Golden Flower

Chapter Ten

7 Years Ago

Daimon held tightly onto Adara's hand as they traversed through the wooden jungle. It felt like they had been running in one direction for eons.

Adara felt happy, and worried all at the same time. 

    Deep within the depths of her soul, produced a guilty thought.

    Getting into trouble was fun. She wanted to do this more often with Daimon. Why wouldn't they? They are just a couple of kids who have been starved of adrenaline. And Daimon must've felt the same way as she did.

    Who would ever enjoy princely duties on top of already not being able to go outside. The God of Kalos truly had no compassion for them. They would grow up in a time where the light was forbidden, and the joys of nature's simplicity would be foreign to them.

    "Adara stop," Daimon said, putting his finger up to the tip of his lips.

    Adara came back into actuality and froze her body, observing the scene that stood before them. It was Timeo and Velkan. They stood in the middle of the hallway with both of their hands running through their beards, and dense expressions on their faces.

They had not noticed them yet, until Daimon motioned for her to step backwards and retreat. In doing this, the floorboards had conveniently let out a loud crack beneath their feet.

She closed her eyes as fearfulness threaded throughout the room.

No, no, no she didn't want to look.

"Daimon, walk with me at this instant." Adara opened her eyes to see the king grabbing Daimon by the collar. His royal expression rarely let him smile, but he was especially frowning at this very moment.

Velkan's long brown curls matched the same color as his sons, and his eyes the same. They were carbon copies of each other, except when it came to personality. Maybe all of the years of ruling dulled Velkan down a bit.

Adara hoped that never happened to Daimon.

Without another word, Velkan dragged his son away from her side forcing their hands to unlace.

Adara didn't even want to look at her father. The heat she had felt from him was enough punishment. She kept her eyes down to the floorboards as Timeo said nothing. He just grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back to her room.

"Do I need to ground you from seeing this boy ever again?" Timeo raised his voice. "I asked him to protect you, not lead you to both of your deaths! You are just children; one move and you could be outside."

He paced around the room in front of her as she sat on the bed. She shamefully dipped her head and placed both of her hands over her eyes.

"Father, we meant no harm at all. I was injured and Daimon was trying to help me." But spewing that information did nothing to help her case. Timeo reminded Adara over and over of the dangers in the outdoors, the deep depths of the darkness and the great unknown.

"You may not see him for a week, and I am taking your record player. You need to think more carefully about your decisions." Timeo said as he trudged across the room, lowering himself under the bed and took her precious music box.

"Father, no please!" Tears formed in her desperate eyes. There wasn't much she had in this lonely life and he was about to steal the two most important things from her grasp. She couldn't bear to hear it. She jumped off of the bed and wretchedly fell to her knees, "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I promise to never leave without a parent again!"

But without a second glance, Timeo was out the door and Adara was left isolated once again.

She hurled herself at the horrendous barrier that trapped her from those she loved and slammed her fist hard against its exterior.

"Please!" She screamed.

Nothing.

Adara's hands reached up from the floor to the doorknob and within the shakiness of her body she pulled. She pulled so hard that she thought she might snap in half. But she could not open the door. He had truly trapped her.

Tears flooded her eyes and wailing escaped from her lips.

It was the worst week of her life.