"Leila?" She asks, tugging at my dress.
"Yes." I said whilst bending for some pins to do her hair with. She looks perfect and I cannot help but feel proud. I had finally got the hang of this servant gig.
"I have never had a friend like you, I don't want you to go." she sniffled. "You are like my older sister. I don't want you to go."
"Caroline," I crouch down so I am her height. "I am not going anywhere. You and I go together like the sky and the-"
"The stars." She smiles at me.
"And the stars." I repeat. "No matter where I go or you go. You and I will always be together. Because friends come and go. But real friends are always there; even if you cannot always see them. Just like stars." I hold her little hands in mine and squeeze tightly. And she lets go of my hands and gives me one massive bear hug, clinging to me as if her life depended on it.
"Her Majesty Caroline da Angelo," The footman announced. And I smiled at her.
"That's your cue." I say sniffling and I hold back the tears. And just like that we walked back into the grand hall. The room was like the night sky filled small shimmering lights. The glasses were filled with all different beautiful shimmering liquids. The food over piled plates. Bright colours were dimmed under the lights. Everyone applauded as Caroline entered.
No, I do not know how to forget you. And I do not think I ever could.
I overlooked the upper class that had come from all corners. Most girls were fabulously dressed with their hair in towering and twisting designs. Everyone has dressed to impress. Mothers are strategically presenting their eligible young daughters to the gentlemen of court.
Caroline cut through the crowd and I accompanied her to her grand chair beside the throne of the king. Isaac looks at me directly in the eyes his stare cutting threw me. That vicious look that lies beneath his facade was there. And then he flashed me a sinister smile.
"That's quite a dress, Miss Bourdet." The king addresses me.
"I purchased it for her father, as a leaving gift." Caroline smiled at me. "Leave us and enjoy the festivities." Caroline dismisses me and I head into the crowd.
I head straight to the liquor table. I take the first bottle and pour the dry alcohol into one large glass. Not bothering to mix it with anything. I gulp it down in one. And then I take another. And another. I spot a man out of the corner giving me a look of disapproval.
"What's the matter, never seen a girl drink rum before." I groaned.
"Not quite like that miss, no in fact i have not." The bewildered stranger answered.
"Me either." Jumped in a familiar voice, Draco.
"Draco?" I stare. "You are recovering well," I looked him up and down.
"Well, I'm not a hundred percent yet. But I am alive; thanks to you." He smiled. "You are quite an extraordinary girl; even if you are absolutely bonkers."
"Awww, thank you." I mock. That is when I see them and the footmen announcement follows.
"Prince Leonardo Da Angelo and Josephine of White." He looks handsome as ever in his suit; and as always spotless. Josephine also looked spectacular in her beautiful gown and I cannot help but feel a tinge of jealousy. A colossal of applause fills the room. And music begins to play immediately. All the girls marvel at the man in the suit and even the men stared longer than needed. But both started with different causes. The women were attracted to the man in the suit and the men were attracted to the suit the man was in.
"You know he's a complicated man." Draco pauses. I watch as Leonardo takes Josephine to the center of the room and invites her to dance. I watch as he holds her and smiles. I feel as if I have been physically slapped. "He's been my best friend for what seems forever. We grew up in the castle together. He has been my brother in more battles than I would care to admit. He has saved my life more times than I count.... And I still don't understand him." Leonardo spins Josephine and that is when his eyes find mine. Just like that, a million people in the room, a million bodies and yet our eyes always find one anothers.
"I sure as hell don't." I commented. Forcing myself to turn away.
"But sometimes letting someone go; is love. Sometimes doing what is better for the other person despite what you want. Letting them go is the purest form of love." Draco sighed.
"That's too easy." I snap and I go to leave but Draco stops me.
His hand slips into mine. "I am many things Miss Bourdet, but I am not a fool." He turns to look at Leonardo whose eyes have been on us this entire time. "Leonardo is no fake. He obviously has feelings and seeing you like this;" he eyed me up and down. "It will be killing him."
"Your point being..." I rolled my eyes, doubting every word that came out of his mouth.
"He's like my brother and letting you go will be a mistake. He's trying to protect you..."
"I don't need protecting." I said bitterly.
"Excuse me." A voice interrupts. A man appears.
"Can I please have this dance?"
"Oh, you think I'm a lady... I'm only a ser-"
"She would love to." Draco answers for me.
"I would?" I look at him stunned. The next thing I knew I was being led to the dance floor. I could feel Leonardo's eyes on me. Along with Caroline's and Josephine's. The stranger was an extremely good dancer. He moved with grace and poise and he knew exactly how to control my body movements. We glided across the dance floor much like you might imagine ice skaters to glide across ice.
We danced for what seemed an hour and finally when the band placed their last song just before a break. A shimmering white substance was left to fall from the ceiling and my once silver gown was Snow white. "Snowflakes!" I heard a little friend of Caroline call it. Snowflakes. They are beautiful.
"You are so beautiful," My dance partner gazed upon me. Leonardo gave me an irritated look and I noticed Draco smirking. Draco was trying to make him jealous but I did not want this. Leonardo had decided to let me go; and I deserve someone who would not walk so easily out of my life.
"Ummm, thank you." I smile and curtsy. "Excuse me." I said heading back over to the counter of food. Chocolate, chocolate will cheer me up. Where is it?
"Bug," I turn to see Cam. I wondered whether I would get to say goodbye to him. I threw myself into his arms. "Calm down tiger."
"I am going to miss you so much." I whisper.
"Oh no, don't start getting soft on me or I will start crying." Cam begins to sob. "Too late!" I feel his tears on my skin.
Then all the sudden there is a cough and we turn to find Leonardo standing there. "Leila," but before he can say anything I cut him short.
"You don't get to say 'goodbye', you chose this. I am done; have a happy life." I turn to leave and as I am heading towards the bathroom, hoping to seek refuge there for a while, Draco grabs hold of my waist and leads me to the dance floor.
"Cut him some slack," Draco shrugs.
I narrowed my eyes on him; it was easy for him to say that he had everything he could ever dream of. "You don't get what it is like to love someone. To really love them. To not imagine your life without them. As family, a friend, or a lover. To hold someone so deeply and to love them just as much as you love yourself if not more. And to watch them turn on you as if you were nothing." I think of every friend that had betrayed me and then I think of Theo. "I finally found a place, a home. And one of the people I care most for; pushed me out of it."
"You are right...I don't." Draco admitted. "But trying to understand Leonardo's own mother was murdered by these kinds of people; his own father is the sole reminder of how bitter one can go over a broken heart." Draco says slowly. And I think back to the memories I had seen of the young Isaac; how sweet an innocent he had once been.
"I need air," I pull away from Draco before he can stop me. I search a balcony, any exit or way to escape the heavy buzzing crowds. When I finally reach outside I feel the cold air kiss my skin. And the fresh air showers me in kisses, one after another. I smile as I feel the cold air surrounding me. How I missed this. I glanced over the ci
ty to the forest. I thought back to the night I spent under the moon or running through the fields as a child. Leonardo was right. Court was not my place even though I tried my best to fit in here. The wind blew a wave, threw my hair and set me free from all the pins. And the fresh scent of the first bloom filled my nose.
I hear a clank and turn to the darkness. "So you are Bourdet girl?" Suddenly a figure dressed in a deep green steps out from the shadows. She had an immense tower of hair, her skin was pale and had clearly undergone lots of work. Her face had aged poorly. Or it was her miserable features and expressions that made her so ugly.
"I suppose." I reply staring at the peculiar old woman. She seemed to have formed permanent lines on her forehead from how much she had been frowning. "May I ask who might you be?"
"The Duchess of Isle of White. My daughter, Josephine, has told me all about you..." She pauses. Josephine's mother, now that I took a better look I saw the resemblance of the sickly bone structure. Did these women even eat?
"You aren't as beautiful as I expected." She paused, circling me much like a lion circles its prey.
"Well thank you." I curtsy with a mocking smile. "Now that I know you are Josephine's mother everything makes so much more sense. I thought I smelled desperation and gin."
"How dare you!" She stares at me gobsmacked.
"How dare I?" I stare back at her. "I had no intention of even speaking to you. To speak quite frankly, you approached me. You insulted me. I was simply returning the favour."
"Don't you see you were unwanted. It is plain to see that they did not want you, the ugly duck and the saddest part is that you have convinced yourself that you have a place in this world, that you be friends with someone like Leonardo. It is time you learn your place which is along with all the rubbish. I hope you accept you are nothing." She states plainly through her broken lips.
"Well, you obviously don't take newcomers."
"They seem to bring a smell." She pauses to correct herself. "An unwelcome stink."
"What an elegant tongue for a woman of your standard..." I mock.
"I am a duchess, I shall call common folk what I like. And you my dear are nothing more than vermin." She looks me up and down.
"For vermin, I seem to have gotten pretty far. Besides if I am vermin, what are you? After All, I am not so threatened to attack someone a third of my age at a ball...no. That is all on you. I must have really ruffled some feathers." I laugh, and suddenly I do something that even surprised myself, I reach out and take the duchesses glass. "Perhaps instead of threatening other girls..you should have more faith in your daughter." I sipped her drink.
Faith..." She chuckled.
"Not sort the type to be religious?" I ask. When she does not reply I cannot help but smirk. "Suprisable" I say with irony. And then a high pitched sound set my senses alert. That is when the voice echoes in my brain. And the familiar feeling in my stomach begins to return. "Angel, stay away from the center of the room." A voice warns. The boy with the dragon tattoo. And threw my mind, I responded.
"Why?" And the next thing I knew I was heading inside. There was no turning back. Whatever was about to happen was not going to be good. Things seemed to slow down now. Floorboards. Floorboards. Floorboards.
"Everyone was oblivious, lost in the bliss of chaos, a throng unaware of an attack planned beneath the floorboards." The words echoed in my mind like a torment. And all the sudden everything began to freeze and I snapped out of whatever trance that I had been in. The servers. I suddenly saw the weapons mere servants carried. My eyes immediately searched for the doors which were locked, we were barricaded in. The guards were scarce and the knights were hardly armed. And then I saw the metal flashing beneath some loose floorboards in the center of the room. Before I can make any sudden moves, a voice breaks through the music.
"I would like to propose a toast." King Isaacs voice bellows. Everything goes deathly silent as everyone focuses on him. I scan the room for either Leo, Cam, or Draco. "To my son and his beautiful fiance-," But the King never got to finish his sentence because ear piercing screams filled the room. Low growls and the sound of blades being drawn followed. All hell was about to be let loose.
Rebels. They were here. I search the crowd for anybody I could recognise but I find nobody among the havoke. Knights search frantically for weapons. Women gathering children running for the exits. The glass chandeliers are cut loose by flying bats like demons that move so fast I cannot quite make out their shape. The glass shatters like a million blades across the floor. Red stains the floors and the walls. It is a bloodbath. I reach to grab a weapon but before I have a chance I spot a demon hurtling to attack a young child and I can't think of anything practical to do. So I hurt myself at the demon side, hoping someone else would be able to move the child to safety whilst I tackled the beast. The demon rolled to its side, a low growl escaping it's lips, I stared into its soulless black eyes and I found nothing. I move ever so slowly, hoping to reach a nearby blade of glass before it pounces and rips me to shreds.
Draco comes out of nowhere attacking the demon from behind. I scramble to my feet but before I can help him I am thrown to the floor. I screamed. Looming over me was a massive demon. It had a thick body with a head hooded like a tiger. But its body was intesectacle with at least twenty legs which finished with sharp claws. Blood drips from its mouth onto my flesh and it is not mine. Please do not let that blood be of anyone I know.
"Take her." Said a voice. I am pulled to my feet. Two large men grabbing hold of either arm; no matter how hard I struggle each of them tripled me in muscle and height. They were like walking bald orangutanes. "Let me go!" I scream. "Let me go." But it is too late they are pulling back. I swing a punch and manage to land it on the side of his face. Yes. But the others have me restrained in seconds.
And then among the chaos of the bloodbath. I see bodies piling on the floor and more castle guards pouring in by the seconds. I see the demons ripping people to shreds and I see the letters hover in mid air 'We came. We saw. We were destroyed.' Those caribbean eyes appear and I can see him screaming my name as fellow knights hold him back. The knights had formed some protective line around the king, Caroline, and Josephine. Leonardo manages to break free from the knights holding him back from me.
"Let me go." I hiss. I look at Leo hoping he will not reach the portal. They would kill him if they got their hands on him. I had a low but a chance of surviving as their prisoner.
"LEILA!" He is racing across the hall through the battlefield; nothing stopping him but then the electricity of the portal hit my body. And I can almost reach his hand. But he was too late. I fell through the portal.
And just like that I vanished without a trace. I was gone; a hostage of the rebels. Taken.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my most sincere thanks to the following:
First and foremost, to my family for their skills, their time, and their care. Thank you dad and Lourdes Milan. A very special thank you to my trusted friends Juan Ostiz, Jose Aleaga, Miguel Moreno, Moe, Adrian Gómez for their unparalleled enthusiasm and energy. And to my dear friends Lola Mayoral, Lucia Hidalgo Badat and Anna Kwiecinska for their wise council. Thank you Alya and Sebas Ramírez. A very special thank you to my grandmother and grandfather for your unending support and patience. My heartfelt gratitude to William Maraka for making me smile when I felt like I was breaking. Special thanks to Santiago Zubieta, Maria Dundov, Diego Blanco for being such a devoted friend. A special thank you to Mario Ramos. Thank you to Elia, Rafa, Nuria and Marta for giving me a reason to believe in true love and friendship. Thank you to Alex Melia for being like an older brother and pushing me the person I am. Thank you to Victor Lana for motivating me to believe in myself. To the New York Publishing firm I have been working with discreetly this past summer on another project which shall be soon released. A thank you to my mum, you are always in my heart.
ISABELLA HARDIMAN
Isabella Hardiman is the British-rish au
thor of ‘The Girl of the Lost Ones.’, the first book in the series she began writing while still a school student. With the only tool as her cell phone she reached over 150, 000 reads within 6 months in over 50 countries. A girl with wanderlust whom has written over 11 books by the age of 21.
She is currently finishing her law degree at La Universidad de Navarra, in Spain. Isabella is also headed this summer to a world class law firm ‘White & Case’ in Madrid. You can visit her on Instagram (@Bellahardiman).
The Golden Year and the Sorceress Page 37
