Beats and Breaths-Lifelines

Chapter 14

"This is stupid!" The man declared. He slammed his scepter against the marbled floor.

He was giving Collin a headache. It was all he could do not to sourly retort- "I didn't know anyone handed you a mirror!" Instead he had to settle for slamming the palm of his hand into the washcloth he was using to scrub the already-clean floor.

A splash of sudsy water hit him square in the mouth.

"Servant 32-"

"Colliiiin." He rolled his eyes dramatically. Was that one, simple, 5-letter word that hard to say?

He stopped scrubbing and pursed his lips. Was it 5 letters? His mom had never found lettering all that important-

"SERVANT 32," The ruler bellowed, "Get up, idiot! This floor was already clean! Why were you here anyway?" He hit the boy square in the jaw with his plush shoe.

Gritting his teeth, Collin looked up. "Because you told me to....Sir."

"Are you mocking me, bottom-feeder? Are you arguing with the K-"

The boy was mocking him! His dirty face twisted into a cocky sneer. The man gave him a harder kick to his stomach, earning only a half-satisfying humph!

"The Snuffer and Elevei need you in the kitchen, Servant 32. Hurry up. Don't leave your superiors waiting."

Collin clenched his teeth tighter. He bit his tongue so hard he drew blood, but did as he was told. Slipping on the shiny floor, he winced as his ankle turned.

"Fu-fudge."

The man snorted. His smile looked positively cruel.

The iron taste in Collin's mouth grew stronger as he shifted onto his left leg and shuffled forward as fast as he dared.

The hall was practically endless, stretching as far as the eye could see. The hot, searing kitchen he had come to despise seemed farther than Othamkaa village.

Sucking the blood droplets off of his lip, the edges of Collin's mouth turned bitterly upward. He almost never thought of that place nowadays.

He wasn't all that old, and his toddler years hadn't been so long ago.

It may have well been an eternity.

Collin used to wonder about his mother, and who his father had loved enough to thaw his heart-for a while. It hadn't lasted so long, and he was so young, but some days, in the dead of night, some tiny, minute speck of him had a blurry fantasy of some other children he grew up with.

When he was really, really young, Collin's imagination had given names to the children that he couldn't quite be sure were real at all.

Two girls, younger than him, Collin had called Karritrid and Mellieeumn. A twin, who had hair that was always frizzy, knighted Jem. Finally, an older sister, just by the name of Shu.

As time went on, most of the children became more and more like the people he wished he had become, until they were nothing more than silly fantasies.

Oddly, two of the 'siblings' never quite faded from his imagination. They had always seemed the most real-so maybe they were the only ones that were. While Shu and Karritrid became mirages, some fantasy of Jem and Mellieeumn stayed close to hold his hand. Though, of course, he would deny his silly imaginary friends to his dying day.

A door slammed in Collin's face, and there stood Elevei, looking quite undecided about whether she should laugh, scoff, or help him up. Elevei had been pretty nice to him when they were young, but as they got older, she seemed to get more and more embarrassed with his antics, until the two of them became far enough apart to be strangers.

His ex-friend had grown up quite differently from him; while she became more and more beautiful, he was always the one with acne right in the very worst places. Even worse, the prettier she became, the more unobtainable she got.

Elevei's bright blue eyes pierced his, and he saw the moment she decided to let him get up by himself. Using one of her spindly fingers-"great to play the piano with, dearheart!"-she tucked a loose strand of her raven-black hair behind her ear. Still another fell from her perfect bun, just short of her mouth, wreathing her bottom lip.

Collin told himself that that was absolutely the only reason he was staring at her lips.

Obviously uncomfortable, Elevei shifted her weight to the other side. That was the first moment he noticed her wrapped parcel. The purple silk was top quality, and it was tied with the High King's seal. Collin inhaled sharply as he finally scrambled to his feet, blushing at the thought of what he must look like.

Elevei gave him a distasteful look, and tucked the package under the folds of her dark orange silk jacket. Beneath that, she wore a red dress that must of cost a small fortune, twisting in just the right way that left nothing to imagination. His face turned an even darker shade of rouge when she put a hand on her hip, tightening the dress so that it stuck tighter to her chest.

Half-smiling, half mocking, Elevei took the jacket off entirely, and set the parcel on an elegant table beside the door. Then she handed him the discarded garment.

Collin practically fell over again.

Giving a theatrical half-twirl, she brought up the edges of the skirt and gave him a mock-bow.

"Getting ready for the ball this week!" Elevei chirped, putting a single finger on Collin's shoulder before poking his forehead with the other hand. He stumbled back as if pushed, his mouth slightly agape.

Smirking, she licked her finger and brought it up to smooth one of his baby hairs back. Then she wiped said finger on his cheek.

"Got anyone to go with, Collin?"

"Uh-um..noididntknowtherewasaballwhoareyougoingwith?" He spluttered.

She gave him a playful shove.

Slowing his breath, and furrowing his brow, something odd came to Collin.

"Why are you even speaking to me?"

His face turned red again, but she just smirked.

"Perfectly reasonable question, Collin! I'm talking to you becaaaause-"

She gave him a slightly harder push.

"I......."

He was almost knocked over.

"Need you!" Elevei finished, pushing him to the ground.

Collin landed with a humph, and brushed the hair out of his eyes. She was peering down at him, her eyes glowing with a rather scary smile.

"I need you, Collin, to learn what the King is doing with those Lifelines!"

His face paled. He scooted back.

"M-me? What if I-I don't?"

"Theeeeen," Elevei took the package from behind her back and hastily unwrapped it.

"Then we will have a problem."

The silk shone with the pale light from 2 glowing vials.