“Ani, my dear. No more tears,” her mother whispered weakly.
Ani stifled a ripping sob. How long had it been since she heard that name?
She looked down at their clutched hands, hating how frail her mother looked and the black marks staining her pale skin. Her bones stuck out so harshly it was painful to touch her, but nothing hurt more than helplessly watching the way the life was being sucked out of her dying mother. She was fading away too quickly. Her hallucinations grew stronger, her mind grew weaker, and the blood. The blood never stopped.
Even now, hot, thick, steaming blood of black ooze slithered down her mother’s face, gushing down from her eyes as if they were tears. The sight of it horrified her.
Crouched down by the low bed, Ani placed her head on her mother’s chest, desperate to listen to the rhythmic beats that assured her that they still had time. As weak as it was, the slow thud against her ear brought her some semblance of relief.
Her mother’s hand feebly stroked her hair as her eyes wandered around the battered hovel. Taking in the blurred sight of the wretched place she used to call home, she recalled fond memories before she was ripped away.
No matter the nights they went to bed with empty stomachs or the permanent frost in the air during the coldest of nights, she remembered being happy here. Whether it was from the stories her mother would design to chase away her bad dreams or the mundane, grueling days when she used to accompany her mother to the tavern where she worked as a serving maid, she was content and safe and loved.
It wasn’t until a horde of the King’s Guard came knocking one night that her misery truly started.
Her eyes strayed to the wooden floors that were now scuffed and soiled with the sand blowing in from the cracks under the door. Even now, she could still see herself being dragged away as her shrieking mother begged the merciless guards who trampled over her frame to take away the bastard daughter of the King.
Clenching her eyes shut, Ani chased away the memories. If she dwelled on them for too long, her mind would take her to places she found it harder and harder to escape from.
“Mama,” she whispered.
“Yes, my love?”
“I’m leaving soon,” she started. “They’re sending me to a place where I won't be able to reach you.”
Her mother’s hand froze on her head. “I see,” she said weakly, unable to hide the trembles in her voice.
Raising her head, Ani looked into her mother’s unfocused eyes. “But, I’m coming back to you. I will save you, Mother. I promise.”
Her mother smiled sadly, showing teeth stained with black blood. “My dearest Ani. I want you to leave your demons behind with me and never look back. I'm dying —”
“No!” Ani cried. “You will not die. I will come back. We will see each other again.”
Her mother sighed heavily in resignation. Shakily raising her arms, she unclasped the silver chain around her neck holding a smooth, dark stone. Taking Ani’s hand, her mother placed it against her palm.
“Promise me you’ll wear it at all times. It will protect you.”
She hesitated at first, but to placate the pleading look in her mother's eyes, Ani wordlessly fastened the chain around her neck. Biting her lips to hold back her tears, she brought a damp cloth to wipe away the fresh tears of blood drying on her mother’s face. “I have to go now,” her voice cracked.
Her mother nodded. “I love you.”
“I love you,” she whispered, placing a kiss on her mother’s cold forehead.
With those last words echoing in her head, Ani left her mother behind.
It would be a few hours later that she entered the black markets of Ravenia to meet a lowly merchant holding a map to the Dreamers of Theolos — her new prison cage waiting for her beyond the Southern Sea. And, it was in that dark alleyway that she slit the man’s throat to claim a ragged piece of paper holding the key to her mother’s life.
It was there, on that day, that she first invited darkness into her heart.
Stumbling through the familiar wooden door of the apothecary she had broken into mere hours before, Ani fell to her knees as bile rose up her throat. Heaving breaths of air into her burning lungs, she fell to her back.
During her pathetic flee from the Dreamer’s cavern, the same memory kept taunting her. The lengths she had gone to for a chance that was now lost, the vow she had made for her mother’s life, and the man that no longer breathed because of her desperation. It couldn’t have all been in vain.
Yet, she ran.
Her vision turned red. In a burst of rage, she sat up, grabbed the nearest glass she could find, and threw it against the door. As it shattered, the potent scent of herbs and alcohol permeated the air. Already feeling ashamed, Ani hung her head, breathing hard from the anger that consumed her.
She had felt fear in that dark cavern, but it wasn’t her fear of the crooked Dreamers or the masked man that caused her to run. It was the fear of what it inspired within her mind.
There was something innately wicked within the dwelling of the Dreamers. And while the sinister aftertaste of it should have repelled her, it enticed her instead.
Something was terribly wrong with her. While she believed it always existed within her, the past few months had only proved just how twisted she truly was. When she felt the itch to draw blood or the anger that always seemed to simmer just below the surface, it terrified her more than anything that the monster she was sure resided inside would be unleashed.
So when she felt the pull of the Dreamers, it felt as if something heinous and vile would be freed. She couldn’t explain how, but it was as if her soul was thumping against her body to rip itself out and latch onto the eerie essence of what she had seen.
Clenching her jaw until it ached, Ani ripped off her mask and took her first real breath of fresh air. Now was not the time to think about just how warped she had become. She had to go.
Standing abruptly, she located the leather satchel she had stuffed under a cabinet of vials near the entrance.
Instinctively, she went through the process of ending her charade.
Quickly stripping herself of the poorly sized tunic and pants she had swiped from one of her guards, Ani dressed herself in a finely embroidered silk gown and a heavy fur-lined coat that erased the chill she had felt in her shabby disguise. She tied back her long waves of brown hair into her customary chignon, tightly placing it at the nape of her neck to ensure that not even a single curl was out of place. Taking out the elevated soles in her boots, she shrunk back down to her normal height. To finish, she adorned herself with the jewels her father had commanded her to wear — sighing all the while as she clasped on a pair of sapphire earrings.
Stuffing the discarded garments back into the satchel, Ani quickly gathered her belongings and moved to leave her little hideout. It wasn’t until she saw the shattered remains of her outburst, that the guilt began to hit her again.
Cleaning up the shards in apology to the poor shop owners who were unfortunate enough to be caught in her path, Ani also placed a glittering diamond bracelet on the front counter to compensate for the damage she had caused. With one last regretful look, she departed.
After long minutes of walking in the dead of night, she saw the handsome brown stallion she had tied to a tree on the outskirts of the humble town. It was then that dread started to pool in the depths of her stomach.
No matter the failure of her venture, it was better than going back to being that wretched person she so wished to suffocate out of herself. Looking up at the crescent moon, Ani prayed for her sanity and her mother. She was determined to find a cure, a magical healer, whatever it was she had to find to save the only person she loved in this cruel world. And, if that meant getting married to a stranger or acting the part of the obedient daughter, she would do it without complaint.
So, as she rode back through the foreign Empire, Ani never stopped scheming. This was only the beginning, and it would take more than temper tantrums and psychotic cult members to drive her away.
When the golden gates of the Rainer Estate loomed in the distance, Ani snapped out of the trance she had found herself in. Discreetly dismounting her horse by the edges of a path leading to the horse stables, she followed the trail of pebbles she had left behind and let it guide her to a steel gate propped open by a crumbling brick. Wincing when it creaked open, Ani led the tired mare through the vast green fields and to a trough of water waiting for them by the stalls housing his sleeping brothers.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Ani reveled in her sole success of the night and leaned against the warm body of her drinking horse, gently patting his smooth coat in praise.
“Thank you for your services, Handsome,” she whispered.
As he neighed back a good-natured response, Ani gave a small, yet sincere, smile.
All she had to do now was sneak back into her guest chambers and —
“Princess Helene?”
She froze.
Oh no.
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