Ariadne has always been a dreamer. Her mother would always say she was away with the faeries.
Until one night, an envelope shrouded with magic lands at her doorstep, inviting her to the dance of the damned in the enchanting land of Altoria.
It's m...
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"Will you help me find King Nikolai and his heir?"
Kallen's words were muted, they sounded so far away. Ariadne was dazed, and sat in her chair, silently.
Did she want to help him find her father?
Either way it was too late, she was here and her father must be too. Everything up to this point had guided her, lead her to Altoria; and to Kallen. Kallen wanted peace, it was admirable, but Ariadne knew it would not be easy because of Lorelei.
"What did you mean, when you told me your mother died not knowing who you were?" Kallen's words jolted the puzzle pieces rolling inside of her mind.
Ariadne paused. "I gave her a tonic to make her forget... Before I left," she looked out of the tall windows lining the walls.
The words were somehow harder to speak now, yet they tumbled from her lips all the same.
"You gave her a tonic of Forghabháil?" Kallen's voice was toneless, empty.
"Forwhatnow?" Ariadne stumbled over the word.
"Forghabháil... It literally means abandonment, or to leave everything. When you make it as a spell or tonic, in your case; the person who drinks it will forget everyone and everything in their lives."
"It takes all of their memories. Yes I know," Ariadne stared at the sun that sat blazing in the middle of the sky, indicating midday.
Shards of pity pricked at her skin, Kallen was inadvertently projecting his feelings. It was tinged with the zest of disdain, it tasted like sour limes on Ariadne's tongue.
"I-I did it to protect her. To protect us both if anyone came looking for us," she explained, but stopped abruptly.
Kallen got up from his throne, and bent at the knees in front of her. His hands rested on hers, hers resting on the arms of the chair. His eyes looked deeply into hers, the depths within were flecked with small galaxies. She could quite easily get lost in them stargazing.
"Whatever you may have done, whatever you will do because of circumstance, it is because your heart beneath your chest cares for those around you." Kallen gently tilted Ariadne's chin up so her eyes finally met his.
"This heart of mine," she clasped her hands over it, "is tired... So tired."
Kallen said nothing. He didn't need to. His next words came all the same, and were almost a whisper.
"Ari, the paths we travel down, whether alone or with someone else, have the power to change us, but only if you let them," his thumb rubbed the side of her hand.
The motion did little to stop the beast roaring in the pit of her stomach, but it quietened slightly. Kallen shifted on his knees and stood. The power rolling off of him changed, becoming alert. It had barely been a presence during their whole conversation, now it roared alongside hers.
