Thorned Shadow [+18]

Cerelia did not wear a crown. She did not wear a fancy gown or apply any cosmetics to her face.

Her skin was bare, showing the dark circles from last night where she couldn’t sleep. Her hair was naturally curled blowing in the cold wind that breezed through the long night dress that she chose to stay in. She did not leave her room for breakfast in the dining room, and neither did she open the door for Nyota to bring her lunch and dinner.

She enjoyed the silence, while she sat on the floor in the corner of the room, staring into absolutely nothing for the rest of the day. Cerelia could hear voices, she could feel the castle humming but it did not bother her. Nothing seemed to bother her.

“Child?“Emrys soft gentle voice called out to her from behind the door.

Cerelia blinked.

“Erix is ready to tell his story today. Some people have already gathered in the castle grounds.”

Erix.

She hadn’t heard him all morning, hadn’t scented him, as if he was a far away memory she had imagined.

“Cerelia, will you be joining us?”

This was her day, her idea and she had done absolutely nothing. She had no idea what to say, nothing at all but she pushed herself up onto her feet, walking bare footed towards the door.

She opened it slowly, seeing Emrys standing there with a worried look in his eyes. She nodded her head, stepping out of the room. “I’m ready.” She said softly, the first words she had said all day since the morning, telling Nyota she didn’t want to go for breakfast.

Emrys did not say anything as he walked in front of her. She followed him silently, Cadmus following behind her. Would she cry if she spoke? Would she break down?

Cerelia had no idea but she silently walked through the hallways as if Cadmus and Emrys knew she did not wish to speak to anyone. The front doors of the castle were wide open, revealing Katara and Erix standing outside the castle.

Erix did not turn to look at her but his body stiffened as she walked towards them. Emrys stood in front of them both as she stopped besides Erix, keeping a foot distance away from him.

The castle grounds were full but what shocked her was the way people sat on the wall, peeked out from behind the gates, so far away that if she squinted her eyes, they would all be watching her.

Cerelia let out a shuddering breath. Erix did not speak as if stunned at the amount of people who had shown up. She took a step forward, standing side by side with Emrys who also did not speak. As if they had no idea what to say.

Cerelia felt thousands of stares on her. Letting out another breath and pushing the fear out of her body, she spoke. Her voice was not loud but she knew they all heard. “I spoke to a few of you yesterday.” The crowd whispered among themselves. “I wore a cloak, and went to the Inn, where I sat with males who spoke of not knowing their queen and their king.” She ran her gaze over the crowd, hoping she could find the males.

Cerelia saw males pushing each other through the crowd and a small smile, the first smile she had offered today, appeared on her face as she saw them. They were staring at her with wide eyes, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders. “I thought maybe if Erix and I told you our stories, of what happened to us in a realm that we did not belong to, you would understand us more and understand why we do not want war. Maybe believe that I wish nothing but the best for this kingdom and everyone, Fae and Witches.”

The crowd were holding their breath as she turned around to look at Erix. He wasn’t looking at her, his eyes were glued to the ground, his hands in fists as Katara stood behind him, a comforting hand on his back. “Would you like to speak first, Erix?” She asked softly, as he lifted his gaze to meet her.

She saw remorse in his golden eyes and she wished he saw the need in her eyes for him to go first. He nodded, moving forward.

She took a step back, wrapping her hands around her body as chills ran up her back.

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to even say.” Erix started talking, clearing his throat, his back straight like the king he was. “I was ten years old when I was left in the realm called Alaston. I don’t remember anything about those years but I know I walked through the cold mortal lands. I remember the queen who saw me.” He exhaled a breath, the crowd hanging onto every word he said. “I thought she was the most beautiful person ever. She was Fae just like me and I had only spent a week in the mortal lands before she took me to Wisteria.”

Cerelia listened to every word. “There was a dying person who knew magic and with every drop of her magic, she bound me to the queen. Five centuries, I spent pleasing a queen I hated. She made me kill the only female I ever had loved in Wisteria.” Cerelia couldn’t help but look at Katara who was listening to every word as if it was the first time she was hearing it.

“I had fallen for the Fae female, thinking she was my mate and I kept her hidden from the queen. The female wasn’t my mate, but I loved her. She was beautiful and cared for me in a place where no one else did. The queen found out.” Some people were crying. “She made me kill the female I was in love with, made me behead her and rip out her throat. For centuries, I tried to live with the guilt and shame, killing every person the queen wanted me to kill. I went to different kingdoms, killing their Kings and Queens, giving the land to Wisteria. It didn’t stop, even when I was bound to her son, to protect him at all costs.

“Arran was not a kind male. He would torture females, take them to the dungeons down below where I could never go.” Cerelia held her breath. “He would kill them, loving the power it gave him. I could do nothing but watch until-” He glanced back at Katara, a small smile on her face. “Until I met a female who needed me to snap out of the trance I was in for centuries.” He faced the crowd. “I’ve killed innocent people. I’ve abducted males and females. I’ve done horrible horrible things and I don’t deserve to be your king but I am. I promise to be the best king I can for you.” He stepped backwards, turning around and instantly meeting her cold eyes.

She did not cry, not a single tear left her eyes because she had cried all night and there were no tears left inside of her. Others in the crowd cried. It warmed her heart though to know he was comfortable sharing his story. She watched him walk back to Katara who pressed a hand on his back.

Emrys watched her. As did everyone else. She took a step forward. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t as strong as Erix to speak. The males from last night were watching her, a small smile on their faces, waiting to listen.

“I’m not brave.” She spoke softly, her voice echoing in the silence. “So is it okay if I close my eyes? As if I’m speaking to myself?” She asked, her gaze still on the males who immediately nodded their heads.

Cerelia closed her eyes slowly, her life forming in her mind like a book. “I don’t remember my childhood. It’s like a closed book, locked, that I will never be able to open but I remember people, I remember the kingdom I was in. Zemira, is the queen of Vampires who rules with her mate who is a Wolf King in Eridaya. Zemira told me I was a baby, when she had taken me in. She named me Cerelia and for ten years I lived among wolves and vampires.”

Cerelia opened her eyes slowly to see everyone hanging on every word she said. She walked forward slowly as she spoke. “When I was ten years old, I was walking near the mortal lands when a male kidnapped me. He was not kind and I remember the first punch he gave me across my head, before throwing me on a boat.” She sat down on the first step slowly. “He took me to a land full of snow which I later learned was called Wisteria.” The crowd held their breath, glancing behind her to Erix.

She looked down at her scarred hands. “I didn’t see any people. I didn’t see how beautiful the castle was because I think a part of me at that age would have loved to compare the castle to the one in Eridaya.” She smiled to herself, her mind opening pages after pages in the thick book. “But he took me to the dungeons and when he pushed me against the wall, he said he couldn’t wait to have another witch at his mercy. I was ten years old, too young for him yet, so he threw me in a room with six dragons.”

Some people gasped.

“I was a child. I didn’t know how to defend myself against beasts I had seen for the first time. There was a crack in the wall and it was a small corner, as if they had headbutted the wall to break free. I ran to the corner, pushing my small body inside before they could eat me.” She let out a breath, counting silently on her fingers. “I was dying but I didn’t pull myself out because that sense of fear was so strong from such a young age, that I was clinging onto every second I could, until the leader- who I assumed was the leader since he was the bigger dragon-” She chuckled to herself still not lifting her head up to see their reactions. “He pushed me some meat. It was raw meat, but I was so hungry that I ate it and then I was truly dying until they watched me crawl out of the corner, full of dirt. The king had arrived that day, to see if I was still alive after three weeks. I don’t know how my body did it, I don’t know how I survived without food but when he saw that I was dying, he pulled me out. He gave me something to drink, gave me new clothes, and threw me back into the room.”

“The dragons didn’t hurt me that day. They watched me as I walked back to the corner that was so tight for me but it protected me. For nearly a year, the bigger Dragon would push my food, cooked meat, towards me and I would eat it without leaving the corner. The king wanted me out of the room and the only way that was possible was to inject the dragons with something to make them sleep.” She breathed out, remembering that day. “I remember waking up, being so confused on why the dragons weren’t fighting with themselves like they usually did. And I had seen that they were all dying. The king was killing them. I crawled out of the corner, tears in my eyes and I laid beside the dragon that had looked after me. I laid there for hours and hours, crying and hugging each dragon. Something must have happened but they woke up.” A big smile tugged on her face. “For the next twenty years I wasn’t a witch. I was a dragon, flying high on their lifted tails, laughing because I was still a child. They would tuck me under their wings, care for me by warming my body with their large tails that would snuggle around me when I was in pain as my body grew.”

She looked up to the small smiles from the crowds. “It was when I was twenty when the king came for me. He dragged me out of the room.” She looked down at her hands, hearing a snarl behind her. “It was the first time I was locked in a smaller room, made full of iron that I didn’t know was harmful to my body. There was a big bed in the room and I was so childlike that I didn’t know what it meant until he pushed me down on it. He tied my hands.” She rubbed the scars around her wrists.

The sleeves of her dress were wide and she could lift them up, to show all of her scars if she wished but Cerelia did not.

“I remember lying in that bed for hours, crying, and fighting. I was snarling like the dragons did. I roared like a beast but I was weak against a king.” No tears fell from her eyes though she heard people sobbing. “He told me I was young and beautiful, that I was going to live longer than the other witch who had died years ago, leaving him unsatisfied. The hours turned to days. I was tied to the bed, crying until I could no longer cry. Screaming until I lost my voice. He came into the room again-” someone gasped. “And he brought his friends.“Her voice was so quiet. “They touched every inch of me, savouring and memorising my body as they had said.”

Cerelia rubbed her eyes as she continued. “I was locked in that room for a century. They would feed me. The king would bathe me while he continued to have fun. The females would clothe me in pretty gowns, making me look pleasing for anyone who saw me.” She pushed her hair out of her face, tugging at her roots as she let out a deep breath.

“My body had given up on me. My hair was so long because he liked long hair. My nails were perfectly polished because he wanted me to look my best. I would forget what time it was. The room was always suffocating and my body never responded to theirs, no matter how much force they used. Some males had gotten jealous of how beautiful I had become. They tortured me, an burning iron rod to every inch of my skin. It was fun and games for them.” She tilted her head up to stare at the sky that was slowly darkening. The sun was setting.

“They scarred my body in hopes the king would throw me out so one of them could keep me.” She let out a shuddering breath. “They set my body on fire one night, watching as I screamed and then they would throw ice cold water on me, laughing as I screamed until I lost my voice. The king didn’t care. Instead he brought more males. More females. They were not afraid to stand in a room made of iron because the witch who was tied to the bed would not be able to harm them in any way.” She could have sworn she heard even Emrys growling quietly behind her.

“My body never responded and that was something that annoyed them, until the winter solstice, where other people were invited to the party that had begun under the dungeons. I remember the dress they made me wear. Sleeveless, a low cut pink gown because the king liked to see me that colour. And then he walked inside.” She exhaled a breath. “He had kind eyes, a body that was not like the others. He was young, not as old as the other males who liked to enjoy my body. I couldn’t hear what he had said to the king. My mind would just shut off-” her fingers were shaking as she spoke, her voice softer than it was before. “And I remember watching every step he took as he undressed himself, revealing every inch of him. My body had responded to him.”

The disgust she had felt for centuries never crawled up.

“I remember how soft his words were, the way they had pierced through the silence in my mind. He told me I was beautiful, he told me that he would take me away from here. I believed him because he had untied my hands. He kissed me, and it hadn’t felt like any of the kisses the other males and females had forced on me. I kissed him back.” She said softly, the hairs on her body rising. “He was so gentle with me and it made me cry but that cry turned to a moan.” Not a part of her felt ashamed to admit it. “He was making me make sounds that had never escaped me and I was so high on pleasure, that I begged him not to stop. I was in control, I felt powerful—but that power, that control, it all disappeared. The king beheaded the male when he was still inside of me. My whole body was covered in his blood, in the blood of the male who had somehow made me feel in control of my own feelings.”

He was a beautiful male. She remembered every inch of his face.

She was met with complete silence as she spoke again. “I hated every inch of me after that. My nails had shifted, I don’t know if it was anger or fear or rage, but they had shifted into long claws. The king and the others had instantly left. When the king returned, I was sitting on the floor, with every strand of my hair around me. I had sliced my hair off with my claws. The king liked it. I hated it and wanted him to hate me. But he didn’t. I tried to fight him, I remember slapping the king across his face and that day a different type of hate had grown inside of me.” She felt the frown on her face. “But his wife came inside. The queen. She cut my hands, and then burned them. Before they could heal, the king dragged me to another room. Guards bound my shackles to the two poles in the room. For the next few centuries, I was hung in a room where they continued to explore my body.”

Cerelia lifted her gaze from her lap to the males who were watching her. Tears were in their eyes. She smiled softly. “I never forgot I was a witch. I remembered my name, I remembered the dragons that I had named. I remembered the good parts in the dungeons, the way a song would play every winter solstice. I would hang there by the two poles, but I would sing.”

The males wiped their eyes, listening to every word she said.

“I think the fates had listened to every prayer I sent to them because the king came to me one day, untied me and left me there. A part of me was grateful but the other part of me hated the silence. For another century, I didn’t hear another voice, I didn’t hear laughter or music, I didn’t know what day it was. There was no bed. There was nothing other than a guard who walked inside, pulled me out to use the washroom, to bathe myself in case the king came. He was playing with my mind for a hundred years, making me live in fear thinking he was going to come again and again. He never came and then for the last ten days, a guard had not come either.” She breathed out, entwining her fingers together.

“It wasn’t until I heard a voice say they were from Eridaya and they needed to go back. It was the first day hope had sparked inside of me. I hadn’t talked and I couldn’t form words with a hoarse voice but I had crawled towards the door, begging them to let me out, to take me with them because Zemira, the Vampire Queen was all I remembered from Eridaya.” Cerelia heard Katara suck in a breath of shock behind her.

“They didn’t help me and that spark of hope disappeared.” She stared at the people now, watching as they cried in each other’s arms, as they listened to every word she said. “But that door opened.” She said softly, a small smile on her face. People let out a breath as if they had been holding it in for too long. “And this beautiful female knelt in front of me. She didn’t enter the iron room door, but I was naked and covered in scars and surrounded by this disgusting smell of vomit and stool, but nothing had mattered to her. She had told me I was free to go.”

People were smiling.

“Her name is Delphine.” Cerelia smiled. “Delphine gave me her coat. She didn’t touch me. She didn’t even help me as I crawled out of the place, my legs too weak to carry me. She told me to run because she had to let the beasts out. I climbed the stairs and dead bodies were everywhere but I crawled away, forcing myself to stand for the first time. I walked into a room full of people and I whispered for them to run.” She met their gazes. “Not because I was kind hearted and wanted them to be safe. I knew I wouldn’t be able to walk through them, that if they so much as touched my skin,I would scream and crumble in front of them.”

A small smile tugged on her lips. “The dragons had been let loose and I couldn’t crawl fast enough let alone walk but Roi, the leader of the dragons, saw me. He sniffed me as if he remembered and he spared my life.” She heard a few of them cheering and the smile widened on her face. “I crawled like a child through every door, through the empty hallways that he cleared for me. He would wait to see if I was following him down when he could have easily broken the window and flown away but he had waited. He guided me to a boat through the cold kingdom that I had walked in. The snow didn’t register in my mind and neither did the cold even though I was in nothing but a fur coat that belonged to a kind female.”

Cerelia stretched her legs out in front of her slowly. “I climbed into the boat and wanted to get to Zemira, the only person I remembered. I was so filthy that I wanted to just fall into the water but I didn’t know how to swim. I think the ocean was magical because it lured me towards it and when I dived into the water, a bubble had formed under my feet, keeping me afloat.” It was stupid to say, but it brought a smile onto her face and many others. “I got to Eridaya and I was clean. I remember a male called Nikos. He was kind and had sent his friends through the city, telling everyone to get in their houses as he walked me to the castle where I saw Zemira.” Cerelia stood up on the steps, a smile on her face.

“Zemira was nothing but kind and it saddens me that my mind does not remember her mate who loved me enough to allow me to return to my realm. I fell from the sky and landed straight into Kavan and the rest, well that’s history.” She climbed the stairs and stood up taller.

For a few seconds too long there was silence until the male’s from last night spoke. “Let’s burn Wisteria!” They shouted, thrusting their fisted hands into the sky, their words echoed by many others.

She frowned. “I do not wish for another war. It’s why I tell you my story,” she turned to look at Erix behind her for the first time. He blinked, as if snapping out of whatever guilt trip he was going down. “It’s why your king tells you his.“She faced them again. “Why should our people train for a war that is not needed? Other realms live in peace, I’m sure of it, so why should we not do the same?”

“Long Live The Queen!”

Instantly cheers filled the world, from Fae and Witches alike, the same words echoing through the Kingdom. Long live the queen.

She smiled, feeling her shattered heart piercing back together slowly. The stars were shining down on them and the moonlight brighter. She sucked in a breath of fresh air. She looked at Emrys, and asked if dinner could be served to all the people, on behalf of her and Erix.

Immediately, Emrys nodded, calling guards names to bring the tables from the storage room and he walked down the stairs, towards the fae and the witches.

Cerelia didn’t look at anyone as she walked back inside the castle.