, but it felt good to stretch them out after what felt like months of keeping them locked in for fear that the king and queen would do something to them. 

I looked back at them and noticed the new fresh scars littered all around them, some large and some barely noticeable. 

I almost weeped.

They were back.

The feeling was so overwhelming that everything beforehand flew out of my mind, my thoughts solely focusing on the return of my powers and wings. 

Breathing out and relaxing my body, I watched contently as darkness pooled around me like blank ink in water, ice froze the area I was standing on, my light a contrasting beam snaking around my cloud of darkness. Winds caressed my skin and I almost smiled. And then my fire, shaped into a dragon, twirled around my arm, my body, my wings, its flames never hot enough to burn but bring warmth to my skin.

And then I closed my fist and in unison, they all winked out.

And my hand was steady as I dropped it back down to the table.

Why it suddenly restored now, when I had multiple occasions where my emotions were on the high, I had no idea. 

I was just grateful they were back. Even though this was probably the first lesson Rowan had told me to avoid, my magic was my crutch. Without it, I felt weak. Useless. 

I raised my gaze and cringed slightly at the aghast faces. 

Nora's mouth was hung ajar, her brother's eyes popping out of his head. Only Grayson seemed to be able to control whatever he was thinking, although I could see the glimmering of slight awe as his eyes ran down my dark wings, and I shivered as if I could feel his hands caressing it. 

As if in a trance, Nora stepped closer towards me, her mouth still gaping open. I think she realised how she seemed at that moment since she straightened up and closed her mouth, as she continued to stare at me. 

"Who are you? A queen? An empress?" She asked her questions getting more ridiculous than the last. 

I folded my wings in, my magic a second heartbeat as I straightened my slouching back. "I'm no-one, truly," I said, looking at the food and then at Grayson, and then at the large windows. 

I began making my way to the closest exit outside, for once a light excited feeling bubbling through my gut as I imagined the wind on my skin, the fresh air hundreds of feet in the sky. 

No-one stopped me, no one said anything as I opened up the glass, never looking back, and jumped out, my arms stretched out, my heart thundering.