A Blade Among Feathers

Chapter 33

Idyllia

Elix has been acting weird for most of this morning. His hair is sticking up in every possible direction, the feathers on his wings were out of place and he had eyebags that were as deep as the ocean, all of which was unusual. He kept his hands close to his body, as if he were waiting for something to attack him. He was acting exceedingly odd to say the least.

Every time I tried to ask Elix what was wrong, he would either ignore me or say it was nothing. Even the servants around the castle had noticed the princes strange behaviour.

I had spoken to the kings advisor, Amara I think her name was, and she said that Elix normally fell into heavy drops in emotions. She also had said that his sister was always there to help him in times like this, but since she was gone, he had no one to help him out.

Unfortunately, I hadnt even known that King Thorin had two children, I only knew about Elix when the request for our marriage was made.

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My new room that I share with Elix looks absolutely perfect. The walls were painted a light grey and the floor was carpeted in a dark blue material. A balcony was on the wall opposite to the door, giving a full view over the entire kingdom. A large canopy bed was placed in the middle of the room, surrounded by bookshelves stocked with books and trinkets.

As I walked around the room, taking it all in, I saw a stand with the gifted mirror in the corner. I walked over to it to get a better look and stared at my reflection. I admired the way my hair was styled, half of my hair pulled back while the rest fell gracefully down my back.

Tilting my head to the side, I noticed that my reflection hadnt copied the action. Strange. I leaned closer to the mirror and made eye contact with my so-called reflection. Everything looked normal, all except for the eyes. Once the tip of my nose was almost touching the mirror, the eyes glowed a deep red.

I screamed and fell back, watching in fear as the spirit flew out of the mirror. The thing that was once my reflection was now a ghost with glowing red eyes, horns, and claws for hands. I scrambled back as the spirit approached me, an enormous grin of sharp teeth across its face.

YOU WILL M AKE A PERFECT HOST, the spirit spoke with an echoing voice, laughing manically at my fear.

Without warning, the spirit leapt into me and I could feel a cold sensation make its way up my nose and down my throat. It was horrible. I tried to scream but it felt as if my airways were being closed off, I couldnt breathe. I couldnt speak. I was helplessly freaking out.

Gripping my neck, I pathetically attempted to get up off the ground, struggling to find a grip on the walls. When I had finally gotten up, I stumbled to the door in a panic, trying to find help. The door handle was cold to the touch as I pushed the door open with much effort, crashing into the halls.

My hands tried to find anything to hold onto while clutching my last breaths. My movements slowly became more difficult as I started to lose consciousness. My vision was slowly fading into black, my head was dizzy and the room was spinning. I fell to my knees to try and preserve my energy, but it did nothing.

I carefully lowered myself to the floor and laid on my side, clutching my neck. I silently prayed that none of this was actually happening, that it was all just a dream. But the intense pain I was feeling proved me otherwise.

As I started to close my heavy eyelids, I could faintly hear shouting and footsteps in the distance. Before I could figure out who it was, my eyes shut, leaving me alone in the darkness.