The Golden Chalice

✰✦✰ Chapter 14 ✰✦✰

✰✦✰ Chapter 14 ✰✦✰
" Healing My Pain "

"DAMNIT," I HISSED just as the searing pain shot up my arm and my eyes seemed to shut on their own, desperate to block out the agony. "Bloody dragon. . ."

I tucked my hair behind my ear and let the warm flames of the fireplace offer me the tiniest sliver of comfort while I wrapped the bandage over my wound. Thankfully no one else was here. Mrs Phoenix had locked up the inn for the night and I was alone in the common area where brown leather settees sat in front of a colourful fireplace. Flames licked up and down my bare skin, only somewhat covered by my black nightgown.

Tomorrow morning we'd be off to Oblecus Isle and attempt to find the next clue—whatever kind of messed up mission led us to it I wasn't looking forward to, since the key, apparently, held a symbol of Oblecus Isle's Olympian—Ides.

I let myself lean into the settee I sat on, my eyes roaming the flames of the fire for the answer to my question: "Am I doing the right thing?" Because I was starting to doubt I was. If I couldn't even handle having a small cut on my arm then what could I do? Had one attack really made everything come crumbling down in my mind? Was I overreacting? Surely one afternoon wouldn't be able to dictate what the rest of my life was going to be like, right?

"You're so beautiful, my sweet girl," The high tide came and brought in my mother's once spoken words. "You're beautiful, inside and out. You can do anything you set your mind to so long as you have the best of intentions. All you need to do is believe in yourself, that is your only flaw."

All joy deflated inside of me, like a popped balloon. My mother had said that to me days after the incident, one where I had made it very clear that I had no intention of ever being Queen. I'd never felt so ashamed of myself until then, until my mother had burst into tears as soon as I awoke from my slumber. She'd embraced me in the tightest hug I had ever experienced and made sure I knew just how much she loved me.

This, for some reason, reminded me of that day, of her words.

Though maybe the two incidents couldn't be compared in the slightest, my diffidence certainly was. Identical, almost. Except this time I truly wasn't alone. I had Rinne and a new sense of self—one that was more confident and didn't want to ruin everything she had because of apprehension. That didn't mean I didn't still have difficulty sleeping sometimes because of self-doubt but it meant that I no longer wanted to harm myself for the person I'd been born as.

"Jacks, mate, if you'd just—"

Curiosity yanked my head to the left and almost killed me at the sight of Darius. "What are you doing here?"

He froze, his lips twitching as he circled his inner cheek with his tongue. I'd almost been too focused on his face to notice the alcohol in his hand. Or was it antibiotic ointments? I couldn't tell and I really didn't care either. "Of course," he said.

"Of course, what?" I was highly aware of the malicious tone my voice held.

He gestured to my wound, "Jacks told me to meet him down here ten minutes ago. Said he needed help with his cut."

I knitted my eyebrows together. "He doesn't have a cut."

"I can see that now," Darius snapped back, "Instead, your face is the one I see when coming down."

"Well, why didn't you check him for injuries?"

"I do apologise, Your Highness. Had I known that you were down here, believe me, I wouldn't have stepped one foot out the door."