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I wasn’t sure this was what Mom intended me to do. Telling Emilia the truth about ourselves was one thing, but showing her was something else. However, because I felt indebted to her, I did as she asked. I inhaled deeply and felt the lion emerge inside me. Its strength flowed through me, making my blood burn and a sense of profound clarity came into my mind. My skin peeled away, transforming in this other being that was locked within me. The air became alive and I was intoxicated by the more potent scent that Emilia was giving off.
When I looked at her, I saw that she was not frozen in fear as I had assumed she would be. No, she was transfixed. Her eyes danced upon my dark hide and the mane that was flecked with gold, unable to look away. I had thought given the way she had run before that she would have been eager to flee, but instead she came towards me. I stood as still as a statue as she approached me, reaching out a tentative hand. Her fingers were outstretched and breath caught in my throat. Time seemed to freeze as she held her hand there, the tips of her fingers hovering barely an inch away from my skin. I thought she was going to pull away, and I did not want her to pull away.
Neither, it seemed, did she. Her hand pressed against my warm body. Her fingers sank against my transformed flesh and I could feel her. It was as though we were deeply connected. She moved her hand along my flank in a gentle caress and I felt tingles surging through me, as though my entire body was coming alive for the first time. I had never experienced these sensations before. It was as though a veil had been lifted from the world, and I was seeing things clearly for the first time.
When she eventually took her hand away, I was left wanting more. I felt empty, as though something precious had been stolen from me. Part of me wanted to take her hand again, wanted to hold it and clasp it close to my heart. I wanted to feel her warmth, to wrap my arms around her and nestle her against me.
Now she did cower. I feared that she might be able to read my mind. She drew her hand back to her, as though she was sheathing a sword. I breathed deeply and allowed my lion form to fade, returning to the one that she would be more comfortable with.
“Does it hurt?” she asked in a quiet voice.
“Yes, but the pain is something that we endure because we know that greater things are coming. We are taught from a young age that nothing in this world is easy, that there are dangers all around, and so we must endure the pain because there is no escaping it.”
She nodded and pursed her lips. “I could have done with that advice when I was a kid,” she said.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s nothing,” she sighed, tossing away the thought carelessly.
“I must say I am surprised that you did not cower,” I said.
“I guess that all this is so crazy I know that I have to accept it. What’s the point of being afraid of this stuff? It’s not like anything else bad can happen,” as she said this, thoughts rippled across her mind and there seemed to be something occurring to her.
“Is there something you wish to say?” I asked.
“No, no it’s nothing,” she offered me a weak smile and turned her head. I sensed there was something she was hiding. There were always secrets around us, always something more to learn, but what did she have to keep within her heart? I remembered the words my father had said and took heed of them. I could not allow myself to fall into the trap of this woman. I could not allow my heart to be compromised.
Still… it was going to be difficult to see her leave. I wondered if there was a part of her that wished to stay, although I would not dare to ask. Instead, we settled into silence again. There I was, with thoughts rattling around my mind, wishing once again that I was more like Divad as he would have known what to say. His tongue was smooth and silver, and never was there a situation that he could not speak his way through. But here I was, my thoughts blunt and curt, never knowing what to say next, never sure if she was really at ease with me, or if she was just keeping her fear close to her heart.
If only there had been a way to know for certain. If only there had been a way into her mind…
Chapter Seven
Divad
“Good job in finding Emilia. If she had escaped into the wild, I don’t know what would have happened. I’d probably be in deeper trouble than I am already,” I said, wondering when Mom and Dad were going to come and find me and punish me. Somehow, I knew I would be getting the brunt of it even though it had been Naaro’s idea to bring her back. I guess being the heir apparent meant that I had to take the blame as well. Char stood beside me, her mysterious eyes flashing, always oozing sensuality.
“Do not fear my beloved, in time we shall be the ones deciding who and who should not be punished. When we are ruling this place, we shall see that everyone knows their place,” Char said, clenching her fist and gritting her teeth. I furrowed my brow.
“You know, sometimes you can be far too intense Char. There’s plenty of time for that anyway. I’m not going to be on the throne for a long time.”
“That isn’t necessarily true. Don’t you think the way they’re handling this matter is odd?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean this human,” she spat the word, “has been brought to our hallowed tower and is being treated like a guest. But why? What right does she have? She is nothing special. You made a mistake in bringing her here, but there is no need to treat her with such honor. We should be tossing her back into her world without a second thought. There is no need to taint our realm with things like her.”
This was a side of Char that I had never seen before. She had always had an aggressive side, but I always took that as being passionate. I didn’t realize she was so rigid in her beliefs.
“There’s no harm done. She’s only one girl.”
“And what if there are more? What if this is the beginning? We cannot be sure that she will keep our secret. If she tells others they might find a way to breach the path to our world and send an army. Perhaps we should have done what we were born to do and invade their world to conquer it.”
She seemed to relish what she was saying. I recoiled back, shocked by her words. “Char, are you being serious right now? That isn’t the way. Father has decreed that we are exploring the different worlds, not invading them.”
“And he makes us weak,” she said darkly, shadows falling across her eyes. “He goes against our very nature. That is something that we can change Divad. Don’t you see?” her tone turned sweet. “With us standing alongside each other we can show the other lions the way forward. We can make the cosmos tremble with fear as they hear the roars that come from Orestes. Axanar’s path is only going to lead us to ruin. There are enemies out there who will start to think we are weak. They will smell blood and they will come to invade us if we do not invade them first. It is inevitable.”
“I really don’t think it is. I don’t know what’s gotten into you Char, I thought that when I became heir, we were just going to make this place more fun. You can’t be serious right now, surely?”
