A Dark Destiny

Chapter 26

The white marble statue of Her Highness in the butterfly-shaped basin never ceases to amaze me. It's my second time seeing it, but I continue to gaze at it with so much marvel, like I'm looking at it for the first time. A few murmurs up ahead brought my mind back to earth. I bent my head a little to see the six members of the High Order talking amongst themselves in front of the cherry blossom tree at the far end of the room.

I thought I would never find myself back in the Butterfly Temple. After the exercise that took place in the small library of the castle, Stella sent out a message through Raymond to inform the High Order about what had transpired. She had personally sent a message to Her Highness herself by sending out one of the blue butterflies, which magically disappeared into thin air. Stella and I teleported here, and the others started to come in one by one. We were still waiting on Her Highness.

I continued to look at the six members of the High Order as they spoke amongst themselves in a circle, careful not to talk too loudly for me to hear. Besides, when they had all arrived, Stella had kindly told me to go stand by the fountain so that they could talk. I wonder what I have done now to get them all riled up. I looked down at my right hand, which was closed into a fist. It looks like I already have my answer.

The words of my look-alike still run through my mind. What is there to accept? All six elements? I shook my head. I don't think it's about the elements. It felt like she meant it from a deeper perspective.

I sat on the hard bench near the fountain and slowly opened my hand. The two orbs continued to spin around on my palm. Why did I have them? Stella had mentioned them during our lesson. And she looked like she was about to faint when she saw them in my hand. Are they a big deal?

I turned to look behind me at the High Order, and for a moment, Ryan caught me looking. His blue eyes pierced right through me, and I turned away, regretting that I ever looked. He looked dead serious. Is my situation really a big deal?

With a shake of my head, I closed my right hand, stood, and walked past the fountain, approaching the High Order. Mei saw me coming, so she gave a quick gesture to her comrades. They all turned to look at me, and they broke away from their circle.

"I told you to wait by the fountain, Diana," said Stella.

"Well, I'm tired of waiting," I answered.

"It's not our fault that Her Highness isn't here yet," said Ryan, raising his eyebrow at me.

"Is this really a big deal?" I asked, drawing my right hand forward and revealing the orbs.

None of them answered, but I could tell just how uncomfortable and nervous they were upon seeing the two orbs spinning around in my hand.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" I ask. "Your silence and the way you were talking earlier say there's a lot you're not telling me."

"I know you need answers," said Camila in her orange robe. "But we can't give them to you just yet."

"What, you can't tell me anything until Her Highness gets here?" I stop talking, realizing that I'm about to blow a fuse. I take a deep breath. Furthermore, I close my eyes and rub my forehead. This is really getting to me, and I need to calm down.

"This isn't right," I say when I finally open my eyes. "I hate that you expect me to trust you when you're keeping things from me. Things I don't understand."

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Ariana had come to stand beside me, and she had a sad smile on her face.

"Trust me," she said. "There are a lot of things that we also want to tell you, but we can't just give them to you at once. There's a lot about you that we also need to understand."