Chapter 2: Shadows Behind me
Her blood was like a liquid fire…
Just a drop of the virgin's blood on the stone of Amethyst could bring back the greatest evil of all. The one that provoked horror and terror in man's heart. The one that enslaved those who were weak and those who are robust, yet not strong enough to withstand it.
I could only stare with my eyes widened in fear and horror, as the five men in red cloaks and hoods circled a sealed crypt with a weird symbol on the top, murmuring and chanting words I had never heard before and they weren't even witches!
With uncertainty evolving in my chest, adding layers upon layers, I toiled with the ropes shackled tightly around my wrist and ankles to a stone pillar, while I let out hummed sounds from my sealed mouth.
But the more I struggled, the more the silver ropes cut through my flesh, dragging out blood that dripped on the floor, and the more the strength in me slowly withered. I could almost feel something sucking my blood like a harpy.
And suddenly, the words from their mouths stopped and their head hidden in the darkness of the cloaks reeled towards her direction. I flinched as I saw their red pupils, the only feature shimmering through their hoods.
"Please" - I wanted to scream but only let out more meaningless sounds from my throat. Striving with the silver rope, one of the cloaked men walked towards me with an Amethyst stone and a magical dagger.
My breaths hitched and fastened as he walked closer and closer, his eyes boring through my face, making horror rise in my chest.
I shook my head violently, pleading with my eyes. My face got wet with salty tears. My whole body trembled, but nothing seemed to stop the man as he walked even closer till he was barely two feet away from where I was tied. And without any remorse, he grabbed my wrist and cut off my little finger.
A hummed scream erupted from my throat while my blood dripped on the Amethyst stone and instantly, it came to life, glowing so brightly. The man dropped the dagger and wheeled back to the tomb.
But as he got closer, the brightened stone got dimmer and dimmer and before he could place the stone on the tomb, it completely lost its power, dying, darkening, and even losing its original dark purple color.
"It's not her!" One of the men growled in anger, wheeling as he walked towards the tied girl, picking the dagger from the floor.
"It's not her!" He repeated, tearing off the cloth that sealed her mouth, giving her a chance to cry out in agony.
"Kill her then and bring the next one!"
"No, please. I DON'T WANT TO DIE!!" I screamed but that only fueled the man as he lifted the dagger and without thinking, buried it in my chest.
"AHHHH"
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Almost instantly, I jerked up awake, panting and gasping as I brought the blankets up to my chest, resting my back on the wall of her bed. I placed her hand over my chest, trying to calm my racing heart.
Slowly, I reeled my head to the window where the soft, yet, chilling breeze crashed against my soft skin. My gaze met the darkness of the night where the moon glowed brightly in the sky, with the hooting sound of a night owl that pierced through the silence as it flew past my room.
I pushed my head further out of the window and peered out over the top of roofs that blanketed my view from seeing the ground.
For years now, the only places I was allowed to roam around freely were within the confines of the palace. I wasn't even allowed to leave my room in some worst scenarios, and I always put on a veil which covered the half of my face if I was to attend any royal occasions, which made me embrace the loneliness that lingered in my fractured heart.
I wrapped emptiness as a blanket over me. For it was my only way of escape from this solitary life.
The only time I got the opportunity to discuss with someone was during my meal time. I would do anything possible to stall time with the maid who came to deliver my food, why discussing what happened in the country.
I was a royal princess of the Illaris kingdom. Yet I was caged like some animal who would go berserk at any moment if given half an ounce of freedom.
If only I were free. If only...
I sighed as my head fell back down onto the window seat. This whole situation reminded me of how my two step sisters were allowed to tread their feet all over the kingdom.
My father, the King, shamelessly broke the vows he pledged to my mother. For better, for worse…In life and in death… he vowed to love and cherish her. He promised never to marry another woman. He married his mistress a few days after her death. I wasn't sure if the news of her death affected him. He never moaned about her death.
A month later, he issued a decree concerning my limited movement around the palace. I was never to step out of my room or move around freely unless I was summoned. When he was questioned about it, he branded the act as a safety measure to protect me.
Adding fuel to the already burning fire, my father had arranged a solemn marriage to marry me off to alpha of the crimson moon pack, Oliver smith.
My father was the type of man that wants absolute sovereignty. So marrying me off to the werewolves would only help to strengthen his kingdom and form an unbreakable alliance with them, since our land was been invaded by a great evil. Having an army of the strongest werewolves at my father's command was a dream he thought he would archive through me.
By marrying me off to someone in return for political power.
The idea was abhorrent. I tired objecting his plans, but he kept reminding me it was the best for me. Even my stepmother, who never wanted to look at me twice sang numerous praises about the said alpha. She proudly supported the motion, making it hard for me to say 'No.
When my mother's crown was officially placed on the head of another, My whole world shattered. I was surprised at how they quickly forgot her presence. The way the joyous celebration played before my eyes left a bitter taste in my mouth. She was the queen of the Illaris kingdom, yet they drank and dined merrily like nothing happened.
My mother left a vacuum in my soul that nobody could feel.
I tried to find comfort within myself by reading a book. However, no matter how much I read, nothing managed to calm my torrid heart. My eyes was not showing any sign of falling asleep. I needed something that would sway my thoughts from the depressing topic of my existence.
I decided to return to my normal position after tossing the book on my bed. Dragging the stool behind my bed, I placed it beside my window.
Taking a look outside, I felt a wave of freedom wash over me. My fingers found themselves playing along with the wind, as my lips curved into a smile.
This window has been my place of solace. In these moments, it gave me the ability to forget. To pretend. To pretend that everything was okay even though it wasn't.
I wasn't a damsel in distress waiting for some freaking prince charming to liberate me from the clutches of captivity.
I was just a girl who was denied her rights due to societal norms.
The only one who understood my true emotions was the night skies and its graveyard of stars, where I whispered her story and every question my memories held into the night breeze and felt its answer reverberate through my body.
After spending what seems like an eternity in that humble space of my mind, I left the window and walked towards the bathroom. It was a normal routine for me to visit the bathroom and wash my face after a solitary hour.
After splashing the cold water on my face, I stared at my reflection in the mirror which showed my pale, yet, beautiful features.
My skin glowed under the dim lighting and I could see flecks of white and gray mixed within the blue hue of my irises. My pencil-thin eyebrows eased down gently to my black, beetle's-leg eyelashes. A sculptor could not have fashioned my seraph's ears and pixie's nose any better. My Venus-red fingernails ran through my midnight-black hair. Spools of it plunged around my photogenic face.
Drying my face with a towel, I spotted a note laying on the table beside my mirror. I picked it up curiously and stared at it, my eyes scanning the contents.
"Something you desperately want?
The note read.
Thea was surprised someone must have broken into my bedroom and kept the note for her there. But there was no way someone would slip past this same door I spent hours staring at every day.
"What am I even thinking? I thought while dispelling the conception.
Maybe this was one out of the myriads of notes I scrambled down during those moments of loneliness.
"How could I even ask myself such a rhetorical question? I picked up the pen beside the note and smiled before I wrote:
'I long for the quiet of the open sea, where the hushed comfort of the water drowns out the chaos of my empathy".
I laughed out loud at my craziness.
I mumbled as I shook my head " Another session of Q&A going down my trash can".
I picked up the piece of paper and was about to crumble it like I always did before my gaze met the red-blooded inscription that was scribbled on the reflective surface of my mirror.
The sight alone rendered my discordant figure speechless from squealing in fear. Red tiny droplets from the engraved letters tickled down the mirror in thin streaks.
A vulnerable look covered my face, baring my tortured soul to those words for the first time as I whispered what was written on the mirror solemnly;
" I know you seek comfort, Thea".
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Elkannah
Elkannah Let me hear your comments my lovely readers. Don't forget to add this book to your library..
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