WHISPERED SINS

32- "Help me save my daughter's life."

CHAPTER 32

"Every fairytale had a bloody lining. Everyone had teeth and claws." - Alice Hoffman, "The Ice Queen"

JANUARY 5594AG

7 YEARS BEFORE THE WAR OF DRAGONITE

Lady Katrin Lechner didn't know what to do with her daughter.

She first noticed a change in her behaviour about six months ago when Hazel stopped talking to Boro.

Boro had tried to get Hazel to talk with him many times, but without any luck. Hazel only gave him one-word answers.

She had changed from her jolly and mischievous self to a withdrawn, angry teenager who barely conversed with anyone.

Lady Lechner had been worried sick about the crater forming between her children, but she decided to give Hazel some space, hoping it was just a phase that would pass and things would get better soon.

This phase had lasted for almost three months.

And as she expected, by the beginning of October, Lady Lechner noticed that Hazel's behaviour was beginning to improve steadily.

She started talking with them again, and she even joined Boro for breakfast a couple of times. She was once again taking an interest in the things that she loved, like dragon riding and spar training.

All in all, Lady Lechner felt relieved, thinking that things were getting back to normal.

But then suddenly, overnight, in the middle of October, everything collapsed. Her daughter transformed into a ghost of herself. She became someone Lady Lechner could barely recognise.

Lady Katrin Lechner was Hazel's mother. Even though she hadn't given birth to her, she raised Hazel and witnessed her journey through different stages of life. From the uncertainties of childhood to the early adolescent years, she watched her daughter transform into a headstrong teenager on the cusp of womanhood. She was rebellious, yes, but never rude.

But this was unlike anything Lady Lechner had ever seen before. She was at a loss for how to help her daughter and how to fix her.

You mend what's broken, and yes, she could tell Hazel was completely shattered.

By the end of October, her daughter stopped eating altogether until Lady Lechner threatened Hazel that she would force-feed her if she didn't eat something.

Upon her mother's insistence, Hazel managed to take a few bites of the shepherd's pie, only to vomit it all out.

It wasn't just the starvation; Hazel stopped sleeping as well. Dark circles ringed under her eyes, and when she did manage to sleep a wink, she'd wake up screaming at the top of her lungs.

It seemed like she was battling demons that only she could see, and they haunted her constantly.

Lady Lechner watched, feeling utterly helpless, as her daughter turned into a skeleton, losing a tonne of weight within a matter of a few weeks. Her cheekbones jutted out of her skull, and her hair was thinning rapidly.

Having had enough, she confronted Boro and asked him what was wrong with Hazel-what had happened to her to make her so traumatised?

But Boro gave her no clear answers, just a helpless "I don't know," before clenching his teeth and blinking back tears.

She knew that Boro was hiding something, and he was aware of what was troubling Hazel, but he would never spill her secrets. He was fiercely loyal like that.