The Assassin Queen (Book Four)

Chapter 4- Ryia

My father was dead I did't know how to feel. The funeral passed with a blur along with Rowan's coronation. I felt as though someone had draped a shadow over me. I was going through the motions but no emotions touched me. I felt achingly numb it was not foreign. It was what I went through whenever someone I had cherished died it was not a new emotion. Sometimes when I was alone I'd open up the abyss I kept these feelings and thoughts in and plunge into the darkness letting it suffocate me. I hadn't been hear in a while and it was overpowering. I was a puppet being pulled along while my soul watched forlornly helpless to do anything. I watched as Alexandria looked utterly lost on how to feel. I had picked up on her distant relationship with our father and couldn't help but feel bad for her he was someone she should love but never did anything to deserve that love. I drifted off to a comfortable sleep in Leo's warm comforting arms. I expected Simon but he wasn't there. That couldn't mean anything good especially with all the nonsense he's been talking about lately. How ancient shadow magic could make strong wielders nearly immortal and to give them power over others emotions. It was all he talked about he seemed fascinated with it but I never once thought of it as anything more than a legend surely if such magic existed someone would have used it to take of the world by now. I never said such things to Simon though I was entranced with his tales of ancient kingdoms and their rulers and how on powerful shadow wielder carved a land where his fellow shadow wielders could live in peace. How that powerful shadow wielder fell deeply in love with a fae princess and how the fae queen claimed he had bewitched her and stuffed the soul of a demon into her and had the fae princess executed saying she was better off dead and how the kingdoms have been at war ever since. I'd come to secretly enjoy him telling me all these strange and ancient stories. I sat in the darkness of my dreamland wondering if he was in battle right now or maybe planning an attack on the castle. Even though I had started to see him as a friend when he visited me in my sleep the thought of seeing him in the waking hours still scarred me. Soon my dream land lit up to the large, bright library I had become accustomed to seeing when Simon visited to read me stories. "Hello Ryia you looking rather thoughtful today" Simon noted smiling while plucking up the story we were currently reading. "Sorry I was late I had some business to attend to so we might not finish the story tonight as planned" Simon said flipping open to the page we had left off at. "Well we definitely won't finish it if we only sit and discuss your less than perfect punctuality" I stated. Huffing out a laugh Simon continued reading. "And though it was strange for a demon knight to roam the earth he did for he was curious of what the oracles had foretold "A descendant of the fae queen's power shall birth the child who shall slay the demon king along side the child of the true heir to the shadow thrown" as he started to get back into the rhythm of the story I felt someone calling to my consciousness. "Well I guess that's your cue" Simon said putting the book down. "No reading without me" I said standing up brushing off my skirts. "I wouldn't dream of it". With that I woke up. "It was Simon" Leo said. Pulling me up. "W-what do mean, what was Simon?" I ask trying to shake away the sleep that still clung to me. "Alexandria said he had come here and that there is something important that we need to hear right now" Leo said letting me lean on him while I slipped on some slippers. "Well let's go" I said fear creeping into my soul. When we made it to Alexandria's room she was hugged against Aaron who was trying to calm her down. "I shot Simon through the chest with an arrow and he hardly even flinched" Alexandria said. I stumbled backwards. "No, the-they're just stories" I muttered my eyes widening. "Ryia what do you mean?" Terrin asked cautiously. "Simon he still visits me in my dreams and recently he has been talking about ancient shadow magic that allows the wielder to become nearly invincible" dear god how did I not see this coming. "How come you never told us he was still visiting you in your dreams?" Alexandria asked. How on earth could I explain that I had befriended the enemy in dream land?