Draconia Offline vol. 1

46.2. Assert Myself - Part 2

I wake up with a twitch because it feels as if someone is groping my wings. I turn my head wildly but it's just Ayala. She wanted to kindly change my wings' position so that I don't feel so sore. I calm down when I make sure about her good intention but I can't shake off the feeling that she was touching me more than was necessary.

"Where's Erik?" I ask, startled that he isn't with me.

"You didn't seem like you'd be waking up soon, Your Majesty, and Her Excellency came to visit," Ayala explains. "They're talking in the living room."

"Oh, right," I sigh out when I verify it with my telepathy. I must have woken up exactly because unconsciously I didn't feel my partner close.

"Do you feel better?" she smiles at me, relieved. "I'll notify the kitchen to bring you breakfast. Doctor Julia insisted on vegetable broth."

I realise that I do feel better. Much better. I'm still a bit dizzy but it seems my fever went down and I don't feel cold anymore. I quickly inspect the room. Vermiel is standing watch by the door from the inside and he's looking at me with both concern and sternness. As if he was afraid I might break the window any instant.

"You should still rest, Your Majesty," Cien gets alarmed when I push myself to sit up.

I ignore her, envelope myself in my wings so that I don't have to look at them and start rubbing my feathers anxiously. The dream was so vivid. Analysing it rationally, I know that the shackles were just a symbolic representation but at the same time it points perfectly to my current problem that's only getting worse.

I can see it clearly now. Celestials—my own people—are increasingly limiting my already limited freedom. Being the Celestial Emperor, I'm painfully aware that there're certain things I can't do anymore and that there're a ton of things that are expected of me.

I'm willing to sacrifice myself for my subjects in almost every aspect of my life but I won't let them take away from me the one thing I love the most. If I'm the embodiment of magic itself as they claim, it also means that I'm the embodiment of air which is our racial element. I can feel it in my hollow bones. I can feel it in my feathers. It's true.

"Your Excellency, Royal Consort, come quickly, something's wrong with His Majesty!" Vermiel opens the door and shouts.

Wrong? WRONG?!

Liana and Erik barge into the bedroom and find me enveloped in an avalanche of feathers that got all puffy with my arising wrath. They freeze on the spot because I radiate that emotion out. I didn't know I could do that but it works like a charm. Everyone starts trembling. It's one thing to witness Celestial wrath but entirely other experience to feel it pointed towards you.

"What did you discuss with the Celestial Council, Liana?" I open my feathered cocoon and my voice is a whip. "How much further do you want to limit me in the name of my so-called protection?"

"Your Majesty, we...," the title slips from her tongue which makes me even more furious.

"USE-MY-FUCKING-NAME," I cut every single word and objects in the room start shaking menacingly. "You of all people!"

"Aefener," she corrects herself but it doesn't sound convincing.

"I do everything you want from me, Liana," I hiss. "I'm learning politics and etiquette even though I don't enjoy it. I work more than ten hours every day. I never complain. You take away my privacy. I hate it but I endure it. I can't go anywhere but I somehow got used to it. Flying is the last thing I have, Liana. My only freedom. I won't let anyone take is as well."

"Ryuu...," Erik looks broken-heartedly at me but doesn't dare to approach me.

"And you agree with them, don't you?" my eyes water. "I told you once, Erik, that I might enjoy being owned by you but not like this."