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“My bad, I was actually thinking about them and didn’t think some would grow though.”

“You mean we just planted seeds for no reason, you could just magic them into existence,” Matitus said looking at me. I shrug.

“How was I supposed to know I could do that,” I tell him.

“Come on, let’s go inside for lunch and check back this afternoon we have a curse to break tonight” Silas says, grabbing my hand. I let him tug me along when Silas stops, turning to look back at Abigail.

“I meant you too Abbie,” he says, and she looks a little shocked. She nods and catching up to us.

Chapter 31

After lunch Silas leaves to prepare for the ceremony, to break the curse. We have to wait for the moon to be at its highest point in the sky. So, we still have a few hours to kill and decide to check the greenhouses. To my astonishment, everything is finished, the field is completely enclosed and the plants within it are now safe from the elements. Victor is helping in the greenhouse, putting up lights and a workstation for drying out the medicinal herbs. Everything has come together, and Silas managed to do exactly what he said they would. Victor has enough stock to medicate half the city and Silas even gave him a few vials of blood to add to the mix. Victor is busy compounding medicines while Abigail is helping bottle and label them.

A few volunteers are even helping write down the medicinal properties of each plant so Victor can start teaching a few apprentices. For once, the people of the city look alive, smiles on their faces and things look like they are changing for the better. Silas is also in an exceptionally good mood and excited for the curse to be broken.

I feel nervous, nervous that we are missing something. It just seems a little too easy, say a chant and drink some blood. I wasn’t sure how curses worked, they were more personal, not something that requires spells and enchantments. Everything seems to be going perfectly and maybe it is because I have only grown used to disappointment, but I know something’s got to give. In my experience for everything that goes right ten things go wrong, so tonight I am a little worried, some nagging voice in my head telling me this spell wasn’t for the Dragon Kings but something else. Even Abigail has her doubts, but she too didn’t voice them after the other day. Even she questions the spell itself.

When the night starts to fall, we all go inside. Dragus pulls me up to the bedroom so we can get ready. It is now 11:40 pm, and we have twenty minutes before the moon is at its highest point. After getting ready and grabbing my grandmother’s book from the library, I meet Abigail and Claire at the front door. Claire is smiling brightly up at me, her eyes shining with knowledge a child of her age shouldn’t harbour. Claire, without hesitation, grabs my hand and I watch the three Dragon Kings walk toward us. Silas is holding a gold goblet with rubies around the base of it.

“Ready?” I ask Claire, looking down at her. She nods but the words that next leave her mouth shock not only me but Abigail and the three Kings standing near us. Her voice is not even her own, but has morphed into something otherworldly.

“Shall rise the Queen Aziza of the Draquin Kingdom.” Her voice sounds melodic, and her words startle me. Yet, the look on her angelic face held no doubt behind her words and that scares me. What could she possibly mean?

Shaking off her words, Silas opens the door staring down at her just as confused by what she said. I am no Queen, and this is not my Kingdom. Walking outside, I gasp and take a step back bumping into Matitus.

“You okay?” he whispers, my mouth falling open at the amount of people standing within the gates. Thousands of people stand watching as we walk out.

“Why is everyone here?” I whisper to him.

“Probably curious to see if you can break the curse, I left the gates open for people to enter. I didn’t think people would come to watch though,” Silas answers but I can see he is also a little shocked. Walking out, Silas grabs my hand walking us through the crowds, I watch as the crowd parts allowing us to move through easily as we walk to the center where the moon is most visible. The silence falling over everyone is eery; the only sounds are of the breeze and our footsteps as we make our way to the center of the court. I look nervously at the crowd, all their eyes watching us.

A Vampire with long hair tied at the back of his neck comes and places a round table next to me, Silas opens the passage of the book that I am to read from. Claire, I knew, wouldn’t be able to read it given her age and would need to recite after me.

Looking down at Claire, Abigail kneels beside her and touches her little face. I can see the concern reflected in her eyes. Suddenly, Claire’s eyes turn white, white as snow, her pupils bleed to be almost as white as the whites of her eyes. Her eyes take on more of a storm, like there is a blizzard caught within her.

“Claire?” Abigail asks panicked and I can see Silas step closer concerned for the little girl standing in front of him.

“Do you hear them Mama?” Claire asks, her voice strong and unafraid.

“Hear what, Claire bear?” Abigail says, looking up at me.

“The whispers, they have arrived.”

“Who has arrived?” Silas asks his eyes darting to the crowd nervously.

“Those of the past have come to give their blessing,” Claire says, turning to me. Her eyes scare me, they look vacant, not a look you expect to see in a little girl who is just shy of four years old. Right now, she was no child but something else, something not of this world.

Claire reaches out, grabbing my hands with her tiny ones and I gasp at her touch. Lightning shoots through her palms through me. The whispers she referred to reach my ears and tears fill my eyes when I hear her.

“I can hear them,” I whisper, lost and only able to focus on her voice as it fills me with happiness and the sadness of her loss. A voice I never thought I would hear again, one I longed for.

“This is what you were made for, don’t fear it my child. You were born to rule, don’t forget who you are,” my grandmother’s voice echoes through me and I feel my tears fall.

“What did you do?” I hear Silas ask, looking at Claire, her eyes solely on me, her eery gaze steady.

“The Chosen One was never me; it was always you,” I tell her, and she smiles.

“You are the Chosen One, I am just the guide that shows you where you belong,” she answers.