Estevan
The sky was overcast and thunder rumbled in the background. Thomas was afraid of thunder, so he knew it would soon be rumbling.
I felt Alexia's soft hands on my back and she put her face on my shoulder, leaning against me and looking out.
"It's been a good day" she said over my shoulder "Thanks for showing me your brother"
"It really was" I smiled and kissed her hand on my shoulder.
The loud sound of thunder ripping through the sky, the Letron rains were slow to come, but when they did they were violent. There were times of intense cold and times like this when it wouldn't even snow, on the contrary the intense heat punished, I remember that the last time I had come it hadn't even been that long and it was snowing.
The first scream made me look inside, and Alexia looked too.
"It's the thunder, it makes him agitated"
Alexia shook her head and a new clap of thunder made him scream again. She entered the house at a fast pace.
"Alexia" I called, she stopped on the third step of the stairs and looked at me "They're going to calm him down"
"Calm him down? How?" She frowned and her curiosity took over, she went back up the stairs now with more haste and walked towards the bedroom.
"Alexia" I called and saw her stop in front of the room, she turned the handle and opened the door, I went into the room too.
"What is it?" She asked indignantly, Thomas was being pinned to the bed, something I knew he did on days like this when something frightened him.
Her eyes traveled the length of his body and then she pushed one of the men.
"Let him go!"
"Alexia!" I called out worriedly, she didn't know how aggressive he could be when angry, but then she covered him with her arms and squeezed him tightly, she touched his hair smoothing it and Thomas began to calm down in her arms.
Slowly she smoothed his hair while making a wheezing sound with her mouth, she looked at me with indignation and soon Thomas was asleep in her arms, she laid him on the bed, a new clap of thunder ripped through the sky, the rain was already falling violently, but Thomas was still asleep.
We left the room.
"What did you see..."
"I understand," she said, cutting me off. "I don't think you'd hurt him, but maybe he'd get hurt if he got too excited."
I nodded and relaxed my muscles a little.
"How did you do that?"
"That's what?" She looked me in the eye.
"How did you get him to sleep? He calmed down almost instantly when you held him."
"It was nothing, Thomas just seems like a tormented soul, maybe he needs more affection" She said "Your parents, how long has it been since you've seen them?"
"It's been years"
Alexia's gaze changed, her eyes drooped as did her lips and she shook her head slowly.
"It's always lonely in this life of power, but at least he has you as a brother"
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Alexia
When I got back to Olimper, I felt the drastic change in the weather and swapped my light clothes for corsets and layered skirts as before, I began to look at Olimper with different eyes, finding it old-fashioned, stuck in time, conservative in an exaggerated way.
All the kingdoms seemed to have evolved over the years, the many different cultures made me see things differently, why couldn't I wear red lipstick? Why should I wear corsets if it suffocated me so much?
I was still smooching Silver, preferring to be alone with him rather than walking through the castle and bumping into the nobles. Estevan, as always, had important things to sort out, as well as having to talk to his father about King Francisco, he wanted to see how Lorenzo was getting on with preparing the special clothes for the army.
I knew that things were narrowing down and that at some point these little drips of chaos would explode all at once, shattering everywhere and destroying nations, there was no more room for peace and I wasn't going to back down, Torrem was where I was born, but I would defend Olimper tooth and nail.
"There you are," said Acácio, and I looked at him knowing that something had happened so that I wouldn't just be ignored in the corridors.
"Did you miss me?" I asked sarcastically, getting up from the floor.
He smiled in amusement and stopped in front of me, pulling a piece of paper out of his pocket and handing it to me.
It was a letter from Torrem, handwritten by Charlotte. My heart raced as I skimmed through the letter, it was simple, Charlotte was furious about the death of her parents, she had assumed the throne alongside George and now she was declaring war on Olimper.
"She's been crowned," I said, putting the letter down, it wasn't a surprise, there was only Charlotte to take the throne and I knew that when her parents' death went around the kingdoms she would want revenge.
"Don't tell me you didn't think she could come back and take the throne after her parents' death?" Asked Acácio incredulously as he stared at me, he said, "What should I do with you, Alexia? Sometimes I think about giving you into Charlotte's hands so that all this can end. Why should we die for you?"
"It's a good question, no one should die for me, but giving myself to her wouldn't solve it." I spoke clearly, leaving aside insults and silly arguments and focusing on the problem. I looked into Acácio's eyes and said, "You're the ones who killed her parents, I'm a small fish next to you, she'll want revenge anyway!"
Acácio took the letter from my hand and folded it, keeping it as he said:
"Whatever it is, however it is, our army is getting stronger and stronger thanks to the dragon skin, the protected soldiers will be on the front line and you, Alexia, will slay the dragon this time." He approached me, looking annoyed, his voice sounding threatening as he said: "This whole mess, this whole disagreement is your fault! I thought you'd be more useful, that you'd know how to protect the city more, but you're weak, you're too kind and there's no room for kindness in a war. People may love you for saving the city last time, but I won't allow any more mistakes so either you kill the dragon or I'll kill you myself, don't be useless this time!"