Broken Kingdom

23

"Eira? Can I enter?" a female voice said. I lowered the shadows in front of my door in answer. Thomas had left just before I had fallen asleep, leaving the books on my desk. We hadn't talked during the afternoon, had simply enjoyed each others presence while we read. I had woken up just a few minutes before the knock on my door, and Monica had left the room. Now that Haelyn and Nolan entered, I understood why. I sat up straight and willed myself to give them a nod and a hint of a smile. They stood next to the bed, both returning my nod. 

"How are you feeling?" Nolan asks. 
"I feel fine. Tired, but fine. To what do I owe the pleasure?" I calmly respond. 
"We wanted more details. Plus we had a few question unrelated to yesterday," Haelyn says.
"Of course. What do you want to know?"
"The attack, did it seem spur of the moment, or planned?"
"Planned. Very meticulously planned. They-" Somehow, my breath hitched. "They didn't just have fire wielders to try and contain me. They brought chains. To hold me down when the fire wielders trapped me."
"Did you see how many?"
"At least eleven people had them. I don't know how many each carried or if they carried them for the same purpose."
"Did it work? Did they come close?"
"No. The fire wielders needed all three of them to make a ring of fire around me, which caused my shadows to evaporate, temporarily. Just a bit more power undid that work. And the wall of fire they put up later didn't hold very long either."
"Good, that's good. How did your powers react? Were you drained?"
"No, nothing like that. The poison kicked in, caused me to almost go unconscious. That's what nearly got me. The fire didn't do much besides inconvenience me."

Nolan nodded, his mind a bit absent. Haelyn read me, or tried to, her eyes flicking to my hands for a second. I frowned and looked at them, not seeing what the Queen was looking at. There were scars an calluses there, all a result from years of training, of fights, and of the war. Those of the war were the pinkest, and were caused by a fire wielder in my first fight.  
"Were those scars always there?" she asked quietly. 
"Since I have arrived there haven't been new ones added, Your Majesty," I say, calmer than I perhaps was feeling. 
"I hadn't noticed before."
"That's fine. I like to think they're not too noticeable anyway."
"Some look like burn marks."
"Some are. During the Battle of Monteriss, my shadows were vaporized by a blast of fire, and my hands got burned. Nothing too bad. Just enough to scar though."
"I'm sorry that happened. I'm sorry yesterday happened."
"You don't have anything to be sorry for, Your Majesty. You're no seer. There was no way you could've known what would happen."
"You tried to warn Holden."
"Him listening would've changed nothing. I still would've sent you and Thomas away. I still would've fought them. And I still would've wound up where we are now."

Pity shone in the Queen's eyes. A sadness I knew not only stemmed from the burns on my hands, or the fact that I was healing now. 
"You don't bleed," Haelyn blurted out, her words full with compassion, worry and pain. 
"I don't. I haven't for years."
"Did you..."
"Yes. I had a first bleeding. And a second, and a third and so on. It's nothing to do with biology."
"With what then? What could possibly be cruel enough to take that from you?" I gave the Queen a weak smile. 
"Sina told you. You can ask to see it, I just can't tell you about it, Your Majesty."
"Can we see?" Nolan asks. I nod, turn my back to them, unbutton my shirt enough to drop one shoulder below the mark. Nolan came closer, studying it. His rough fingers went over it, stretching the skin around it. 
"It's made from magic," he concludes. I simply nod. 
"Did you have it as a girl?" Haelyn asks. I shake my head. 
"When did you get it? Where did you get it?" Nolan murmurs. 
"I can't say. I'm prohibited to do so."
"By whom?" I shrugged. That I couldn't say either. 

I straightened the blouse before I sat back into the pillows. "The not bleeding is linked to it, Your Majesty. And I didn't consider it a loss. It wasn't an easy decision, not something I took lightly. I don't regret it."
"Nolan, have you any idea what it is?" Haelyn looks at Nolan with a piercing, almost pressing look. 
"It looks like a bargain. Made by someone powerful enough to enforce rules, which is difficult. If you were to answer, will it hurt? The mark?" I give him a curt nod. 
"How badly?" Haelyn asks.
"I'd rather have my hands burned again." Such coolness in the tone. Some part of me recoiled at the thought of the mark lighting me up from the inside out. Once had been enough to realize its grip on me. 
"Can you answer questions about it with a simple yes or no? so if I were to say something true, could you answer that?"
"Only if it's specific enough. A simple yes or no doesn't take effect."
"Can you hint at it?"
"No. No, I can't."
"Is there anything that you can tell?"
"That only you, Sina, and Sorin know about it. And that only Sorin had the answer."