It's been four weeks, exactly a month, since Scarlett Solaris took to the throne and has been leading her nation, Goldaria. She and her friends still hurt from the traumatic mental wounds inflicted on them during their captivity weeks prior, but the...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
✰✦✰ Chapter Twenty-Two ✰✦✰ " Sarinne "
"IS EVERYTHING OKAY?" I asked Scarlett as she pulled the door shut behind her with a soft click.
Her green eyes met mine and I noted that little tell in them that revealed she wasn't going to be completely honest with me with whatever she said next. "Erm, we just talked a bit. He calmed me down after. . .after my nightmare."
"Your nightmare?" I repeated loudly.
Scarlett gently shoved me to the side. "Keep your voice down, would you? I don't need all the Guards in the castle knowing about it."
Glancing around, I saw that all Guards in this wing of the castle were staring right ahead, eyes glued to nothingness like it would kill them to even once look our way. Hey, at least they did their job.
"They don't know a thing," I told Scarlett. "Even if they did, is it so bad for them to know you had a nightmare?"
"Yes," she replied and we began walking down the corridor. "It's pathetic," she added in a low, almost ashamed tone.
"How is it pathetic? What happened in this nightm—"
"How did you know I was going to be in his room?"
My stomach dipped. "I knew you had to be there if you weren't in your room. It seems to me you trust Darius more than the rest of us nowadays."
Scarlett shot a brief—yet not unnoticeable—glare my way. "I tend to lean more towards people who actually give others a second chance."
I clenched my jaw and stopped walking, grabbing her hand and forcing her to a halt as well. "Is there something you'd like to say, Scar?"
She laughed dryly. "Oh, there's plenty."
I scoffed, on the verge of giving up. "Then say it. Spit it out."
"Not here," Scarlett took my hand again and dragged me towards one of the balconies that looked out onto the Blue Sea beyond us, the waves crashing against the rocks beneath the concrete walls in the distance. The sound of them was the only thing keeping me grounded, the only thing calming me as of right now.
"You lied to me, Rinne," Scarlett murmured, hurt laced to her voice.
I froze. "What?"
"Don't lie again—"
"No, I'm genuinely confused, what are you talking about?"
Her eyebrows furrowed shortly and then separated again. "Back when we were on The Quest, searching for the Chalice—you remember, yes?"
"Yes. . ?"
She crossed her arms. "Darius confided in me that you'd also kidnapped someone once and I confronted you, do you remember that too?"
