Their Princess

Chapter 64

“ Eli! Eli! Wake up!” 

He got up, startled. He squinted his eyes to look around his dark room. Turning on the lights, he noticed my tear filled face. 

“ What happened, baby?” He pulled me in his lap and started to check my body's temperature. “ You okay, darling? What happened? Why are you crying?”

“ Scared.” I mumbled in a small voice. I was ashamed to be acting this way, but I didn't have a choice. After so many weeks of my kidnapping, I had my first panic attack. 

“ Did you have a nightmare?” I nodded. “ Do you want to talk about it?”

I was about to shake my head but then decided to tell him. He can help me better if he knows what troubles I'm having. Wiping my tears off with my palm, I tried to shake off the memory from my head.

“ I was… I… was…. in the metal box… underground.” Eli sucked in a sharp breath, closing his eyes tightly. 

We didn't say anything after that. No words were needed except his presence. I felt a series of pecks on my head and cheek but almost ignored it when another panic attack started to bubble up.

I whimpered and curled my body against his, shutting off almost everything around me. I need to get out of my head, or this won't end any sooner.

“ Hey. Look at me. Can you hear my voice?” I nod. “ Good. Just focus on that. Do you know how much I love you? Huh? So much, baby. You know, when I was a kid, my mother used to tell me a story of an angel. Do you want to hear that story?” He said in my ear. His hands were rubbing my back and arms nonstop. 

On another nod, he continued. “ So this angel lived on the moon closest to our planet. They said she chose that moon because she could guard Ethna from there well. However, other angels were not happy with her ideas. They thought she was betraying her kind to be around and protect another.”

“ One day, the good angel couldn't help herself and journeyed to Ethna. She wanted to be around us more, especially children. She loved them. Whenever she saw any innocent hurt, she would sprinkle her magic on them to heal them.”

“ Other angels didn't like the fact that people loved her more, so they complained about her in the high council. She tried to defend herself, but it didn't work. She was stripped of her position and was forced to live among Ethnainian as Ethnainian. Without her magic, she couldn't help people much. She tried but couldn't do much of what people expected her to do.”

“ One day, a plague broke on the planet. She so desperately wanted to help the sick, so she did something no one imagined her doing. She went to a lake nearby and cut her skin open. The water turned red. Despite her being stripped of her powers, her blood still held some healing properties. So, she called the villagers to give this water to the ill. Water healed everyone, but it wasn't enough.”

“ So, she went under the lake and let herself bleed to death. I don't know if that story is true or not, but that angel became our goddess later on. Even our historians have found some remnants of blood on the edge of the Lake.”

“ So it's a true story?” I ask in a hoarse voice.

“ I don't know about that. But it's said that the angel or Goddess still resides in that lake. She is not bleeding but still blessing the Ethnainian in some way. People go there when they need her guidance, protection, or anything.”

“ Does the lake still hold healing properties?” 

“ No. It doesn't. We checked. It's like any other water body. But it was the rocks around the lake that made people believe in the tales of an angel coming to Ethna to love and protect us.”

“ Goddess has always protected our kind, baby. She never forgets anyone.”

“ But I'm not an Ethnainian.” I reminded him politely.

“ No. You're not. But you hold the hearts of four Ethnainians, and the Goddess knows that very well. She will protect you no matter what.”

I lay my head on his chest, thinking about the story he just told me. Was it really an angel or an alien? But then again, it doesn't matter anymore because she became their Goddess with her love for these people.

While Eli rocks my body back and forth, I slowly start to drift asleep. Thankfully, no metal surrounded me this time.