Innocent Sorrow: A Tale of Twisted Hearts Book One

Chapter Seventeen

Feli stared at the canopy of her bed as early morning light filtered through the curtains. Next to her, she could feel the warm forms of both her maids and a small, content smile formed on her lips before it transformed into a frown. She wasn’t sure if she could do this, if her plan didn’t work, it could put her loved ones in danger… She shook her head mutely. No, it had to work for if it didn’t, more than just her loved ones would be in danger. Sitting up slowly, she placed a hand on Talia’s shoulder and shook her lightly. “Talia…Talia…Talia, wake up!” Feli nearly shoved the girl out of the bed with the force of her shaking and her hissed whisper in the girl’s ear made the poor red head jump out of her skin. When her warm eyes popped open and met Feli’s gem colored orbs, she shot into a sitting position and wrapped her arms around her friend. “Oh Feli! I’m so sorry, I should have been there for you and instead I let those wolves bully you and now your father! I am so sorry!” Feli smiled softly and hugged Talia back. “It’s okay, you had every right to be angry but now, I need your help.” Her expression turned serious and she held Talia at arms-length. By this time, Hilda had sat up to see what the commotion was about and smiled. “Whatever it is, child, we will be by your side.” Feli looked over her shoulder at her old maid and smiled warmly, knowing the old woman spoke the truth.

Feli nodded quickly and moved to the end of the bed so she could face them both. “I refuse to go along with the plans that my father has. I may have been the Princess but my role has changed in the last few days.” She met their gazes evenly. “As you can plainly see, the color of one of my eyes has changed. I think father explained it as a trauma or something like that but it is far from the truth. I will not go into to many details but because of actions taken long ago, I have now turned into the Spirit of Fire who disappeared from Beldan a thousand years ago.” She met Talia’s eyes. “When I told you that Bren died for something much bigger then himself, I did not get the chance to explain… Alexei is the Spirit of Ice and Haydn, the new General of Reicks, is the Spirit of Earth. Because of the actions of the previous Spirit of Fire, many mistakes have been made that have now led to this war. Bren died because he stood in the way of Alexei who is trying, in his own way, to fix the mistakes of the past and to do that, he needed me.” Talia looked down and Feli knew her words hurt but if they were to work together, she needed to hear this. When Talia had finished her mourning, she met Feli’s gaze again and nodded for her to continue. “Per my new standing as the Spirit, I cannot stand idly by while people make the same mistakes as back then. To do this though…I need to know if you two will support me regardless of my choices here on out.”

Feli waited as the silence stretched between them but when smiles broke out on their faces, she almost wanted to cry again. Talia was the first to speak. “Of course we will support you! We love you Feli and no matter what you do, that will never change!” Hilda stood from the bed and placed her hands on her hips in a distinctly scolding stance. “If we are going to do this, we are going to do it correctly.” She looked at Talia. “Go fetch breakfast for us and bring young Nathanial. Now that he has earned his knighthood, he has a lot of say therefore, if he agrees with you then you will have earned the power of half the Beldanian army right off the bat. Gregory can’t very well ignore that now can he?” Talia and Feli laughed excitedly before the prior left the room to do as ordered. Feli on the other hand set about stripping off her outfit. “Hilda, fetch me some clothes and grab the box for my tiara…this won’t be easy but I plan to be armed.” Feli’s eyes were hard but Hilda smiled calmly as she went about the task. When they were done, Feli stood in a pair of long, black, riding pants with their polished leather inseam and knee high black riding boots that laced all the way up. Her top consisted of a long sleeve, storm grey shirt with bell cuffs embroidered with crimson flames and a black waist cinch fitted with two thin daggers against her left side. Her long hair was tied back with a red ribbon and around her hips hung a red, plaid, tartan scarf as the mark of a soldier. When Nathanial and Talia entered the room, it was obvious Feli was ready for war.