87.

-HER-

I continued with my act while she carried me deeper into the ruins. I also made sure to look around to know where she was taking me, just in case I could master a chance to run. The patterns in the palace were eerily similar to the one in Zaeris.

I couldn’t help but wonder where it actually was. Was it just some other place and I was just mistaking it to be somewhere else? But again, I had seen a full portrait of Arles hanging in one of the ballrooms. This place had to be related to him in some way.

Through the debris of the ruins, my mother carried me into what seemed like chambers where royals once lived. The place was entirely falling apart, making me wonder how safe it was to actually be there.

The ceiling and the walls were missing from several places. The snow entered the ruins from those places and so did the animals because I swore, I heard something purr in the distant.

“How are you feeling, my dear?” She asked me with utmost concern. It made me think if she would have shown this same level of concern if her greed wasn’t involved in the cause. She definitely wouldn't have given a damn about me.

I was slowly starting to feel this resentment that I thought was long dead inside me. I felt this anger towards her. It was the strongest feeling I had experienced after love from Ares.

“No,” I whimpered as I clung to her. She carried me deeper and deeper into the ruins, taking several turns here and there before we were finally in what seemed to be like a bedroom. What surprised me about it was that it was cleaner. It seemed like someone lived there. It definitely belonged to her.

She gently placed me on the bed, pulled some warm blankets over me and feeding some logs to the fire in the hearth before finally turning to me and asking, “What’s happening to you, dear? Tell me,”

Her evil red eyes were now trained on me. Through the light that was entering the room through the window, I could now see the details of her eyes perfectly. To begin with, she had no defined pupils.

She just had a black blob in the centre of her completely red eyes, no whites, and the black blob slowly lightened as it expanded in the eyes. It was both terrifying and fascinating to look at.

The wound on her face caused by me had now completely healed, terrifying me to a certain point.

“I…I have a lot of pain in my chest,” I lied to her. At this, her eyes drifted from my face to my chest before she stared at it for some moments.

“If you may then I can cut it open and look if there's anything’s wrong,” She offered her sick plan very politely.

“N-no, that wouldn’t be necessary.” I tried my best to sound sick, “I think if I rest for a week and eat well then it might go away,” I told her as she listened to me with her eyes painfully wide and with full attention.

“You’re right,” She spoke in a daze before clutching my face almost painfully out of nowhere, “You must eat something. Look at you, you look so pale and worn out! I shall take good care of you!” If anything, her words pushed me closer to surprise and bewilderment.

She was ready to do anything to make me healthy for the sacrifice. I couldn’t help but feel actually sick at this.

“Now tell me what is it that you wish to have. I shall arrange it for you!” She chirped, looking excited all of a sudden.

“Er…” I shifted in the bed, “Some chicken soup and spring rolls would be nice,” I told her, maintaining my sick tone. She frowned at my taste, “Who eats such awful things? I shall bring for you the meat of some leopards and blood of humans. They always taste good and are good for your skin!” She offered.

It made me sicker to the stomach.

“Nah, I think I wouldn’t be able to take that,” I shook my head at her. Her frown deepened before she finally caved in, “Fine! I will run to the town quickly and see what I can have for you!” She told me.

“Where are we anyway?” I asked her when she was about to leave. I saw her phase into an old woman. At my question, she turned to me and shrugged, “Why does it matter to you?”

Even though I had managed to fool her, she was still clear about her goal of sacrificing me. She seemed a lot determined. I would have to be more careful and play smarter.

“I…I was just asking. This place seems very nice,” I tried to sound impressed. Her eyes lit up at my words before she chirped, “I know right! I am obsessed with this place. It’s the ruins of Arles’ mortal kingdom,”

Her answer gave me chills. It finally made sense to me.

“Wow,” I muttered and sunk deeper into the bed before asking, “How long have you been here and how did you find this place?”

“Oh, I was just wandering around and stumbled here.” She waved her hand at me nonchalantly, “I am getting late. I will talk to you when I come back from town.” She told me.

She was about to leave the room but she stopped abruptly, turned around and warned me, “But don’t try to leave when I am gone. I will catch up to you anyway,”

With that, she left. I didn’t get up from the bed instantly after she was gone. I laid there acting sick in case she ever made her mind to come back. After some time, I finally got up and looked through everything that was there in the room.

She owned a lot of weird stuff. I found some skulls that seemed to be of newborn babies. I instantly put them away and stopped searching through her things. I didn’t find anything useful for my escape. Most of the things she owned didn’t make any sense to me anyway.

She was back soon with the food and laid out everything for me while I laid in the bed and watched her work. It was very odd for me to look at her. To some extent, it seemed like I was looking at myself. There wasn’t much difference between her and me, at least in terms of appearances. I wondered what would it take for me to turn into her?

She watched me silently as I ate next.

“What’s that on your shoulder?” She asked. I instantly knew she was talking about Ares’ mark on my shoulder.

“I was bitten by an animal,” I told her but she didn’t seem to believe me because she asked next, “And who was the man you were living with?” I chose not to answer that due to the fear that I might reveal something important to her.

“Was he your husband?” She inquired as she leaned in uncomfortably close to me. “Answer me,” She demanded when I didn’t say anything.

“Why are you asking?” I asked her instead.

“I have the right to know everything about you! I am your mother!” She told me with an authoritative tone so, I asked her instead, “If you really cared to know so much about me then why did you leave me in the first place?”

“Raising you was never my intention,” She shook her head at me.

“Then why did you give birth to me in the first place?” I asked her.

“So that Ptolemy would make me his queen!” She hissed, “But that traitor! He didn’t fulfil any promises that he made!”

“Why did you want to be his queen?” I asked her.

“So that I could rule,” She shrugged.

“Now that you cannot rule people, what’s your plan?” I asked her because she slowly seemed to be getting to talk more. I wanted to know what she was planning to do by sacrificing me and if there was any way to stop her evil deeds. She looked at me pointedly when I asked her the question.

“Why should I tell you?” She enquired. I shrugged, “You're going to sacrifice me anyway,” She looked at me pensively.

“I want to be more powerful. I want to rule people!” She stated with determination while I finished my spring rolls.

“Or is it that you just want to be accepted and loved?” I asked her. My question completely knocked her off as she looked at me with her eyes wide as if I had caught her off-guard.

"Why would I want that?" She hissed, sounding offended. "I want to rule the mortals because I deserve it. I had been there from the beginning of the time, watching them and helping them grow but they soon turned against me! They painted me as evil so I must show them what truly is evil!"

Her voice sent a shiver down my spine but her words made me realize that there was a lot of things I didn't know about her. Maybe, I could dig and find something that might be of my help?

"Can you tell me everything from the start?" So, I asked her next. Her eyes grew pensive before she asked, "Do you really want to know?"

"Yes... mother,"

"Then listen! Listen to the legend of my origin and my downfall," She raised from the chair and waved her hands before the room was drenched in darkness. The fire in the heart was the only source of light.

"It is of the time when mortals weren't even born. It is of the time when only gods and monsters existed. It is of the time when I was a goddess..."