LOCATION: EASTCLIFF, ELER
YEAR: 620 C.E
VALIA'S EYES WANDERED TO THE FIREPLACE BEFORE TEARING THEM AWAY BUT SHE COULD HEAR THE FLAMES WHISPERING TO HER, CALLING TO HER. WANTING HER TO RELEASE THEM.
She placed a hand on the table, her fingers reaching toward the fire. The fire reached out to her. "Valia, are you listening?" The woman, whom she now knew as Malvolia spoke to her from the head of the table. Valia's hand closed into a fist as she met Malvolia's eyes and nodded. She wanted to go home.
What was home anyway? A place where no one accepted her? Or was it her father? Her heart ached as she thought of him. She pushed her emotions away and tried to listen to what Malvolia had to say to her.
Malvolia sighed deeply. "The elders' demands are the following: If we assist you with claiming your throne: you will marry someone of Litinae blood and have at least two children. A spare and an heir. You must train until I believe you are ready. You will abide by all of our rules and traditions while you are here. But you don't need to be concerned about the first one right now. The only things you need to be concerned about are learning how to use your gift and becoming a queen. Do you understand?"
Valia only stared at her, blankly before looking at the wall behind her. She blinked. No one spoke for a long time before Koa broke the silence with a clear of his throat. They wanted her to be a Queen. She could barely act like a princess. Then a thought wandered into her mind, so she said it out loud with a flat tone. "And if I don't agree with their demands?"
The fire crackled in the background of their conversation. Koa stared blankly at his mother and Mary smiled gently at her before going back to looking at Malvolia. She still wondered who this woman was. They all seemed to respect her. Her presence demanded respect even from Valia.
But she reminded her too much of her mother and that scared her. She didn't want to help them. She wanted to go home. Her heart ached for it even though it did not ache for her. But she did miss her father's kind eyes even though she treated him poorly on the day of Midori's execution. He was just trying to comfort her. And she pushed him away like she always did. They used to be close, but she rarely remembered what had distanced them from each other.
"Then you will die," Malvolia said sharply as her head tilted, studying Valia. Her golden eyes darkened, proving her point about killing Valia but could Valia rule? Was she capable of being a queen? Would she end up being just like her mother? Was death the better option than ruling? So, many questions were without answers, and that made her heart beat faster.
"Then I would rather die than be a part of your suicide mission. You can't win a war against Vequera. Eler is too small. You barely have an army. Vequera has never lost a war. Ever. No one has dared to challenge them since Caidal. And even before that. You say you want me to be queen but the realm would never accept me. They hate me for this eye. They rallied to have me killed when I was a babe and what makes you think in your delusional mind that they would accept me now. Nikolai is the crowned heir and he will be king. He won't be a great king, but he will be king and I will remain as nothing as I always was meant to be. Nothing."
"Valia..." Mary intervened with a pained eyes like she could feel her emotions, hear her thoughts.
Valia's face fell into a glare as she turned to Mary who flinched away from her. They were nothing like the stories she would hear as a child. They were much worse. Their gold eyes pierced into her soul and crushed her from the inside. Koa's intense eyes moved from his mother to her before turning into a glare. Mary laughed awkwardly before moving to seat next to Valia. She placed at hand on top of Valia's as she met her mismatched eyes. "Don't be so hasty. Just think about it for a moment. Okay?" Mary nodded, as Valia's eyes wandered to Malvolia who stared at them with a confused expression.
"My family. Do they think I'm dead?" She asked. Malvolia nodded, her eyes dazed as she lost herself in her thoughts.
"They had a funeral for you. Your father, uncle, and aunt were the only ones to attend. Your mother and your brother do not care about you and never have. They are cancer to this world and they should be dead. I know, you think so too after what your brother did to Midori sentencing her dead just to spite you. So, I will ask you again, will you join us to take back your throne?"
Of course, she wanted them dead but fear overpowered the rage inside of her. After everything they've done to her, of course, she imagined herself killing them. But could she, do it? Kill them? Her thoughts disorganized, pulling her away for a moment. "You want me to kill my mother and brother?"
"Well, your mother's not really a concern as of now but your brother won't stop at anything to get power and that makes him dangerous. He cannot be trusted. Your mother's own actions will get herself killed. We will just have to wait until that happens. If you agree, you will be the one to kill him and take the throne. Of course, with things like these, it takes time, so, you will have to wait and I'm not sure how long that will be, unfortunately. That is only if you are willing to join us."
Valia stared at Mary's hand. One must be willing. No one will follow a fool. She remembered what the woman had told her in the dream. She calmed her breathing and Mary moved her hand away. "I accept your terms, but I want to pick who I am to marry and how my brother dies." She wanted him to feel her pain. Every single ounce of it. She glanced to Mary before turning back to Malvolia and her finger unconsciously rubbed against the mark on her arm. The black line itched on her arm. It made her feel weird like her emotions weren't entirely her own.
Malvolia sighed and said, "I would have to approve whoever you decide to pick. You are allowed to pick anyone outside of my family." The woman's face morphed from a cold, unforgiving look to a caring one. Valia relaxed a bit as she leaned against her chair. The coldness of the chair brushed against her skin, cooling it down. They wanted her to be queen. They wanted so much from her. To kill her brother. To fulfill something, she could only ever dream about. Nikolai being gone. Nikolai was the reason she lost everything. Midori. Her mind. Her father. How does one regain their mind from the depths? By dying and coming alive again.
"Training will begin the day after tomorrow. Harvest day is tomorrow to celebrate the come of fall."
"Who will train her?" Mary asked with knitted brows.
The front door opened, quietly and a small girl entered with her head bowed. She looked the same as Drystan and his father. "Mother? —oh, hello?" The girl bowed again as her eyes met with Valia's. The girl's eyes sent a chill through her. They weren't gold like everyone else's. They had specks of black. Her darker complexion was like her mother's. Why had she bowed at her? No one else but the girl's father had done the same. But one of her other features that intrigued Valia was the scar that went from top of her right eye to the end of it. What had caused that?
"Nyra, why are you here? Why aren't you with your father?" Malvolia asked. Her daughter's who face fell with an unknown expression. Nyra shut the door before walking over to her mother.
"He cut training short for today. He said, he had business in Farwater, and I won't have to train for a week." Nyra smiled brightly and Valia noticed, she was missing a tooth. She looked to be around three and ten, much younger than the rest of her siblings.
Malvolia nodded and Nyra stared at Valia before her eyes moved to her brother. He blinked slowly as he stared at the wall. "Koa?" He broke away from his thoughts with a sigh as he turned to his mother.
"Koa will train her."
"What?" Valia and Koa snapped in unison.
"Are you kidding me?" Koa grumbled as he crossed his arms in his chest.
Nyra laughed as she stared at the two of them. Valia would be stuck with him longer than she would like. She hadn't forgot him throwing her against the tree. A bitter taste came to her as she stared at him. He hated her. She hated him for what he did to her guards and Daefier Harold. They didn't deserve the way they died. They didn't deserve to be hunted like animals. Malvolia ignored their obvious distain for one another and turned to Mary.
"Oh, before I forget, Mary, could you tell your mother to prepare for the ritual the night of Harvest day? We have to do that before she starts training."
"Why was I in that cell?" Valia asked suddenly, staring at Malvolia.
"What?" Malvolia's features broke out in a glare but not toward Valia.
Malvolia's eyes narrowed at her son before cleared her throat. "You were only supposed to be in there for a day not a week and a half." The older woman sighed before she stood up from the table. Nyra glanced at Valia with uncertainty in her eyes, but something felt off as her face went emotionless. A cold chill ran though her body and she immediately looked away from the girl. Malvolia walked over to her son and tilted her head, staring at him with glaring eyes. "Koa, she was only supposed to be in the cell for a day. I was gone for more than a week, and I told you to handle this but you act like a child."
Koa refused to look his mother in the eyes. She sighed before cupping his cheek and he met her eyes, finally. His eyes softened as he stared at his mother. "I was going to let her out but...she can't be trusted, and I didn't know if she would try to attack me again and then I was right when she attacked me when she got out." He pulled away from his mother's touch as if it pained him. Like it took him a moment to realize what was happening in that moment. He was showing Valia a weakness. His mother was his weakness. His family. He loved them. He would do anything for them.
"We will take about this later, Koa. Don't run away like yesterday. I have one more concern." Malvolia said as she sat back down at the head of the table. Nyra's gaze wandered around the room, lazily, still standing, as if she was bored.
"Valia, did the voice make you kill Sir Gareth? or did you kill him on your own?" Malvolia moved away from her son with a disapproving look and walked out of the front door.
Valia's eyes widened at her question. How could she know that? She hadn't told a soul about the voice. "What are you talking about?"
Malvolia's eyes narrowed with annoyance before she sat back down at the head of the table. Nyra sat next to her, and her eyes never felt Valia like she was trying to figure her out, but she couldn't.
"You've been keeping that secret for months, but it only took me a few seconds to figure out. Your gift. Your murderous tendencies. Your inability to control your emotions when angered. Your violent outbursts. A princess of your stature wouldn't dare act like that without proper discipline. So, I assume the voice is causing some of your issues, but what part is only you? Are you completely independent from the voice, or is it merely a manifestation of your surroundings? The second, however, would not solve the question of how you obtained your gift."
Valia's eyebrows knitted together as she took in what Malvolia had said. "I'm not a witch. I'm human."
"That's not entirely correct, given your family's peculiar obsession with dragons. Queen Aemma II, they didn't call her the Dragon Queen for no reason. " When the idea of dragons was mentioned, Mary perked up and entered the conversation.
Valia pulled at the hem of the dress that was given to her by Drystan. His sister's clothing. He told her. A thin dress with the same symbols as the ones that were on the dress Midori had given to her. Valia remembered the stories of Queen Aemma and her father's obsession with the dragons. It had been started as a small curiosity then turning into an obsession.
A deadly obsession that ended with Queen Aemma losing her life and her only heir, her son, Edur becoming king at only fourteen. Some say she went mad, but Valia understood that was far from the truth. Daefier told her in secret that after her death all of her record of every dragon she had kept had disappeared and that the queen had not gone mad. The lords always had a thing for saying women were easier to trap into madness and cruelty. They only did that so, they would stay in power and not let their daughters become their heirs. But that was the old way but it still had a hold on the way some of the lords still thought generations after the law was passed that women could hold positions of power.
"She used blood magic to bind herself and anyone after her to the dragons. She had the help of a Litinae which was forbidden at the time, but she was the queen. Anyone who is from Aemma direct line is human but not entirely."
"What do you mean?" Valia asked, cautiously. Her eyes rapidly went from Malvolia to Mary with warily eyes. Her muscles tensed.
"Well, some of you are human and some aren't human. Some can bond with a dragon and ride one, but some can't. So, there is a possibility that you aren't human at all. Humans can't possess the gift you have and survive without going mad. So, that makes you an anomaly."
•
A/N: this chapter was mostly dialogue. Not much happens but chapter fifteen will be more eventful.
The enemies to lovers thing with Koa and Valia won't last that long well enemies part won't. Everything that happens in the book happens over the course of two years, so, them becoming friends literally takes months.
- andy