Bloods Of Power

06

Something changed in his eyes as if a thought had crossed his mind and there was doubt. She put up her stoic expression because she knew how crucial this moment was for her, if she made a single mistake, she would be doomed. Even though Aranya knew that he would never know about the guy she told her name to be Avyanna to, she was afraid and she had to act tough. 

“Now that you’ve heard my name, let me go.” She tried to get out of the invisible strings he had pinned her with, but instead of them to loosen, they were tighter than she thought they were. He looked at her and smiled before he walked back to the cushions in the living room and sat down, staring at her with a smug expression.

“And who do you think you are to tell me what to do and what not?” He asked with mischief and she wanted to show this man who she was and how much power she possessed that even if he was going to use up all his powers on her, he would never get to bring her knees south. 

“Lorcán,” she began, but he cut her off by pulling her to him without moving an inch. She wondered who he was. And before she was done contemplating between showing him her real self or endure being treated like a miserable human being, she felt as she fell on his chest and Lorcán wrapped his hands around her body, as if he knew the moment his invisible magical strings vanished from her body, she would be out of his hold.

She tried to lift her body but his hold on her was strong, it was evident that he enjoyed doing what he did. He enjoyed seeing her as miserable, not being able to do anything. “Let go of me,” she said through gritted teeth and she felt like something as though a claw dipped beside her stomach and immediately, her eyes clenched shut.

“What can you do, you miserable human?” He asked, from the way he looked and the tone he used in communicating with her, Aranya knew he found pleasure and peace knowing she was human and there was nothing she could do to harm him. If only he knew that with a single swift, a single movement, if she wanted, she could have him killed and no one in the world can bring him back, not even reincarnated.

He leaned more on the cushion and brought her, even more, closer to his chest, what did this guy mean? Who did he think he was doing all this to? Was it because she had let him have his ways with her that he thought he could do whatever he wished. “For the last time, let go of…” she wasn’t done talking when she felt as the claw got deeper into her body and for a split second, Aranya prayed there was no bloodshed, because if there was, Betla would know. And if she did, she would think Aranya was in danger and the next thing that would happen wouldn’t make this game at all enjoyable.

Fire flashed through her eyes and she watched as he looked at her with confusion, she was about to unleash the remaining powers Betla hadn’t locked for her when a knock came from the door, interrupting her and she had never been thankful for an interruption like she did today. He released his hold on her but stayed like he was on the cushion and she went for the door, slowly calming down her powers. 

She unlocked the door and when she saw one of the hotel workers, she tried and smiled softly at her, “How may I help you?” She asked, and the maid bowed her head for her to show her respect.

“I’m the maid assigned to be taking care of you by the Dragon prince. I’m sorry that I’m late, do you have something you want to be taken care of? I can do that right away.” Aranya sighed, if she wanted, she can ask her to bring some guards over that will take him out of her suite but somehow, she didn’t know why she didn’t say that. 

Instead, she said, “I don’t need anything, you can leave. Where can I find you if I need something?” 

“I’ll be close, your highness. Maybe on a branch of that tree, it’s my loveliest spot in the inn.”

“What are you?” Aranya asked with a hint of a smile on her lips, she said branch of a tree, she must be an…

“I’m a bird, your highness.” The maid answered with a shy smile and Aranya nodded her head.

“That’s good. Can I know your name?” She asked because she felt it would be rude referring to her as a maid. Was it because she had never had one even though she grew up in the palace as huge as Zinambra’s palace was?

“My name is Portia.” She answered and ducked her head shyly.

“A nice name,” Aranya said and smiled. “You can leave, can I watch you fly?” She didn’t know why she loved everything that had a wing. Sometimes she wished she wasn’t what she was. Or if it was possible to have more than two powerful blood in one's body, she would have chosen to be a bird of best, a butterfly with beautiful wings.

In a flash, Aranya watched as the maid turned to a beautiful bird, she flipped her wings at her and Aranya nodded before she watched her flew to the tree and rested on the branch. She smiled, waved her hand at her before she closed the door behind her and when she turned to face the living room, that was when it all dawned on her, what she was going through and how she would get herself out of this mess. She wished she had told Jaromir to leave some of his guards when he asked her.

She tried to ignore him and walk into her room when he used his powers and pulled her to him, she wanted to scream, but she knew if she did, she won’t have to bother to hide who she was anymore. Because it won’t come out as the scream humans do, it out as a howl, growl and bark that she would confuse both herself and him of who she was. Because she was the most powerful person alive on earth, and she wouldn’t want him to know that yet. He might have to know that when he got her fed up with his silly magic powers that she would just break by merely breathing.

She sighed exasperatedly and stared directly into his eyes, it didn’t matter how his eyes always found a way of unnerving her, she would have to show him who had the most powerful amongst them. “What do you want? Why can’t you leave this suite since we both know you know it isn’t yours?”

“What do I want? I’ll tell you this, Avyanna, you’re now my captive and it doesn’t matter who likes you, I don’t care whether it’s a dragon prince of the dragon king. I think I’ve changed my mind about the way to make your life a living hell, you’ll become my captive from today onwards.”

Aranya stared at him with a bewildered expression, she couldn’t believe what she just heard. A part of her wanted to laugh out loud because all she heard from his words was his ridiculousness. Who dared have her as a captive unless she wanted that to happen? She wanted to laugh and tell him that she dared him to go on but she knew that would give him the impression that she wasn’t the human he thought she was. 

So, her expression changed and she had her eyes bulged out as she tried all she could to paint fear on her face. “I don’t know what you mean. What have I done to be your captive?” She stood up with her hands on akimbo as she pointed out at the door for him, “Get out of my suite, Lorcán, I wouldn’t want Jaromir to know that you’ve been in this suite for this long.”

He stood up as well, and when he walked toward her, she backed away a little. He was about to place his hand on her jawline when something flashed through her eyes and he took a step back. Who was this girl? But when he looked at her again, she was staring at him with the same fearful and innocent look. Maybe he saw the fire wrong? Was it an illusion?

“I’ll be back in the evening, don’t you dare go out without me knowing.”

“Who do you think you are?” She asked through gritted teeth, rolling her eyes at him. She wanted to choke him to death or better, let him know that she wasn’t the kind of person he thought she was. He only turned, smiled at her before he walked out of the suite and she sighed when she watched the door closed behind him.

She slumped on the cushion and let her hair rolled down on her shoulders as she exasperatedly moved her hands through her hair. She didn’t know if this time, the mistake she had always been meticulously avoiding would be done now. She didn’t know what she was feeling about both men. No, it was clear, she would have to take Jaromir to Zinambra, and for Lorcán, she wanted to avoid him as long as she could for her stay in Elara, if not, she knew he would surely push her to reveal her identity and it wouldn’t be good on anyone on sight. Betla had made sure of that.

•

It was already dark when she walked through the door, out of her suite and she smiled. She knew she had already found her hat, and if she hadn’t already, she would have said that she was going out to find one, but no. Today, she wasn’t going to pretend to be what she wasn’t. Deep down, she was a person that loved this and she would give herself this. 

Brushing off the greetings of the random maids she passed across in the inn, Arana walked out of the inn and she smiled as though a small child that has finally snuck out of his grounded place. She looked at the bustling area, the long roads, yet thin that were engulfed with darkness but no one seemed to bother. Some of the people walking around were owls, she could see the glistening lightness of their eyes. Some of them some creatures she couldn’t point a finger with, but all she knew was, their eyes gave them light to pass through these cold and dark roads.

Shrugging off her shoulders, Aranya moved through the crowds, smelt the scent of old woods and blocked her ears from the chanters of the buyers and sellers. Someone bumped into her, but she didn’t even give that person a chance to apologize as she walked past him, smiling. She needed to be by the river, that’s where her soul wanted to be. And she would give that for herself without any obstruction.

She wondered if not all, then half the people of Elara were in the market today. For their shoulders brushed each other as they passed. Pushing her way through the grasses that had to occupy her way to the river, she looked up to the sky for a moment and stared at the moon up there. It looked cold, and the ambience of Elara made it look scarier. She knew the moon looked scarier in the abandoned kingdom of Zinambra, with no soul living but Betla and herself, but today the moon looked so cold, scary and sad.

But even that wouldn’t stop her. She moved deeper until the river laid in front of her eyes and when she saw the reflection of the moon on the water surface, she declared it wasn’t as bad as she thought it was. She wanted to have a dip into the river, but she realized that enjoying the view first would be better. So she sat at the riverbank, bringing her knees up to her chest as she fixed her eyes on the water, the slow tides of the river. How the moon swayed with each move of the tides.

For a moment, she thought about Betla and wondered what she was doing now. If she had eaten, or she was in that dark room making sure what she had been planning for years hadn’t been ruined. She knew she had no motherly bond between her and Betla, but deep down Aranya loved her for being her mother. Not wanting to get deeper into the thoughts of Betla, she stood up and slid off her red gown, carefully pulled out her hairpin as she kept it on the gown before she dipped headfirst into the river, smiling when she was engulfed by the coldness of the water. This, what she had always needed in her life.