Emperor?
"What's the emperor of an empire doing here in person?" I asked.
Before he answered, he sighed deeply. I was sitting with my back to the door when I heard the curtain shifting. I stiffened. I was half-way to turning around but he said,
"Don't turn around. Stay like that."
I relaxed and just sat deeper in the bath. I then asked again, "I'll ask again. What's the emperor of an empire doing here in person? What is your objective?"
I heard him shuffling about behind me for a few moments before getting one of the chairs near the table and sitting before answering my question,
"I am here because one of our oracles had told me that I would be able to-"
He stopped mid-sentence, cleared his throat before continuing saying,
"One of our oracles told me I would be able to find what I was looking for my whole life."
I tilted my head in curiosity and asked,
"Have you found it then? The thing you were looking for."
Somehow, I was anticipating that the answer would be yes. I waited for another moment and I was disappointed with his answer.
"I'm not sure yet if what I found is what I am looking for. I need more time to confirm."
I sighed deeply for no reason. I stayed silent after that and that was his signal to keep talking.
"I also heard that my brother has found the lost heir of the Tairia Empire. And that she is denying it with all of her soul, but then collapsed when she experimented on making a subspace big enough to fill five rooms of the palace with gold."
Every time a word comes out of his mouth, he emphasizes it so much that it makes me wince at every word. It just made me scratch my head in embarrassment. I heard him chuckle at my response and then he continued to say,
"Are you now inclined to tell the truth? Nobody else is here. At the very least, nobody who wants to harm you is here. You will be safe here."
I stretched my arms and back up in the air and sighed deeply in relief and surrender. I continued my stretch as I answered his silent question.
"Alright. I admit it. I am Jacqueline Colette Tairia. I am the lost heir of the Tairian Empire. And now that you know, what exactly are you going to do about this information? Are you going to give me to my father's murderers?"
I asked him, my voice dripping with venom. I made it clear that I did not like it when they found out who I am. I turned my head to look at him sitting behind me and found him staring back at me. Knowing myself, I didn't back down from the staring competition we just did.
But there is something with his stare. His gaze a little too intense. I can see the colors in his eyes, just swirling, pulling me into its depths, making me wonder what is hidden behind it, what is beneath it.
I was snapped back into reality when he said,
"I'm not giving you to them. I did say that you are safe here. And I will ensure that it stays that way. If you are wondering why, it is because if I give you to them and you die, my people would suffer as well. I would suffer the consequences as well."
I wasn't able to hear the last one because he sort of whispered it to let the winds take his words away. I am curious about something though, so I asked him.
"And why would your people suffer if I die?"
He kept staring at me, trying to dissect me inside and out. I waited a few more moments before he answered.
"That is because the magic of the land is tied to your bloodline. It was given to mankind by the Goddess Aetheris during the Eternal Struggle. Were you not told about this?"
He asked me. I just shook my head, looked down, and remembered my dream when I was unconscious.
"I had a dream when I was unconscious. I dreamt that I was a baby, and I heard my mother sing me a lullaby about strength and wisdom. That I was the living incarnation of the Goddess Seraphina. I have not heard about Aetheris. I was not taught about her at all."
That is the only time that his gaze left me and he stayed silent again for a longer period. He even stood up and started pacing back and forth. I sighed and just turned around again to finish my bath.
In between the sound of his steps from pacing back and forth and the thundering pound of my heart, my mind is surprisingly clear of any thoughts but finishing my bath.
He must have felt my intentions because I heard his steps change from the pacing back and forth sound to him leaving the room through the curtained open door, as I heard the rustling of the curtains. When I was sure that he was no longer there, I got out of the bath and went straight to where the towels were so I could dry myself off.
Once I was dried off, I put the towel on my head to dry my hair while I changed into the clothes that were given to me. I looked at it and saw a gorgeous gossamer dress in the most delicate shade of blue and green with an embossed figure of a tree called the Eternal Bloom.
Now that is something that I did not expect to see. It was beautiful, to say the least. The way that the leaves were woven makes it seem like it was alive and swaying in the wind. But something odd caught my eye. A small detail that no one would have been able to see if they were not looking at the exact place that I am looking at now.
There was a small fairy sitting on one of the branches of the tree. It looked like the fairy was swaying their feet while looking down. I was mesmerized with the way the fairy was woven that I was shocked when it looked up at me.
I dropped the dress and stared at it. It was still swaying it's legs it for a while before I decided to pick up the dress and stared at it again. It tilted its head when I tilted mine. It blinked when I blinked. It was copying everything that I was doing, but when did not do anything, it smiled a saccharine smile at me.
I decided to ignore her and started to put the dress on me. It was long and a bit big when I was holding it, but the moment I put it on me, it shrunk to fit my body and height. It was still long but I could easily run in it if I needed to. I felt beautiful again after so many years of looking like vagrant roaming the streets.
While I was twirling and dancing in the dress, I did not realize that Nikolai was watching me by the door. I only saw him when I twirled a little too hard and I almost fell. He caught me before I could fall to the floor. He helped me stand up and fixed the way my dress was hanging on me before he looked me in the eye.
I was hesitant to look him in the eye because of what happened earlier. And as I feared, there were sparks again that formed between us. Actual sparks flew between us. I immediately pushed him away from me.
"What was that?" I asked him while turning to look away from him.
He did not answer me for a few minutes. I turned to look at him and he was just staring at me. I stayed away from him because if go near him, the sparks would appear again. So, before I go near him again, I need to know what is the root cause of it.
"So, you're going to stay silent again? I have been hiding my whole life without knowing things about my lineage and my powers. Are you also going to keep me in the dark?", I said to break the silence.
When he did not reply, I continued.
"You said that I will be safe here. That I am safe here."
I emphasized every word of what I said. He flinched every time I did that. He opened his mouth but closed it immediately. I scoffed at him and started to walk out of the room but he held me back.
"If you're not going to speak, let go of my arm." I told him.
I tried to yank my arm from his grasp but he held firm.
"If you won't let go of my arm in the next few seconds, I swear to Seraphina, I will burn it to a crisp."
I warned him, he loosened his grip and I was able to remove his grasp on me and left him there standing. When I went out, I saw the others, just standing there. I raised an eyebrow at them and asked,
"How long have you guys been standing there? What have you heard?"
They did not answer. Of course, they didn't answer. Why would they answer to someone they do not know and trust.
"I am such a fool."
After I said that, I turned and left them standing there. I didn't care if there was a wall in front of where I am heading to. I produced a fireball and aimed it well. The moment it hit the wall, the whole house started to shake. It was resisting to the magic that tried to destroy it.
I conjured an even stronger fireball and threw it at the wall again. It exploded on contact and the magic holding the house collapsed. I protected myself from the debris raining over me while the others started scrambling to get away from all the falling parts of the house.
I walked out of the hole that I created and ran as fast as I could into the forest. I also willed myself to turn invisible and climbed up a tree and started to jump from one tree to another. It was already starting to turn dark when the adrenaline running in my veins started to run out. I made sure I ended up in one of the tallest trees in the forest before resting.
It was so invigorating, so thrilling to let out my magic and run wild. I did not regret a single thing I did in that house. When my breath started to steady itself, I remembered the fairy on my dress. I looked down at it and I saw it looking up at me with those big, round eyes.
"What are you looking at?" I playfully asked it, thinking it would not reply. To my shock, it did.
"I am looking at you, dummy. What else would I be looking at?"
"You can talk." I said flatly.
It rolled its eyes before answering, "Well, duh. Since I can move, I can also talk. And just so you know, even if you run away, Nikolai will still find you.'
"How?" I asked as I raised an eyebrow, intrigue painting all over my face. Then it dawned on me.
"He'll find me through you."