Broken, but Not Defeated

Chapter 52 (Wesley)

After Juliana goes outside, Caldina and Anya come down the stairs in the middle of a discussion. Caldina nods her head and turns and heads off towards the back of the palace while Anya turns on her heels and walks up the stairs. Curious, I follow Anya.

"Anya, wait for me," I call after her.

"Yes, Lord Wesley?" she asks coldly without turning around. Okay? I thought we had passed that stage but never mind.

"What's going on between you and Julia?" I ask as nicely as I can.

"May I ask why it is any of your business?"

"Well considering it concerns my sister and my girlfriend? I thought that it might—"

"Might!" Anya yells, turning on her heels so abruptly to face me that she almost smacks into my chest.

"Yeah," I say weakly, stepping away from her. "Sorry."

She huffs, "Sorry. You're never sorry Wesley, if you were, you would have tried harder." She turns to walk away.

"Anya! Wait." I grab her arm, but she yanks it away.

"No Wesley." She walks down the hall. I shake my head and head for the nearest balcony. The funny thing is it's the same one I went to after my argument with Anya in the fall. I almost wish I had Caldina to talk to again, but instead, I get myself.

"Wesley?" Juliana asks. I turn to watch her approach me. She sighs. "Did you talk to Anya?"

"Yeah," I breathe, I run a hand through my hair brushing it back, but it does nothing, the stubborn curls just fall right back in my face. Juliana laughs.

"If you don't cut your hair soon, I will have to give you a girl's name."

"Yeah, not going to happen."

"Hmm, I like Dorthy or even Betsy," She teases. I give her a small shove.

"Stop."

"Aww! Is Wesley blushing? Oh, I got it! Drum roll please." She pauses, and when I don't give her what she's looking for, she starts smacking her hand on the rail. "Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Lady Dolly!" she yells, and bursts out laughing.

"Jerk," I say, a small smirk appearing on my lips.

"Who's Lady Dolly?"

I turn around and find Caldina leaning against the door with a grin on her face.

"He is! Or should I say she is," Juliana says pointing at me. I just shake my head.

"Well then, Lady Dolly, my name is Caldina," she says, making Juliana laugh even harder.

"Not you too," I groan, covering my face with my hands.

"No, I actually came here on more important business." She looks behind me to where the sun is just setting. "I'm afraid I have urgent news." I hear Juliana gasp; even my breath catches. "We need to march now. The king has ignored my letters, and thrown precaution to the wind."

"Why is it so urgent we need to march now? I thought the rivers were too dangerous to cross right now," I countered.

"She has dragons," Caldina states, eyes never leaving the horizon. Juliana moves to her side.

"Caldina, I know dragons are big and mean, but we can take them, right?"

Caldina looks at her and she gulps.

"There is a prophecy that says the fire queen, born from ashes, shall perish from dragon fire to save the one she loves most."

"But you weren't born from ashes, right?" I ask. Caldina moves to stand by my side. All three of us stare off into the horizon.

"In a way I was. The night I was born, my village had been burned down by Lunetta. Nothing was left of our house except ashes. My mother had grabbed me and hid me in a basket, with the intent to save her husband's people. One of the witches found me and threw me into my father's house before she lit it on fire. No one knows how I was saved. Nora told me she had fought the witch to get to me, but by the time she killed her the fire was too terrible for anyone to go in there and survive. She told me that she had sat there until it was cool enough for her to go in. When she entered she found me on my parents' bed crying."

"You weren't hurt?" I ask. She shakes her head.

"Only on my left thigh."

"So you think you're this supposed fire queen?" Juliana asks. Caldina nods her head. "Aren't you a princess?" Again Caldina nods her head. Just then it hits me.

"And that means you're not a queen." I half yell, whipping around to face Caldina. "You're not the Fire Queen, because you're a Fire Princess." I yank Juliana into a squeeze hug. "You're a genius Julia." All of a sudden I realize Caldina isn't smiling.

"It doesn't matter. You two are staying here," She commands before she turns on her heels. Four witches appear outside the doors.

"Take them to their rooms and lock the doors," Caldina snaps.

"Caldina, you promised," Juliana yells after her. I'm too speechless to answer.

"And sometimes we have to break our promises," Caldina whispers. I just barely hear her. And by the look on Julia's face, she hears her too.