Betrayed (The Secret World Of Atlantis 3)

Chapter 5 - Pain

My best friend stares at me in horror, before beginning to shake her head furiously. “No. Arya, no, you must have sensed this wrong. Eros would never do that to you, neither he would cause you so much pain!” she disagrees, her eyebrows furrowed.

I breathe out slowly, even my breath trembling. I try to calm my body, but it’s still under the influence of whatever spell Eros threw at me through his mind. “I know what I felt. It was him. He wanted me gone … I just wish I knew why,” I state, trying not to sound too hurt. Elena’s gaze turns into a compassionate one and she bites her lower lip nervously.

“Please don’t say things like that. I don’t like where this is going at all,” she squeals, clenching the fabric of her dress tightly. I grab the hand, that is still shaking like crazy, trying to make it stop, but it’s no use. I stare at it with interest, before looking up at Elena in a hasty matter.

“I need to get back. I must figure out, why he did that and why he isn’t letting me go through,” I say, already lying back down, when Elena grabs me and shakes my shoulders. I widen my eyes in surprise, staring at her like she’s lost it.

“Are you completely insane?! There’s no way I’m letting you do this ever again! Not having a clue about where my brother is, is enough as it is without my best friend losing her mind!” she exclaims angrily, making me blink a few times to compose myself. She then removes her hands from my shoulder sheepishly and stares at me with regret. “I’m so sorry about this outburst, I didn’t mean to do that to you … It’s just … Please, please promise me, that you won’t try to get inside his head again. There’s something really wrong with him and I don’t want that to affect you as well,” she adds, joining her hands together in a pleading way, like she’s about to pray to the Gods.

I stare at her for a moment, contemplating her words. In the next moment, I shake my head. “I am truly sorry Elena, but I can’t promise you that. This is the only way to find out where he is, can’t you see this? He must be in danger and his mind is so messed up from everything, that he has mistaken me for Teivel! Can’t you see? I’m the only one, who can help him!” I insist, hoping that she’s going to see why I can’t comply with her desire.

Elena watches me for a moment, like she’s trying to figure out what is happening inside my head. Now that is a first one, she usually always knew what I’m thinking about. “Arya, I’m begging you … I know how much you’re hurting, but please, be reasonable. You got hurt, who knows what else Eros might do to you, if you try to enter his head again,” she tries again. I already mean to turn her down, but the look on her face makes me bite my tongue. I don’t want to give up hope so quickly, however, she is right. “Please … I won’t even sleep, until I help you find a way to get him back. Just promise me, that you won’t try to enter his mind again.”

I let out a heavy sigh, before nodding. “Alright, then. I promise that I won’t try to enter his mind again. But that doesn’t mean, that you have to lose sleep. We’ll keep looking during the day,” I finally give in, making her lips curl up slightly. Neither of us feels like smiling just yet. Especially not after what just happened.

The sound of talking and cutlery clinking against the plates brings me out of our little bubble. I peek through the railing, watching our guests sitting by the tables and starting to eat. It’s so odd seeing someone look so carefree, when I don’t even remember the last time, I felt that way. It’s a strange and distant memory.

“How about we join them? Get our minds off things for a while?” Elena suddenly suggests, making me turn my gaze towards her. There are creases on her dress, where she was clutching onto the fabric earlier, but she doesn’t even seem to notice them.

That’s why I extend my hand towards her and iron her dress with hot air. She looks down in surprise, her lips forming a silent oh, as she realizes what this was about. As her eyes meet mine, I give her a short nod. “Now we’re ready to go,” I declare.

But as we get down there, I don’t feel any better. By that I don’t mean my physical well-being. My body has stopped shaking as soon as I made a few steps from the balcony. I’m talking about the pressure I’m feeling as the eyes of other nobles fall on me. It’s like they expect me to crumble on my way down, but I won’t give them that satisfaction.

I force myself to put a smile on my face, my face feeling like stone as I do so. I politely return greets to everyone, who give them to me first, while desperately looking for a free table. I spot one further down the path and nudge Elena, motioning towards our goal.

We quicken our step but get to the table just as two more people reach it. As they turn around, I breathe out in relief. It’s only Emilia and Demitri. We greet each other and exchange a few words about how curious it is, that we came towards the table at the exact same time. But as we sit down and begin to eat, there’s a tense silence hanging in the air above us.

I try to ignore it, but the problem is, it’s hard not to pay attention to something so obvious. Elena and Demitri are both trying their best to avoid looking at each other, while Emilia and I share a few words from time to time. But no matter how hard we try to keep the conversation flowing, their embarrassed behaviour makes it truly hard to talk.

It gets even worse, as we finish eating. They are both looking at us, neither of them turning their gaze towards each other. Not just that, Emilia and I are still the only two speaking, which shortly begins to get on my nerves.

At one point, I have enough of them, so I decide to act stupid and change the topic. “Have you seen Demitri yesterday? He was quite heroic, wasn’t he?”

Emilia’s gaze flickers in confusion for a moment, but she quickly realizes what I’m doing and joins in. “Oh, you mean when he prevented Daniel from hitting Elena? That was so chivalrous,” she declares, turning to her brother. “I’m proud of you, you know. I’m glad you were close enough to help her. Aren’t you grateful, that he was, dear?” she continues, her eyes landing on Elena as soon as the last words leave her mouth.

She looks so uncomfortable, that I almost feel sorry for her. There is already a slight redness on her cheeks, as she begins opening and closing her mouth like a fish. In the end she simply nods because she can’t bring herself to say anything else. I almost feel like hitting my head against the table. For the love of Olympus, she kissed his cheek yesterday and she can’t even say a simple thank you now? Alcohol truly does wonders for the body and the soul.

 “I’ll have to excuse myself, I think I spot my father,” I say after a few tense moments. I’m not lying, I truly see the King coming out of the Palace and he came just in the right time for me to run away from this awkward mess.

Emilia shoots me a dirty glance, like she’s trying to scold me for leaving her alone with the two. I sent her an apologetic gaze, before rushing away from the table. But as I begin to walk away, I’m still close enough to hear Emilia say: “So … Is either of you going to speak to me, or will I have to talk to myself?”

If there wasn’t so much anxiety inside me, I would probably chuckle, but as I said … I wasn’t in the mood to laugh. Especially not with the look on my father’s face. It seems like what I told him yesterday is still haunting him. Especially after he drew his conclusion about who killed my mother.

The moment he spots me, his face softens. I walk over to him with my heart racing. I can’t help but feel worried about him. I told him about what Teivel said to me … So, I can’t help but feel like it’s my fault, that the memory of my mother’s death is hurting him again.

His eyebrows furrow as I get closer. “Good morning, dear. What is it with you again? That crease on your forehead is going to stay forever, if you’ll keep beating yourself up about everything,” he declares, shaking his head at me. I squeeze my lips together, before taking a deep breath.

“I’m so sorry for opening up old wounds, I should have kept my mouth shut yesterday. All I did was hurt you when it really wasn’t necessary. You’ve been through so much already,” I apologize, biting my lower lip nervously.

Father frowns, before his face softens. “You should never apologize for telling the truth. And you don’t need to worry about me. No matter how much I miss your mother or how angry I am, that Teivel killed her, it isn’t going to bring her back. Sometimes … Sometimes people need to mourn. Or be angry. It’s completely normal. And know, that I’m not angry with you. If anything, I’m grateful. After all these years you finally gave me a chance to get some closure,” he tells me, his gentle tone almost bringing tears to my eyes. He pulls his lips up into a small smile, before his gaze flickers towards the direction, where I just came from. “Get back to your friends now. It seems like they’re in desperate need of your company.”

I turn around just to see the trio still sitting in the same awkward way, none of them seeming to talk. I let out a soft sigh. “It sure seems that way,” I remark, my lips pulling themselves up on their own. But the smile doesn’t last for long.

As soon as I walk away from my father, someone else crosses my path. Someone I didn’t want to see right now. Flora’s eyes stare at me in a menacing way, making my jaw clench. I try to walk away from her, but she steps wherever I do. I breathe out in annoyance. “What do you want, Flora?”

“I want you to get off your high horse and realize, that you’re not the only one suffering here. Do you think your life is bad? You should put yourself in Zara’s skin. But I suppose you don’t care about that, do you? Your own blood isn’t good enough for you,” she mocks me, scrunching her face at me. I grind my teeth together, already meaning to snap back at her, but I don’t. Because for the first time, I actually understand where she’s coming from. I understand her pain, because we’re both sharing it, whether I like it or not.

“I don’t blame you for lashing out at me, Flora. But what you’re saying isn’t true. I’ve tried to reach out to Zara numerous times, but she clearly stated that she doesn’t want me there,” I explain in a soft tone, making her raise her eyebrows in surprise. “Now, if I may, I would like to get back to my friends,” I add. She stares at me for a long moment, before stepping away, letting me go my own way.