Daughters of Creation

Chapter Twenty: Quondam (Part Two)

"What do you mean?" Just as suddenly as the feeling of being unable to move came onto her, it left. Emrie Michele leaned forward. "You knew this day was coming?"

A bitter smile took over Seylee's aged face. "Unlike my sister, my predictions come when times of blood and great misery are about to happen. I've seen two in my lifetime: one was when the Princess of Tanlia reclaimed her throne and the second was hundreds of years later, this moment now."

Dead silence claimed the space after her words.

"I don't suppose you know much about Tanlia's history as it's outside of the Veil and the Council would like to keep the two worlds as separate as possible?"

"You assume correctly," Rowan said.

The Sea Witch sighed, "A madwoman I am and yet I hold more sanity in my bones than those old fools." If she expected Rowan or Ezra to defend the Council then she was disappointed as neither Guard spoke in protest about the divine who control the Guards of the Veil.

"The Veil was constructed within the Tanlia Kingdom, that is where we are now. The Veil did not come into existence after the Originals clashed, in fact it wasn't created for quite some time after. In truth, if it weren't for Aurelia and Kodan," the witch hissed the second name, a sneer curling part of her mouth, "the Veil might have never been created—it would still have been needed, but if Aurelia had not gathered the people around her who she did, we might never know the Veil as we do. It was because of Aurelia that we were gathered and because of Kodan we were able to learn of such existing magic."

Dana raised a hand, brows knit. "Not to sound ignorant, but who is this 'Aurelia' and 'Kodan'? History outside of the Veil has practly been wiped out from archives."

Emrie Michele hated how naive they appeared, especially to the woman they were trying to seek help from. But, despite the unsteady nature about Seylee, she didn't seem to mock them for their lack of knowledge or understanding.

"If the Veil did not protect those bastards from outside spells I would curse them," she spat, candles around the space flaring to light in reaction. "A brief history lesson, liberi: Tanlia has always rather been ruthless due to its monarchs, but the year Tanlia's Princess Aurelia was born proved to be the bloodiest the kingdom would for hundreds of years to come. She was ruthless, she had to be, brought up to be everything but kind. She loved no one, save for her stallion and her half-sister. She was the heir to the throne, first child of that reigning King and Queen, but as a woman many scorned her and took her brother in favore. Our Aurelia had a dark path ahead of her and it only got darker and more twisted when Kodan came into her life.

"Before you ask, Kodan is what you would consider a demon, though he's probably one of the first divine to ever be born from our Mother—far more ancient than even some of the longest living dragons. For whatever reason he took interest in the Princess Heir. It was also during the time that she lost everything: her throne, her birthright, her home. She was scorned and had what was rightly hers taken from under. Aurelia was wrathful. She declared she would take back her throne, by any means necessary and aligned herself with the divine—something no one had dared to do, as divine were considered the vilest creatures to walk Tanlia."

The weight of Seylee's words weren't missed by any of them. Emrie Michele didn't have to imagine too hard to know how much bloodshed was split during Aurelia's lifetime. Even though she buzzed with questions, she refrained from speaking and waited for the Sea Witch to finish. 

"Of course, we divine don't do just anything for someone. We had a price—a bargain, if you will. In exchange for helping her reclaim her throne we demanded she build us a safe haven, a place were divine would no longer have to fear death by human hands. It was no surprise when she agreed, unlike her fellow humans Aurelia did not hold the same stigma against divine. I think it came partly from her half-sister being part siren, but there was also just something about her to begin with that cannot be described—I'm sure it was one of the many reasons Kodan stuck around and was even attracted to her in the first place, though I never thought that heartless demon to think of anyone but himself.