Shackles (1)

I failed each of my attempts to relight a candle on purpose. It was the only way to avoid returning to the dark dimension. I would not touch magic for the rest of the day; that was non-negotiable.

Still in shock, I tried my best to hide my feelings and the hundreds of new questions racing through my mind. I pretended to be very focused, but in reality, I was struggling not to lose my composure in front of Aurora.

From my second attempt, she had grown tired of guiding me and took the opportunity to lie in the sun. I contented myself with watching the candles quickly collapse on themselves. Because of the alcohol in which Aurora had dipped the candle wicks, the flames burned more intensely and sometimes produced small sparks. Watching them flicker was mesmerizing, as mesmerizing as the wall of blue flames in my hallucination.

Their light called to me, but I now knew that this attraction led to a trap. A torture chamber, like that of the mercenaries. Fear consumed me with every blink: I would not return to the dark dimension under any circumstances. At least, I hoped so. The reality was that I would have to resume the exercise sooner or later, because if I didn't quickly master my magical disfunction, it would control me.

Ten minutes had passed in vain, and I deemed it enough to make it seem like I had worked hard. I got up and put the candles back in the cloth bag without Aurora reacting.

Had she fallen asleep? Her body lay in a very relaxed position, but that proved nothing. The idea that I could freely escape into the forest on horseback crossed my mind. However, before considering escape plans, I had to free myself from the magic seal that shackles me.

"One kilometer, that's all you have." she had said to me.

I could take a syringe filled with drugs from their armory and stick it in her neck, exactly as she had done to kidnap me. But one question remained: was she deeply asleep or merely distracted? To make sure, I gathered my things and started to walk towards the house.

I hadn't taken a step when her voice reached me "Running away already? You need to be more persistent if you want results..."

My blood ran cold. Had she guessed my intentions? Was she pretending to doze off to test if I would betray her?

I replied to her while keeping my back turned. "Aside from getting a bad bout of nausea and wasting your candles, I'm getting nowhere. So results will have to wait for another time. I give up, you win."

"I know you're trying to do well, but this isn't a competition, Edwoyn. Your only point of comparison should be your previous results. Before, you had never done magic; now you know what it feels like. I think that's a small step forward."

"Yeah, right..." I grumbled, resuming my path to the house.

Tense, I silently prayed she would never find out what I had initially planned to do: win my freedom. In that regard, I had indeed lost. The perfect opportunity had slipped through my fingers.

Aurora trotted to catch up with me and gave me an unexpected pat on the back. "Don't worry, tomorrow can't be worse!"

Far from comforting me, her gesture had the opposite effect: I felt even more uncomfortable and quickened my pace.

~~~~

In a rare act of kindness, my teacher had listened to my complaints and given me the rest of the morning to rest. This new life, filled with training and violence, would take a lot of time to get used to, and perhaps one day, I would stop feeling constantly tired.

Noticing dirt even in my socks, I decided to take a hot, relaxing shower. I hoped that my bad memories and all my problems would wash away with the water down the drain.

In front of the mirror, I scratched at the silver star-shaped mark embedded under my left collarbone. Could it peels away with the dead skin? I wondered. As a response, I got painful red marks that lasted the rest of the hour.

Of all the clothes I tried on in town, I only bought those that best covered this awful magic seal that brought me so much shame. Eventually, Aurora had introduced me to a magical foundation cream that would hide the mark for several days. She often used it to conceal the necromancer's blood that she had never removed from her face.

I let the shower water flow aimlessly because its powerful sound was soothing. However, it was not loud enough to silence my deepest thoughts, such as: what would I do once the ownership seal was broken?

Starting a new life from scratch with Mother seemed like a perfect compromise.

"Running away already? You need to be more persistent if you want results..."

I had rejected Aurora's ignominious offers by pretending to be loyal to the crown, but if I ran away from it all, that would make me a coward and a liar. Would I abandon my people to the hands of power-hungry and greedy ministers? Would I condemn my cousin to bear the burdens of the throne in my place?

"You’re just one of their puppets. A puppet, a puppet…" sang the viper amid my tumultuous doubts.

I splashed water on my face to silence that raging voice. I had to make it stop, or I would go completely mad from hearing it.

Friday noon, 12:45 PM – Guest room.

Interrupting one of my rare moments of respite, Aurora burst into my room with a vigor that I was beginning to recognize as her usual energy. Her enthusiasm had yanked me abruptly out of my daydream, where I had been aimlessly watching raindrops trickle down the windowpane.

A stormy sky had settled in before I even realized it, just as it had the day before. I was content to witness the unrestrained descent of the rain, forbidding myself from thinking about anything else.

Turning around, I found the teenage girl quietly waiting. Her hand was still gripping the doorknob. She had also changed into warmer clothing, having let her bi-colored hair down—she seemed to only tie it up for training. Her long silver strands reminded me of lilac petals on the cusp of blooming. Falling like a cascade over her shoulders, they ended in a dull, dark red hue. These two colors perfectly represented the contrast between her apparent sweetness and her abominable personality.

To have such an exquisite appearance without a drop of noble blood is indecent.

Her cherry-red lips were nothing more than bait, a citrus fruit with a juicy appearance and a sweet scent. No matter what she looked like, I would no longer be deceived by appearances: it was nothing but a rotten fruit, where even a single bite was a deadly poison.

At first glance, Aurora was not particularly beautiful. She lacked the gowns, jewels, and layers of makeup that distinguished the women of the Capitol. However, her beauty had struck me more than any other noble. And believe me, I had seen plenty of nobles!

In fact, she didn’t need any embellishment to shine. It was very subtle, but upon closer inspection, one could discern the perfection that defined each of her features. An harmony so extraordinary that it seemed unreal. Every time I looked at her, I couldn’t explain how it was possible. But this time, the answer struck me with the clarity of a revelation: her beauty was that of a predator.

She would always be the most beautiful fruit in the garden because it could never be eaten. The taste that no one could ever know would always be idealized in people’s minds. Our temptation for the forbidden and the dangerous was irresistibly strong, and Aurora played on it perfectly.

She was the most cunning of predators, and everything about her nature led her prey to willingly be devoured. If I hadn’t been accustomed since childhood to live with the most beautiful people in the country, I would have succumbed at first sight.

A hint of irritation marred her appetizing lips. "Justine has set the table. Come with me."