LOST

Chapter 13- Light

Aiden

I stood in front of the long mirror. My eyes had bags under them and I looked tired. For the millionth time in weeks, I questioned whether I should be doing this. Whether I should let the daughter of the enemy escape. I shook my head and buried my face into my palms. When I emerged, I noticed a tall black shadow standing behind me in the mirror. I froze. I finally found my words.

"Father?" I whispered.

The shadow didn't move.

 "Father," I said a little louder this time and my father stepped into my tent, the shadow disappearing. I sighed a breath of relief softly. It was involuntary at this point. I was used to seeing the shadows for a long time now but that didn't make it any less easy. My gaze darted back to my father.

 He stood there with red furs and heavy jewellery that was enough to feed a village for a year. I hid my disgust. There was a reason I didn't wear much jewellery. Even though I knew I was ruthless sometimes, I cared for the Kythians; my people. The only pieces of jewellery I wore were a silver chain with a brass coin hung onto it, my earrings and my circlet. I didn't wear my circlet unless it was necessary. Flaunting wealth wasn't something that I wanted to do.

I liked to flaunt things that I had earned with hard work. I loved flaunting my defence and fighting skills, my literary knowledge and my strategic planning. They were things I'd learnt with hard work.

"You look regal, son," father said in a gruff voice.

I wouldn't have been surprised if he'd drunk wine again. He tended to do this before big events like the Erini just to let go a little and take everything lightly. But the wine that he drank during the duration of the event caused the real problem. Sometimes, he would end up in a bed with more than ten women. Sometimes he would beat my mother, but he didn't get the chance to do that much. I always intervened and if I wouldn't, Odin would.

 "Thank you, father," I said in a monotone.

 I had realized a long time ago that using any kind of tone with my father led to consequences and I wasn't a person who would like to stick around to see what they were.

"Good," he said. I patiently waited for him to say something. My insides were burning with desperation. I didn't want to go to the damn ball. I wanted to go to the water; the one place I could be free from the shadows. I looked down at my white, embroidered shirt, blue vest and pants, and resisted the urge to sigh. I wasn't meant for such rubbish. I was meant to be wild; to be free. Instead, I was kept caged like a bloody harpy being told when, where and what to sing.

My father looked like he was about to leave when he turned to me, his eyes blazing. I gulped.

"What?" I asked without thinking. I froze at my actions as my father's eyes widened in hatred. I cursed mentally at myself. My father sauntered toward me until he was towering over me with his tall frame. His nose almost touched my forehead.

"You are lucky, boy. If you didn't have to make an appearance at the ball tonight, I would've whipped you without thought," he snarled and I felt my throat drying up, knowing exactly how much truth his words held. "If suitors weren't attracted to you because of that pretty face of yours, I would've burnt it to a crisp by now."

He glared at me one last time before he left the tent in an angry whirl. I released a shaky breath I didn't know I had been holding. I looked back to the mirror and my mind went to the words Celestine had yelled at my back a few days earlier.

"Gods, whatever happened to the boy I'd met at the Erini?" she had whispered. "It's almost like he's dead."

She had been right. That boy was dead, but just not in the way she thought he was.