Spiral: The Gregorian Chronicles Book One

24: Reality

        And suddenly, reality came crashing down.

        It was as if Dawn's brain went into hyperactive mode. The thoughts whizzed around in the few moments that Kabos poised the power depleter above her head.

        "Hey, you're Dawn, right?"

        No one else had approached her the night of the Spring Dance like Kabos had. No one had had the courage. What made Kabos different? She had always thought it was his natural goodness in noticing a princess wandering around by herself. But it wasn't.

        "Word travels fast around this part of the village." he had said when she had questioned how he knew about Adriana being in the hospital before she told him. 

        "Oh, this? Nothing. Just a gift from my dad a few years back." he had said when she had spotted his bright turquoise hankerchief in the exact same shade of blue as the picture she had seen in the book.

        Why else would he have smothered her with compliments, with gifts, with "love", if not to turn on her in her time of greatest sorrow...which he had inflicted?

        Why would anyone do something so terrible, so heartless, so detrimental?

        Ariesia was the rival kingdom, and the two were unable to be reasoned with in terms of power. 

       She remembered the other parts of the book, the parts that talked about the Troya, the parts she had merely skimmed over, uninterested. But now she remembered snippets from the paragraphs, their goal of destroying Gregoria once and for all, their secrecy and cunning. 

        Kabos's words echoed in her mind.

        "Love is a weakness."

        Of course it was. But not to Kabos. It was a weakness to her, to her sanity, to her mind...it was a weakness to her entire being. And Kabos knew that. He had known that from the beginning.

        Everything was suddenly making sense. It was all coming together, but at the same time Dawn's world was crumbling apart. The world that she had loved, had relied on, for so long, was gone. It was done, over, finished...just like her life would be if she didn't act fast.

        She heard the swoosh of the power depleter as Kabos brought it down, but she was already moving, her body working without any help from her traumitized brain. She slipped nimbly off of the bed and rolled onto the floor, tears falling freely down her cheeks and hands shaking as she pushed herself back up.

        But as the sense of betrayal and devastation grew, as did Dawn's power. She felt it rising within her, just like it had when she had fought with Adriana. But instead of being fueled by anger and disbelief, it was fueled by the complete and utter sadness that welled up inside Dawn and refused to go away.

        Kabos grinned slyly.

        "Oh, so you want to play like that?"

        Dawn heard a loud gunshot from the next room over and a loud thud from just outside the house.

        "Father!" Kabos yelled, coming closer.

        Dawn backed away, towards the door, but was knocked in the back as Phillip barged into the room, eyes ablaze.

        "I just shot the other princess." he informed Kabos before appearing to notice Dawn for the first time.

        "Why is she concious?" he yelled at his son, grabbing Dawn by the throat.