A War of Gems

CHAPTER THREE

I arrived back in the village around noon. I thought that maybe swimming up and down the stream a couple of times would work off this new-found curiosity. I dragged my feet towards the front door of our cottage, boots in hand, hair still dripping wet. When I pushed open the front door, I was met with 2 solemn faces, and a battered one.

    "What the hell happened to you?" I screeched, dropping my boots on the ground and rushing over to my sister's side. I grabbed her face in my hands gently, and felt my eyes begin to swell with salt. Her bottom lip was reddened and split. There was a giant gash on her forehead with dried up blood smudged over her eyebrows. I brushed my thumb under her left eye carefully, picturing the size of the fist that must have caused this bruising. "Synne-" I choked back the rest of my words.

    "Where the hell were you?" She yelled as she slapped my hands out of her face. She stood up from the dining room table, peering at me with pained eyes. "You always come and check on me-" Her throat swelled with betrayal.

    My stomach twisted.

    "Synne- I'm so sorry." I pleaded. I took a step toward her, hoping that it would remind her of our closeness.

"One held me down-" She cried, when I noticed her body shaking. She took two slow steps backward, crossing her arms over her torso. Her skin was brown and blue, with subtle pink scratches glowering at me. My chest began to burn.

"Synne please, if I had known you were in trouble-" I pleaded with her, as if my words could actually lessen her pain. "I would've been there."

She stared blankly at me for a couple seconds and then began shaking her head slowly. "Would you have?" She huffed, tears falling from her eyes. She glanced at Thomas with furrowed brows and a quivered lip. "After all, I'm just the entertainment around here, right?"

Shock painted Thomas' face like lightning. We quickly exchanged guilty expressions, remembering our conversation in the library yesterday. She must have been nearby, listening. Refocusing on our undone sister, Thomas shot up from his chair.

"Synne, I'm-"

"Don't bother." She hissed, wiping a single tear with the back of her hand, before running upstairs to her room.

"We have to tell someone." I blurted, slamming a fist on the table, getting the attention of my brother and father.

    "Who would we tell?" Thomas remarked, his wings flaring with outrage. "Human men did this to her. We live in a town filled with humans that despise us. Nobody would care!"

    I flinched at his words.

    "She must've been beaten for so long." My father cried, head falling into his palms. I hadn't thought about that. Us fae heal faster than humans- so any injury would need to be repeated for a considerable amount of time in order to make an impression.

    "She's already healing." Thomas spoke softly, as he placed a hand on our father's shoulder. I wasn't sure if he was trying to convince us, or himself. "This isn't your fault Gemma." He muttered under his breath, clearly replaying his insults.

    I squeezed my eyes shut as a tear escaped. "It is." I managed to speak the words. "I should've gone to the tavern. I should've pulled her out of there myself. Before-" I couldn't bear to say it out loud. My sister was violently beaten for the second time in her life. And for the second time, I didn't stop it.

    "I'm starting to curse this place more and more everyday." I winced, feeling the resentment grow like an inferno. I felt it rush through my veins, all the way to my heart, where it burrowed and burned me. I welcomed it. I craved it. It was the fire I needed to make me run.