My Sister, The Chosen One

Twenty-Two

Adele- Woman Like Me

Sasha:

I can't believe it. I've only heard rumors of The Cabaret. Rumors of the Dice Queen of Alrich. This girl, woman she's not a girl, I am, is responsible for the drug trade in the entire Wind Realm. Getting an audience with her isn't something that just anybody can get and here Elias walked in like he owned the place. The Dice Queen is his sister. After everything we've been through, it took saving his ass for him to completely let me in. Here it is. Well, here she is. Not only am I a special grade military operative, but I'm also an Ace and this woman hates us. I am mostly sure she's going to try and fight me. I can do this. Keep a level head. As leveled as I possibly can. This is for Elias and Breeze. Do anything to her and Elias might break my sister's heart because of me. I love the kid but if he did that, I'm going to have hurt him. Maybe break his teeth. He can afford new ones. No, nothing is going to happen. We're okay.

"Lias, your friend looks a little in shock,"

The woman led us into a massive study. It's three stories high and the ceiling is tinted glass. The walls are lined with books from top to bottom. The round room accommodates the massive red oak desk in the middle. It's like walking into an old library. There are statues and medieval weapons all over the place. Collector's items very few people can get their hands on. It smells like Ericson's study in his house. pages of old textbooks in large quantities make the best fragrance in the world. I fell in love with the matte black aesthetic of it but I am convinced this room was designed by the oldest Elder in Aldrich. Professor Safrina Airbourne. She's six hundred and eighty-three years old. Eighty-four in a couple of months. She doesn't look a day over two hundred.

"I'm letting it sink in," I admitted. "I would like to say that I am a big fan,"

"Really?" she laughed. "You want to have a drink?"

"Are you offering me one of goodwill? I don't want to be poisoned. My void abilities will get out of control of it doesn't kill me,"

"An offering. You're practically family, Ace. Take a seat. Donna, drinks," she snapped her fingers twice. The three of us sat down but I really just want to run around the room to see what she's got. This is what I always wanted my study to look like. It's glorious. I think I'm in love.

"Family?" I asked, giving her my attention. This woman scares me. The last thing I want is to disrespect her unintentionally. Intentionally will be completely up to her.

"You've made a fine man of my brother," she motioned Elias.

"Oh, no. We're not together. We work together. He's definitely my immediate family-"

"Relax. I know he's in love with your sister. It's kind of hard to get him to shut up about her," she laughed.

"Shut up," Elias shook his head. "We're not here to talk about me,"

"I beg to differ. You can't just bring me here and say this is my sister and expect me not to ask questions,"

"Took the words right out of my mouth," his sister nodded. "Why did you bring her here after all this time, Elias?"

"We're getting closer to the Realm. I thought it was a good idea to speak up now," he shrugged. "I brought mama flowers. Don't try to kill each other while I'm gone," he got up. He grabbed his sister's arm before walking away. He pulled her close looking her in the eyes. "I f*****g mean Rory. Don't try anything stupid with her. She's a void fairy,"

"Yes, yes. I got it," she put her hands up in surrender. He let her go and walked away. "Is he that uptight with you?"

"Believe it or not, I'm usually the one scolding him," I admitted.

"I believe it. After mama, he listened to no one but you," a woman placed two tall glasses between us and walked away. It's just the two of us in this room. "Aldean Ale. We brew it here. You and the other Ace have a brewery no?"

"He does. He's in the business. I'm not,"

"What are you in the business of?"

"Killing, weapons,"

"Really?" she asked intrigued. "Legal?"

"Very,"

"I like that. When the devotions came out and Lias told me your sister invented it. I knew you were special. So, weapons development. You and your sister together?"

"Correct. She makes them and I sell them,"

"Perfect. Now, Lias isn't the type to make dumb decisions. You know, other than falling for a f*****g Airstorm," she scoffed.

"What's wrong with being an Airstorm?" I asked before she continued.

"Your blood. Royals all have that old money taint,"

"You're old money. Older than my bloodline in fact,"

"It's different. I am Gangster. You are a political puppet," she took a drink from her tall glass. "I don't mean to insult you, princess. It's personal,"

"Against me?"

"Against the Elder system," she shrugged. "One day when you sit at the table with the big boys, you'll see what I'm talking about. Now, let's talk about my brother. What kind of s**t are you guys in? He wouldn't have come here if he weren't in any trouble. Who did he terrorize?"

I understand why he brought me here now. What he wants out of this meeting. Elias always seems to surprise me. I always get it wrong with him. People are usually really easy to read but this kid is a f*****g enigma. I can never guess what he's thinking or doing. He's always so calm about everything we do. I used to think it was because he might be a little like Breeze. Antisocial and a little awkward but that's not true. The kid went through women the same way I went through bullets. I knew there was something about him and I like it. I like him even more now that the puzzle is starting to piece together. Elias is going to be a big player in what's to come. Rey is going to love this.

"I knew he was resourceful but this is beautiful," I admitted and took a drink of the ale in front of me. This is delicious. Twenty-year-old Sasha with the bangs is back and she's marveling over the perfection of the Dice Queen.

"I agree. He has a foot on both sides. Tell me something I don't know,"

"We're going to war,"

"I know that. Emblem has been preparing for it for some time now,"

"No, I don't mean Emblem. We've been at war with the fire Realm for years now. Our King made theirs a bottom," I waved her off. She laughed. "We're going to war with everybody. Breeze just started a project to revive the Elder Trees. We had to go into High Rise for the seeds. All she needs to do is stabilize them. It's going to take a while but the closer she gets, the more restless the other realms are going to become,"

"The Elder Trees," she sat back. "That is definitely the perfect reason to piss the other realms off. What do you need from me?"

"At the moment, nothing. This is an introduction. The real question is, what do you need from me?"

"Your King, will he comply with my demands?"

"You can't call them that. If I think this is a deal worth pitching to the King, this will have to be a mutual partnership. This is business, not a war,"

"War and business are the same here in these streets," she shrugged.

"I know about the feud between the Dice and the Ace. I'm not the Diamond. I'm the Spade. I can get you a meeting with the others and we can hash it out together but this will be more of a favor to kick off a partnership. Not a negotiation. I don't do those kinds of things a gun,"

"I'm starting to see why you always come up short," she scoffed.

"Excuse me?"

"You're the Spade. Not the Diamond. You're the Guardian. Not the Queen. You're afraid to reach out and take what's yours. You're a people pleaser. Second place is a difficult position to get out of when you don't see the bigger picture. You do all of the work and get none of the glory," she laughed. "You want a cease-fire and I can tell you right now that it's not going to be easy. There is a lot of bad blood between me and your little boyfriend,"

"He's not my boyfriend and I know there is,"

"His father killed my mother,"

"Don't take it too personally. Killing mothers was his specialty," I rolled my eyes at her. Does she even know that he's also Elias's father?

"I'm not talking about your business, Aurora. Can I call you Aurora?"

"I prefer it," she nodded.

"I'm talking about power. The greater use of magic. Not only would we be the strongest Realm, but we'd also be the largest suppliers of everything. Drugs, money, escorts, weapons, entertainment, food, essentials. Everything is on the line here but we won't be able to make it out of this with the three other Realms on our asses if we're not all on the same page. This isn't about who killed who or who wronged who. My hands aren't any cleaner than yours are. Ace's mother died at the hands of yours. His father might have killed your mom but it was Ace who killed him. He did you a favor. Saved you the trouble,"

"All he did was deprive me of the revenge I deserved to uphold. f**k him," she sneered. I finished my drink. "Tell me something. Spade. Why don't you take the lead on anything? What's stopping you?"

"Stopping me? Nothing is stopping me. I don't want to be the Diamond or the Queen. Why the f**k would I want to stay in one place when I go wherever the f**k I want and do what I want? Do you know what Kings and Queens all have in common? It's that they don't do s**t but tell people what to do and sign bullshit laws. That sounds like a nightmare. Being stuck in one place trying to herd sheep around is not for me. You see the second sitting in front of you putting in the work sitting across from you. The person sitting across from me is waiting around this glorious study collecting s**t to fill the silence that isn't going to go anywhere. I'm a soldier, not a Queen. Being Queen doesn't mean s**t. It's boring,"

"You're still really young," she smiled. "My guess is that neither the Ace nor the King knows you two are here. You wanted to test the waters before you pitched your grand scheme. I respect that. Go and pitch whatever you want to them. Get them on board, set up the meeting, and then we'll talk. Just so you know, your sister. She's not good enough for my brother. He deserved a good girl,"

"Breeze is a good girl," I disagreed.

"Your sister built the strongest sniper rifle known to fae kind. You're here to ask me to protect her so she can make a magical tree that will be favorable for military use, mostly. How many people has she indirectly killed? How many more will die for her? How many will kill for her? Good girl? You Airstorms are f*****g train wreck. All of you are monsters. You might have had a chance to get out of it," she pointed behind me. I turned around to see the mural handing over the doorway. "Your hands are deeply stained with the blood of those you've killed in your sister's name. You and I are killers, princess. But we're just the weapons. We're the really good kind. The kind that doesn't need to be given orders. We already know what's required of us. Your malevolent sister sickens me. She's a plague on our world. The sickness you helped spread,"

"You guys good?" Elias walked back into the room.

"No, we're leaving," I stood up.

"Oh, what? Did I insult you?" she laughed mockingly.

"You've done nothing but insult me since I walked in here. I'm going to remember that. I won't kill you now out of respect for Elias and I'm sure Ace would rather do it himself. I'll let Elias know when and where," I turned away to leave but stopped. I can't just leave it at that. I don't know-how. "That's rich coming from you. You're the biggest reason people die. You spread actual sickness with your business. You supply what makes this part of the Aldea disgusting but we're the monsters?"

"I never claimed to be a good girl. We were talking about your sister. You think she's just some innocent little girl. She's not. Nations and Realms don't go to war for good little girls. It was a woman who caused Babylonia,"

"I will f*****g cut your tongue out," I growled. Elias stepped in front of me without taking his eyes off of her.

"Take it back," he demanded, calmly.

"No, one day you're going to wake up and see them for what they are, Lias. I'm still going to be here when you do. Me," she pointed at herself. "I am your blood. We're all that left of her and you're choosing the same people who released her into the pappi,"

This b***h just called Breeze the w***e of Babylon. I would tear her limb from limb if I could. I would repaint this entire mahogany masterpiece with it. The anger in me is calling to the void inside of me. The temperature around me is dropping alarmingly fast. I can feel the restlessness in my wings. I can't help it.

"Sage, Sage!" Elias stood in front of me snapping his fingers. I shook the initial shock of the void off a little bit but if I don't leave now, things are going to get out of hand. "Look at me. I'm right here. Calm down," he gently placed his hand on mine. I looked up at him to see that I was holding my hand up. The room is now dark. The only light shining on us is coming through the glass above. There are two guards standing with her aiming handguns at us. "You good?"

"Yeah, let's get the f**k out of here," I closed my fist tightly trying to pull it all back inside of me. My knees buckled as the darkness and the coldness around us fell back inside of me. Once it was done I cracked my neck trying to relax as much as I could to keep it all in. I stood up looking at his startled sister. "My temper has a temper. You should really watch what you say about my sister. I've killed people who have had nothing but good intentions for her just because they tried to take her from me. It's like you said. You're not a good person, the world would benefit from you being gone and Elias would eventually get over it,"

"Get her the hell out of here, Lias," she demanded.

"Sage," he whispered. I reached for the skylight. There is no way in hell I am going to walk back through that club with all her little henchmen and women walking around me. I released a strong twister of air and pushed it through the glass instantly breaking it.

"I tried to make you a deal, Aurora. You're the one who made this difficult. Remember that,"

"Get out," she looked down at her desk. I spread my wings and jumped out of the building feeling exhausted. As soon as we got home Elias stopped me from going up to my room.

"I chose you to tell first because you're usually the one who handles things properly. What the hell happened?" he demanded.

"Your sister hates us. Not just me and Breeze. She hates the Aces. All of them. I've been trying to run from it, Elias. I really have. For your benefit and hers but it's not going to go away. I'm sworn into something until death and everyone knows that. I'm sorry. You're right. As of late I've done nothing but f**k up. Half the time I don't even know if any of this is real. I want it to stop but you don't understand. This thing is inside of me. It's never going to let me go and it's never going to forget anything I've done. I can live with that. I'm just tired. I'm so tired all the time,"

"Hey," he pulled me into his arms. I hugged him back. "I'm sorry. You're right. You've been taking on a lot for a while now and I get it. My sister can be kind of an ass hole when she wants to be. It was on me for thinking she would play nice for my sake," we both pulled apart when someone cleared their throats from the living room. "Elder Redwood,"

"f**k," I groaned.

"s**t," Elias laughed. "I am going to check on Bre. I'll see you later,"

"Okay," I nodded. He looked between Elder Redwood and me before he decided he didn't want to walk. A gush of air was all that was left when he disappeared. "How much of that did you hear?"

"None of it if you don't want to talk about it. All of it if you do," he smiled. "I came to apologize for yelling at you,"

"Don't. It's not like I didn't deserve it,"

"I'm starting to believe the three of you are overworking yourselves a little. I think the change in pace with do all of you good,"

"You can't bench us all,"

"I can," he smiled. "And I will when I see fit. Sasha, you need the rest and I am personally going to see to it. Airstrike?"

"Sir," she stood up from the armchair facing away from me. I shut my eyes tightly. This is embarrassing. This kind of s**t never happened in my apartment.

"Captain Airstrike has been suspended for a while and since she can't afford to not get paid just yet, I assigned her to watch you and report back to me. You wanted her to be your friend. Here's your chance,"

"Wait, you said that?" Lilly beamed. "That's so sweet,"

"Who's going to cover you?" I asked him.

"Elias is. He's going to be reporting to me in the morning. The kid can use some downtime himself. What's this I hear about him having a sister? There's another one of him out there?"

"No," I shook my head. "You're never going to believe this. Do you know who Aurora Airheart is?"

"No," they both answered.

"Have you ever heard of the Dice Queen?"

"Yes," they both nodded.

"Aurora Airheart is the Dice Queen and she's Elias's older sister,"

"What?" they both asked as shocked as I felt earlier.

"Yeah, and that b***h hates me and my sister. I have to find a way to make it work between us for the kid and so she can jump on the save Aldrich bandwagon. We've got the Aces we need the dice,"

"And the roulette," Lilly added.

"I don't even know where to begin to look for that freak. This one kind of fell on our laps,"

"Agreed," they both nodded.

"We'll figure something out. For now, we both get some rest," Lilly tried to calm the situation.

"Airstrike, I'll show you to the guest room. Yes, you can bring your cats,"

"Yes," she jumped and swirled in the air. The blossom scent around her is also getting stronger. Which means she will also be getting her wings soon. "Wait, don't you have like a person who can show me so you can talk to the Elder?"

"Jus-"

"Princess," Justin, our butler came out of thin air. I'm starting to get used to it.

"Captain Airstrike is going to be our guest for a few days. Why don't you show her to one of the guest bedrooms in my wing?"

"Of course, my lady. Captain," he motioned her to follow.

"Ooo," she cooed and followed after him.

"Why is she dressed like that?" I asked.

"She was with Airrington. You know those guys have a dress code," he motioned my attire.

"Elias had me put this on. I am just now realizing that gangsters like to match. That is hilarious," I laughed. "Do you want to take a walk with me?"

"Sure," he nodded. "I love our walks,"

"Me too," I admitted. "No food this time. Unless you want me to have the staff set a bunch of snacks out for us,"

"I'm fine. Let's just talk. I think we both need it," he offered me his hand.

I placed mine in his without hesitation. His hand is so much bigger than mine. Warm and inviting. As soon as our skin met, I didn't feel so tired anymore. The coldness is starting to thaw out and I don't know why or how but the warmth is gathering a weight over my head. Like a cloud getting ready for a raging storm. I'm not sure if I like this feeling yet or if I want the storm to wash me away. For now, all I can do is wait and see what happens next.