The gown that was sent to her room for dinner was backless, apparently there would be no hiding those scars. She wore it and the guards escorted her to the throne room, the magic thrumming in her veins was burning but she kept it quiet and calm as she glided down the hallway to the throne room, Aine wanted her to bow before her before she could eat.
She arrived and found a goddess lounging on the throne of dark stone. A goddess, that's what Aine looked like, she didn't look ancient, no she looked like she was merely in her twenties, though being immortal must change the aging process. Her hair spun in circlets around her head till it fell to her chest and lay there. Her eyes were the color of the space between the stars on a moonless night. Her skin the parlor or sand on a long abandoned shore. And Aine sat there as she walked in eyes tracking her like a cat with a new toy. At her side stood Aspen and Saron, and perching on the arms of the throne were two night black ravens, eyes alight with intelligence as they too tracked her movements. She stood in the center of the room doing her best not to glance at Aspen when she bowed. She was about to rise when she heard a voice that could only belong to Aine say
"Lower." Her voice was low and flowing and ran fingers down her spine but she obeyed going a bit lower. "A bit more I think.'' The voice was commanding but Ana stood straight, she was important too. She saw the Queen frown and glanced for a second at Aspen who seemed to have a small smile on his face though he quickly hid it when he noticed her gaze. The Queen snapped and a Long table appeared a few yards in front of Ana. The Queen Stood and walked to the head of the table motioning for Ana to do the ame. So they sat at either end of the table with Aspen and Saron lurking over Aine's shoulder and the ravens staring at her. Aine snapped again and a feast appeared on the table. Ana jumped a bit at the casual use of power but hid it as well as she could. She clutched her fork and started eating. Infront of her was a dish she didn't know the name of, and likely couldn't pronounce, she had never been good at speaking the old language. Still she dug in trying not to notice the ravens watching every bite she took. "So dear girl, tell me the story of how a princess of Altoness came to kill in the name of the King of Galcinar?" She julted at the question that sliced through the silence. She looked up meeting the Queen's gaze, and she saw the endlessness of the spaces between the stars in her eyes.
She said as steadily as she could, "The Warlord that found me half dead in the woods decided to make use of me before trading me for higher status. And the king decided that having the lost princess being his blade would be a good way to break the spirit of my countrymen if he ever needed to." She didn't glance at Aspen for his reaction, though she had known he had wanted to know the answer since he had scented her And realized who she was.
"Why didn't you just burn him?" The Queen was smirking, she knew why. Anatia stayed silent. The Queen's smile grew feral. At Aine's side something flickered but she kept her focus on the queen. "Why didn't you burn them?" Her voice was edged with condescension.
"Because I couldn't."
"No, before that, before the Iron, why didn't you burn them?"
"Because I thought-I thought I was safe." Her voice was quiet and ashamed. She rarely admitted it- why she hadn't killed Alonzo, he immediately gave her the brand, but that was like paper trying to hold back a dam. No, she had thought that she was safe, that Alonzo cared about her, and in some sick way, she knows he does. But she had been stupid, so stupid to think he wouldn't turn her over. The Queen's smile grew but she didn't say anything. Because she didn't need to, the truth was enough.
"Do you know what happened to your sisters, have you seen them?" Condescension laced her voice.
"Elexis survived but Lythian, Lythian.."
"Yes, that's what the record says. I guess I was just wondering if there was any truth to the rumors that Lythian survived."
"No, they were all lies." She had hunted them all down herself.
"Interesting, interesting. So tell me, what happened that night, no one knows the whole story, you and Elexis are the only surviving witnesses." She couldn't tell that story, even if she was the only one who could tell it.
"I don't remember."
"Pity, I would have liked to know how dear Astria died." Anatia flinched at the sound of her mother's name. She looked down at her hands in her lap. She didn't want to talk about that, she didn't want to talk about any of this. She just wanted to.. Well she couldn't honestly say she wanted to go back to the king could she? But there was nowhere else to go, the castle, the Keep had been the only homes she'd known for the last ten years. And though she couldn't exactly say where it was, she wanted to go home.
She walked back to her room empty. Her red dress, a reminder of everything she had done, all the blood that stained her hands, the blood of her people, the ones she hadn't defended. Someone grabbed her wrists and turned her, she found Aspen looking at her. They were silent as they gazed at one another and she hated the pity in his gaze, it made her want to slap him. She turned back to walk to her room but he said, "It will get better," she paused and looked at him, "you will get better, L-life will get better." She hadn't heard him studder before.
"Thank you." and as she looked back at him before closing her door she saw his sad gaze, it wasn't pity, but true sadness, and she felt in that moment that she could tell him everything and he might listen, he might care.
