Chapter 51 Chapter 51

Chapter 51 Chapter 51
Liora's POV

I did not miss the slightly panicked look on her face.
It barely lasted a second but I saw it.
It only disappeared when she laid her eyes on me.
Was she… dare I say… worried?

“Mother” Caelum and I said in unison.

She walked closer to us, one step at a time, like she was trying to put herself together with each one.

She stopped right beside the bed, and I unconsciously played with my fingers, my eyes trained on Caelum, who was now on his feet, clearly on guard.

“What happened?” She asked and I bowed my head, thinking of how to tell her that I lost to one person.

But thankfully, Caelum saved the day.
“Someone attempted to assassinate her” he said, wording it better than I would have ever done.

My mother's head snapped towards him.
“What?!”

If I didn't know any better, I would think she sounded scared.
But nothing scared my mother. Like ever.
The only weakness she ever had was her husband… my father.
And since he died, she had been fearless.
So, I chose to believe it was all in my head.

“Who?” She asked, her voice sounding like the slicing of knives, ready to kill everything in sight.

“I don't know. I didn't see his face… he had a hood up” I explained, my voice as soft as ever.

She looked at me, demanding more explanation.
Right there, I knew that what I was trying to avoid would happen whether I liked it or not.

Ugh, whatever.
I ran through the whole story again, explaining everything that happened, asides the whole Kysen part of course.

Silence settled between us and I waited patiently for the storm I knew was coming.

I looked at her face and there it was. The anger that was slowly brewing…
I resisted the urge to sigh.

I started to plead my case.
“Mother, I was caught off guard and I did not expect-”

“Shut up” she cut me off swiftly and I clenched my jaw in response.

Her eyes raked over my entire body and my hands balled into fists by my side.

Caelum spoke up, “Mother, you should know that this is not Liora’s fault. It was supposed to be sparring, how was she-

She shut him up with a single sharp turn of her head, her eyes shooting daggers. He went quiet immediately, his head bowing in reverence.

The room was now quiet. I could not tell what she was thinking but I knew she was very upset. That much I could tell.

Finally, she broke the silence, “Let me see it”

I raised a brow, before following her gaze down to my infirmary clothes,
Oh.

I cleared my throat and reluctantly raised it, revealing my bandaged torso. I swallowed as I watched her reaction closely.
She frowned, clearly questioning the bandage, and I opened my mouth to explain, but again, she cut me off.

“Unwrap it” she ordered and I raised a brow.

“What?” I asked, clearly confused.

She hissed through her teeth, before moving closer to me. Reflexively, I tensed at the act, but I stayed still. She wrapped her hand around my torso, almost in a hug, and I completely froze, as I held my breath.
My hands tightened on the fabric I was holding.
My eyes glanced at Caelum and he looked just as shocked.
When she pulled away, I forced myself to breathe again, as I assessed her with obvious shock.

But she wasn’t looking at me. Instead, she was staring at my torso.
That was when I realized she had actually unwrapped the bandage. Oh.
But still, that was probably the closest we had ever been physically.

I assessed the wound as well. Yikes, that definitely did not look good. I averted my eyes from it and assessed her reaction. Nothing.
This woman was a literal slab of stone. No one could ever read her… Well, except my late father.

I almost couldn't deal with the silence that settled between us. It was suffocating.

She wrapped the bandage around me again, before eventually stepping backwards as I dropped the tunic.

“How long did the healers say healing will take?” She asked, turning to Caelum.

“Two weeks at most. The weapon used was laced with an unknown type of poison, but they managed to get rid of it from her body. Now, they are currently working on figuring out what exactly was used.

“Two weeks.” She said, her voice void of any emotion.

I did not know how to feel, because I did not know what she was thinking.

“How many people know about this?” She asked, her eyes still trained on Caelum.

My heart skipped a beat.

“The healers, and some guards…” he trailed off, his eyes darting to my pleading ones for a split second.
I knew he would not say it, but I could not help but panic.

“But I handled them all” he finished and I let out a quiet sigh of relief.

“Good, but you are coming with me. Take me to them,” my mother said, somehow not suspecting anything. After several years of perfecting how to lie to her without getting caught, it was not too much of a surprise how the lie went unnoticed.

“Yes, mother” Caelum said and he followed her without another word, sending a subtle wink my way before he went out of sight.

I smiled softly, despite the situation.

That honestly went way better than I thought it would.
I mean, I was still alive.

I let out another sigh as I finally relaxed on the bed.

The events of the day flooded in like a massive body of water.
Me being an ace during training, being paired with an assassin set out to kill me, realizing I was going to die, Kysen saving me…

Kysen saved me. Again.
It was crazy how attached I was getting to him, when just months ago, I could barely stand the sight of him.

I felt so reckless, like a teenager sneaking around with her boyfriend. Not like he was my boyfriend or anything.