Adrianna's POV:
"Andie, come sit by my side and we'll watch the movie, together." Uncle Sinclair shouted. But I still hid behind the cupboard hoping he would just leave me alone.
"Andie, I'm coming to getttt you." His voice slurred. He was drunk again and he was coming towards me.
"Come on, tell me where you are?" He shouted the last words and I flinched. When my back made contact with the wall, pain shot through me. The wounds weren't healed yet.
I closed my eyes and wished mommy or daddy was here to save me.
"Gotcha." Uncle Sinclair shouted and then he roughly pulled me from behind the cupboard.
"Noooo, I don't wanna watch the movie, Uncle." I protested but he held tightly on my wrist and started twisting it.
"Owww." I wailed but Uncle laughed.
"You like that? If you don't watch the movie with me then I'll twist harder." He slurred and tear's came to my eyes.
"But I don't like ghosts, Uncle." I said teary eyed and again he laughed.
"You're seven, you can like anything!" He said and started taking me to the living room.
My tears came harder.
"Nooooooo, Uncle please, let me go." I said and started pulling myself back.
"Come on." He shouted and then he picked me up and forced me to sit on his lap.
"Sit on your Uncle's lappy and enjoyyy." He slurred again and his nails bit into my arms.
I sniffed and Uncle's nail's bit harder.
"You silly girl, always crying. How will you handle the kingdom? Haha, I always told your mother that you were worthless." He said and then he lifted a glass to my mouth.
"Swallow this you brat and then shut the hell up." He ordered and forced me to drink.
I choked and then coughed.
"What's thhhat?" I shrieked and fresh tears came to my eyes.
"Whiskey, a man's best-friend." He said and then drained the glass down. He smiled at me again but I didn't respond. I hated him. He was mean and cruel.
"I'm going to my room." I whispered and started turning back but he caught my bruised wrist again and pulled me back.
"But the movie is not over." He said.
"Please let me go, Uncle. Please. I don't wanna watch this. Let me goooooo." I was hysterical by this time and shouting.
Uncle Sinclair slapped me across the face and then he picked up his belt.
"Noooooooooo." I shouted and then started running to my room. But he caught me.
"You fool. Your mother thought that the figurine could protect you. Ha, nothing can protect you from me." He started shouting and then again he picked me up and started taking me to his big wardrobe.
"Noooo. I'm sorry I will never do this again, please don't leave me in there." I started begging but he laughed and then he pushed me in his wardrobe and shut the door at my face.
"I'm afraid of the dark. I'm SORRY. Open the doooor. I'm SOORRYYY. Help me. HELP ME. GET ME OUT." I was wailing but he didn't come back .. he never would have come back ..
He left me alone in the dark .. all alone .. In the dark... all alone.
Ivan's POV:
"Harry I don't know what happened. I just asked her if she remembered her mother and then she went white and finally she swooned and landed at my feet." I said exasperated.
"Listen to me Ivan, I told you not to just spring it on her. You know she was already scared of you and no one knows about her past according to her. Why did you ask her about her mother?" He all but shouted at my ear through the cell phone that he had taught me to use.
"I don't know why I'm obligated to use this .. device. We could just telepath with each other." I reminded him.
"No. You have to be normal and today's people cannot live without the 'useless device'." Sarcasm becomes him.
"Just tell me what should I say to her when she wakes up?" I demanded. Adrianna had been in the bedroom since four hours and now it was awfully late. Though I had been worried about her but I had tried to treat her with my healing powers. Now when she woke up I would know for sure if she was okay.
"You tell her about her mother of course but gently, Ivan. And listen, the situation in the Avalon is not good. We are losing to the Sinclair Clan and Antonio has escaped. I'm pretty sure that he will come here to take Adrianna and that's why I wasn't ready to telepath. Antonio will sense us and know; also you have to be careful with your arrows and not to mention your wings. And you just have to keep Adrianna safe." He finished and my jaw tightened.
Antonio. The man because of which I was banished from The Avalon.
"Damnation." I muttered.
"Tell her as gently as possible and also Queen Victoria has ordered that you keep Adrianna down there as long as the battle continues and that could be for a while. But you have to be back with her for the coronation ball. So, try and explain and let her say yes, if she says no even once then the whole point of you saving her will be a joke." He warned. My insides froze. There was no easy or gentle way to break this news to Adrianna.
How could I tell her that her mother was the Queen of The Avalon, the fairyland and that she was fighting a war to save the whole man-kind against the wretched Sinclair, namely her uncle? Or the fact that she was the sole heir and the fairy princess of The Avalon.
There was no easy or gentle way to break this news to Adrianna.
"I will tell her the truth and then let ..." I was saying when I heard Adrianna shriek.
Antonio.
I dropped the phone and then ran to her room.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE. Scared of the dark, PLEASE!" Adrianna was shouting and thumping on the bed.
"Adrianna, Adrianna. It's okay, it's me." I said and held on to her hand, she was still shuddering but mumbling 'please, Uncle Sinclair' again and again.
What kind of a monster had he been to her? How could he even do this to a small child of the age she had been? He was a bastard through and through.
"Adrianna. Ssshhh. It's me, Ivan. You're safe." I said and then she opened her tear drenched eyes, the fury that went through me when I saw the pool of water in her eyes was unimaginable. Right then I wanted to kill Sinclair for hitting and hurting her.
"Ivan. Oh thank God." She breathed and then she pressed herself to me. I was shocked, I was but now Adrianna was sobbing against my chest.
"Oh, Ivan. I had a .. bad dream." She sobbed and against all my reserves, my fury melted away and involuntarily my arm's went around her.
"It's okay, Adrianna. Nobody will hurt you, here. I promise." I whispered in her hairs and she nodded.
"I'm sorry." She said but didn't let go of me, she sniffed and then slowly raised her head from my chest.
"I blotted your shirt." She said whispering brokenly.
"It doesn't matter. Are you alright?" I demanded and she nodded. She seemed... embaressed. God, it was so frustrating to not know what she was thinking. And at this moment I really wanted to hog her mind.
"Adrianna? You know I have some things to tell you about." I started and again she nodded but didn't say anything.
"Do you think you can hear me out?" I asked and then again she raised her eyes to mine and at that moment even if she would have said yes, I wouldn't have told her.
Her green eyes had gone blank and she looked so sad. I knew then that she was remembering her mother and now was not the good time.
"Yea... no." She said and it confirmed my doubts.
"It's okay. We have all the time. You rest; I will get you some of that wretched coffee." I said and through her teary eyes, she gave me a slow smile. That smile affected me like nothing could ever have done. Her smile had shown me a little trace of hope and trust.
And that was a good enough start for me.