The Awakening

Chapter Forty Six

"You weren't surprised." The suddenness of Elha's voice made Avelon jump. She and Avelon had walked side by side but had said nothing since their encounter with Ernin.

The hallway stretched longer than any other she had walked through inside the palace. Very few dark wooden doors lined the walls, illuminated only by the flicker of torches stationed outside of them. Oddly enough the stone walls complimented the dark wood. Avelon had no idea what these rooms held, but if she had to guess she would think they were rooms. Perhaps even servant or slave quarters. Elha's question remained unanswered as she inspected their surroundings.

Ernin had bid them a swift farewell right after she had requested that they find Fallon. Elha wasted no time pulling her along in the direction they had been heading in originally- toward Balor's experiment room, but she neither blindfolded Avelon nor made any effort to obscure their path to Balor's experiment room.

Avelon remembered the way, a faint recollection left over from her half-hearted attempt to escape.

She suspected that was why Elha had not bothered with precautions. Or perhaps it was simply because they were now, in a way, on the same side.

Weren't they? Avelon's brow furrowed.

Elha cleared her throat, reminding Avelon that the quiet had been shattered by her earlier remark. She furrowed her brow, trying to place what she should have been surprised about.

"About what?" Avelon wondered, not quite following Elha's train of thought.

"You were particularly unphased when Ernin admitted that Lugh was not who he said he was. That he was betraying you for information." Avelon's chest tightened at the mention of Lugh.

Reluctantly she unstuck her tongue from the roof of her mouth before she spoke.

"No, I wasn't surprised. It seems everyone in Teine has an alternative persona so..." Avelon shrugged, trialling off.

"I suspect you knew as well and did not tell me." Avelon shook her head, her voice distant. Elha's lips pursed, confirming Avelon's suspicion.

She silently loathed herself for allowing so many misjudgements on her account. Since she arrived in Teine she had been lacking. She had always been careful, and had always thought things through at least thrice before acting, but since arriving in Balor's palace she had been reckless.

And Lugh. Avelon sighed deeply. The thought of him sent a frown settling onto her face, so deep that she was afraid it may never fade. The walls of the hallway suddenly felt too close to each other.

"I was not surprised, but that does not mean the clarity of it doesn't hurt. I clung to the hope that all of the signs I was seeing was just my paranoia. It seems that my ability to think rationally was washed down the drain the moment I set foot in this palace." Elha's gaze lingered on her, though Avelon did not meet her eyes.

"Sometimes, we see only what we want to see and ignore the rest," Elha murmured, her voice tinged with exhaustion. "It's okay for that to happen. Besides, Balor's presence has a tendency to distract and cause reckless behaviour."

Avelon's gaze was as cold as her voice when she spoke. "Did you feel anything when you murdered my parents?" The conversation plummeted into a different direction entirely.

Elha's expression faltered, but she did not flinch. Her voice was steady but tinged with sorrow. "I felt many things. But the need to protect the world from Balor's plans... that overshadowed them all."

Somehow, Avelon could understand the reasoning and the thought of her real parents did not hurt her as much as she thought it would. She never knew them and never had the chance to love them. Yet, anger still pierced her heart. Elha had robbed her of a life possibly filled with all the things Helena and Phelan certainly did not give her.