“Novus you recovered miraculously, I would take it easy just in case.” Opal tells me, but I wasn’t listening. Kahn spoke of my mother, my real mother, but he never knew them. At least that’s what he made it seem to be, why would he never tell me about my own family? My thoughts and Opals rant quickly go silent as we hear a scream from the entrance of the castle. My heart drops and my body moves on my own.
“Yana!” I open the door rushing inside,
Yana lay on the floor bleeding and bruises cover her body. I run up and slide on the floor to meet her level. I grab her shirt being careful not to touch her skin, “Yashiro, it was Yashiro. Novus, I tried to fight back, he stole my powers, I..I have nothing..nothing now.”
In between her sobs, I pull her next to me, our faces coming aligned, her breath was so close, her lips seemed closer, “Yana, I won’t leave you alone again, I promise. You don’t deserve this.” her fingers stroked through my hair, almost touching my skin, almost.
“Princess, don’t force yourself to protect me. I’m capable.” Yana said smiling, but behind the smile I could feel the pain. She grips onto my sleeve, refusing to let go,
“But I want to protect you,” I whisper, everything seemed hotter, she pulled closer, now gripping onto my shirt, her lips pulling closer, “Yana, I-”
“I’m sorry am I interrupting you two?” Kahn steps in between us, Yana stumbles back, both of us seemingly broken from a trance,
“No, there was nothing going on.” The words came out like butter melting on toast, soggy, gross,
“Then I need to talk to you,” Yana grips my arm, “alone.” Silence, and then Yana steps back. There was a barrier between us, physical and metaphorical. Finally the silence broke, Yana smiles slightly, putting on a mask,
“Novus, it’s okay. I’ll be with Radial and he'll patch me up. Kahn is a leader, he's more important than me.”
I shake my head reaching for her, but Kahn pulls me back,
“Yanamarie can’t be trusted. I was her slave before you were taken from your parents. I know her better than you.”
I grit my teeth pushing him back, a flash of light sparks from my hands, “Stop talking about my parents like you knew them! You only gave me a name, which my mother doesn’t even call me, if she ever called me that I wouldn’t know because I never knew them!” I was spairling, the brambles appeared, they started to pull me down,
“I knew them,” my mind goes silent, “I knew them both very well.”
The tears stop, I sniff, wipe my nose, and mumble, “Please tell me about them, anything.”
Kahn joins me on the floor, a world leader sitting on the floor, next to a young dumb queen. He takes a deep breath, recalling the old memories, “I won’t fill you in on all the boring details, but I can tell you an important one.”
“Go on then! Just tell me!”
He laughs slightly,
“Well, Novus,” my attention was officially gained, “The reason why Tenius treats you like his own daughter, is because Tenius and your mother were very close. In fact they were almost married, close.”
“That’s gross.”
“But it’s the truth,” He says, “Tenius promised to take care of you if something ever happened to Eden.”
“How do you know this? You sound like you were with them.”
“Because I was, my wife and I were involved with Eden and her little schemes. Though I don’t know much about how she got to know Tenius,” Kahn begins to mumble and murmur on, becoming repetitive information I already knew. My mind wonders on Yashiro races through my mind, black liquid dripping from his face, I see that liquid on Yana’s face and clothes. The stench of darkness fills my nose, even just the memory was hard to recall, “Novillia, Novillia!”
“Yes?” my thoughts stop and I look at Kahn, his eyebrows burrow, “I’m sorry, I’m just worried about Yana.”
He clicks his tongue in annoyance. He stands up distancing himself from me, “I already told you Yanamarie can’t be trusted. Your duty is to protect your country and bring the races together.”
“Why is that my duty?” I stand up facing him, “why should I do this all by myself. You are all being selfish! I have to worry about Yashiro and being a queen. That’s not fair on me at all Kahn.”
“Because that was Trinie’s job!”
“Trinie is dead!”
“Because of you Novillia!”
I stop, stumbling back remembering the moment. The blood on the floor, the stench. Rave holding me tightly as I cry into his shoulder, “I don’t know why I even try with you Novillia. Worthless.”
Everything hurts, but I stand up propping myself against the wall to stand up, then my eyes glow blue. I look up and Yana held my hand, “Y’know, Kahn is a jerk even before he worked with us.”
“Forced to.”
Yana sighs, “I suppose you’re right. I’m sorry.”
The silence was deafening, I pull my hand away in the awkwardness. I apologize to Yana and walk away, my thoughts begin to run again, causing me to run into a guard and fall to the ground.
“I’m so sorry my queen,” the guards soft tone took me aback, her soft hands pick me up and fix my hair, “Are you okay? Oh maybe I’m speaking out.”
“What is your name?”
The guard begins to stammer, “Selene. Selene Luna.” I smile,
“Thank you Selene, I’ve been spacing out recently, I have to apolog-”
“Princess,” Yana, “Rave wants to speak to you.”
Yana and Selene's eyes connect, one distant the other facing reality. Yana takes my hand, our eyes glow and Selene gasps.
“Have a good day Miss Selene.” I wave,
“Yes, you too I suppose.” she says.
Silence again, and I hate it, “I’m sorry again, Princ-”
“Novus.”
Yana stops, letting go of my hand and faces me, “You yelled at Kahn for not being fair and yet you shut yourself out. That’s not fair Novus.”
It hurts more than I expected, why does that hurt? Why do I want her to call me a nickname, it’s stupid, “Yana-”
“Yanamarie. If you want to shut me out you don’t get to call me names.”
“No..that’s not what I meant, that’s not what I-”
“Want? That’s not what you want? What do you want Novus? Please tell me what you want because I don’t know.”
“I..I don’t know! I don’t know what I want! I want you, and I want happiness, a perfect world that no one has to be hurt in!”
A pause, then she rubs my cheek wiping away tears that have escaped my eyes, “Novus, you don’t want me. You want someone to fill a hole and you think a Soulmate that respects you will fill it. I won’t, I can’t fill a heart that doesn’t know what it truly wants.”
“But I know what I want and that’s you! I want to live a happy life with you!”
“I’m sorry,” the dagger tears deep, “I’m not ready and I know you’re not. So please, forget this longing, at least for now.”
I reach out to her. The longing grows deeper, the opposite of what she wants, the opposite of what I want, she gently pushes me away, “Yana, Yana please.”
“I’m sorry Novus, I suppose we were diving in way too fast. Let’s just, slow down okay? Rave’s waiting for you, I’ll be with Radial.” her fingers leave my arms, I reach for her, but it was too late, she was gone. Leaving me in front of Rave’s room. Smelling a stench of darkness lingering in front of me.
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