After he closes the door behind him, Arius drives the short distance to park in front of room 22 as I consider his nature as well. At first, I would have assumed shifter of some sort, but something about that felt off. Like with the others, I come to the conclusion that if they want me to know, they’ll tell me. Otherwise, it will remain a secret because I have no intention of asking.
No way, I know the saying that curiosity killed the cat. I’m just not clear on if it was before or after it ate the bird.
Standing under the warm spray of water, the pipes groaning their displeasure at the extended use, I ignore the mildew built up on the shower curtain, and finally allow the tears from the night to fall.
I don’t cry for Barney, per se. It’s more than that. I cry for the girl I was. The one that had dreams and plans, and a spot in her heart carved out for a man that didn’t care for her at all.
So much time wasted. So many opportunities gone. And all for reasons that elude me. I’m determined to get my answers, but for now, I’m going to enjoy the way the lukewarm water feels on my back. A flight will be necessary after, because my wings will take forever to dry otherwise, but it’s worth it.
When the water begins to run cold, I turn the knobs to shut it off, and step from the shower, finding a towel and a fresh pair of clothes laying there. Since I brought nothing in with me, I realize that one of the others must have dropped them in here during my shower. I’ve been so out of it, I didn’t even notice.
My stomach clenches seeing those clothes there. It bothers me more than I care to admit knowing someone came in here. Before tonight, modesty has never been an issue, having had more than my fair share of backstage costume changes, but I don’t like the thought of anyone seeing me undressed right now. Not with the senator’s beady gaze still fresh in mind. But I’m grateful to be out of the silk robe that only serves as a reminder to what had happened, what Barney had planned to let happen, so I decide against mentioning it, as I slide into the too-big track pants and examine the shirt.
With my wings tucked inside, since there is no hole for them to pass through, I could fit, but it will leave the shirt pressed tightly up against the front of my chest, outlining my breasts and leaving nothing to the imagination.
Instead, I rummage through the drawers in hopes of finding something that I can use to cut the fabric. Releasing a sigh when I find a pair of fingernail clippers, I use them to create small holes that I can rip open further. It’s not neat or pretty, but when I’m able to slide the shirt over my wings, I can deal with the rushed job.
Turning to examine myself in the foggy mirror, the cracks along it distorting my image slightly, I consider taking back that last thought. My wings may fit, but I was right in thinking that it would hug my breasts and put them on display. I want to change, but with the dirty silk robe as my only other option, I decide to bear with it.
I walk over to the door, open it, and step out into the room I’m sharing with Sal, and smile when I find her curled up in the fetal position on the bed.
With her sass and bigger than life personality, it’s easy to forget how small she really is sometimes until moments like these. When her face relaxes into lines of peace, and she’s not arguing or joking around with someone, or when the burden of her past, of why she has no living family, is wiped away as she dreams, I’m reminded that she’s still a year younger than me.
Not wanting to wake her, and ready for the talk I was promised, I walk over to the conjoined room and move through the door, not bothering to knock. Yet, when I find Arius changing on the other side, my mouth goes dry and I feel heat shoot to my cheeks.
Though shorter than Daruk, only Kendric can rival his muscles, as I had seen earlier when he had lent me his shirt. I swallow hard as my gaze travels the planes of his chest, then quickly look away, heart hammering within my chest.
“Did you need something, Lorelei?” Arius asks, not remarking on my flushed cheeks. “If not, you should get some rest. Tomorrow will be a long day,” he adds when I continue to remain quiet.
I don’t answer him as I walk to the edge of the nearest bed and sit down, eyes glued to the floor. I may be uncomfortable beneath their stares, but I have no intention of putting this conversation off for any longer. I am ready for answers, and I’m not leaving until I get them. Even if it means I have to stare at the threadbare carpet for the rest of the night.
As I sit, ignoring Kendric’s sigh, I give Arius a few more minutes to finish pulling on his shirt before I look around the space and find it’s as outdated as my room, but I don’t really care. I’m just stalling. Now that I’m in here, the words don’t want to flow as freely as they had in the shower.
“You realize we got you your own room so that you didn’t have to hang around us, right? Not that I’m complaining about a hot chick in my room, but what is it that you want?”
I narrow my eyes at Kendric, coming to learn that if he opens his mouth, something rude is bound to come out. I’m debating throwing something at him when Daruk steps away from his spot in the corner of the room and walks over to me, giving Kendric a look I can’t decipher along the way.
“May I sit beside you, Lorelei? I know you have questions, and would prefer to be comfortable during this conversation, as it may be a long one,” he says, and I pat the spot next to me, showing that I don’t mind.
Sending me a grateful smile, he drops down beside me and takes my hand in his own as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. It’s so surprising that I forget to pull away, and find my eyes traveling over his left hand.
It has the same unique coloring as his face, and I don’t even realize that I’ve reached out to run my fingers across it until the bedroom door slams, and I look up to see that only Arius and Daruk remain.
Unbothered by Kendric’s abrupt departure, I look up and meet Daruk’s pale eyes, finding nothing but a gentle kindness that threatens to steal away the tremulous hold I have on my emotions, but with an encouraging nod from him, I take a deep breath and find my strength.
“I have so many questions that I’m not really sure where to start,” I admit, but Daruk’s expression doesn’t change. There is no judgment or impatience, just a look that tells me he will sit there for as long as it takes.
“How about you just start asking what you want to know, and allow me to pick a starting point? Does that sound fair?”
“Yes, thank you. Okay, I know you say my parents sent you, and I want to know more about that, but I guess I really want to know why now? I mean, I’m eighteen years old now, what changed that made them finally decide to come for me?”
Arius makes his way over to a chair and pulls it closer to where we sit, but seems content to let Daruk answer my questions, so that’s who I focus on.
“You were taken when you were ten years old,” he starts, and I open my mouth to interrupt him, to tell him that already he’s wrong, but he raises one brow at me, so I snap my mouth shut. “You were taken when you were ten years old by Bailey Augustus, royal advisor, and trusted member of the court.
“You see, the Aviary Kingdom sits amongst the clouds and only grants access to a select few, as their numbers have dwindled throughout the years. Bailey, unfortunately, was one of those allowed into it, as his family had been in service to yours for centuries.”
“Your aunt, Queen Merryweather, rules over Aviary, as it is a matriarchal society, while her husband, King-Consort, sits by her side as a silent partner. They have four sons together, your cousins, who all have moved off to other kingdoms and married, but when they failed to produce a daughter, tradition required that the closest female heir would rule, and as the daughter to the queen’s sister, you were selected.”
He pauses for a second, I guess to see how I’ll react to the news, but I’m too dumbfounded to do much more than sit there. “Continue please,” I say, not sure I want him to, but knowing that I need him to finish. I have spent my entire life dreaming and wondering about who I really am, and now that the answers are h
ere, I have to hear them. No matter how hard it might be.
With an approving smile, Daruk picks up where he left off. “When you were four years old, it was announced that you would be queen one day, and in a fit of anger, Bailey lashed out, beating you to within an inch of life and then fleeing before he could be held accountable for his crimes. It was so bad that after you were found and healed, doctors discovered that you had suffered so much damage to your head, that it left you deaf in one ear, with hearing loss in the other.
You were such a fighter though, and despite your extensive injuries, you pulled through and thrived, never once allowing your misfortune to hold you back. And with that drive, you eventually recovered. Everything was going well, though your parents had not forgotten or forgiven the pain done to you and had every available soldier out searching for Bailey, but things changed on your tenth birthday…”
Again, he pauses, but this time I get the impression that he has stopped for himself and not me. It’s in the way he looks uncertain for the first time since meeting him, and I find myself comforting him by placing a hesitant hand on his arm. I only hold it there a moment before I have to pull away, but it seems to help.
“Thank you,” he says too quietly, but his face is turned in my direction, and where my ears fail me, my eyes don’t as I read his lips. “Where was I? Yes, your tenth birthday. You were out sitting in the gardens with your closest friend, a little boy whose parents worked the grounds of your estate, when you were attacked.
Bailey had returned, and with him, darker magic than he had ever shown before. He struck the boy with a spell so hard that it almost killed him. The only reason he lived was that you pushed him aside when you realized what was happening, and rather than hit his chest, the powerful ball of magic struck his leg, severing it from his body, but leaving him alive. But just barely.
You fought as hard as you could, but Bailey had planned on that and used a silencing curse on you so that you couldn’t call out, and with him having already killed the surrounding guards, he took you and ran. Using spells to cover the distance faster.
The little boy though, despite his injured state, shifted into his animal counterpart and followed, flying behind whilst bleeding out, but never stopping. He was only able to give in when Bailey eventually arrived at a set of train cars, the painting on the sides showcasing exotic animals, and even more exotic paranormals, and he boarded with you in tow.”
It’s difficult to hear what had happened to me, but with no memory of it, it’s like I’m hearing of someone else’s story. I try to focus on the facts, and not how the story makes me feel. To imagine it’s a story of another little boy that tried to save his friend. One I’ve never met.
“Knowing he could do no more for you than he already had, while feeling death creep in closer, he made it to the closest supernatural safe house in town he could find, wrote down what he had seen, and begged for someone to deliver it to Aviary so that the queen would know what had become of you.
“Recognizing the importance of the message, an old wolf-shifter volunteered, and within two days, arrived in the panicking kingdom with a message from a dying boy. One presumed dead, but with the information that would allow a kingdom not to mourn, but to prepare, for the paper said: The Princess lives. Bailey has returned. Beware the Circus.”
Chapter Seven
Despite my resolve to remain detached, the story, my story, is too much. So I stand quickly, and start to pace around the small space, my wings feeling heavy on my back from the water that still soaks them, and I realize what I need.
“I’m going for a flight. If I don’t air out my wings, they’ll not dry right. I’ll be back in a little while,” I tell them, needing to escape the too small room and their pitying looks, and when Arius stands like he’ll stop me, I slice my hand through the air as if to ward off some imagined blow. “I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. I need to fly, so don’t try to stop me.”
“I wasn’t going too,” he says, sending his own challenging stare my way. “I was simply going to suggest that you allow Kendric to accompany you. He gets anxious if he doesn’t stretch out his wings, and with Bailey having no doubt already discovered you missing, it would be safest for you if you weren’t alone.”
He looks like he’s ready to argue, that he will need to convince me. So, I think I surprise them both by nodding to his request. Barney, or Bailey, whatever he’s called is out there and I have no intention of ever being taken by him again. Even if I didn’t believe their story, I would be done with him after the auction earlier that night. What he’s done is unforgivable, and I never want to see him again.
“I promise that I’ll ask Kendric to go with me,” I say, and finally escape out of the room, shutting the door firmly behind me before leaning my head back against it, and taking what feels like my first real breath in hours.
“What are you doing out here, Princess? I figured you’d still be in there relentlessly bombarding Daruk and Arius with questions?”
I open my eyes to find Kendric standing across from the door, leaned up against the van, and eyeing me. With his presumptuous words and way of pissing me off every time he opens his mouth, I’m tempted to say forget the flight and return inside. But when I try to force my muscles to do so, my body refuses to comply. So I do the next best thing, and get angry.
“What do you even know, huh? You’re what? Some hired thug my parents sent to retrieve me? Don’t try to pretend that you know anything about me or my life,” I scathingly reply back, and with a snort, his eyes darken and he moves in close, so close that I can see that not only are they brown, but amber specks circle his pupil.
“I know more than you think, Princess. So why don’t you just fly back inside so that the others can take care of you,” he shoots back, but doesn’t make any move to pull away, which is fine with me, since I don’t plan to stand here anyways.
Moving around him, I step out from beneath the awning and stretch out my wings behind me, shaking them to release some of the moisture before I look back over my shoulder to see him standing there watching me.
“I’m going for a flight. You can join me or not. Doesn’t really matter to me,” I say, false bravado lacing my words, and for a second, I think he’ll refuse. That is until he pulls his shirt over his head, and reaches for the button on his jeans.
“What are you doing?” I ask, panicked, as he starts to pull them down his waist, leaving his boxers in place, but he doesn’t answer, he just finishes pushing them to the ground as he kicks off his shoes, leaving me stunned by what is revealed.
“Do you want to take a picture? If so, let me stand so you can get my good side,” he replies in a dark voice laced with something I don’t understand, but I can’t reply.
What I had failed to notice until now is that, without his pants, I can see that where his right leg should be, he wears a prosthetic from the knee down. The piece is a combination of steel and plastic with intricate designs and pieces completing it.
He doesn’t seem to mind my staring though, despite his smart remarks, and skillfully removes the leg before placing it within the van to keep safe. Balancing there on one leg, ink and designs covering his body, I finally look back at his face.
His mouth is twisted in a cruel smile, like he’s ready for me to try and condemn him, to judge him for being different, but I give him a look that I hope conveys my understanding and gratitude, as what Daruk told me about the boy, my old friend, that had flown wounded to see where I was taken plays through my mind.
“It’s you,” I breathe, shock at having just heard our story, making the words come out softer than I plan.
He doesn't deny or confirm my question, however. As he is there one second, and then within the blink of an eye, a beautiful, but deadly hawk sits. Like in his human form, he’s missing a leg, but as he gives a few beats of his powerful wings, revealing that his remaining leg has sharp talons that shine in the night, I discover that it doesn’t appear to have any bearing on his ab
ility to fly.
With my heart racing, anticipation about getting to feel the kiss of the early dawn breeze caress my wings, I don’t ignore his sharp cry to follow, and as he shoots into the night sky, his dark brown figure silhouetted by the sinking moon, I take a second to admire his power, and go after him.
Verbal communication is impossible with him in his hawk form, but that doesn’t stop us from flying for hours, soaring above the trees and rising with the currents of air.
Having only ever flown with Sal while she’s in her Phoenix form, I get a thrill from observing how Kendric takes turns, or the ways that he dives at breakneck speed toward the forest floor, pulling his wings up at the last possible second to keep from crashing, before joining me in the air again.
He flies in the same way that he carries himself while human. Brusque, efficient, and cutting, but there’s a side to him when he’s like this that’s missing in his domestic counterpart.
There’s a playfulness about the way he swoops down, circling around me. He does so with added twists and turns, and I laugh my delight into the chilly night.
We never stray too far from the hotel, but for a while, I can pretend the last twenty-four hours didn’t happen. That Barney didn’t betray me, and that I’m not the missing princess of a land I only remember in a song.
It’s not until the first rays of light begin to shine across the tops of the trees, that Kendric gives a sharp cry, flying around me until I turn and we begin to make our way back.
Exhaustion creeping in, I don’t complain as he begins to lead us back over the miles we’ve traveled, but when I see smoke rising in the distance, urgency pushes me to move faster. Kendric must feel the same because we cover the distance in half the time it had taken us before, but we halt within the tree line, settling on a large limb.
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