Smoke and Mirrors

Sapphire Ragna Nightborne

I shrieked as I pried his hands off my face. How dare he touch me after all he did. I jumped off the cold metal table I was on and rushed to back myself to the nearest wall, the healers had a look of horror on their face and I realised that they were backing away from me and I could not blame them, with my bloodied clothes, wild eyes, and dishevelled hair, I probably looked like a rabid animal. I looked at the display of surgical instruments beside the table I was on and growled at Damien.

“Was killing me not enough for you? Did you cut up my body in hopes of what, hanging it somewhere as a trophy?”

He held his hands up and spoke to me slowly as one would when trying to calm a scared animal.

“Sapphire, I was trying to save you, I…”

“Stop lying to me! Why would you want me to live, what brought on this sudden change?”

I was tired of all the lies, for once I wanted a straight answer. He raised one of his eyebrows and gave me an answer that rendered me speechless.

“You are my mate.”

He said this as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and it almost made me laugh, I wanted to scream at him but felt a sharp pinch in my arm, I looked down to see a small dart sticking out of my arm, I ripped it out but felt whatever it was coated in start to take effect, the world around was swaying and swirling, I tried to walk but only managed a few steps before the world around me turned black.

I was so nervous; my hands were sweating as my servants prepared me for the main event. I had looked around the palace earlier and marvelled at its beauty, gold and black fabric curled at the pillars with flowers covering every inch they could.

It was my husband’s birthday and it customary that the Queen danced for him. I was so scared, never in my life had I ever danced for anyone much less shown anyone the amount of skin that was left bare now.

I wore a gold piece of embroidered cloth that just covered my breasts, leaving most of my midriff bare, a long golden sheer skirt hung on my hips and covered my legs, this might have been comforting if not for the fact that it had two slits on either side that almost ran up the whole length of my leg. My every movement would be made known due to the tiny silver discs that were stitched to the waistline of my skirt. I had golden bangles on my arm and there was a string of sapphires running from the bottom of my top to the top of my skirt.

"You ready, Your Highness?"

One of the dancers shook me out of my mental panic. She was dressed in the same type of clothing but with pants and her clothing was black in colour, the other of our kingdom’s royal colours.

"Yes, I am."

My heart was pounding as I said that, no I was not ready, not ready to most probably make a fool of myself to the whole court. The dancer must have sensed my nervousness as she slowly took my hand.

“Your Highness, I am sure you will do fine, His Majesty would love anything you do for him, just remember, let the music do the work for you.”

I gave her hand an appreciative squeeze before taking a deep breath and walking out.

We walked out into the Main Hall where functions and parties are held. It was a huge room with great tall pillars and a big circular fire pit in the ground. Most of the time the room was lit by the many chandeliers that hung from the ceiling but today, the room was only lit by some candles on the wall and the fire pit which bathed the room in an orange glow, I noticed that many nobles from across the kingdom made the journey to celebrate my husband's birthday.

Many of them were good-looking but only one man caught my eye. My beloved was currently sat down on a throne facing the fire pit, he had one hand under his chin as he watched us walk out, he easily outstripped any of the other men in terms of looks with his jet-black hair and piercing grey eyes.

We took our places around the fire pit with me directly in front of him, I shivered in disgust as I felt the lustful gazes directed towards us from the other men in the room, my eyes sought my King’s and I felt more confident from the soft smile he sent my way. The drum beats started to fall and I moved my hips from side to side following the beats of the drum, I ran my hands through my hair as I lost myself to the music, I drew my hands above my head as I danced, I felt the eyes of the other men following our movements but I only kept eye contact with one man.

The drums sped up and our movements followed the beat. We rotated our bodies, extended our legs and ran our hands up them.

It seemed forever had past when the drums finally ceased, my chest heaved as small pants left lips, silence took over the music before a loud round of applause filled the hall, I let out a grin as my King beckoned me to come towards him, he pulled me onto his lap and giving me a small kiss on my cheek.

“Thank you for the dance, my love."

"You are most welcome, my darling."

I jolted awake, stretching before shivering in disgust. What in the world did I just dreamt of? I shook my head, hoping to rid myself of that nightmare, if this was the Moon Goddess’s way of trying to get me to fall in love with Damien and forgive him by showing my past memories she had another thing coming, I was not that easy to persuade.

I surveyed my surroundings, I was in a large Victorian-style room and was now sitting on a large four-pillared bed which was draped in black satin sheets. Thoughts of that dream still filled my head before I decided that there were more pressing issues at hand, I needed to find out whose bed I was on. I lowered my head and sniffed the pillows, the scent that registered in my mind caused me to growl and rip the pillow apart. Feathers flying everywhere before softly landing on the bed like snow.

I was in Damien's room

I was about to bolt out of the room and find a way to escape. My mind was already racing to come up with possible scenarios and solutions… Damien would have probably left at most ten guards outside the room who I could probably talk.

I rushed to the door and was about to grip the handle when a sudden sharp pain in my lower abdomen caused me to keel over, a wave of heat seemed to envelop my body as I let out a groan. Of all the times it could happen why now, I cursed and swore as I bolted the door before dragging Damien’s huge closet in front it. I took deep breaths as the pain intensified; sometimes I really hated being a girl. Curses left my lips again as I heard footsteps outside the door before the banging ensued.

"Sapphire, open this door right now!"

I decided not to reward him with a response as I limped towards the en-suite bathroom, the banging got even louder, the poor door. Normally an Alpha would have easily broken down the door, however, since that happened so often, many of us lined our doors with a thin sheet of diamond, after all, it is not called the world’s hardest material for nothing.

"This is my room!"

I rolled my eyes and continued to let the bathtub fill up with ice-cold water, I have not heard that since I locked Lia out of her room when we were kids.

"Well, you should have thought of that before putting me in here!”

I replied to him in a sing-song voice before testing the water temperature, not cold enough.

“You need me more than I need you in there, Sapphire.”

Men, sometimes it gets into their head and they think they are the solution to all women’s problems if we needed males every time we went into heat the werewolf population would have tripled by now.

“What makes you think I would let you touch me after all the things you did to me!”

I would have continued if not for the wave of heat that hit me causing me to double over, it was called heat for a reason, stupid werewolf hormones.

I looked around and sighed in relief when I finally saw what I had been looking for, I dragged myself to the table where a bottle of wine was sitting in a bucket of ice. I threw the bottle to the ground, ignoring the sound of it meeting the ground. I struggled to walk to the bathtub before emptying the entire contents of the ice tray into the already cold water.

I hummed to myself, listening to the banging of the door and the numerous apologises spewing out of Damien’s mouth, as I stripped out of my dirt and bloodied clothing. He should not waste his breath, what was the point of apologising now, he knew the damage he had done, a simple ‘I am sorry’ barely scratch the surface of what he should be doing… well, he probably should not put any effort into apologising, after all, it was not as if I was going to forgive him, the scars ran too deep for me to.

A small shiver ran down my spine as I sank into the icy depths of the bathtub, a small contented sigh left my lips as I felt the cool sensation from the water spread through my body, cooling the heat that was in its place before.

I grimaced at the water which had now turned light brown due to the dried blood and dirt that had caked my body, but I shook that thought off as I enjoyed the pleasant sensation the water left on my skin, I deserved this, time to myself as I contemplate what to do next.

My eyes started to close before the banging of the door broke me out of my peaceful reverie, I glared at the door, it was hard for me to get the relaxation that I deserved if he keeps on interrupting my peace with his banging and apologies, I wanted to scream and him but restrained myself. Remember Sapphire, all good things come to those who wait.