Chapter 6
1414 Words
Jason drives into a beautiful territory, with majestic trees standing proudly and the greenest lawns I’ve ever seen. Everything here feels lovely if we ignore the angry inhabitants. As soon as the car stops, someone grabs me. I’m glad I was smart enough to change little light’s shape to the golden mass she usually is to avoid attracting attention. Moreover, keeping her hidden is more manageable, considering she can’t make any sounds. However, my psyche is connected to her, so I notice if she needs something, there’s nothing magic can’t fix.
“Take her to the throne room; the queens are waiting!” Jason says to the guards, who immediately grab my arms and practically drag me inside.
They throw me forward, and I just have time to move little light before I land on the stone floor. The voices in the room get quiet when they see me, and I slowly rise to meet the glances of two of the strongest women in the world. Queen Kaylin and Queen Aleida are sitting in front of me on their respective thrones with harsh facial expressions.
“What are you doing in our city, witch?” Aleida growls, and the others lean forward with excitement.
“Repay a debt,” I answer, looking straight into her eyes.
It may be perceived as a challenge to others, but they’re everything and much more to me. My eyes tear at the thought that they no longer remember me. I said I’ve never met Queen Aleida or Queen Kaylin, and I haven’t. We met long before they fulfilled their destinies to steer us all toward glory.
“What debt are you going to repay?” Kaylin growls with an icy look that can make a grown man cry, but to me, it hurts that she turns that look at me, given our history.
“I ask permission to use a small part of my magic to demonstrate?” I ask, and the women in front of me nod slowly.
This opportunity scares me, even though I’ve reached my goal. The problem is that there’s a considerable risk that they’ll kill me after this. But I have no choice; little light has to return to where she belongs.
“Mater Terrae, permitte me ut rectam puellae formam patefaciam et EAM traderem iis qui EAM in primo loco numquam amittere debuerunt. Perdonerà, cioè il mio atelier.”
(Mother Earth, allow me to reveal the girl’s rightful form and hand her over to those who should’ve never had to lose her in the first place. May the gods forgive me and accept my repaid debt.)
Little light grows inside my cloak, and I caress her cheek before bending down. She gets up with my help, and I stand to pull my cover away. It’s quiet in the room until Kaylin howls with happiness.
“Aurora!” she screams and hurries up to her daughter, who stumbles towards her. “My baby, mommy has missed you!”
“Were you the one who took her?” Aleida asks harshly.
“No, my responsibility was to deliver her. But I couldn’t do it; it wasn’t right. The girl belongs here with her family and not with people who would take advantage of her,” I answer, hoping the hearing will soon end.
“Is that the only reason?” Aleida asks, suspicious.
“No child should be taken away from their parents. Therefore, I’ve protected, fed, and done everything in my power to keep her safe,” I answer and can no longer hold back my tears when I think about everything I’ve lost.
“You sound like you’re a mother yourself,” Jason says, standing behind his sister.
“I used to be,” I whisper, closing my eyes.
“We appreciate that you decided to return the princess. However, this doesn’t exclude that this isn’t some kind of trap. Therefore, we sentence you to stay in a cell for the time being until we can investigate,” Kaylin says, and I nod slowly.
Two guards take me in their arms again and lead me towards the doors when a voice stops everything, including my breath.
“Ana?”
The guards stop and turn me around. The woman in front of me is the one who taught me everything I know about how I can survive in the wild, how I can withstand the darkness the Order forces on me, and what I should do to not fall into the evil my family lives for.
“Anastasia?” she asks again.
“Hello, aunt Yolanda,” I reply, even though I know it’s not a good idea.
“It’s you, my beloved niece!” she exclaims and hugs me tightly. “What are you doing here? Do they remember you now? What is it like -.”
“Please, auntie,” I plead, looking around anxiously. “They don’t remember me, and so it must remain. Please, don’t destroy the security I’ve built up. I have to accept this punishment; that’s what I deserve.”
“Is that what you deserve? Even though it’s you who’s the reason why these women survived and didn’t die when the darkness tried to eat them whole!?” Yolanda asks in a hurt and high-pitched tone that causes the others in the room to react. “Without taking into account the fact that you gave up your own sons to protect everyone else? You don’t even live anymore; you survive. This isn’t what I wanted you to go through.”
I look down at the floor with shame because she’s correct and is telling the truth. The only problem is that it’s not good for her to say these things. If the truth comes out, the others might start remembering me and our memories, which would be devastating. It’s not the time, not now. At the same time, I can understand her; my aunt has never been on board with my plan nor supported it. But I know what I’m doing. I know what the inside of the order looks like and how it works; she hasn’t been involved with those people for many years.
“What are you talking about, Yolanda?” Aleida asks, confused.
“I’m talking about the truth, Queen,” my aunt replies. “The truth is that you and Kaylin achieved your destinies because of Anastas–.”
“Auntie, I enact the code upon you,” I say harshly, feeling how my body flashes with magic. “You know very well what the regulations say. This must play out in the way intended. Don’t ruin this and risk Mother nature’s wrath for putting your nose in the wrong place yet again.”
My words get the desired effect when she closes her mouth and looks at the floor. I love my aunt, and I don’t want to hurt her. But, as I said, things have to play out in a predetermined way, the gods’ way. Otherwise, the whole world as we know it could be gone within a few weeks. I’ve seen that future, and it’s not something I want any of the people I care about to experience.
“Please, take me to the cell and let me start paying off my debt,” I whisper, and the guards drag me again after Queen Aleida nods.
Once again, we’re on our way out of the room when the two people I had hoped I would never see again come in. They’ve hardly changed anything since the last time I saw them; they still have the boyish looks they always had. Everything that once made me fall in love with them.
“Mate!” they both exclaim simultaneously as if this is the first time we’ve seen each other.
“f**k!” I shout without thinking because I realize that everything just got a lot more complicated than I had imagined.
A/N:
Hello everyone!
A lot of information in a short chapter, but I wanted to share some clues that you can all think about for now. Then you have something to do if, for some reason, I get delayed with the updates, haha!
~ Does Anastasia have children? What happened to them?
~ Who calls Anastasia their mate?
~ Will they sentence her to death?
Please tell me your thoughts. I’m genuinely curious if any of you can figure out what my plan is. Hugs and kisses!
- Writer
