I can feel my brown cheeks getting so red; it's embarrassing, but not as much as Aura Argyris—the Aura Argyris of Caeli—smirking at me puking the last day and a half out. Nothing can ever erase this terrible feeling.
I let out a small squeak that Elang would be ashamed of and get up, wiping my mouth. Already, I can tell this girl is going to be terrible to be around. Her light skin just seems to glow every time she says something rude to me. Which has only been one sentence.
Pull yourself together, Elang instructs from a tree behind Aura. He's my voice of reason right now.
You're right, you're right. I just need to calm down after all I'd been through. If she doesn't get that, then that's fine. Or so I keep telling myself.
"How do you even know if I'm the Roseblood heir?" I ask before I can stop myself. Darn it. Guess who just won first place for the Dumbest Question Ever Awards?
To my surprise, Aura doesn't laugh or anything of the sort. Instead, she gives me a look of mock seriousness, and somehow that's a thousand times worse. She doesn't even answer my question right away. "I'm going to call you Rosy," she says instead. "That fine, Flower Child?"
I give her a long stare and try to stop shaking. From fright, anger, or weariness, I don't know.
At my lack of response, she continues, "Well, first off, you just gave yourself away. I never said anything about any heirs. And second, I probably know more people in your puny kingdom than you do yourself."
She's a handful, Elang says.
No kidding.
"Is it too much if I call you late?" the Airblood princess asks. "Because you are beyond late. Didn't your parents ever teach you to be on time?"
At that I get a little angry, fueled by some of Elang's disgust. "Don't talk like that," I bark, albeit a little soft. "And if you must know, I was ambushed on my way here." Speaking of that, I just now realize that my new somewhat-friends have left me.
Aura tosses her hair. A chill blows by my face. "Ambushed, is that right?"
"Ambushed?"
I manage to not jump six feet into the air, but still flinch at the new and deeper voice that came from behind me. I turn and come face-to-face with the Sparkblood heir, easy to track down with his dark brown skin and amber, sleeveless shirt. Everything about him screams that he's a fighter, from his thick arms and the disfigured patches of skin from burns, to the sword strapped across his back and the dull red armguards clamped around both of his lower arms like sleeves. He's Adam Megalos of Ignis, one of three princes and oldest heir to the Sparkblood throne. He's terrifying and intimidating to even look at.
"You said you were attacked," he says. "Where?"
"What's got your panties in a bunch?" Aura asks. "Rosy probably just saw a bear."
"If I saw a bear," I grumbled, "I would've gotten here a lot sooner."
"What was that?" Aura taunts. "Couldn't hear you."
"Enough," Adam interrupts, "both of you." He turns his attention to me. "Where were you when the attack happened?"
Over the coldness of the Sparkblood's voice and Aura's jeer, I'm too ashamed to tell them that I passed out. So I try my best to come up with an acceptable answer.
But the Airblood notices my pause. "Don't tell me you don't know," she groans. "Honestly, it wasn't like trying to hide in the middle of nowhere, cooped up in that cottage was bad enough. No, I have to get a stupid Flower Child with amnesia."
Elang chooses now to swoop down from the branch he's on and flap close to Aura's head, not taking any care with his talons. The message is clear: Please shut up.
Thank you, I tell him as he perches on my shoulder.
Aura, meanwhile, gently presses her finger to the shallow cuts on her forehead and looks like the calm before the storm. "Watch your bird, or else next time you see him, it'll be in stuffed form."
I am tired of both trouble and this girl—no matter how deadly she might be—so I hold back from telling her that stuffing a dead Vinculum is like being buried with a gold tombstone.
"I said enough." Adam stabs his finger toward the stone building. "Roseblood, go back into the safe house. The Waveblood should be there to show you around. Air, you need to keep your mouth shut..."
His general's voice gets lost in a sudden wind—I wonder whose it could possibly be—as I walk to the said safe house. If a Sparkblood calls this small place a stronghold, then should I be worried? Based on what I've seen, a guy like that has no reason to be afraid of anything. Me, on the other hand...
Nope. I absolutely refuse to think like that. I just finished what could count as a conversation with two different blood types, externally unharmed. That has to count for something, at least.
Now that I'm at the door, this building looks a lot bigger—even at a stone throw's length it seemed smaller. Actually, it looks like a fort.
I'm calling it Fort Stone, for now.
"Hello?" Right away I notice the telltale signs of bad luck: the fort's door is unlocked—a sign if I was ever raised by my parents—the richly lavished halls are empty save for a maid, and the eery feeling I'm getting from here. I've just stepped foot in here and am already counting down the days until I can leave.
Days. Will it—whatever it is—take that long?
"You're the Roseblood," someone from behind me says softly. I almost jump out of my skin. Again. I really need a backbone.
I turn around, but there's nobody there. I look back at the maid. Did she do something? Then the closed door. Did the voice come from there?
"Below you," the same gentle-spoken voice guides me. I look down.
"How'd you get there?" I hiss. Looking up at me from across my feet is a boy. His upturned chocolate eyes, along with his cream colored face say that he's from the east, a Waveblood. Or at least I think so. I don't have the best view of what he looks like, and his hair is an unnatural shade of too-yellow blond instead of the black everyone says it's supposed to be.
"You're Brooke Tian," I say. "The Waveblood heir."
Brooke nods and mumbles something that I can't hear nor understand. I only catch the end: "...so do you want me to show you around?"
"Um..." I mean, he hasn't said anything rude or looks like he wants to gut me in my sleep, so that counts for something. "Okay?"
Wait. This doesn't make sense. After everything that had happened, I'm just going to go with a rival heir and complete stranger—not to mention a boy—all by myself? Either I'm very unlucky or very dumb. The latter works out better.
But, my inner "scratch everything" voice says. I'm surprised it took this long for it to come out. There's always a but.
Elang?
He fumes on my shoulder. I give his feathers a ruffle. Whatever mood he's in now, he doesn't want to talk with me.
Fine. After all, this prince is nicer, not really a rival, and my parents literally sent me off to live with strangers. I'm bound to have to converse with him sooner or later.
"Ready?" Brooke asks. I nod as he rattled off a short list of instructions, most of them too muffled to be comprehensive. "It helps if you go all at once," he finishes. "It should be safe."
Safe. Just like the ride here?
Something is definitely wrong with my mind, because I get on my butt and shimmy into the square shaped hole in the ground, Elang flapping behind me. The drop down surprises me a little, but it's nothing compared to the stacks of bright, colorful...
"Jewels," I breathe. Even the dimness of this secret hall doesn't diminish the bright piles of rare rubies, the hordes of silver diamonds, the stunning sight of clear gemstones.
The Waveblood nods and begins walking down the hall. I follow, and soon the amazement of the precious stones is lost to me as I manage to trip and fall dozens of times. I'm not sure where we're going, but if I stub my toe on another bedazzled rock, I'm not going to be happy.
"So where did you find this place?" I ask.
"In my room," Brooke replies.
His room. Right.
You chose a good one, Elang teases.
"Not now, Elang," I mutter. My voice unexpectedly echoes off the walls.
Brooke stops and goes to the side of a bare wall. He feels around it while asking me, "What did you say?"
"Nothing. What are you doing?"
"Trying to get us out."
"Get us out—?"
A sudden creaking noise finishes off my question. The wall that Brooke was on starts to moan, and...move?
Why am I even surprised anymore?
Tendrils of water swirl and push around the sliding stone, urging it back. Behind it, I can start to see a bed along with the mixed shades of a beginning sunset through a window. Already? How long were we down here?
Finally, Brooke opens the stone door wide enough for the both of us to go through side by side. He's breathing heavy and looks as if he is about to throw up.
"Are you okay?" I put my hand on his shoulder as the Waveblood heir starts to sway. "You didn't need to open it all the way," I say. "Not if it was going to drain you."
He just waves me off. Literally. Small pools of water gather around his hand like a glove, and as it moves little waves roll across. I smile at that.
Then trip and sprawl flat on my face.
"Are you okay?" Brooke asks.
Elang hackles. You are embarrassing yourself.
Hmph.
I pick myself up with what remaining dignity I have and nod. First an Airblood catches me puking, then a Waveblood watches me hug the ground. What next?
"Could be better," I answer. "It's been a long day."
Brooke purses his lips and nods. "It really has."