Immortalia

Chapter 17 - Sorrow and Guilt

Chapter 17 – Sorrow and Guilt

No matter how long Aaron stared at Allegra, he couldn’t make sense of anything that she was saying. It felt as if he were being punched repeatedly in the stomach with each word she said.

He held up a hand to stop her nervous rambling. “Allegra, please,” he said.

“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “One moment, she was there, the next she’d jumped through. I tried to follow, but I couldn’t and the portal seems gone now.”

Aurora is gone. Aaron reached out, supporting himself on a tree. They were standing around the lake, the exact place he’d been facing Aurora just an hour ago. And now, she was gone. He scanned the area, hoping to see the little blue light that signified a portal. But it was nowhere to be seen. Allegra was telling the truth.

A dull ache settled in the pit of his stomach. He was exhausted from the healing, but he couldn’t slack now. He needed to remember everything that Shani had told him about her home. She’d been here just a few years ago, and they’d arrived in the Sacred Land safely. There hadn’t been any problems with the travelling back then.

“Allegra,” he said. “When you came here the last time… Was there any problems there?”

She shook her head. “No, sir.”

“We need to find that portal again,” he muttered. “I didn’t tell Aurora anything about the land, and she might be in trouble.” Aaron ran a hand through his hair. Frustrated, he jerked around to the small assemble of female warriors. “Lead me to Heratrix,” he said. When he saw their expressions, he added, “please.”

***
Aurora woke with a jerk. Disorientated, she glanced around the room. It took her a while before she recognized the feeling of soft satin against her bare skin. Sari was in a chair, reading over something. A dim light illuminated the Queen’s features.

“Bad dreams?” Sari asked without moving.

“How did you know?” Aurora rubbed her forehead.

“Your heart is beating faster than before.” Sari raised her head, meeting Aurora’s eyes. “Almost as if you had been running.”

“It wasn’t that kind of nightmare.”

“Oh.” Sari smiled. “I see, then. Should I leave you be?”

When Aurora didn’t answer, Sari folded something and rose from the chair.

“Don’t go,” Aurora blurted.

Queen Sari nodded and took a place in the chair again. Aurora fiddled with her fingers, glancing at the queen in secret. It was odd; she’d witnessed the Queen’s breakdown. Yet now, it seemed as if the Queen was doing anything she could to comfort Aurora instead.

The more time she spent with the queen, the more she realized that Sari wasn’t a Queen. She didn’t act, talk, or look as a figure of royalty. Of course, Aurora knew next to nothing about this land, but Sari wasn’t like any character she’d encountered over her many years.

“You can just ask, you know,” Sari said, again without taking her eyes away from the papers in her lap.

“About what?”

“You’re wondering why I don’t act like a Queen.”

“How did you know?” Aurora asked the question before she remembered that Sari had been able to read her mind. “Sorry. Dumb question.”

“So why don’t you ask what you want to know?”

Aurora shrugged lightly. “I thought it might be rude. I am fairly ignorant to this world after all.”