Chapter 27 Nightmares and a new friend
Eloise
Raihn didn't speak to me for the rest of the week. I felt his presence everywhere, but I never saw him. I had Tina, Aeron, and Lidia, but it didn't quite feel the same without Raihn.
Tina was the first friend I made in Drakmor. Raihn was the second. Although, he made it clear that we weren't friends. We hadn't been. He only stuck with me because of his Heir's orders. His words stung every time I remembered.
“Why do you think Raihn was so mad at you?” Aubrey asked, a sweet smile on her face as she sat on the library's desk.
A sigh escaped my lips. “I don't know.”
The words felt weird coming out of my mouth. It didn't feel like the truth.
“That's not right, Eloise. You know why he was mad at you. Why don't you tell me the truth?” Aubrey said, the powerful tilt in her voice urged me to look at her. I succumbed.
As soon as I locked eyes with her, I finally realized why those words had felt wrong, why it felt like a lie. It had been. But I had to tell the truth someday or the lie would continue to haunt me. I had to tell the truth if I wanted to be free.
“Because I'm a liar and a murderer.” I muttered.
Aubrey's smile widened into an eerie kind. I staggered backwards when her shining white dress sudden turned to a red one.
“That's right, Eloise. You're a liar and a murderer. You don't deserve to have friends or a family that loves you. You don't deserve love. You're pathetic and weak. A murderer.” Aubrey's voice glitched as she spoke, switching between tones, annoyed, sweet, and scary.
The image of her sitting on the library's desk in the perfectly arranged library suddenly faded away. It was replaced by the scene I met that day.
Blood everywhere. Papers scattered on the floor, some stuck to the pool of blood. And a body broken beyond recognition. Waterborn silver hair.
I felt her empty eye sockets turned towards me. Her broken jaw began to move.
“Murderer.” she said.
I stumbled backwards, my hands covering my mouth to refrain from screaming. Aubrey Vega was dead, but her corpse was…talking?
“Murderer!” The voice grew louder and the bones began snapping back into place. Aubrey's body rose from the floor.
“Murderer!!”
I turned and began running out of the library. But no matter what route I took, I always ended up at the starting point. It was like the library's exit had just vanished.
I didn't stop running. It didn't matter that I couldn't find the exit, the library was big enough for me to hide from Aubrey's strangely resurrected body.
“Murderer!!!” her voice had become louder which meant she was close.
I took a turn with the intention to hide behind a large shelf when something pulled my ankle and I tripped. I tried to push myself up and continue my escape but my legs refused to budge. They were held tightly to the ground by some invisible force.
Aubrey floated towards me, her legs were still twisted sideways and her eyes unseeing, but her arms had snapped back into place. Her silver hair was streaked with her blood, giving her a more frightening appearance. My heart jumped in my mouth as I saw my whole life flashed before my eyes.
She was approaching faster now, like something was controlling her body. The thing had grown impatient. I pulled at my leg harder but it still refused to move. The stench of blood clinging to her body reached me first as she stretched her gnarled fingers towards me.
“Murderer!” Just as her hand was about to touch me, I was pulled back by something, and then, I was falling. Falling into the darkness that I recognized but didn't understand.
The darkness was thicker than the first two times it happened, but I already knew what to expect. A flash of golden light appeared, brighter than the last time. I didn't think, I just reached out to it. But as my hand grazed it, it burned me and I was once again yanked away from the darkness.
.
.
.
My eyes flung open, sweat coating my skin. I sat up and scanned my surroundings for any physical threat, but the only thing I saw was the interior of my room. Still, I wasn't satisfied.
I stood up and scanned every corner of my room until I was certain there was no one hiding in there. I was panting and sweating like someone who just ran miles.
The nightmare had been a constant thing in my life for the past week, each one was more vivid than the last. It became so bad that I dreaded going to sleep. But today, I had been so tired after cleaning the bath that I had fallen into sleep almost immediately.
I hadn't seen Aurelia since we took her to the infirmary, but Professor Geneva had still made us stay back after every Briefing to rearrange the seats and sweep the floors.
For someone who hadn't done any hard labour growing up beside lifting a training sword, it was pure torture. But I deserved it. I just felt guilty that I dragged my friends down with me. That seems to be everything I was doing lately.
The room seem to close in on me, making it difficult to breath. I grabbed my cloak from the hanger and made my way out of my room. A part of me knew it was a bad idea to leave my room, considering all the bad things that happened when I did, but the more I stayed in there, the higher the chance that I would lose my mind.
It was almost midnight so Tina had retired to her room. Raihn didn't speak to me anymore so I didn't have to worry about him. Still, I kept my steps light as I stepped out of the dormitories. I headed towards the Assembly grounds and stopped just before I got to the open area. I sat on a raised platform, drawing my first full breath since I woke up from the nightmare.
“Didn't expect to see you here by this time of the night.” I flinched at the sound of the voice so close. My gaze darted around, searching for the source, but there was nothing here except darkness.
My eyes zeroed on a strange patch of darkness a few meters from where I sat. Shadows. My first thought was the Shadowborn Heir, but a flash of golden hair proved me wrong. The shadows fell away revealing the Fireborn Heir with a frown on his face.
“Better get a Shadowborn to imbue this. I'm all out.” He frowned down to the orb in his hands. The orb that was very similar to the one Aidas gave me in his study few days back.
“What are you doing in the darkness? You scared me.” I snapped at him, before realizing my tone. I was frustrated.
Carden didn't seem offended, he seemed amused. “You interrupted my quiet time and yet you still question me. Fascinating.”
I muttered an apology but made no attempt to leave. We sat there in silence for a few seconds.
“Rough night?” He asked.
“Rough week.” I muttered.
“Ha!” he nodded. “Since you're already here and clearly have no plans to leave,” he said pointedly, “I'm willing to listen to your dilemma. Free of charge, of course. Consider it my good deed of the year.”
“Why? You don't even like me.” I scoffed.
“I never said that.”
“You didn't have to. I saw your face during the trial after the High Lords passed their verdict. You were disgusted.” I retorted.
I realized I had just blurted out the one thing that had bothered me since I got here. Something Raihn had confirmed. No one wanted me here. They'd all just tolerated me because their High Lords ordered it.
“Trust me, my reaction that day had nothing to do with you.”
“And when you wanted to kill me for not bowing?” I arched an eyebrow.
“I never wanted to…” he paused, the realization dawned on him. “For Hearth's sake! You bit me when all I did was grab your arm to stop you from running. But you ended up running anyway and look what happened.”
“It didn't seem like you wanted to help me.” I tried not to shudder as the memory of the shadows strangling me on the terrace flashed across my mind.
“Regardless of what you might think, I'm not a monster, Eloise. And I definitely wouldn't kill you for refusing to bow.” I could have sworn he sounded hurt that I assumed that.
A pit formed in my stomach. I felt guilty for judging him harshly. But he was a dragon Heir. Dragons weren't known for their kindness.
“I don't think I would ever fit in here. No matter how hard I try, I would always be hated because of my nature. I don't want to be among people who hate me for the rest of my life.” I said.
For a moment, I thought I had misread the situation and Carden would arrest me right there for treason. But then he responded,
“Then maybe you should stop trying to fit in when you know you can't. You're different, literally. Maybe it's time to stop seeing it as a curse but an advantage. You have strong potential, you just have to find it.” he stood up and began walking away.
“That's it? Find my potential?” I yelled after him. I expected him to give me a solid advice or at least tell me what to do.
“I can't tell you what to do.” He said as if reading my mind. “Besides, you're focused on the wrong things. You have a group of friends who would literally do anything for you. That doesn't sound like not fitting in to me.”
Carden disappeared into the darkness, leaving me to ponder on his words. I decided then that I loathed the Fireborn Heir for his vague words.