53. AURELIA

Chapter fifty-three

AURELIA

A fter the attack from the Deathlies, we saw what they were capable of, the disease that coursed through their sickly veins and their webbed talons. We knew that it only took one touch for something to shrivel up and to die within seconds. We had little time before we had to go back to the castle, trained or not.

Landing back in our camped area, we embraced each other, fear still stricken in our bones from our encounter with the Deathlies.

"We need to find the nest. I think we need to get a look at it to know what we are doing with it," Angie said, her arms folded together.

"How do we do that?" Loker asked, shaking his head to the side, his glasses perched on his nose.

The silence overtook the air as we all tried to catch our breaths, still trying to get our breathing to normal from the fear that sucked the air out of our lungs.

"We have to kill them off by finding where they originated. If they were created by magic from the Old Religion, then we have to find the medium that it's tethered to," I boldly stated.

If it had anything to do with my castle, then that meant it must be closer to the castle's grounds. I remembered what Cora said. She said that she passed through Leveland and that it was one of the first cities with signs of the disease.

After packing up camp, we reached a new area closer to Leveland. It was about an hour's flight on Dragon. Everyone was wind-burned and exhausted once we arrived. It was the perfect patch of trees near another mountain. My castle was just on the other side.

As we flew, we saw many towns and cities blackened with plague. I wasn't sure how much time we had left before the entire kingdom looked like that land. The memory of the Deathly touching the moss and how it shriveled up and became a deep oozing black filled my mind. It was a memory that I knew I would keep forever.

I wasn't sure if they sucked the life out of objects itself or if they filled the life with poison. Either way, I wanted them sent to Haxnau 1 .

"Loker and Damian, could you find us some meat? Clemmy and Aurelia, could you find firewood? Luella and Angie set up the tents, and I will get this closed up and build some tables and chairs and the fire area." Everyone accepted their fate from their chosen duties and started to make their way. Damian gave me one last glance as he headed with Loker to find us food.

Clemmy walked over, linking arms with me. Damian and Loker sauntered out into the woods in the opposite direction, disappearing into the darkness as Damian rubbed Loker's head, making him trip Damian back. "Let's go this way, princess," she said, and I snapped my head back in the direction we were headed, away from staring at Damian.

After making our way a few paces into the forest, past some large luscious trees, with everyone else gone from behind us, Clemmy opened her mouth. "What's going on?"

"What do you mean, what is going on?"

"You know very well what I mean." Her gaze bore into me from the corner of her eye, sending a prickling sensation creeping beneath my skin. I crouched down, collecting twigs and leaves scattered on the forest floor, selecting each one with care to find the best ones for kindling.

I sighed, not wanting to talk about it. "It doesn't matter," I muttered, scavenging for more twigs and leaves around me, pulling the knife out of my boot to cut the attached ones free.

The sun was growing lower in the sky, saddening it with fluffs of periwinkle. The Celestials and moon were starting to shine brighter with the lack of light.

"Of course it matters. You can trust me. I won't tell anyone else." I shot her an unknowing eye. I knew that I could trust her, but it wasn't something I wanted to talk about. After going through what we did together, there was a special bond that we had that I could never form elsewhere. The thoughts and feelings that I had kept bottled up wanted to burst at the seams.

"What do you know? Then I will fill in the gaps."

She knelt down, picking up scraps of discarded wood from the towering trees. "Well, I know that you guys definitely had something. I could see how he looked at you when I was…" Locked up in the cages, I wanted to finish for her, but didn't. I simply nodded, showing her that I understood and that she didn't have to say anything else about what happened to the both of us. "He is smitten, Lia. You better take that and run. I'm unsure why you are upset with him, but you must change that. The last thing you want is for a man to move on from you when he is so desperately and utterly in love with you."

None of that was true. Warmth flooded to my cheeks, making me glance away. "It's more complicated than that," I explained. I wanted to share that his fiancée had died, and then he was going to kill me to bring her back.

But he didn't.

It rang through my ears like a thousand bells going off simultaneously.

He had the chance to kill me, but he didn't.

He had the chance to use the wish to bring back his dead fiancée, but he didn't.

He saved me.

Why?

What did he see in me that I couldn't see in myself?

What did he see in us?

With my left arm full of the branches and twigs, I glanced at the hilt of the dagger he had given me in my right hand. The blade was silver, the jewels twinkling different colors. He gave it to me because he wanted to protect me. He wanted to protect me . He never actually broke his promise since he saved me.

Clemmy saw that I was deep in thought and went over only a few feet away to collect some more pieces of wood. Her voice and advice continued to pierce my mind with exactness.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I needed to give Damian more credit than I was. But he was going to kill me.

"You better take that and run."

1. Haxnau (Hah-nah-woo): Hell