Eliane lets out a huff as I sit on top of her holding my under arm against her throat.
“You’re a nasty bastard,” she huffs out. She can call me whatever she wants. She won’t hurt me anymore than I already am.
“You can call me anything you want, Honey. But if you were in my bed later tonight, I would prefer Braxton leaving your mouthwhen I get you screaming,” I whisper in her ear. My lips touch the corner of her ear-shell, and I can’t help myself but hold my lips there a little bit longer than I need to. I can see her face turning red and feel her shiver under me. She kicks her knee in my back, before she taps out. I slide of her, giving her the ability to stand up. She sits up, dusting her legs off with her hands before standing up.
“Need a hand?” I purr at her. She looks at me annoyed, shrugs sharply nodding her head. She turns around, grabbing something off the ground. I stroll off to put my sword back into the rack, and can’t help but lift the corner of my mouth a bit again. I seem to be doing a lot of that since I saw this girl. I spin around, ready to walk outside. Before I can do that, I feel something cold against my throat. Something cold trickles down my neck and a sharp sensation runs over me. I don’t have to turn around to see who is pressing a dagger against my throat. I can feel Eliane’s presence as she is standing against me. I don’t drop my mask.
“If you want to spoon me, you could have just asked, Honey,” I growl. She presses the point harder in my neck, and I can feel more blood running down.
“Don’t play this little game on me,” she erupts. “I am not your Honey.” Her dagger releases, and I can feel her presence slipping away. It feels cold and lonely as she walks away.
“We will see about that later,” I yell after her. She looks over her shoulder, sending me her middle finger. As everyone has left already, I let my mask slip. And for the first time in years, I allow myself to let a smile appear on my face.
The night is falling and Eliane is taking a walk through our garden with Annie. I step under the shower and wash all the impressions of today away. As I am totally dried off, I put on some fresh clothing and step outside. I follow the lights deeperinto our garden. When I finally reached my secret cabin, I made my mind up about what I wanted to draw. I sit down and draw, draw, and draw. When I am finally done, I look in the mirror, holding my breath as I look at the result. The new tattoo shines brightly on my chest—just like her.
Chapter 10
Eliane
“I have a sister,” I blur out, not having the courage to hold it to myself any longer, the pressure of my chest disappearing the second I speak the freeing words. The whole conversation with Hazel is replaying in my head like a movie. The nerves that bubbled up when Hazel asked me to come with her. How she held my hand and I watched her expression drop. How her lips trembled as she spoke the words I never thought I would hear. The way my heart dropped and I fought the tears before wrapping my sister in my arms. We even look a like and I hate how I have been comparing our faces the whole time. We figured we would talk later. After the trials, when we would have all the time in the world. And we shook our hands on that. I shake myself out of my thoughts and watch Annie react to my little outburst. Annie stops in front of me, turning around, a worried look appearing on her face, eyes full of surprise.
“Okay? Is something wrong with her?” she answers, scrunching up her nose the same way I always do. Her ocean blue eyes seem to float in worry like usual. A light blue long working dress dances around her body. It has some puffy short sleeves,making it look elegant. The dress is simple, but she makes it look stunning. If I didn’t know she was a servant I wouldn’t guess her to be one. It makes me question how she came here in the first place. I shake my head as I come back to reality. I have a sister, and I never knew her.
“I always wished I had a sister.” I sigh. “I didn’t know anything before the king sent me to live with Da.” A soft sob rolls over my lips. “I never knew I had an older sister, Annie.” Before tears leave my eyes, Annie rushes towards me, pulling me into a tight hug. Her warmth calms my shivers.
“That is horrible, Ellie,” she murmurs into my neck. I can’t ignore the sad undertone in her voice. She continues talking before I can ask her anything about it. “Do you know who she is?”
I do.
I take a shaky breath in as I doubt if I should tell her.
“Yes,” I breathe out, Annie tensing in question.
“It is Hazel”
Her eyes wide.
“You mean Hazel, as in the girl who is living here?” she pitches. All I do is nod in agreement. I think I want to talk to her tomorrow. I know we figured we should have a real chat after these trials, but there are things I want to know about her, and that is probably idem ditto. Today has been just too overwhelming.
“Maybe I will talk to her tomorrow.” I shrug, putting a fake smile on my face. “What about you?” I ask. “Do you have siblings?” Annie freezes at the question. Her breathing stops for a moment, and she starts fidgeting with a few loose hair strands that hang out of her messy bun.
She grabs my hand, dragging me with her, looking over her shoulder like she is insane. My eyes go to her bare arm that is covered in scars.
“Not here.”
I almost trip over my own legs as she drags me with her deeper into the garden, the silent questions piling up in my head. As she finally starts walking slower, I stop her.
“Annie, stop!” I yell as she walks into the small forest. “You can trust me. I am not like other candidates.” I try to comfort her and pull myself together as I do. I ground my feet and push my shoulders back.
“I know,” she agrees, walking towards me as she glances over her shoulder. “That’s why I take you here. You can know, but the others can’t,” she murmurs, looking down at the ground. I give her hand a comforting squeeze as she finds the courage.
“I hope I don’t have siblings. My parents died when I was ten,” she whispers, water filling her eyes. Normally I am a blur out, but I stay quiet, letting her finish her story. “I was put in foster care, but nobody wanted to have me. Naturally a sibling would be nice, but if they had to deal with what I had to deal with I would rather have none.” She sniffles, staying quiet for a few seconds, an odd feeling filling my stomach as I try to embrace the silence.
“Not getting chosen by anyone, living in doubts your whole life. Of course I would have wanted a sibling for myself, a support system to fall back on, but that would just be egoistic. I bet that even they would leave me after figuring me out.” She is almost laughing at herself through the tears. Like I am stupid for not knowing what she means. Her laugh is filled with pain. A hatred laugh.
“I am powerless, Eliane.”
She looks me deep in the eyes as if her words should scare me. I smile back, I don’t care that she has no powers. When the manes were here everyone lost theirs anyway.
