The War (All Chapters + Synopsis)

Chapter 13 - Amalia

It's strange to find the one you once called enemy crying on the floor. Even stranger still when you hurt for them, when you feel the need to wrap them in your arms and take their pain away. It gets awkward though, in the moments after, when neither of you knows what to say.

"How much did you hear?" Lues asks at last, his tears dried.

"Enough," I whisper. In truth, I heard the entire conversation.

I look at the portrait, and I'm surprised that they didn't realize this sooner, that I didn't realize it sooner. The girl in the painting may be much younger, but she looks just like Ilena does now. I was shocked to hear Lues's outburst of anger towards his sister, and Katlyn, shocked more by her response. The enemy of Feralis in me was overjoyed to see the discourse between these once close friends, but the foolish part of me falling for my enemy, that part of me was disheartened to see the break.

"Don't tell anyone what you heard, and... definitely not about... well, whatever that was," Lues says awkwardly, and I nod, blushing at the thought of what just happened.

I just hugged the King of Feralis, I just hugged someone almost two decades older than me and thought about how I might actually have feelings for him. I run away, leaving Lues standing there by the portrait.

I follow my feet wherever they will go, and fall into the wall of my bedroom. I sink down to the ground, and lean my head against the wall.

"What is wrong with me," I mutter under my breath. Cursing myself.

I don't love him, I hate him. I shouldn't have hugged him, "gah!"

Why did I think that would happen. He was in pain and shock, he didn't like that. If he'd had his wits about him he would've burnt me to a crisp the second I stepped near him. Katlyn should've skewered me on the sword at her hip. A thousand things should've happened that didn't, and the one thing that should not have happened did.

My heart is beating hard against my chest, threatening to burst. I can't love him, I won't. He's the monster that killed my parents. He's the Demon King and he knows no love. He's a villain, and my nightmare. He's my mortal enemy, the leader of opposing forces. Our soldiers have clashed countless times, both sides brutalizing the other. We will never be a good match for each other, we're too different.

I stand up and slam my fist into the wall in frustration. Tears blur my vision. I don't understand what I'm supposed to do. Why do I feel this way, why now, why him? I can't love him, I shouldn't, it defies all reason, but I do.

"Father, what do I do?" I whisper.

When a servant comes to bring me to dinner, I turn them away. I ask for my meal to be brought up to my room, and eat it in silence on the warm cushioned chairs arranged around one of the braziers. A gentle knock sounds on the door, and Katlyn comes into the room.

"What do you want?" I slide off of the chair and onto the floor.

"What did you do to Lues?" Katlyn hisses at me shoving me against a wall with a knife against my throat.

"Nothing!" I shout, squirming to avoid the silver blade. "You're the one who made him cry!"

"You heard that?" Katlyn asks, stepping back, releasing me.

"Yes I heard it, I'm surprised they didn't hear it back in Feralis," I say, stepping forward carefully.

"That was none of your business," Katlyn says to me, I roll my eyes.

"I know that, but you made him upset and I didn't want to...," I break off, not wanting to tell her what happened, especially when it was her king that ordered me not to tell anyone.