"..but I had cut off her head, I had finally set my sister free," Those words that I seemed to have heard a life time ago echo in my head as I shoot upwards, wide awake as my racing heart remembers the pain, remembers killing my sister. "Oh God!" I shout and Diane startles awake, looking around in panic.
"What's wrong? Where's the danger?" I ignore her and begin to get changed, I had to see her. "Amara, what are you doing? Why are you getting dressed, it's like six in the morning, we don't have to be up for another hour or two." I shake my head at her and continue getting ready, putting on my uniform and walking to the door.
Diane grabs my arm, stopping me from leaving. "Don't, I have to see her, I have to make sure she is okay." She looks at me confused as I try to pull out of her grip. "I have to make sure Lucinda is still alive." She looks at me with confusion but slowly releases my arm.
"Alright, if you really feel like you need to do that, make sure to be at the food hall for lunch or I'll have to come find you." I can feel her eyes burning a hole into my back as I stride away from our shared dorm room. It was really easy to find the Queens Hall, I just had to follow the opulence, there were many Aegis guarding the hallways, but when I didn't approach their hallway, they ignored me, as if I couldn't possibly be a threat, which was kind of ridiculous, I could come up behind them and I wasn't even sure if they would notice me.
Just because I looked like a weak Low Zillah, doesn't mean I would be one, in this case I was but it was stupid of them to assume as such. I look at the long number of hallways and sigh, there was no way I would be able to guess which one was my sister's. I approach a pair of Aegis and they stiffen upon my obvious approach. "I'm looking for Lucinda Smith's room." Their eyes flare wide and they look at me curiously.
"Are you her sister?" One of them asks and I nod hesitantly, unsure of why he was asking me that, they look at each other and nod before looking back at me, something was going on that I wasn't aware of.
"I can just come back later." I say, taking a slight step back, as I begin to regret coming here, this seemed very suspicious.
"No!" They both lunge forward with raised hands to stop me from leaving. "We'll lead you to her now, there is no reason to leave." With a small frown, I follow them, unsure if they should be leaving their post so willingly. I only needed one of them to show me her rooms and yet both of them came with me. One was on my right and the other was on my left, just slightly ahead of me but close enough that I felt like a prisoner being sent for execution.
They lead me to one of the furthest rooms from the beginning of the hall, this one's luxury was a whole bar above the others and that was just the outside, somehow, I just knew that this wasn't my sister's room, that this was someone else's, and these two Aegis were leading me right into a trap that I had unknowingly sprung.
The doors swing open and sitting in a love seat wearing an almost sheer night gown is the bitch Queen, who's name I don't actually know or remember. "I was waiting for you to show up begging for forgiveness." Was she stupid or something?
"Why am I not surprised that you think I am here for you, yeah no...." She looks at me with confusion, which made me smirk lightly. "Yeah, don't get me wrong that would have been the perfect line, if I was actually here for that. I mean this whole set up, five stars, I mean the sheer night gown, the loveseat, everything positioned to make me feel inferior, but it only works when it doesn't happen at six in the morning, because that means you've been preparing for this for some time and that in turn means you're actually nervous about me. Which is weird, I mean you would think that a mere Low Zillah like myself wouldn't intimidate such a powerful Queen." The Aegis look at her with confusion, either I had managed to talk circles around the dumb strong men, or they were just as curious as I was to know why the bitch Queen decided to take me as a threat.
"Please, none of this was prepared for you. Secondly, I know you're hiding something because no one grows up with someone as strong as your sister without gleaning some strength off of them, but you seemingly have nothing. I am not foolish or naive, you must be hiding your magic somehow, though I couldn't fathom why, no matter if you continue to hide it or not, you'll be dealt with soon just like all the rest will." God, this woman was confusing, first I had strong power but was hiding it, then I didn't have any power, but she was still going to deal with me, this woman must be suspicious of the strength of even a pinecone.
"Did Diane comfort you enough?" The jab was subtle but pointed, she knew that someone had pretended to be Diane to push me further away from the trio, foolish for her, I had already distanced myself from them, though if she knew, then she had clearly ordered one of the weaker Queens to do it or had done it herself, which I wouldn't put past her vindictive personality. "Julian, be a dear and escort the little Low Blood to her sister." The one of my left nodded and took a rough hold on my arm, turning me around forcefully and beginning to drag me out of the room, I look back at her, she was lifting a cup of tea to drink from it, and I couldn't help but get one last jibe in.
"It would be a shame if someone accidentally put something real special into your morning tea wouldn't it, your majesty?" Julian freezes at my words, allowing me to smirk at the bitch Queen as she stares at her tea uncertainly, there was no possible way I could have known she would have tea, or even when she had gotten it, and yet I could see the doubt of me possibly pulling off the improbable glimmer in her eyes. She was uncertain and a woman who has probably been targeted by her own siblings doesn't take a chance on uncertainty. I pull out of Julian's frozen grasp and continue out of the room.
"Have a wonderful day." I try to smother my smirk as I hear the doors shut softly behind me before there is a smashing sound and light pink liquid begins to seep out from under the door along with small white pieces of porcelain, her scream of frustration makes me chuckle. Take that you bitch, next time don't try to mess with me and I won't have to retaliate twice as hard. My threat had been empty and yet the fact that she couldn't know for sure and that someone might possibly be trying to kill her, here at the academy where she viewed herself as top dog, must have aggravated her beyond belief.
My my my, someone was awfully suspicious of poisons placed in their food if even the mere suggestion was making her throw it away in anger. Though I imagine her sisters had had a large helping hand in making her wary of the food she eats. It is a pity that the kitchen staff is sworn to the Headmistress and not to her, I imagine that she would be greatly suspicious of everything given to her from now on. The Aegis led me to one of the first rooms that I had walked past, leaving me at the door before going back to his post. I take a deep breath and knock on the door, "Lucinda? It's me." No sooner had I finished my sentence than the door was flung open, and I was engulfed in a large hug.
I melt into the hug, not quite realizing how much I had missed her, her red hair smelling distinctly of strawberries as the knotted mess is flung into my face. She was about a head shorter than me, so it was easy to place my head on top of hers and just breathe in her presence. I don't think I realized how much you miss the family you are always around until you cannot see them anymore. "Mar! I've missed you." Her words were muffled against my neck, but I still heard them.
"I've missed you too, Cindy. Can we go into your room? I don't want to cause anymore of a scene then I already have." She pulls back to look at me suspiciously, I stare at her as innocently as I can as she slowly pulls me into her room, we come across the lounge first and it was bigger than my dorm room already and I knew that a Queen's suite had multiple rooms, all varying in size depending on their power.
"What did you do?" I shrug innocently as I sit down on the couch.
"I may have been escorted to see that Queen with four sisters first, when I asked which rooms were yours. Which made me feel rather angry, she tried to make a power play of it, and I talked circles around her, like I do to most people, then I may have mentioned that there might be something extra in her tea." Cindy covers her mouth in shock, staring at me with wide eyes.
"Amara! You must know that she is terrified of her sisters trying to kill her. That must have made her so mad...." She looks worried about my safety, but I shake my head laughing.
"Don't worry, she insulted me first. I was just paying her back in kind. Besides my threat was empty, I didn't even know for sure that she had tea every morning and yet the fact that she wasn't confident enough in her standing to take a sip of it, shows her more then paranoia about her sisters ever will. I helped her realize where her defenses are weak, all the while getting her delightfully upset." She looks at me with shock, never having seen my devious side before, I had always been too worried about keeping us safe rather than having fun.
"I'm kind of glad, she's really nice once you get to know her." I scoff at her words, yeah I wasn't going to believe that, I would say when pigs fly but in this new world of magic that might actually happen.
"Yeah, I kind of doubt that, but sure let's go with she's secretly nice." Lucinda frowns at me but doesn't seem to want to argue.
"So, why did you decide to suddenly see me after all this time, and at six in the morning no less." I look away from her as she reminds me of the nightmare.
"I just missed you that's all, I just needed to make sure you were safe, but if you're annoyed by my presence I can go if you want?" I begin to stand up, but she lunges forward and latches onto my arm, tugging me back down onto the couch.
"No, no, don't leave. I'm not upset I swear. I just...." She looks down at the couch, avoiding my eyes. "I just missed you so much Mar, and then you wouldn't come see me, I didn't know what I did wrong, or how I could fix it." I sigh, this was my fault.
"Hey," I grab her chin and tilt her face back up so I can look into her eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong, I was just having a really hard time adjusting to the academy. I've always been the stronger one out of the two of us, protecting you from danger and making sure we were safe. To go from that to a place where we didn't have to worry about being in danger was a big change. Not only that but suddenly you were stronger, and I was the weaker one." She smiles at me softly, tears shimmering in her eyes.
"You have no idea how relieved I am to hear that you're not mad at me. Hey, and who knows, maybe you have some hidden talent that will make you stronger than me, maybe you just haven't discovered it yet." What a hopeful thinker she was, she was so naive and innocent, I wish that I could be strong enough to shelter her from the darkness of the world, but I would know better than anyone that the darkness can always be stronger than the light, the light has to suffer in order for the darkness to recede and not everyone wants to sacrifice.
"So, you are some big shot Queen now, huh. Got any Aegis yet?" I tease her and she rolls her eyes at me, but the grin on her face tells me she was enjoying her new lifestyle.