ANGUIS

Chapter 20

Viginti - Chapter XX

Taylor wakes up languidly, her eyelids revealing her ocean blue orbs filled with fatigue to the nurses who are currently taking care of her. One of them asks her something, but the blonde doesn't hear it because her ears are ringing. The light in the room is burning too bright, and she covers her eyes by placing her right forearm over them. She whimpers lightly as soon as pain shoots throughout her body.

"M'lady? Can you hear me?"

She recognizes the voice as soon as it fills her ears; it's Eva, the one who helped her a few days ago. She remembers that day as if it were yesterday; arriving here, being helped by someone she didn't know, and lastly being dragged to the nursery by Timothy. When she recalls his worried voice and his gentle touches, a lump forms in her throat and a tear trails down her cheek.

"M'lady, you're okay. Don't cry, you're okay. It's going to be alright," Eva says soothingly, stroking her forehead with a wet cloth. "A girl brought you here after all the enemies were gone. You were unconscious for two days, but you should be okay now," she explains.

"A girl?" she asks, her voice groggy. What? And then, everything comes back in flashes. Timothy's death. Seeing Bradley for the first time up close. Being in Karlie's arms again. She closes her eyes as her head begins to pound, a headache swiftly forming. "Timothy..." she whispers weakly.

A frown makes its way onto Eva's lips. "I'm sorry, Queen," she says simply, an apologetic look painted on her sharp features. "I'm really sorry," she repeats herself, but soon, Taylor is drifting off again, not able to endure any more pain.

The second time she opens her eyes, she's feeling much better. She sits on the bed as if an invisible force had pulled her up, and rubs the sleep off her eyes. She gets up slowly, feeling quiete dizzy as soon as she's on her feet, but the feeling quickly fades away when she drinks a glass of water. She places the drink on the nightstand beside the unmade bed, and pads around the room, looking for her clothes.

After putting on a dark garment on, she finally finds her long raven cloak and puts it over her shoulders, lifting up the hood. Lastly, she gets into her blackish boots and checks her appearance on the mirror beside the door.

She narrows her eyes, trying to appear fierce because she needs her acuteness right now. She knows she is about to go outside and burn Timothy's body, since it was Anguis' tradition; it was their type of funeral. Putting the dead body on top of a funeral pyre and igniting it with a birch's stick. You can do this, she tells herself this over and over again as she walks out of the nursery and heads outside.

However, before she can step outside and go the ceremony, she stops short when she accidentally spots a familiar face behind the bars. A lump forms in her throat when she gets closer to the cell, the jailer eyeing her skeptically. "I need to get in," she affirms, clenching her jaw tightly. The man purses his thin lips but lets her inside, unlocking the cell quickly.

The chamber was made of cobblestone, a tiny window placed at the top of the wall let in some weak rays of the sun, enlightening the brunette's dirty face. Taylor is hesitant, but slowly she moves closer to the girl.

"Karlie."

The taller woman looks up at her with dull green eyes, her hands tied behind her back. She was standing against a silver pole, and maybe it was the room's cold temperature, but a shiver run down Taylor's spine as soon as her eyes met her blue ones. The brunette doesn't speak, she just stares at the Queen's face as she shuffles closer and closer.

When there's only about a meter separating them, Taylor stops in front of the taller girl and takes a moment to admire her. Even though she's still mad at her, she had missed her. She had missed her so much that it seems like she's living a dream right now.