Langrion’s voice sounded sinister as he breathed his words, “Didn’t you know that it’s bad luck to lose a shoe, deary? And it’s even a far worst luck to meet some stranger in the woods at this dreadful hour...”
After he spoke these words, he grabbed one of Shia’s arm, which made her lose her balance. With a loud thud, they crashed together hard on the ground.
Shia’s head seemed to spin a little from the fall. When she came about, she realized that Langrion’s muscular body had landed on top of her. She tried to move about, but she can’t. She looked down and saw that his face had buried itself near her stomach, but his hands gripped both of Shia’s shoulder so forcefully that it hurt quite a lot.
“Let me go, Langrey. You’re hurting me,” Shia said. She was waiting for Langrion to laugh at her anytime now and tell her that he had simply missed a step or that everything was a joke. She waited, but he said nothing. A twinge of panic began to rise in the pit of her s
Clutching the hem of her silken red and golden sleepwear, Shia walked briskly towards the dining area where she was positive that she could find the very man or monster that she was looking for. She walked head on as Langrey trailed behind her with his shouts. Even when he pleaded, she did not stop at all for Langrey’s questions. It seems she could not hear anything outside her intent to hurt and her seething rage. She only stopped abruptly and involuntarily when the prince clung to her arm and spun her wildly around. “Shia, this is enough! Do you really want to go in there in that state? Don’t let your anger cloud your judgement!” She yanked her hand away from his grasp and began walking again. Frankly, she did not care if she looked badly bruised all over or if she was underdressed for the occasion. Proper decorum had long since gone out the window for Shia the moment she learned that the creature who had hurt her was moving somewhere else in
Shia shot a glance at the face of Langrion’s twin and surveyed it one more time before she finally decided to lower down her weapon. As soon as she did, an arm and a pair of coat were wrapped around her body. It was Langrion. He continued to lock her in an embrace, which she felt was more for the sake of his brother than for her. “She is feeling unwell. I shall take her back into the room,” Langrion declared to the people around the table. “Obviously she is, boy,” the old man replied. “But let her stay. I want to see her face up close.” The lady with dark green eyes snorted, “There goes my appetite...” Shia’s eyed the group of people around the dining hall suspiciously. How did each of these horrible folks come to know each other? What’s worse is the fact that even Langrion is acquainted with them! Was there some kind of connivance between all of them that they decided to single out this day to infuriate her? In an apparent compliance, Langrio
Escorted by one of the prince’s trusted knights, Lady Edelfina walked hand in hand with Danry until they reached the door of his bed chamber. The knight opened it for them, and they went inside while the boy continued to whimper. “I-I did not hurt Nana… You believe me, right, Fina?” Edelfina looked above to see the prince’s ocean-blue, innocent-looking eyes and smiled, “Of course, Danry. You know I will always believe you. I know you are not capable of hurting anyone, unlike what that woman was saying.” Shortly however, Edelfina began to sigh, “but she is not really the duchess, Danry, so you must stop calling her that. She is just someone who looks like Nana, but the truth is she is a really rotten person, so don’t get too close to her, alright?” “She is?” Danry said, wide-eyed. “Of course she is. You know that I would not lie to you.” Edelfina replied as she flashed her pearly white teeth once again. ‘Oh, but you already did... more than onc
“Shia, what happened?” Langrion said abruptly, sitting down from his side of the bed. As he rose, he saw Shia clutching her wrist cautiously. She looked as frightened as when he found her by the woods earlier that night. “Is everything’s alright?... You should sleep some more,” he began to say when he realized she might have woken up from a nightmare. He patted her back gently and tried to soothe her while she trembled. “Do you see this one?” she said, She raised the wrist that she kept covering towards the light, and when she did, Langrion’s eyes fell on a tattooed pair of spirals etched side by side together. The figures seemed to come alive as they swirled slowly in two opposite directions. Or was it just his groggy eyes playing tricks on him? “I did not know you had a tattoo,” he frowned. “I didn’t! I’ve never had one! I dreamt of it just now, and it appeared after I woke up!” “That’s impossible!” he exclaimed under his breath. “What was y
Langrion’s hand shook as he slipped back into his bed chamber unnoticed. His face did not reveal anything, but his heart was ablaze with so much rage and anger. He clutched his mother’s ring tightly towards his chest. It was his most prized possession. His mother gave it to him when he was a little boy, and he promised her that he would give it only to the girl to whom his heart would belong to. Langrion thought that he can finally fulfil his promise when several months ago, he decided to propose to the person he had loved since childhood – the elegant and lovely Edelfina. He had been over the moon with happiness, and he thought she was as ecstatic as him too. He wondered why she had asked him to keep their engagement a secret, saying that she needed time to announce it to the House of Nanris. When he finally saw her together with his brother in bed one day, he had begun to understand that Edelfina had other plans. He accepted it without word when she broke their eng
After hearing that they have finally reached their destination, Shia stepped out of the carriage together with Lady Khailis and Prince Langrion, and they immediately found themselves in the heart of one of Sensala’s streets. Unlike the main avenue where Master Dredsell’s shop was located, however, Shia realized that they were in a different kind of street. There, looming across them was the poor man’s village – the slum area of Sensala. When her parents decided to leave Tightwater, Shia and her family tried to avoid contact with large groups of people as much as they can. As a result, she had never travelled much into town with them, and if they did, they would always leave her behind in the caravan, just in the outer edge of the town proper. As such, the sights and sounds of the poor man’s village were all new to her. The first time she had seen Sensala from the carriage window with his majesty, they passed by numerous extravagant shops and colourful displays set am
Without a second thought, Shia stepped into the hole she had torn open from the vibrating air. She called over to his majesty, whom she had been dragging all along in her arms, and to Khailis with a voice that no one would probably dare to refuse. “Let’s go, Langrey! Khailis!” Shia hissed, trying not to look back at the mage, who was calling her incessantly. To her great relief, the lady and his majesty followed her as she stepped into the hole and into a vast, silent valley. All at once, the hole shut itself up, and in a second, the vibration in the air she had just seen disappeared. They had just completely left Mage Silas behind on the other side of the void. Shia was still firmly clutching Langrion’s arm and did not realize that her whole body was trembling in fright. She moved closer to his chest and breathed in between fits of anger and sobs. “Idiot!” She said, “Are you an idiot?! What were you trying to tell him back there?!” He p
“Promise me you won’t die,” Shia remarked. “You can’t die unless I allow it.” Langrion couldn’t help but laugh out loud. He was not sure if it was her childish way of putting it upfront or the contents of what she had just said, but either way, it was so funny that Langrion could not help but laugh. Shia pushed him away from her shoulder, forcing him to look down at her. “What’s so funny? You don’t believe I could do it?” “Do what?” “Break away from my destiny. Break your curse.” He smiled. “I do. I believe you.” She snorted, but she started to burrow her own head in his available shoulder. “Yeah, right...” Now fully relaxed, Shia was finally able to tell Langrion about the rather eventful day when she had met the king, Edelfina, and someone who looked like Langrey in the woods. “It must have been surprising to see all of them in one table last night,” Langrion remarked. “Indeed...” After a while, Shia began to