The Marks that Define Them

Chapter 6:

The horror showed on his face, expecting her to look sad Nestori felt for her. But she looked unfazed. Was she used to people feeling sorry for her? Her speed was persistance. Urgency radiating off of her. When she reached Nestori he grabbed her by the waist pulling her into his chamber.

"What happened to you?" He asked concern real in his voice.

Tensing up her shoulders, Astraea knew she couldn't tell him. For both of theirs protection.

"N-not-nothing. It is none of your concern." Shuffling out of his grip Astraea broke through to the door. Her only escape to a dangerous freedom. Dangerous to her in another way than this but an escape from this torturous questioning. If everything thing in her life was a lie then the only thing that she knew to be true was that every environment is a dangerous one. Every person is possibly an enemy. Everything and everyone is dangerous and not to be trusted. Not like they never had been but now Astraea could see the things going on behind the walls, not the gossip that ran wild.

Astraea:

Her mission was nearly complete. The last obstacle in her way was facing her assailant. Pushing the door open they stared at her. Well no. Not at her but the scar that defined her.

"How is our little eavesdropper doing? The pretty, no use to be pretty face feeling alright?"

A response wouldn't let Aine know anything. It was hard for Astraea not show the sadness on her face. There was no chance for her to respond as her father and Nestori slammed into the room.

She backed herself into the corner trying her hardest to avoid conflict. Drowning out the sound of the yelling Astraea knew it was about her. They shouldn't be defending me. I deserve this.

The noise in the room ceased to exist as The Queen started asserting her dominance. Astraea wished she could stop her father from yelling back so he wouldn't receive punishment. But she couldn't. Numbing herself to the rest of the world the numbness disappeared with the Queen's sting.

"The next time someone you know comes in her trying to defy me. I will be giving you an much worse punishment than that scar.

Aine:

Aine wasn't surprised that soon her people would be uprising soon. Never in her mind did she think that it would be about that girl. She was tempted to kill her but that would dismantle her deal with Reyn. Plus it would push Nestori away from her and give Aine no choice in gaining his 'trust". It would completely ruin her plans and that girl was the reason. Killing her would ruin her plans but so would keeping her. How can I use the girl.

Astraea had no marks so using in the same way she was using Nestori was out of the picture. Research would find her solution. Aine began sprinting to the book keeper's room. Shuffling through the shelves of the room her eyes scanned over the spines in search for anything that could help her. Books closest to her search were false. Aine scoffed at the titles because they were what she was looking for but she didn't trust them. Of course it's false. Aine pulled the largest book off of the shelf, slamming it onto a nearest table. Cracked tan pages met her eyes as she flipped the pages erratically to search for them. Aine saw the solution to her problem she was so elated it showed on her face. She skimmed the paper faster, her eyes barely picking up every other word. Footsteps pounded in the distance. Each step getting louder. Each step getting closer. Each one ignored.

The footsteps grew nearer until they were directly in front of the table where she sat. Her head looked up at the figure that was perched in their spot.

"Mother, what are you looking at?" Ammon asked. She wanted to reach over to see what they were. Unfortunately Ammon knew that her mother was a secretive person, but trusted her no doubt.