The Queen Of Eternity

you're still a traitor

He stepped back but not for long.

"Stop the music," He orders, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from Azrael.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I demand yanking my hand out of his grasp, "Why are you acting like this?"

"Because five years," He turns me around to face him, his nails digging into my arms, "Five years I waited for you. You forgot about me, didn't you? You left me to rot in those dungeons, baby."

He says the last word as if it's an insult. A slur.

As if he's finally realising, t's my fault. All of it. Everything he went through.

And I have no excuse for it.

"I am sorry," He says again.

I feel my eyes sting with tears.

"Jake, baby, what are you talking about?" Mine was loving. Not a slur, not an insult.

I have never see Jake look so... animalistic.

His eyes — red and his frame shaking.

"You could've saved me but you chose not to. Your mother is a prison guard for me. That wasn't paradise! It was a jail cell," He mutters those words not to make me feel bad but as if he's consoling himself.

Guilt and confusion take control of me as I take one step forward.

That was a mistake.

A small popping noise.

And I am looking down at a blade in my stomach.

I look back up, into Jake's teary eyes.

"No. No. No. What have I done? No. No. No," He keeps repeating the same words.

The shock subdues the pain but for only a few seconds.

Blood flows out of the wound and the black dress takes on a maroon tint.

I take a step back, my legs not being able to carry my weight anymore.

The world spins around me and I am barely aware of Azrael rushing towards me and yelling profanities at Jake.

My father doesn't move.

Black dots. Why am I seeing black dots?

The guards take away a sobbing Jake.

"I am sorry, Esmeray. I am so, so, so sorry."

Yelling. So much yelling.

I lean back against Azrael's chest.

He lifts my up, with one arm behind my back and the other under my knees.

I hear Lucas's voice... can't make out what he's saying. He sounds angry.

Not at me.

I hope.

And I see Ocean.

Is she crying?

I don't want her to cry.

I look up at Azrael as he keeps muttering that I'll be fine.

I am not sure who he's trying to reassure. But I like hearing his voice.

He begs me not to close my eyes.

But it hurts.

It hurts so much.

So much that I want to scream but I can't.

All I can do is let out an occasional whimper.

I want to close my eyes.