The Stars of My Heart [Completed]

Chapter Sixteen

Around the fire, we curl together. There is not much talking, just a lot of feelings. I can still sense the nerves from my mom that aura that I felt earlier shifting from an angst to a deep focus.

"Mom. Who was that woman? Eden?" I ask, my voice shaking even though I dare it not to.

Everyone's eyes look over to her, leaving the fire as light, instead of their main focus.

She takes a deep breath. "Well, she is a special ruler. She is the Queen of the kingdom that Lumbridge is at war with. We have no choice but to go to her. She was the chosen of the chosen. I guess you could say a hierarchy. She has direct contact with the gods, so when there is a request to be made, unfortunately, she is who you go to."

That's why Crista was so uncomfortable bowing to her.

"How did you know her?"

She looks deep in the fire. Too deep. Maybe now wasn't the right time to get into this story, but I have to know.

"Being the Queen of Malaka, her kingdom had once fallen into a depression. Back then, she was not the villain you see her as today, she was kind, an angel actually, but this hopelessness turned her heart to ice. She had prayed and prayed for the gods to save her from the depression, but there was nothing to be done. Her people were starving, supplies were low, and the streets were filled with people begging for her aid and blessing. She didn't know what to do. She had then decided to reach out to the next best thing, the chosen ones. She begged us all to help her, but when we tried, the gods didn't allow it. Instead of trying to deepen her faith, she took her rage out on us. If we were not able to help her, then we were of no use to her. She thought that what we had done was a betrayal to her kingdom."

Her eyes never leave the licking flames as they glow brighter into the night. As if the fire too could feel her pain.

"We tried to explain. Tried to reason. It was not our fault. What the gods say, goes. It was at that time she had started to send out troops. Troops to find every chosen one she had asked, and slaughter them for the great betrayal of her throne and kingdom. Under her command is why Mika and I were murdered."

The crackle of the fire fills the silence. Malaka troops? I had thought the Huva gang had killed her. Even Rebecca had thought the same.

"So... it wasn't the incident? You know... the one with the gang?" Rebecca asks, myself wondering the same thing.

"I'm so sorry. All this time, you thought it was you, that it was your fault. The only one to blame is Eden. She has always been self-centered, worrying for herself, rather than her people. I just never thought that she would have gone so far as to take innocent lives."

"If she was the one who sent troops to murder you, why did she decide to bring you back?" I ask.

She looks at me again with that same concerned expression. "I... I don't know. Maybe she had a change of heart."

That's my mom. Always looking for the soft spot in people. I wish I could do the same. All I can usually see in people, are their flaws. The things that they had done wrong, always putting myself in competition with them. It would make me feel a little bit better to know there was someone worse than me. Lucky for me, I didn't have to look very far.

Crista raises her voice, still a little hoarse from the ceremony. "Miss Maria, there is something you should know... about your husband."

I shake my head trying to stop her. This is not the time to bring this up. Ignoring it, she continues.

"Your husband had sent Zaria on a mission to the palace to steal the treasury of the kingdom. Anyway, when we had found out that Zaria was your daughter, we had gone over to the mansion to get your slip for your ceremony. When he had seen Zaria back with nothing... he shot her."