𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐃│✔

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝟒𝟓

"What is it Esmeralda?"

"I, myself am not quite sure, Your Highness," I stammer, a warm hand on my upper arm urging me to continue, "But, there's someone with the same blood as yours."

Silence.

I look up from my feet to see that she stopped breathing, her other hand going to my shoulder. Wide eyes stare at me, slightly shaking me.

"What did you say?"

"There's a Princess, her name's Pandora Von Felidae. She came to the Palace a couple of months ago. From the start, s-she felt different. I thought I imagined it at first, but then I saw her using magic that I'd never seen before. "

"Her mana, what colour is it?" She asks in urgency, her voice almost pleading. To any of the snobby nobles here, she would be considered a shame. Queens aren't supposed to plead, let alone beg. Only this isn't a Queen speaking, but a woman desperate to find her sister.

"Golden. Such luminance that it almost looks like -"

"Like the sun is burning within her," she finishes, a thoughtful expression on her face, before she turns to me again.

"Her age? Is she married, and does she have children? What does she look like?"

The questions never stop, and I smile at her excitement. It's been long since her eyes sparkled like this, before the crown prince's passing.

"She's young, almost twenty-one. Dark brown hair, amber eyes, her skin golden from living in the Eastern Territories. Average hight, a body to die for. She isn't married, yet."

"Yet?"

"Well...Let's just say that House Tarak will soon have their Queen."

A laugh. He melodious voice resonates through the hall, and by the crystals that seem to shine brighter at the noise, I can tell that the King is listening from afar.

"Oh, how I wish to see Chantara's face at seeing him going back to her sworn enemy, after all the drama she caused to separate the two. Father won't be elated either, but...What to do? These two will never leave each other alone."

She looks so fulfilled, then. My heart warms up at the blabbering of my Queen who looked like lifeless puppet, wordlessly ruling over a House foreign to her. As a shifter in the midst of Mages and Fairies, claiming respect didn't come easy for her. Yet it came naturally.

Should I tell her?

"T-there's something else I'm wondering about. A few times now, I've seen her cough blood. Every time she gives her mana to heal someone, she-"

"Wait what?! She can't be doing that, her mana may be Holy, but her body is still that of a mortal!" She shouts, her mood swing more agitated than I've ever seen her.

"I know," I purposely keep my tone calm, "Apparently, it's her family that has been teaching her."

"There's no way mortals know about this, they must've..." My head tilts in question when she laughs again, the dry sound overflowing with hate.

"That bitch! To think she would go against the laws of Heaven to pester Celestria even more. Let me guess, the rebels are heading to the capital?"

"Yes, their main activities were spotted near the Dynastra Temple at first. So, the Council assumed that they were after your Artifice. That's where most attention has been these last months. However, recently they started to retreat almost everywhere and concentrated on trying to trespass the capital's barrier."

"They're after her." she concludes dryly, her gaze faraway for a minute before she continues.

"I knew that Chantara still has a bone to pick with us, but this," she points her hand at me in explanation.