She recalled the guy in the robe, as she changed into her own, pantyless, luckily for her perky breast,
she didn’t really procure a bra. There was some connection she felt when he spoke to her, a loosening
in her threshold. It wasn’t like the tension in the room with Kalbreal, the lust, she felt for forbidden fruit.
She had rethought his words, over and over again, a silent mantra, “That princess is for you to decide.”
The words lingered in her head, a passing memory. A small spark of something sizzled in her veins too
microscopic to name.
***
Dressed in a full red robe, Kalbreal waited for her. He deliberately raked up her body ever so slowly,
pausing when he reached her lips, “A true Lightwatcher, no doubt.”
Clare brushed the unwanted feelings that hummed in her body, “Thanks,” was all she could say before
he opened the door. Turning around but facing his head to the side as if trying not to look at her while
he spoke, he gestured, “Tie your hair, you look too distracting for the others.”
Baffled by his gravel voice she asked, “Is that your idea of a compliment?”
He didn’t answer, instead, he turned and walked away leaving the door open behind him. That was a
dismissal, she guessed Angel-boy didn’t like to be questioned.
Well if he was going to ignore her, so would she. The door slammed shut, she went down the narrow
hallway. Caidrian caught her arm, the grip firm but not sore, “You look good, but tie your hair up it’s a
crescent ceremony, not a wedding Clare.”
She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, and begrudgingly knotted her locks up in a bun. From the corner
of her eye, she caught Alonso staring at her, secretly smiling from the end of the passageway.
Alonso, Nadia and Caidrian wore a red robe, whilst Nathan the only other one dressed in white. All left
the castle together making their way slowly further into Khiron. It was easily past seven by now, but the
realm still looked bright, the skies darkness overhead, from where a beam of light shadowed the city,
like sparkling diamonds of pearlescent light glittering in the air.
She spoke to Alonso who walked next to her, “What is that light up there, it’s beautiful,”
He smiled, not looking at her, “Well, I like to think of this realm as the city of lights, those are protective
seals.” He said pointing to the dazzling glimmer, “Souls of Lightwatchers, it’s like fragments of their
souls falling around us, they do that all the time, but at night, you just see it better.”
“The souls never lose its lights, so that’s like dust from it?”
He nodded his head, “You catch on quickly for a newbie. I never had a chance to tell you.”
She looked up at Alonso, his long hair falling on his nape, he was a few inches taller than Kalbreal, and
almost twice Angel-boys size, Clare was happy he was one of the ‘good guys, “Tell me what Alonso?”
He looked at her as they walked behind the others, his Asian blood seemed to be more prominent in
the dark, causing the olive undertone of his skin to give him an almost dreamy look.
“I’m sorry for the loss of your mother, her name shall echo as a hero in Aquadore mountain, and her
soul shall be the brightness in the darkest of hours.”
She didn’t really understand what he said, but it sounded pleasant and remorseful, “Thank you,
Alonso,”
They approached the ceremonial grounds, with small fires marking the corners. Groups of unfamiliar
people scattered across, all dressed in different attire, but still respectable.
She noticed a few of the people, the ones who walked together muttering in a foreign tongue, all
wearing red robes with golden links of rope tired around the waist holding the garment closed.
Their skin shimmered in their unnatural fairness, and as she got closer to them she focused on their
hair, which was a bright shining white, or platinum.
Her first thought was Angels, before she said anything, she caught a glimpse of their eyes. They were
black, but not like Isades was, these had SO much hatred in them, her bones jittered.
Nathan startled her, by clicking his fingers in front of her eyes, she snapped out of her mind, “Hey, I
didn’t see you there.”
“Don’t stare, they’re Elvan, from the 4th realm, Safiereal, the shimmering on their skin is just a hoax, to
piss the Caster’s off. They would look just like us if it weren’t for the white hair and fake diamond teeth.”
She gave him an incredulous look, which earned her one of his rare smiles, “On second thought,
scratch that, they are just freaky, but Calub stands them so.” He shrugged
She looked at him, curiosity marked her gaze, but she was only caught by part of his sentence- “There
are other realms?”
He put his arm on her shoulder, and part of his wrist bands dug into her skin. She dropped her eyes to
the floor and back at him, he was dressed just like her, and his dark green eyes a stark reflection of her
own, but jealousy seeped in by the obvious features of her mother, she pushed it away.
He was taller and more muscular than she remembered from the day before, especially since he put
his arm around her, she could feel the weight drag her down, but she liked it, she needed to hug
someone, especially someone who reminded her of her mother.
“Sister, sister, there are many realms, eleven to be exact, but we only have an alliance with five others,
Elvan, as you’ve seen, the Shapeshifter’s,” he said pointing to a group of men. One of them stood out,
with a tattoo on his face, but all of them possessed dark blue hair, shocking or metallic, it showed
brightly even in the firelight.
The shapeshifters wore dark green robes with beads of white around their necks, some of them were
fair skin, others dark like Asian, she recognized the appearance from earlier when they’d attacked her
and Caidrian. Those were dead, most of them beheaded to be more precise, except the one.
Clare swallowed her saliva as if water dripped in her mouth, as the memory of the Shapeshifter in the
hands of the faceless man, surfaced. The man who held her mind captive, by seven simple words, who
was he.
Her body waited to be recalled by the hooded stranger as if her senses were intertwined to seek him
out, her eyes darted involuntarily across the lake, she saw… him, a figure, staring across the lake. She
knew it was him, every sense of her body awakened, as the very reason she was there in the first place
left her.
He stood directly opposite her but in this case, he was unreachable, a little too far. She withdrew
herself away from the foreign stranger knowing that it was pointless to strain her eyes so far when she
could hardly see him, even if her body yearned for it. A small voice whispered in her ear, “He would
come to you.”
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