veiled hearts

seventeen

a/n:
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"No." My heart felt heavy. His hands were suddenly cold. "I can't claim that, I'm not-. I don't have such powers."

Theodore still stared at our hands, his expressions faded off of his face. His head was empty, his eyes still expelled power. I couldn't be, this can't be happening, I may be supposed to feel some kind of excitement, but I didn't, I didn't feel any of this, I only felt afraid, betrayed, lied to. "You just... Lyra, you just shut me out. My fire."

"No I didn't! I did not, I-. I have never expelled ice with my bare hands as you do fire, this is not —we are not the same!—" I couldn't be an elemental, that's just not real.

"You don't know how to use your power, you've never been taught. All of this... all of this was hidden from you." All of this was hidden from me...

He still held on tight to my hands, although I cooled his hands more and more every second that passed.
"When we first met, the first thing I noticed was how you stood out mid-snowfall as if we were in June. You took me out to the garden, and when I kissed you–"

"You're the guy from the masquerade," I breathed out, heart hammering against my chest. "Why couldn't I remember?"

His hold tightened, and his smirk seemed to fade. "I made you forget." I tried to let go, but he didn't allow me to. "I made you forget like everyone pretended to after that ball. It was haunting you, that night tore you apart. You, giving yourself away for a kiss was such a big regret, wasn't it? I can take every type of pain away, I can heal, I can restore. So I did."

"Why did you kiss me?" I questioned, my brows knitting.

"I-."

"You set the fire, didn't you?"

"What-? No." His finger was held up against my lips, trying to shush me before I continued to ask any more questions. "You need to listen. You need to stop running your tongue every time you question someone. Understood?" His breath was heavy. I couldn't help it. Questions were all I had, answers, something I lacked.
Safe. That's how I stood. I was safe. I needed to understand that.

I sucked in a deep breath, feeling the fresh, winter air hug my lungs. I breathed out any bit of stress, closed my eyes, let his hands go. "This is very, very difficult to digest. But It shouldn't be. Make it simpler, Lyra. I'll answer that one big question you've always had: This is why you're sacred, this is why you're chosen. This is your gift."

I felt a vast wave of sorrow wash over my body.
I had been lied to.

The fay stepped in, hands behind his back. I felt so bad, like someone had ripped my heart right out of my chest.
"Cimmeria is not a dark kingdom. Believe me, we are full of light. Cimmeria is this," I felt warm air blow against my body. Turning my head and looking up, I found light. I found love.
Magic. Although my heart felt heavy, I couldn't keep in my grin. I laughed. The sun was coming up. Flowers flourished. Leaves of threes swooshed off of the branches, little fairies twirled in the air. I watched the tress come apart, those weren't stems or branches, no. They were creatures, as in men made out of wood.

I stepped away. Shock tickled my chest as I watched the forest morph, turning into things whose existence I wasn't even aware of. I watched them all move, watched them all wake, making their way to wherever they had to be. My hand slapped my mouth. Eyes pooling, hands shaking. The rocks by the stream, they rolled they moved, those were... trolls.