The Queen Of Death and Ruins

Deadly sins

I spent the rest of the day in bed, waking up from dreams about my life only to have my mind reeling with more memories. It seemed that after my conversation with Isaiah, the fog that had been clouding my brain had lifted, and the missing pieces of my life started falling into place.

I closed my eyes again, and the next thing I knew, Zephyr and Kira were barreling into my room at 7 am, looking way too chipper at such an early hour.

"Wake up lazy bones!" Zephyr yelled as she jumped face first into my bed. "The assembly is in an hour, you're going to be late."

"Good morning to you too, Zephyr. I missed you too! My weekend was great, how was yours?" I said, sarcasm dripping into every word.

"Morning Nyx." Zephyr rolled her eyes dramatically. "Now get up and get ready so I can ask you all about your first trip to Umbra."

Fifteen minutes later, I was showered and dressed up. I made my way down the stairs and joined my roommates in the kitchen.

"Here is your coffee." Kira handed me a huge mug with a smile. "You look like you can use a boost of energy."

"Thank you!" I sipped the piping hot drink.

"When did you get here anyway?" Zephyr  asked.

"Caelum and I came back last night. I wanted to get a head start on unpacking and getting everything ready." The lie tasted as bitter as the coffee Kira gave me.

"Speaking of Caelum, how was your break? Did you two have a good time together? Any romantic interludes we should be aware of?" Zephyr wiggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Don't let Morana hear you say that." Kira snickered. "The ice queen might freeze the whole school."

At the mention of Morana, my heart sank. I had no right to be mad at Caelum for moving on with his life when he didn't remember me at all. But I couldn't help the feeling of jealousy and betrayal. Caelum was my first love and I had no doubt in my mind that I was still very much in love with him. Even when I was with Sin, I didn't feel anything as strong as the emotions that consumed me every time Caelum did as much as glance my way. But now, he was with Morana and I had no rights to him, and that broke my heart.

"Nothing happened." I cleared my throat and plastered a fake smile on my face. "He showed me around the kingdom, which is beyond gorgeous by the way."

Zephyr nodded along to my words as I described in agonizing details everything that happened since the second we stepped into the portal until we came back here. I made sure to keep out any mention of magic, memories and deadly daggers, peppering in descriptions of what I now remembered about the kingdom I was born in. Kira however, was silent the entire time, regarding me with a look that told me she knew I was hiding something.

Once breakfast was over, we walked together to the main hall where yet another assembly was to take place. Along the way we bumped into Kaius and Soren, who launched straight into an animated conversation about their break. Lysandra met us in front of the main hall, and we all made our way inside. The assembly started out like all the others before it, with Mr. X reminding us of our trials and the marks we were to receive on each section.

"In other news, the royal families of our kingdoms wish you all the best with your mock trials. They wanted you to know that soon, this nightmare will be over. The investigations are narrowing in on the traitor and soon we will all find out who betrayed us and opened our sacred grounds to the enemy. In the meantime, upperclassmen should work hard and hone their powers. Once this mystery is solved, the real test will begin."

And with those ominous words, we were sent to continue our training.

The silence that engulfed the main hall disappeared as soon as the students set foot outside. Everyone was buzzing, whether from excitement about the impending capture of the traitor, or from joy about their long weekend break, the mood seemed to finally lift and improve after a long period of dread.