Immortalia

Chapter 20 - Immortalia

Chapter 20 – Immortalia

“Guess who I found making out upstairs?” Milada burst out as soon as they stepped inside the room. Everyone stopped talking and turned to look at her and Aaron.

Aurora was still flustered. Her insides were bursting with positive feelings: happiness, excitement, love, hope, and now embarrassment. She could feel the blood rising to her cheeks, and the collected stares from all of her friends didn’t help either.

 “Finally,” Valeria said. “It’s about damn time.”

“Owh. That’s so sweet,” Sari chimed in.

“Way to go!” Zachary exclaimed, sounding genuinely excited. At this point, Aurora wished that her powers had been invisibility instead. This was all too much to take in at once. Their smug faces were starting to bother her—as if everybody knew it would happen before she found out.

“Milada says you’ve come up with something?” Aurora said, trying to change the subject. Lucky for her, they all knew when to stop. Everybody stopped grinning, and instead they all looked to Sari and Zachary.

Sari cleared her throat. “Yes. We have an idea that will definitely work.” She looked at a beaming Zachary. “Zachary suggested it.” She smiled fondly to him. “I was telling him about our lore, and he asked about the royal family. He’d already told me about your situation, so when I told him about our mark then he suggested that it might work on you and—“

“Wait,” Aurora interrupted her. “What mark?” She looked between them, trying to calm down the feeling of hope inside her. The Immortalia’s could be marked somehow.

Zachary’s smile was filled with pride as he took Sari’s hand and lifted it up, showing off the blood red fingertips. “This,” he said.

Confused, Aurora frowned. “What is that? Do you want me to get a manicure? It won’t work—I’ve tried.”

Sari shook her head and a stepped forward, showing Aurora her hand. “This is the official mark of the royal Immortalias. It’s one of the few things that work on us.”

Aurora stared at the hand, noticing the thin red lines that traveled from each finger. She traced one of them from Sari’s finger until it disappeared beneath her sleeve. “Where does it go?” she asked.

“They stop around the elbow,” Sari said while pulling back her sleeve. The red lines connected in beautiful swirls inside her elbow. As Aurora surveyed it, she thought she saw them move beneath the skin.

“It’s a sign of the royal’s powers,” Sari explained. “Shani and I got them when we were of age—you are more than fitting.”

“How do you make them?” Aurora couldn’t put her finger on it, but something seemed wrong.

Sari covered her arm again. “Oh, it’s not a big deal. Just some pledges to serve the country to the best of your ability, and then a healer will sew an enchanted thread into your skin—it hurts a bit at first, but it’ll heal and then you’ll be a marked princess.” Sari grinned.

It took a moment before it dawned on her. Her heart dropped, and she could feel her smile disappear from her face as every shiver of hope crashed around her. The catch was that she had to be a royal—something she wasn’t.

“And since, you know,” Sari continued. “You have Shani’s smell on you; it means that you have the royal bloodline, so the mark will work on you.”

“What?” Aurora could feel her hands trembling against her thigh. She couldn’t believe her own ears. “You’re kidding, right?” She stared at Zachary and Sari with wide eyes. They’d gone utterly insane.