Cursed Blood

I hadn't spoken to any of them.

A week ago, the night of the Ball of Demons - I couldn't help but think of it as that -- I had been punished for protecting a friend and a servant of the Queen. It had made my mental conflict worse, and I wanted desperately to flee Mythira and never look back. However, I was still bound to the Queen and loyal to her desperate my own personal civil war in my head. No matter who I was or what I wanted, I had vowed to serve her. Now I was stuck in the castle surrounded by people I would never trust and nearly despised. Ever since the ridiculous punishment I'd been given, I had holed up in my room. It had been a week since I'd left the room, instead choosing to curl up in my bed and stare out the window while talking telepathically to Kai. He was practically my dragon, no questions asked. He and my brothers and father were the only ones I'd spoken to, my brothers being the ones to bring me food. They didn't try convincing me to leave the room, but assured me that Rebecca had gotten home safely. That relieved me of some of my anger, at least.

Now all that was leftover was confusion and resentment for myself and Lightbloods, who were the people I'd grown up with.

It was sunrise at the moment, and I felt like I was covered in grime. After washing up and braiding back my hair, who's waves had gotten longer, I slipped on a simple dress. It was full blown summer now, with warm air blowing in from the open window. I had many things to do -- I had even listed them, but there was still a pit in my stomach when I thought of facing any of the Lightbloods in the castle or in the Valley. None of the blows dealt to me had left a mark; my Darkblood healing abilities had made sure of that. But the pain of betrayal and shame still ran deep, and I couldn't get over it.

With a sigh, I began tidying the room liked I'd done every morning for the past six days. It never really got dirty or messy beside a few burnts spots, courtesy of Kai, but it was soothing to do something daily. It felt normal, like working on the farm had been.

My heart yearned for my old life back. I wanted to curl up and cry, but I had been doing that for a while. Hell, it had even made me feel lighter after my first day of sobbing.

I shook my head at my own thoughts, glancing at the dragon in the corner of the room. He always laid in front of the door, preventing any intruders from breaking through there without him knowing. I smiled at his concern for my safety, shaking out my blanket before remaking my bed.

Conveniently, the second I finished cleaning, there was a knock on my door. Kai woke instantly, looking at me for confirmation before doing anything.

Can you smell them?

...Yes...

I frowned at his hesitant response. Who is it, Kai?

The dragon refused to meet my eyes. The Prince, Storm-Cloud.

My expression hardened. I crossed my arms, trying not to explode in panic. I didn't want to see him, but I knew I had to face the world eventually.

My entire life was sold off to the Queen. I couldn't hide forever.

Let him in.

Kai, rather surprised, scooted over so that I could approach the door. I pried it open, trying not to glare at the blond Prince on the other side. He took one look at my face and winced, wringing his hands together.

"Can we talk? Just us?"

I leaned against the doorframe. "Go ahead."

Elijah rubbed his hands over his face, his guilt obvious. "I wanted to take you out for brunch, please. You don't have to do anything but come with me."

I opened my mouth to protest, but forced the words to stop. Time to get back on the horse, I thought to myself, and this is a great way to throw myself into the fire once again.

"Fine," I sighed, "how are we getting there?"

Elijah winked, which only made me roll my eyes. "By flight. Kyra is saddled up outside."

Kyra. The big red dragon that disliked me and didn't trust me at all.

Great.

Another thought hit me. I have wings of my own.

Then, the image of people staring me down as I stood in front of them with black wings sprouting from my back popped into my head. Their expressions -- filled with hatred and fear. None of them defended me, barely any of them approached me if they didn't have to.

My eyes threatened to water and I looked down at my feet. The ball had done the opposite of what it was supposed to, since instead of normalizing having a Darkblood or two around, it had only made me ashamed of my power and hate everything around me.

I rubbed my eyes, clearing them of tears. I had already cried plenty, it was time to get things done.

Elijah was watching me the entire time, a sad look in his eyes. His pity made my blood boil and I found a shred of confidence. I'm going with him for brunch, I repeated to Kai as I slipped out the door, closing it lightly as the dragon's snores filled the silence. I smiled to myself, taking a shred of happiness from the familiar rhythm of heavy dragon breath. My mood was surprisingly cheery as I fell in step beside the Prince, looking around the hallway. Certain things seemed different; moved, redone, added in or removed. The maids must've been hard at work doing some extra decorating, which was ironic because I had spent some time customizing my room with things I'd bought when I left the castle with Janora's help. Now, it was more my style.

I frowned. That day, I had fought that 'boss' man. The one terrorizing innocents that the guards wouldn't save because they didn't want to harm any leftover powerful Lightbloods.

People like that... They need me.

Wait, what am I thinking?!

These people hate me!

I stopped short, forgetting all about the Prince. My eyes were wide as I stared at a new painting on the wall. It wasn't particularly significant, but the woman in the painting caught my eye nonetheless. The bottom half had a background of calm, light blue colours in splashes all around. The top half, however, had bold streaks of reds, especially darker shades. The woman was dressed in white, but her hair and eyes were as black as could be, as if they were made of shadows. Her skin was golden, like she was made of fake flesh. Not only that, but even though she was twisted away and there were others in the painting layered over top, I could see feathers near her body, arranged in a wing's pattern.

But there was more to it than that.

She looked absolutely and utterly...

Terrified.

The exact middle of her body was positioned in the center of it, so that half of her was in the blue, and half in the red. One hand reached for those in the red, muscled, gorgeous beings with the same flawless skin in various shades. They all had different abnormal eye colours that burned brightly, like Eileen's. They wielded glowing weapons as well, with magic hovering in the air around them. It was clear that they were powerful -- some would even say that they looked like someone who was the most powerful of all time. Like gods.

The bottom half was different. They had weapons of intricate design, with things like fire coating the blades or shields of pure magic. There was more of a range of magic depicted in their half of the painting, with a large range of styles. A rope led from the pile of people to the black haired woman's ankle, tying her to their half. Now that I looked closer, I could see that there was a thin string tied around the woman's wrist as well, one that drew blood as it cut through her skin, tied too tightly. It ended up going to the top of the painting, keeping her locked in place between the two sides.

There was probably more for me to see, maybe something that would make it all less confusing for me, but I was distracted when I saw one of the men in the top half.

Red eyes, ones that were all too familiar.

"Cloud?"

I flinched, turning to the Prince. He looked concerned, glancing between me and the painting.

"Does it bother you?" He questioned, running a hand through his hair. "Even my mother wants it removed. It was in a storage room somewhere, something like that, and one of the maids randomly hung it up. That's what I was told, at least. Either way, we can--"

"Can I have it?"

Elijah raised his eyebrows. "You want that thing?"

I didn't question myself on this. Something was important about that painting.

I nodded, and he shrugged.

"I don't see why not," Elijah finally admitted. "We can ask a maid to leave it in your room on our way out. If Kai lets them in."

I smiled, though it was only small, and caught up to him. His small talk became background noise as I focused on the prospect of getting my hands on the painting.

I have a good hunch about this...