Unbreakable - Book 1 in 'Unbreakable' Series

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOURVIOLET

He leaned over the boat and peered down into the deep, searching for me. His dark eyes almost made me take him home and put him on a shelf to stare at forever. I sank lower into the protective darkness, knowing full well the extent of the consequences that would lie ahead of me when I returned home...

Agh, my beautiful, magical home.

It was forbidden to help a human. I didn't know what possessed me to do it... perhaps it was curiosity, or my lust for adventure before I was laden with the responsibilities that I would face as the next queen of the Emerald City of Islanda, or perhaps it was just my soft heart and pity for this beautiful boy. Whichever the reason, I was sure to hear about its consequences from my cousin Esmeralda. That was, if my father didn't know by now, and had already sent his army to retrieve me and bring me back to the city covered in diamonds, rubies, and pearls.

I ended my return home with a pitstop to an abandoned shipwreck that lay only a kilometre from my home. It was both mine and Esmeralda's place of solitude when the kingdom got to be too much.

I let out a sigh as I leaned against a stool, picking up a shard of glass and glancing at my reflection. "Why did I do it?" I wondered out loud, knowing I was alone.

"Why did you do what?" A voice echoed behind me. I fleeted sideways, letting out a startled scream.

"Esmeralda!" I scolded, turning to hush her before someone heard my discretions. I was surprised to see her here as she had been pulling away a bit lately and didn't usually show up to this particular spot. I wasn't sure why she had been pulling away since we had always been so close.

"Well? What was it that you did?" she gasped.

"Just... Never mind, okay?" I attempted to deter her from the current conversation by showing her trinkets, picking up different items as I swam along the ship.

"Oh, come on..." she begged, staying close to ensure she didn't miss any word that may slip from my mouth.

"I went to shore again." I barely let the words escape my slightly parted lips.

"We said we wouldn't do that anymore... It's too risky." She swam alongside me. "We aren't children anymore, Violet. We are future queens of the Emerald City... Well, one of us is... and at this rate, it won't be you," she scoffed, looking at her manicured nails, stretching out each finger and swiping her hand through the water. She was always one for beauty--always combing her hair and sticking baby starfish to her fingernails.

"You said that," I mumbled.

"What-- Oh, you are unbelievable," she scoffed. "We both said that!"

"Well, maybe I changed my mind..." I muttered, almost only to myself, starting to feel foolish.

"What were you doing up there this time, anyway? Collecting shells again?" Her words were spoken with such contempt. I felt myself drift further into a pool of foolishness, with a hint of stress seeping in. She was getting closer to guessing my reasoning for once again visiting the shore. "You know your sisters have been nagging me about where you were again. They are relentless, but they do have a point."

"I-- Nevermind." I toyed with the idea of continuously giving her short replies until she stopped asking me questions altogether.

"Oh, you have to tell me. Whatever it was, I'm sure it wasn't worse than the act of going to shore in the first place." She crossed her arms and raised a perfectly sculpted auburn brow in my direction.