A Shattered Dawn

Chapter 4

At first, I am taken aback since she remembered my real name, and it is the first time I have heard someone else speak it since I was a young child. For a split second, I wonder if the royal palace is a cover-up for some deadly society of upper-class Celestials, then quickly realize the reason why Lucia is even attending this ball—and with me, for that matter. So, without thinking, I start talking with a soft voice unused to speech.

"Don't be scared, I don't know you that well, but you seem strong. So show him. Walk in there with your shoulders back and chin high,"

I pause, thinking about what she needs to hear, still not understanding how someone could entrust her feelings and entire soul to a stranger... but I continue.

"Because you deserve so much more than him. I don't know how you ended and I don't want to tell you what to do since he was not my lover, he was yours, but you'll get through this and move on."

I pause for another moment, noticing her shocked face at my sudden speech. I feel my cheeks heat and look down at my hands fidgeting in my lap. I feel emotional, yet again, for the life I never had.

"You'll move on. Life does, and it will always sweep you along with it."

My vision blurs as I realize that I am lying. I am lying to Lucia and I am lying to myself. I have never moved on from what happened to my parents. I have let myself wallow in sadness, refusing to leave yet refusing to act. And all it took was a stupid dream to drag me out of my years-long trance...

Still, Lucia seems to believe my advice, nodding and swallowing with renewed confidence. I tear my eyes away and peer out the open window, framed with lacy pink curtains, and finally get a full glimpse of the sea. We now pass through the open, rolling fields colored an artificial green that lead to the royal grounds at the top of a gradual hill. The ocean–laced air surrounds me and matches my view: the calm waves in the distance, seeming so close yet far below the land that gradually rises beneath us. 

I turn my gaze to the royal complex ahead, so far away yet I can still glimpse the ivory gates stretching for miles, guarding the royals. The path the carriage is on is the only one that leads to the complex, and to my surprise, it is sandy and worn, which is not the typical royal entrance I had been expecting. Several carriages follow us, trailing behind our brisk march. Although the sun is low in the sky, dancing off the waves and mixing colors like paint above me, its brightness still shocks my vision of darkness. 

I find myself drifting away in my head, thinking about the lives of the royals here, how easy it would be to settle down, forget the past, and never look back at my life with regret. In what seems like a few minutes but what must have been more, Lucia taps my shoulder and whispers with quiet anticipation,

"We're here."

I blink, observing my surroundings once again. While before the carriage was surrounded by rolling hills and the peaceful, distant ocean, we now halt at one of the many entrances through the gates which guard the royal grounds. Two guards stand at the gates, and after a quick verification with the conductor of our carriage, the gates swing open and we pass the wall of high hedges that line the bars from the inside. I finally get a full glimpse of what is held beyond the gates and my breath is taken away. While before, I could only see the tops of a few buildings on this side, the full majesty of the architecture secures me in its magical grip.

The sprawl of buildings awaits me, all stemming from the huge center manor, its pale pillars reaching to the periwinkle sky and the smaller residences and halls spreading out across the acres. The light from inside the structures bleeds into the sky, and I can almost feel the cool spray from the elaborate fountain ahead of the manor, the sunlight glinting in the crystalline water. Our elevation is higher now; I can still glimpse the ocean spreading away from me, but now it appears so much lower than we are. These are the famed cliffs; if I travel far enough I will be able to see the beaches far below on the north and east sides. On the west side of the cliffs, the ocean is closer, with its waves crashing against and slowly cutting into the unyielding stone with their dull blades.