The Red Heart (The Krystal Knights 1)

Chapter Fifteen

The first time I ever picked up a paintbrush, I lifted it to this random canvas in my papa's study and it was a wonderful and magical thing.

I can remember that day unlike anything else.

It was a beautiful, sunny but chilly, October day.

I had just had a fight with one of my cousins about the fact that he was saying he was stronger than me and overall better than me.

He said that he would grow up and become a general in the army and I never could do something like that –which I knew was true but still I was pissed off.

So, I stormed away and hid in my father's study and cried and threw a fit throwing things around.

As I was obviously causing a massive ruckus, he heard the noise and came in to see what was going on.

I was afraid he was going to be furious with me for trashing his space but all he did was smile and bend down beside me and he asked, "What happened, Kali? Who made my little dragon burst into flames?"

I remember just sitting there and crying over the fight and I told him that I hated my cousin for saying what he did, and I was standing my ground on that fact that I could do anything I wanted to do, no matter what.

My papa just smiled at me and told me how he had the same temper and drive that I have when he was a child. And that he understood how frustrating it felt when you get told you can't do something just because of who you are, and how annoying it can get and how now all you want to do is do that thing because you've been told no.

He said that no matter how annoying or dark things get in life, so long as you keep your passion and drive then you can accomplish anything you can dream of.

He then picked up his own paints and placed the blank canvas in front of me and put some paint brushes in my hands and he told me to control my anger and understand it enough to make something and create something beautiful out of this emotion that overwhelms you.

He turned to leave after that and said, "Sois la lumière dans tes propres ténèbres."

Be the light in your own darkness.

I then whispered back the same thing to him and that one sentence was the last thing I ever said to him.

Because about an hour later the city of Xoni, the capital of Xelya, was attacked by King Darvyn of Nightwood and I never saw my maman or papa ever again.

So naturally, with that stupid saying being the last thing I ever heard my father say and paint being the last thing he ever gave me, they've both kind of stuck with me over the years.

Just about anyone can tell that I like to paint, but no one knows the weight that my real nickname or that saying or even my ring truly hold on my heart.

Which is no one's fault but my own I suppose, for holding the cards of my past so close to my chest all these years.

Every single day for the past ten years I have wanted to just shout at them all and tell them everything, from start to finish, because they are my found family and I love them all, even Killian. But then I remember what I need to do and I can't accomplish that with the distractions that my past would cause.

That being said though, it doesn't mean I don't like looking back on those happy days in Xelya. Which is why right now I am trying to paint the scene from that day in my father's study but I just can't seem to get the right shade of yellow, it's either too orange or too brown. I might just give up, to be honest.

Someone knocks on the door and it startles me and I end up knocking over the paints -oh well they weren't right anyway.

Phoenix steps through the door and quirks his head at me, "How do you manage to find some paint everywhere we go?"