The Priestess' Affair [Books 1 &2]

𝐕𝐈𝐈. 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬

-HER-

Sometime before the sunset, I stepped foot in my brother's capital. As soon as the citadel came into view, I felt dread rising inside me like the upwelling seawater. The fear and anxiousness awarded by uncertainty were starting to make my steps falter.

My heart was palpitating in my chest as my mind conjured up all the scenarios that could take place, and most of them weren't pleasing. Here I was again, and this time I had to find a way to talk to my brother anyhow; otherwise, Vittoria would have my head on a golden platter. I prepared myself mentally as I headed towards the citadel. I could feel my heart drumming in my chest as I climbed the fortification steps.

I lied to the guards about being a messenger before I was finally let in there. The way I was feeling wasn't the way one felt when returning home. Home. I looked around the place. It used to be my home, but it didn't feel like it anymore. Instead, it felt like something else, a distant place that shouldn't exist. It felt like the last place I should be at. 

I kept walking through the citadel towards the palace without looking at anyone. Though I got a few stares here and there, I fixed my eyes at the palace and kept walking towards it without a single halt. The sun was already setting, drenching this realm into semi-darkness. There was no chance of anyone recognising me. After all, I have been dead to the world for quite some time now. I am sure that they would have forgotten my face by now, and even if my face managed to remain in someone's memory, they'd think I was a ghost.

A ghost. The idea of being a ghost still sounded more honourable than being reduced to what I was today. It was too humiliating for me, for my mother. She'd wanted me to take after her, but here I was today, reduced to nothing more than a mere pawn in my brother's life.

'I will never forget.'

I chose to shed my fears and face what was before me. I entered the palace and headed straight to my brother's wing. Being familiar with the place helped but at the same time, walking through those same hallways brought back a whole lot of memories which sometimes made me doubt if they were indeed mine. The memories of my time living here were so distant that it felt like I had never been here, as if it was just part of some dream. But as soon as I remembered the scars of that cursed man I treated last night, an electric jolt ran up my spine, shaking me up.

No, it wasn't a dream. It had happened, and I had promised myself that I'll never forget it. 

I tried my best to push those awful remembrances down and focus on the present. I was hoping that I'd get to talk to my brother alone and get a chance to put some sense through his thick skull. I started to get my hopes high the closer I got to my brother's wing, but it was shattered when I took the last turn towards his wing and found a familiar Nobel standing outside it. The Nobel I loathed the most.

"Herren," I muttered. He instantly sensed my presence and turned to face me. His eyes slightly widened as soon as he saw me. It was as if he had seen a ghost, but soon enough, he schooled his features and demanded, "What are you doing here again?"

"I'm here to talk to my brother," I declared with a strong, unwavering voice, tipping my chin high to meet his sly gaze with all the pride left in me. 

"I'm afraid you cannot. He is busy right now," Herren told me dismissingly.

"I'm afraid you cannot stop me," I told him and headed towards the door, but he was quick to put himself between me and the door to my brother. I stopped and glared at him.

"I told you he is busy," He gritted.

"I don't care. He's my brother. I have travelled far to meet him, and I am not leaving without talking to him and you..." I hissed, fisting his shirt's collar, "... will step away if you wish to see tomorrow's sun," I threatened him after jerking him down to my level and looking him dead in the eyes. All of a sudden, I was breathing fire. The rage that I had been suppressing down for years was threatening to come out.