MARBLE & SALT (Lesbian)

Chapter 16 (Part 2) LIKE QUEEN LIKE PRINCESS

I can tell this story by heart even if I'm unexpectedly awakened in the middle of the night. Of course, over the years, it began to lose its novelty, and its mentioning is reduced. But every very birthday of mine (I was born at midnight from June 20th to 21st on the summer solstice) my parents always behave too softly and tenderly with me. Pa constantly kisses me on the top of my head, calling me his little hare more often than on a usual day, while mama keeps on trying not to leave me alone as if I'm ready to disappear at any moment. I'm not lying saying I'm always super embarrassed to see my rather cheerful and lively parents with their eyes on the brink of tears.

When ma was in the last month of pregnancy, the doctors said that the fetus had some kind of serious heart disease, and after birth I would not live long. When I was born, it turned out that I was an absolutely healthy child with an 'excellent heart and appetite'. The parents were so happy that they did not really investigate why this happened. Mama was sure that the doctors were just 'pathetic bastards' who made the wrong diagnosis, forcing two future parents to go through the unimaginable hell.

I bite the knuckle of my index finger so as not to scream realising how everything just comes together. Outwardly I did not take after my parents. Papa has red hair and ma is a natural blonde, besides they are both taller than I and have blue eyes. I'm much curvier than mama, my hair is wavy and light-brown and my eyes are green, but pa always says with pride and delight that I'm the copy of his mother when she was young, and ma is so touched that my eyes just like her grandfather's. Lord, what an absurdity! Eyes like, gosh, grandfather's! They just see what they want to see: their healthy child who didn't die after her birth. The miracle of the summer solstice turned out to be a witch's changeling.

I felt somehow cold and lonely, as if I had been fenced off from my parents with an iron curtain, leaving me alone to stand on a foreign, unfamiliar side. My biological mother, like a cuckoo, slipped me into the nest of unsuspecting birds, and I kicked out the one who was supposed to be in my place.

The witch silently looks at me without interrupting my silent torment. I think there is no need to answer her question, everything is clearly reflected on my worried face.

"Is it possible for a witch or a mage to make a fetus terminally ill in the womb?" I ask her in horror. What if the one who was hiding me needed a suitable female body?

"I can't deny this option," she says, and I, with a groan, fall back into the paradise birds chair. "But this is too long to perform it, perhaps, you might have been switched right after the birth... In any case, it does not matter anymore, since now you will be living in the residence."

"Is it possible to find my real parents?"

"It will be quite difficult, but after your oath, we will be able to conduct the search ritual no later than Ivan-Kupala Night*."

"Wait, wait! What kind of oath are you talking about? And how can I just move to the residence? What about my parents, my friends, my university?" I stare dumbfounded at the Supreme Witch. Caught by a hurricane named Hebe, I completely lost any maps and landmarks, but what I definitely didn't think about was that I would live in the residence.

"You cannot be left alone in the world of mere people without supervision. Having regained strength, you became an easy prey for everyone. Young witches leave the residence only after mastering their own powers. Perhaps later when you understand what's what, you can leave the sleeve alone, but considering that you are Pythia but not a battle witch, this may not happen soon." Angerona approaches the screen and, having thrown off the straps of her negligee, shamelessly demonstrates me her full nudity. I squeeze out something similar to "ah" and cover my face with my hands, but I have enough time to see absolutely everything. I would cover my ears if I could, because the witch is bursting with laughter.