ILLYRIS | x. "WE'LL DO IT TOGETHER." TEAMWORK MAKES A TEAM THAT WORKS
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TRUST WAS A double-edged sword. Theadora didn't get the meaning of that phrase until she held House Celtigar's ancestral sword, Oathkeeper. She felt the weight of its power and the significance. It was a tool to protect and defend or a weapon to cut and betray. She believed it to be a courageous thing, to so faithfully place hope in someone. But the danger laid between the thin line of sowed faith and foolish blindness.
"Tell me again."
Thea stared up at Serafina who leaned against her bedroom door. The girl herself sat cross-legged on her bed, the moon's silvery light clashing with the golden hues of her string lights draped against the wall. Sera didn't take off the militaristic garb nor Thea her Decathlon jacket and jeans. This was one of their debriefs— Sera would have Thea repeat an accident over and over until she discerned every single time where she could've stopped tragedy from happening,
"Spider-Man and I found a Chitauri energy core," Thea began her seventeenth recollection in a firmer voice, "one of my friends took it with him to Nationals. What happened was an accident— I should've known the energy core would detonate from the X-ray's radiation."
"And then what happened?" Sera asked coolly.
"Spider-Man... saved us," she sighed, knowing just what was coming next.
"An ordinary kid saved you," Sera reiterated, her crystal eyes flooded with disbelief.
"He's not ordinary," Thea stated coldly. She felt a twinge of pain at those words. She never got to talk to Peter about his betrayal but she was still defending him ferociously.
"Peter Parker is not a dragon. You are," the older woman snapped coldly.
Thea's eyes widened at the shockingly calm expression on Sera's face. Only two words were repeating in her mind: Oh, shit! Oh, shit! "How do you know—"
"For the love of the gods, you two are horrible at keeping secrets," she sighed. "You have gifts, Thea! You could've died and instead, you let some-some vigilante show you up and your family name."
She stepped closer, her pale hands holding Thea's face, and examined her closely: the golden flecks encircling the pupils of her sapphire blue eyes, the dark hair tied in braids that were documented in the news. Nobody would know its significance denoting her noble status. Theadora had royal blood, the golden blood of old Sovranys, the dragon's blood. She was highborn though she lived in streets and shelters for most of her life. This girl was worth more than anything in the known universe and there was not a day that passed where Serafina Celtigar was terrified of what could happen to her because of that.
Sera gently ran a hand down the side of Thea's deep chestnut hair and she gently sifted through to find a single strand of platinum. For ordinary people, it was a sign of stress or premature grayness from a hard-knock life but for the Sovrani, it was different. Silver hair was the sign of greatness, of prestige, of their heritage. Silver hair was the silent reminder of the greatest magic that ever was, dormant in their blood.
