by G. Bailey
“Dagan is with him, and he still hasn’t woken. The healer is doing his best,” she answers, but not really answering the question I asked. I want to know if he is doing better, if he looks better, or anything other than the fact he hasn’t woken up yet. It’s been a day since we got here, and I’ve done countless blood exchanges. I lie back on the pillow, feeling Bee stroking my arm as I look at my sister. She doesn’t have her cloak on now, and her black hair is down, covering her serious expression as she opens her bag. The look on her face somewhat reminds me of my father. Well, our father. Something I don’t know how to get used to.
“Did Thorne come back?” I ask.
“He is back, and not speaking to anyone. He just spent the last half an hour cleaning the kitchen,” she tells me.
“I didn’t know he cleaned,” I say aimlessly.
“Tired?” Bee asks me, distracting me from my thoughts as she slides off me and chooses to lie on the bed right next to me instead.
“Yeah, a little. Are you okay?” I ask her, and she nods, curling up in a little ball.
“We need light . . . soon . . . darkness is rising,” she mumbles, yawning loudly before falling to sleep. Nothing like some cryptic, scary words from a spirit to make you feel better. I pull the blanket up, covering her body before looking over at Melody who holds her orb. I’d seen them at a distance when I was a kid, but I never really understood them or what connection they have to seers. Most seers have their orbs on a sceptre, which I remember seeing many seers walking around with them like a walking stick. Suddenly, I remember Melody's mother as a flashback flitters into my mind.
“Princess, you should not be out here alone,” a warm, kind voice says from just behind me, and I spin around, looking up at the royal seer. She has long black hair, brown eyes, and black swirls on her face that look like someone drew on her.
“I had to put the bird outside, it flew into my room,” I explain, holding the little bird up to show her, and she smiles.
“That is very kind of you, but you should still have guards with you. You are the princess, and so very important to Dragca. Let’s put the bird down and find your personal guards,” she says, holding out a hand. I put the bird down on the floor, watching as it hops a little before flying away. I accept the seer’s hand, smiling up at her as we walk back through the gardens.
“Your name isn’t seer, is it?” I ask, curious.
“No, why do you think that?” she replies.
“Everyone calls you ‘seer’, or ‘royal seer’. It’s confusing,” I say, gigging a little, and it makes her laugh.
“My name is Savannah.”
The memory leaves my mind as I look back over to Melody, who is staring into her orb. Her eyes glow a warm bright blue, and she carefully places her hand on the orb as sadness washes over her face. She looks so much like her mother. They have the same features, and the same mysterious air seems to surround her, just like it did her mother. Everything good about her seems to have come from her mother, and luckily, she only seems to have my father’s eyes. I’m starting to believe my father was never the good guy in any situation. Maybe everyone isn’t good or bad though, and my father had good parts in him.
“Bee tried to help Darth heal Korbin, but it didn’t work. Bee said the poison is from the dark, and that it is immune to light,” Melody tells me, and I frown. How are we going to stop it from killing Korbin, then?
“What did Darth say when he saw her?” I ask, stroking Bee’s green hair. It’s so soft, fine, and full of glitter.
“He wasn’t that shocked. He said he once saw Tatarina’s dark spirit, and a light one isn’t all that different,” she says, and goes back to focusing on the orb. I guess that makes sense. I wonder what makes dark and light spirits look different? I’m curious to find out, but at the same time, I don’t want to have to fight the dark.
“What do orbs do?” I ask, snapping her out of the connection she has going with the orb, and she looks up, not bothering to hide the sad look.
“Boosts our natural powers, allows us to see people, but we have to have a connection to who we want to see. It’s how I could watch you when you were on earth,” Melody explains and stands up, walking over to me. She climbs onto the bed on my other side, and I pull myself up, careful not to wake Bee. I sit with my back against the headboard, with Melody snuggled in right next to me.
“Who were you looking at just now?” I ask gently.
“Hallie,” she whispers, confusing me.
“I thought you needed a connection? I didn’t know you and Hallie were connected by anything other than fake memories,” I say. Melody places her hand on the side of the orb, her eyes glow as smoke fills the inside of the orb, swirling around and around before an image comes into view. The image starts off blurry, then fills out. Hallie is sitting at a desk in what looks like an office. There isn’t much in the room, just a grey desk, filing cabinets, and I can see a door behind her. Hallie isn’t moving, just staring at the wall, tapping her fingers on the desk. Her hair is dyed purple at the tips, not the blue it was when I last saw her, and she has glasses on, no contacts, which instantly worries me. Hallie hates to wear her glasses.
“Her father has had her locked in this room for the last two weeks. No bed. Little food, and plenty of interrogation from both him and the people that work with him,” Melody says, her voice cracking ever so slightly.
“What?” I ask in alarm, looking back down at Hallie. She looks normal like she usually does, though maybe a little paler and tired. The door opens, and a man I don’t know walks in, just as smoke fills the orb, and the image disappears.
“Wait, who was that?” I ask Melody. “Actually, that doesn’t matter, we need to rescue her from her father!” Melody gently places her hand on my shoulder, stopping me from trying to get up even when how weak I feel stops me anyway.
“If I could do anything to help her, I would have already. There is nothing you can do, and he won’t kill her. That’s all that matters,” she says, but her excuse seems weak. She wants to help, but I don’t get why she is so emotional about this.
“Who is Hallie to you?” I ask quietly.
“I told you that I saw my future girlfriend once?” she asks, and it clicks into place as I remember Melody mentioned that she never sees herself in visions, except for one of her and her future girlfriend.
“Hallie is your future girlfriend?” I ask.
“Yep. Sucks that she isn’t into girls right now, or at least, she hasn’t admitted it to herself. With everything that will happen, I don’t know if we will ever have a future like I saw,” she says, and wipes one shaky hand across her cheek. It must be horrible to watch someone you know is destined for you with other people and now being hurt.
“You will,” I grab her hand on the orb, and it burns where my fingers graze the orb, making me sharply pull my hand away. I look down at my hand and see little burn marks. Fire doesn’t burn me . . . but the orb can?
“Crap, sorry. I didn’t expect you to touch it. Orbs burn any dragon. They can’t be touched by your kind,” she explains, moving the orb away a little like she is worried I would be crazy enough to try and touch it again.
“I’ve never been burnt before,” I whisper, kind of amazed.
“I forget you don’t know much about Dragca . . . most dragons know not to touch orbs,” she chuckles which makes me smile.
“Where did you get your orb from?” I ask.
“It was my mother’s. Orbs are passed down within families, well, usually. If the family has no heirs for the orb, it is returned to where all orbs come from,” she says.
“Where?” I ask.
“No one knows. I’ve heard they just disappear,” she replies, shrugging her shoulders and making her black hair fall over them.
“That’s sad,” I comment.
“I thought I wouldn’t be able to touch the orb, being half dragon, but, apparently, my dragon side didn’t stop my inheritance,” she states. I bet she was nervous to try and
touch it the first time.
“Do you hear your dragon in your mind?” I ask her, curious. I can’t smell dragon on her, not like you would expect. I can only smell her seer side, so her dragon side must be well hidden.
“No. I’ve never had that, or any powers from my ice dragon side, except one,” she smiles, looking at my hand. “I can’t be burnt either.”
“That’s a good power to receive,” I say.
“Can I give you some advice? As your loving sister, as well as someone that wants you back on the throne,” she asks, and I nod.
“I wouldn’t flaunt your relationships with your dragon guards. If you want the seers to side with you, and if you want the dragons to, you can’t be seen to be in love with dragon guards who have no dragons. You can’t be seen to publicly choose them over the throne. They are a weakness to you now, one that can and will be used against you by your enemies. Don’t let everyone see what they mean to you, don’t wear your emotions on your face quite so much,” she advises me.
“I don’t want to hide how I feel, it’s not going to change anything, and I would choose them over the throne. If they can’t accept my dragon guards as my–” I go to say ‘mates’ when I realise they have never asked me to mate with them.
“Mates. They will be your mates, I don’t need a vision to know that’s what you want from those smoking hot dragons, sis,” she teases, and I laugh.
“It’s all still so new to us, and everything is going wrong. It’s not the right time to be planning long-term stuff when none of us knows what our future will hold,” I say.
“What do you want for your future?”
“I guess I don’t really think that far ahead anymore. Everything has become a fight for each day, and it never leaves me time to dream of an ending to this. I guess I only want the dragon guards’ curse to be broken, for Kor to live, and for me to kill Tatarina. Those are my main concerns for now,” I tell her.
“The seers might know how to break the curse, or at least they might have an idea.”
“Really? I could get back their dragons?”
“Maybe, but you need the seers to side with you first. You need them to believe you are the rightful queen, and one who will always put Dragca first before anything else,” she firmly tells me. I know she has a point, yet I don’t want the seers’ decision to side with me based on lies. I don’t want the throne if deceit and half-truths are the only way to overthrow Tatarina and secure the crown.
“How do you feel about Thorne now?” Melody enquires, trying to sound innocent, but the tiny smirk on her lips gives her away.
“He betrayed me, and then he saved me. I guess I don’t know. Thorne has always had the uncanny ability to confuse me, even from the very first time we met. It's strange, because even when he is pushing me away, betraying me, and downright being an idiot, I still want to be near him. I know I could never hurt him, and what’s worse is that I understand why he did everything he did. I don’t forgive him yet, but I do understand most of it,” I admit, and she takes my hand, leaving the orb in her lap.
“Love doesn’t care about circumstances. It just turns up, wrecks your life, and somehow has the ability to make you the happiest you can ever be,” she says.
“My sister is pretty smart, huh?” I gently bump her shoulder, and she laughs.
“About time you noticed,” she says with a grin and rests her head on my shoulder.
“When we don’t have all this stuff going on, and our lives are kind of sorted . . . I want to get to know you, find out more about your life. We missed out on a childhood together, but we can make up for that,” I comment.
“Deal,” she whispers.
“Pinky promise?” I ask, holding out my pinky finger and wiggling it, and she frowns at me like I’ve lost my mind. Whoops, I forgot seers wouldn’t know about human things.
“What is that?” she asks slowly.
“Something humans do on Earth that means you promise never to break the promise. I know it’s silly, but there were these siblings I grew up at human school with. They always pinky promised things, and I used to be jealous I never had a sister or brother to do that with,” I explain to her. Jace wouldn’t do it with me, because he didn’t like things that humans came up with and said the idea was stupid. Melody links her pinky finger with mine.
“I pinky promise,” she says, and all I can do is grin.
Chapter Seven
Isola
“You should be resting, girl. It’s the middle of the night,” Darth chides as I step into Korbin’s room, and I softly close the door behind me. Darth is sitting on a chair next to Korbin’s bed, but I barely even register his presence. Korbin is sitting up on the bed, his green eyes watching me as his lips tilt up with a little smile.
“She was never good at doing what she was told,” Korbin teases, his voice croaky as I run over to him and wrap my arms around his chest.
“You’re awake,” I say, pulling back, and he smiles widely, looking as happy as I feel at seeing him awake. Korbin still has purple lines crawling up his face, close to his eyes, and he looks extremely pale, but he is awake, and that’s an improvement. Any improvement seems like a blessing right now.
“I’m tired, but trying to stay awake for a bit,” he says groggily, and I kiss him lightly before sitting back. I hold onto his hand as I look over at Darth.
“Is he going to be okay now?” I ask, and Darth shakes his head.
“A temporary fix. I don’t have the magic, or the right medicine to heal him, and I have no advice on where you can find it,” Darth admits and looks at Korbin. “Your parents . . . they might be able to help, or at least pay for the right kind of help.”
“They will be with the seers, and we are going that way anyway,” Korbin says.
“Then I will come with you to keep you alive. We will leave in the morning,” Darth states, standing up slowly.
"Why are you so willing to help me?" Korbin asks.
“Your parents, I knew them very well. We had a falling out many, many years ago. Let’s just say I owe them, and keeping their only son alive is a good start at repayment,” Darth explains and then leaves the room as we silently watch him go. I look back up at Korbin, just running my eyes over him to check he is okay. Just needing to see that he is, at least for now.
“Lie with me? I just want to hold you for a bit,” Korbin asks, and I do, resting my head on his chest.
“Dagan and Elias told me about what my father said to you. They said my father trusted your parents,” I whisper, yet my voice still feels like it carries around the room.
“I wanted to tell you sooner. Every morning, running with you, and keeping a secret from you, it wasn’t easy because I fell for you the moment we met. I knew your father was right, that the prophecy was right, as soon as I met you, and I wanted you safe from that moment on,” he slowly tells me.
“I felt something from the very start, too. I did with you all, but I tried to play it off because I was grieving over Jace,” I voice something I haven't even wanted to admit to myself. It feels like I betrayed Jace by just feeling it, much less saying it out loud.
“I’m sorry Jace died, I have a feeling I would have liked him. You know, after we fought over you and agreed we could both love you at the same time,” he jokes, and I sigh.
“Jace would have kicked all your asses,” I mutter, but I’m not actually sure who would have won.
“I don’t doubt he would have tried. I wouldn’t want to share you, not if I met you first and had you to myself for so long,” he muses.
“Are you okay with everything? The fact that I want to be with Elias and Dagan, too?” I ask quietly after a comfortable silence between us.
“At first, no. I couldn’t swallow the thought of sharing you and having you love someone else. I was scared you would love them more than me,” he tells me, his hand holding mine tightly.
“That won’t happen,” I say, looking up at him, and he stares up at the ceiling.
“Then I realised something. You loved them anyway, had the whole time we were together, and you still loved me the same. Loving more than one person doesn’t make you love less, it just makes you love more,” he says, his words making me smile like a crazy person because they are so sweet. And so true.
“Such a romantic. If you weren’t ill, then I’d be swooning and doing sexy things to you,” I say, making him laugh.
“I’ll hold you to that offer when I’m better, doll,” he whispers. “Thank you for saving me, giving me all that blood when you knew it would make our bond stronger. We never did have a second to talk about that.”
“You did it for me once, how could I not do the same for you?” I reply.
“One day, when we have a moment to ourselves . . . would you mate with me?” he asks suddenly, casually like he didn’t just ask something very important and life changing. I sharply sit up, leaning over him. My hair falls like a curtain around us as I stare down at him.
“Really? You want me? Forever?” I ask, completely in shock. He must still be ill.
“You have me forever, even if we don’t mate. I don’t care what I am to you, mate, lover, friend, or even ex-lover. I just want to be with you,” he says, and I go to answer him when the door bursts open behind us. I jerk up to see Elias running in.
“The guards are searching the houses. They know we are here, we have to go!” Elias shouts, panicked, and runs over to help me get Korbin up as I slide off him. Korbin holds an arm around my shoulder, and the other on Elias as we hurry out of the room and down the stairs.
“Isola needs to fly everyone out, it’s the only way,” I hear Darth demand as we get to the bottom of the stairs.
“She can’t fly us all, and the barrier . . .” Thorne shakes his head as he watches out the window, not looking back at us once as he speaks.
