6. AURELIA

Chapter six

AURELIA

M y eyes fluttered open, the plushness of my bed greeting me a good morning. The sheets were natural silk and felt smooth against my clean legs. After the events of the previous night, I went up to my bed in the tower, and took my anger out by reading more books until the weariness claimed me. I wanted to learn more about Scalebornes and the curses, even though I had already read the books more than twenty or thirty times each. I stopped counting after at least ten.

The sun's rays gleamed in my room, shining into my eyes. After a few yawns, I kicked over my feet to find my white fluffy slippers near my bed, where I always kept them.

Following my usual morning schedule, I went over to the shelves that hung down along the wall of the far side of my tower, finding the one that held all of my bottles of potions. Held with glass vessels, the elixirs bubbled inside, secured only by a small cork. Each adorned with symbols and signs on the front of the bottle dripping with black ink—the contents of the vials, ethereal blues, shimmering greens, to deep velvety purples and fiery reds.

Making my way to the shelves along the opposite side that held all of my books, I looked for the one with all the hand-written potions and spells for different circumstances. Oddly, I found that the velour ancient crimson book was missing. Where could it have gone? Checking beneath my bed, it was still nowhere to be found.

However, under my bed sat one of my bright pink feathers from a wyssle that used to sit properly on my artifact shelf. I reached for it, grasping the small soft ends of it, and lifted it to put it back on my racks and back to its proper place alongside the random pens, earrings, or buttons that were washed out from the Forbidden Forest.

A timbered oak chest held all of my clothes as well, located near the window of my room. I only wore fancy dresses when I went inside the castle, but even then, my mother would send a servant out to my tower to give me a specific dress before the occasion–especially since I was never aware of what was happening in the castle, I never knew what to expect.

The remaining clothes in the wooden closet were two-piece matching sets with soft fabric. I picked out a light blue set and put it on. The fabric was lightweight and fitted perfectly to my skin. I delicately braided my pink hair down my back, sweeping it away from my face.

"Aurelia!" I smiled, recognizing my best friend's voice. Shuffling beside the gaping window, I caught sight of her below, peering back up at me. The sky was clear with billowing clouds, softening the blue hue of it. With no speck of purple in sight, I knew the veil that kept me trapped in my tower was down. Some days, Nana allowed me to exit, whereas others it was strictly up.

"Coraline!" I yelled through the window. She made our whistle tune, and I mimicked the tune back. Her hair was genetically purple and slicked back into a ponytail draped over her shoulders. Her skin carried warm undertones of caramel, and her eyes were deep with hues of chocolate. Her fingernails glistened violet, mirroring the intensity of her hair color. Silver earrings of all sizes and styles lined her ears, catching the sunlight.

"I will come down to you!" I yelled out to her after finishing the mimicked whistle tune. Making my way toward the stairs, my feet pattered down the silver spiraling steps.

After finding her, I grabbed her in a rough embrace. "Cora! I have missed you! Where have you been?" Her hands were laced behind her back, holding something.

With a delicate touch, she slowly unfurled her fingers, unveiling the object she held within her grasp. Nestled between her fingertips lay a golden necklace adorned with a small glass vial. "I brought you something back from my trip! It's for your trinket shelf." She placed the gold chain into my hands, and I cupped the weight gingerly.

It warmed my heart that she remembered me. "Come up! Let me find a home for it." My lips curled into a smile. Pivoting, she trailed behind me as we made our way to the pinnacle of my tower.

Climbing the stairs, I remembered the date. It was the anniversary of the death of her parents. "Cora, how are you doing today?" I asked, knowing that she dreaded this day each year, unable to escape the pain of losing her parents at such a young age.

"Umm," she said through bared teeth, biting her lip. "I could be better. Definitely." The air became heavy with sorrow.

"I am sorry. I can't even imagine how hard that must be," I said, thinking of what it would be like to lose my parents. Would I care? Would I miss them?

"I am just grateful for you and your father. I don't know where I would be without you and your amazing family taking me in as their own. Him raising me and being able to grow up alongside you was all that I could ask for. It also helps to be able to travel to each of the cities. It has helped keep my mind off of things."

Her parents were best friends with my father until they never returned from their travels to a far lake in one of the other kingdoms. There was said to be treasure at the bottom of the lake, so my father sent them to find it before any other kingdom did. However, they never returned. She had been my best friend ever since, and my father had treated her as his own.

This made me jealous at times. She had so much freedom. It was my dream to travel and explore the neighboring kingdoms, as she had been doing.

Our dream was to travel together through the Forbidden Forest and adventure through the Sardan Kingdom, to see the seas and what it was like to be so close to the water and the sand. Here, we only had mountains and valleys, which were dazzling, but I had yearned to see the never-ending water.

"Where did you go this time?" I asked as we reached the main level of my tower. Moving around my other trinkets on the shelf, I made a place for my new one. I treasured the souvenirs that she always brought me back. However, I couldn't help the small slice of sadness and entrapment they made me feel.

"I traveled to Elenar," she said as she pursed her lips. "We made a trade with their city. Our seeds for gold." I nodded in reply, delicately placing the gold necklace on the shelf next to an empty jar.

We were known for our seeds, greenery, fruits, and vegetables. We often made trades with neighboring cities throughout the kingdom.

A sigh escaped my lips as I reclined on my bed; Cora jumped on the plush sheets, joining my side. "Cora, tell me more. What is Elenar like?" I couldn't contain my curiosity as she went from city to city, wanting to know everything in detail as if I were there alongside her. It muffled the longing I felt.

"Elenar was very glamorous. They are a high-end city. Some of their large towers and buildings were made of straight gold! Their jewelry there was breathtaking. They had so many small shops along the streets with everything you could imagine made from gold! I wanted to buy more items, but they were too heavy to return!"

"And you went by horse, I presume?"

"Yes," she exclaimed.

"And you had safe travels? No robbers?" I was always worried when she left. Robbers in the area had become more and more prominent. It was almost as if they were looking for something, but we couldn't figure out what. They would take apart the carriages and everything the king's men brought for traveling but wouldn't take anything.

"Yes. No robbers this time." She paused after saying those words. However, something felt off. She was biting her lip and wouldn't make eye contact with me, which was very unlike her.

"Cora, is something wrong?" I knew something was wrong as I observed the furrow in her brow and the quiver in her voice. Her usual upbeat demeanor was replaced with a curt one. Something beyond being the anniversary of her parent's deaths. What could've happened on the trip?

She paused, not wanting to respond. Anxiety started to rise in my spine. I had never seen Cora like this. "Something is happening throughout the kingdom. Queen or not, you should be aware."

I could feel my body tense up and freeze in place. "What do you mean? What's happening?" I quickly asked, moving closer to her.

"Have you heard of the Deathlies?"

I wracked my brain to think of what the Deathlies could be, but nothing came to mind. "No, I don't believe so."

She anxiously stood up and started to pace around the room. It made me even more antsy for her to explain whatever the Deathlies were. Usually, the roles were swapped, and Cora asked me for answers about different creatures throughout the land. Surprisingly enough, I had never heard of these.

"They are plagued monsters and carry disease. They fly and are similar to dragons, but a lot smaller. They are called Deathlies for a reason, as they look like death itself," she said, still pacing, her hands covering her face with fear. My heartbeat quickened, pounding against the cage that contained it.

"Did you see them?" I questioned.

"No," she continued, "but I saw their effects, and it's not pretty."

"Tell me about the effects."

"They have been killing off all the crops and spreading their disease like poison. I passed through and saw Leveland…" her words drew out breathlessly, scared to push through her sentence. "The city was completely blackened. The crops were all dead, and people were dying. Very few escaped. Luckily, we were on the outskirts and had just seen it. They said that if you touched even the blackened ground, you would be infected with their disease." She looked up at me with tears in her eyes, securing the truth in her words. A lump formed in her throat. "Aurelia, so many people died. And it's spreading. Your father is worried that it will make its way here." Her face contorted with fear, tears dripping down her cheeks.

I didn't know what to think. Deathlies? Disease? Plague? Famine? It all sounded suspiciously horrible. Where did these creatures come from? Why the Clandike Kingdom? Something wasn't adding up or making any sense. If tears weren't leaking from Cora's face, I would've thought she was joking with me as if it were some sick prank. But it wasn't. This was real.

"How do you kill them?" I asked urgently, hoping that there was an answer to this question, and that there was something that we could do. My eyes watched her tense.

"We don't know," Cora said, all hope drained from her voice.

There was a pause between us. We both were processing what Cora had witnessed and what it meant for the Clandike Kingdom. The Deathlies sounded as though they could single-handedly kill off the entire kingdom–my kingdom. This couldn't happen. I wouldn't let this happen.

It wasn't even a kingdom I was Queen over, yet I felt responsible for everyone's safety. The dream of becoming Queen and being the safety net for the people flashed to my mind. I wanted to prove that I was worthy of being heir to the throne. I could save a kingdom. A Scaleborne could save the kingdom.

It must've been a few minutes of silence with both of us in thought until Cora broke it. "I got to go to report to the king." She started to stand up from my bed, as duty, and responsibility took control of her actions. She gave me one last hug and then began to head down the stairs.

"Cora," I called to her. Her purple ponytail slung off her shoulder as she stopped and turned.

"I want to help. With the Deathlies," I stated. "Tell me if there's anything I can do," I added with a smile.

She nodded and went down the stone steps to the castle, about to tell my father of her journey–a luxury I couldn't help but envy.