surrounded in shadows as the air around me changed. A roar of energy ran through my body, sending the dummy flying across
the room.
“Gosh, I hate to be the guy on the other end.”
Vanessa appeared suddenly, sitting on the edge of a table kicking her legs back and forth. Her boots were caked with mud,
and she smelt of horse. They must have returned from their ride, which meant Ornella and I were to have dinner soon.
“What do you want, Ness?” I asked, drinking deeply from a jug of water.
“Only to inform you that your princess seems quite frightened of you, but she was grateful for your gift. I am sure she will
tell you later on this evening.”
“She is only frightened of me because she does not remember who I am to her.”
Untying the bandage wraps from my hands, I chucked them in the bin beside Ness. Sticky and hot, I wanted nothing more
than to bathe and speak with Percy, to see if they had got more information out of our guests.
“You should give her back those memories, Nic. It's not right to keep them from her.”
Ness followed me out of the room as I headed towards my part of the castle. She wasn’t going to leave me, especially
when she had something to say. As she was the middle child, she was relentless in getting her voice heard. Often or not, it was
ignored by our parents growing up and I feared she thought the same with me. When actually, I listened to her the most.
“I know she should have them back, but not yet. I don’t want her to pass judgement on me before knowing the person I am
now.”
“It’s not fair though, they are her memories.”
“She would only know the boy I once was, not the king I am now.”
Sighing deeply, she crossed her arms as my bedroom door opened. Ness went in first, the storm in her clearly brewing.
Vanessa’s powers were unlike any the family had seen in almost three hundred years. She was blessed with the ability to
control the weather.
Unfortunately, her emotions often caused her to lose some degree of control. Like now with the storm that was developing
outside my window. Her annoyance of my choices clearly showed.
“Calm down, Ness. I will tell her, but not yet. She hasn’t fully settled in yet. Ornella isn't ready.”
“You must before the wedding goes ahead, Nic. She needs to know everything, the promises her father made with ours and
everything else that happened when you would visit her.”
My eyes shot up at her as she looked at me with her brows tightly together and fists on her hips. The wind picked up
outside, shaking my windows and I knew if she didn’t calm down soon, there would be an all-mighty thunderstorm. Our sisters
would know who—rather—what started it.
