The Wings of the Beautifully Fallen

Chapter 38: Illiana

Chapter 38: Illiana

"Very good, my lady. You've improved drastically over the past few days." Helena praised as she stood beside me, her eyes staring at the newly formed ice that sat in my hands. "I was worried that we would have to back track, but it seems to me that you have been practicing." She gave me a knowing look and I smiled, nodding once and then turning back to the ice that chilled my skin.

It had only been five days since my fever broke for good and I recovered enough to go about my daily business. Six says since Reginald had first slept beside me and has every day since. I had found strength inside of me, the ability to stop being afraid of him for things that I knew that he never would do. Even now, I feel so stupid for everything. In a way, I felt protected when I nuzzle into his arms, as if the whole world melts away and nothing could hurt me.

Except for that reoccurring dream. It seemed so lifelike and yet I knew that it was impossible. There was no child who called my 'mommy' and there was no way that my father would come here and attempt to harm me. It was impossible.

"Princess Illiana?" Helena's voice interrupted my thoughts and my shoulders tensed as I turned to look at her, flushing under her disapproving look. "Come now, my lady, there is still much that needs to be done. Don't get full of yourself just because you can turn water into ice. Our children are able to do that and more."

"I apologize." I muttered and she nodded once, before waving me over to the window, staring out at the cloudy sky.

"When you are where you are meant to be, magic wise, you will be able to pick the water that falls from the sky and use it to the best of your ability. Healing, harming, killing. It will not matter because you will be able to do it." She spoke but I half wondered if it was not me that she was speaking to. Her eyes stared off into the distance, glaring up at the clouds that threatened to explode with rain. "Only then will you be able to proudly protect any child you should have with your life, if necessary."

"Did something bad happen?"

"Many things have, Princess Illiana, and the tidings they bring are not good ones." Helena still refused to look at me, her eyes filling with some unknown pain as tears threatened to fall. I remembered when she had canceled our lessons the day I had gone to look for my bracelet. I remember that it was because of something that happened in her family, but I was not sure what it could be. She did not have parents any longer and she was unmarried, so what was it? "There is a war coming, Illiana. Many people will die and we must all play our part for it."

"What war?"

"I do not know the one responsible for it. I do not even reasoning. But we do know that someone out there wants to upset the order that we have set up. They want to kill us, Illiana, and we cannot allow that to happen." Finally she turned, her eyes staring at me with a new vigor in her eyes as her hand lifted and fell on my shoulder, tightening slightly. "In the end, my job for now is to teach you how to protect yourself and those around you. You never know, there may be a time that Prince Reginald needs to depend on you for his life and you need to be ready to help him."

"What if I cannot?"

"If you apply yourself, then I will help you." She gave a gentle smile as her hand slid from my shoulder and motioned towards the bowl of water. "Being able to change it to ice means that you are learning and now we can further your education. Normally, there would be many other exercises but I am afraid that we do not have time for them. You must learn the basics on how to create a shield with water and ice."

"I understand."

So, maybe I was not completely over my fears and I still doubted myself, but at least I knew that I was safe with Reginald. I also knew that, even if I did not really understand the threat that Helena believed in, she obviously thought it to be serious and I wondered if the others did as well. I wondered what it meant for the people, the kingdom, and Reginald. What role would he have to take in a war and would he be able to come back home?