Eyes of Emerald

Chapter 28 - Daughters of a Killer

  
        "Why didn't you tell us you were here?" demanded Celie, watching me as I sat, head bowed, fiddling with my plait of long red hair. I stared at the ground, the tears coming thick and fast. I didn't want to show them that I was crying, so I kept my gaze down. 
        
        "I...didn't want you to worry." I whispered. I heard a shuffle, and peeked through my eyelashes to see that Iris had leaned her head against the bars. I shivered, feeling her mismatched eyes on mine. The eyes I now knew the reason why they were mismatched. 
        
        She was my...my half sister? That was too strange to be true. I'd never had a sibling before, let along a ten year old sister who had hyperactivity problems. Oh yes, and did I forget to mention that we were both the daughters of the most hated man in the whole Kingdom? And...oh my God. If Pasiphae was Balthazar's husband...that made her our stepmother. I suppose the evil stepmother stories are true. 

        "We were going to worry anyway! We worried even more when we found out that...that she wanted to see you!" burst out Celie, lowering her voice when she mentioned Pasiphae and looking around like she was hiding in the shadows. 

        "You should have told us," Angel said in a quieter voice, holding out her hand across the narrow aisle between our cells. I reached out my hand and took hers in mine. She was warm, even in the freezing dungeons. Maybe it was a werewolf thing. 

        I glanced at Angel, her golden, glowing skin and her sandy brown hair, and her dark brown eyes, separated from the pupil by the ring of gold. She looked exactly how I had imagined a werewolf to look like. She looked...wild, with her hair knotted and tangled from our journey through the forest. There was something...unpredictable and yet gentle, deep in her eyes. She was born to be a werewolf. 

           "I..." I bit my lip, wondering how I would keep it a secret. Iris couldn't know. It would...she wouldn't believe it in the first place, and it would end up changing her, and that was the last thing we wanted. 
        
        "Tell us." Angel whispered, squeezing my hand slightly. "I know when you're trying to hide something, tell us. You know you can trust us," she smiled at me, but I withdrew my hand and curled up into a ball again, hiding my face. Maybe if I didn't look, she wouldn't make me answer. If I answered, if I told her what I knew, then that would be admitting to it. I didn't want to admit to it. I was still trying to convince myself that it wasn't true. 

        "I can't," I whispered, rocking myself slightly. My chin was trembling again, and I was fighting back the urge to scream. It wasn't true, it couldn't be! I wasn't the daughter of a murderer! 

        "Why? A-" Angel stopped for a moment. "Autumn, please. We can't help you if you don't tell us. We won't judge you, I promise." her voice was persuasive, and I almost gave in. I wanted to tell her, I wanted to with all my heart. But my brain was telling me that it was a bad idea. What if they did judge me? What would I do then, when they left me because I was the daughter of a killer? 

        "Please don't make me." I pleaded, but Angel, being her usual stubborn self, insisted. I had to tell her. "I..." I began quietly, not meeting her gaze. "He...spoke to me. In private. He...he told me..." I struggled to say it. 

        "What did he tell you, Autumn?" asked Celie gently. I could feel their gazes on me and I bit my lip, hesitating slightly. I took a deep breath and began. 

        "He...he told me he knew my mother." I said, my head down. "He said she was an Elemental. Her name was Elysia." 
        
        "Oh, Autumn..." Angel's face seemed to melt slightly, she knew how much I wanted a real family. Iris was less sympathetic, immediately spotting something I hadn't.
        
        "Was an Elemental?" she asked sceptically. I nodded. 
        
        "I suppose I've always known. In here," I tapped my chest over my heart, feeling the comforting beating and thumping of my heart. "I guess my father killed her." I smiled sadly, knowing they would want to know everything now and then that would lead to Iris and Mayra, and then on to Pasiphae being our stepmother. This was going to be a long night.
        

        "Your father?" Angel pounced. I bit my lip and nodded, scratching at the floor absentmindedly with a small stone. The floor was dusty.

        "Yes. He told me who my father is." I hesitated again. What if they did judge me? I might as well go back to the human world and normal life if they abandoned me. "My father is him." I said in a low voice. "My...my father is King Balthazar." I said stronger. Admitting it was like taking a breath of fresh air after being underground for a long time. Denying it had only been preventing the inevitable. 

        "Autumn..." Celie began, and I could hear the disbelief in her voice. I lifted my chin slightly. 

        "It's true. He's a Shifter too." I told them, smiling sadly. A single tear rolled down my cheek, and I didn't brush it away. I let it fall, like a teardrop. "I know who your parents are, too, Iris." I nodded to her, not wanting to tell her but knowing I would never forgive myself if I did. 

        "Who?" she asked eagerly, shuffling forward and grasping at the bars. "Who are they?"

        I looked down suddenly, not able to meet her eyes. "Your mother's name was Mayra. Your fathers...he's alive now. He's the King." I choked out. "We're sisters."