Oriehn

Chapter 2- Taliesin

"Inis, no." I began regaining the control I had lost simply by piquing her curiosity, a trait she must have picked up from the mortals. "You," I grinned before continuing, "are far more superior. You are Oriehn. You are the last born female, sent from our skies that were once created by your ancestors."

Alice shifted. "And you assume this based on what? Is your kind truly so feral that they can scent out their own?" She scoffed, corking the vial and folding the cloth, setting them back down onto the small counter. "I was born to Daniel and Marie Proctor, the second eldest of six, and the only surviving member of my family once famine crept through the East," she said and glared back at me accusingly, "A famine caused by your kind."

"You have the markings," I raised my chin as she turned her back to me and began putting the supplies away. Confidently, I continued, "We all have them, you know: an orbiting ring around a stone—hidden— just under your collarbone."

Alice froze in recognition, her eyes widened as she turned and paced over to the table. I watched her move closer, reaching out her slender fingers to graze over the chains concealing where my marking would be.

She reached up to touch her own, peeling away her blouse to show the freckled mark, like a constellation upon her skin. I looked away.

"It is you. I was sent to Earth—to find you," I pleaded.

"You were taken from a grounded capsule. No one sent you here. You wouldn't even know where to look." Alice's laugh was strained, a slight tremble in her voice, and my spirit soared as hope that she believed what I was telling her rooted in my chest.

I scoffed. "You insult me. I am a trained flier, and more importantly, I am an Oriehn. We are far too experienced in combat to fly that slowly, that low to the ground."

"You claim to have purposely placed yourself in a position to be targeted and shot down? How would you know I was here, if at all?" She furrowed her brow, and I gave a dry chuckle.

"I had thought you would be imprisoned here. No Oriehn would willingly stand with the mortals," I released a choked breath, wheezing as the thickness of the air was forced down into my lungs. "Imagine my surprise when you walk in, unaware of your heritage." A flush crept up my neck, hands clenching as I thought back to her prolonged ignorance. She belonged among us, deserved a life among us, and Earth had robbed her of even that knowledge.

"I'm not so gullible as you paint me to be. That I'd believe such a bold faced lie—and one so reliant on fate, at that—is an insult to my intelligence," Alice replied, and I could tell that she was losing interest.

I was desperate at this point, unable to stand the confinement, unable to convey to her the message that was so clearly written on my own skin without her looking at my mark. "Unchain me, and then you can see for yourself, Alice."

"You are just trying to trick me into releasing you." She shook her head, voice soft, and she was mesmerized as though she was trapped in her own thoughts, her eyes cloudy. I smiled. This was encouraging; a sign that she was considering my words as possible truth.

"We share a mark, a Iresei, and we share a heritage far more powerful than you could imagine." I pulled my hands as far away from the steel as possible, bucking against the chains for emphasis.

Alice peered back at the mirrored glass. "I still don't know your name."

Out of everything, she asks me that? I shook my head, piercing her with a stare. "My foes call me Taliesin. My kind call me Sin."

She finally broke her stare to look back at me. "And which should I call you?"

"Undo these chains and find out yourself," I reiterated. Her hands leapt forward, betraying her curiosity, before she reigned them in once more.

I lifted my head up, eyeing her directly now. "Trust me, just once."

Alice nodded, tracing her mark with the pad of her finger. She grasped the chains, unraveling them, pulling them through the steel confines, until they slipped off of my chest.

I bolted up, crouching into a defensive position, then lunged for an open scalpel on the side table, left from the previous experiment. Alice backpedaled against the door, her hands held up as I approached on shaky legs, pinning her to her spot.

Removing the patch of white covering my heart, I revealed to her the orbiting ring. "You are much more valuable to me than an advantage over the enemy," I took her shaking palm and placed it over my mark.

"You are the continuation of our race. I'll not endanger you," leaning over her, and pressing the scalpel to her neck, I nicked it so a drop of red blood flowed over the blade, watching as the color shifted to a dark blue at the proximity of another Oriehn— she had been separated from her kind, but her blood was the connection that brought it all back. I whispered in her ear, I finished my sentiment from before,"But they must think I will."