Sunset Legend

• 18 •

"Alright, see that squirrel over there?" Aurora said as we came to a halt in the green grass that laid behind the castle. I nodded. "When I was learning, I had to close my eyes and really focus. The way I had done it at the party took years for me to master. So don't feel discouraged." I looked at her to find her smiling at me.
"Will it hurt?" I turned back to the squirrel who was just soaking in the suns rays.
"If you do it the right way, no pain at all." I nodded, feeling a little better.
"But if you wanted it to cause pain?" I asked.
"Oh, it could be excruciating," she said in an even voice. I nodded again. "What you want to do is focus in on their heart beat, listen to it until you can feel it. Then reach out with the imaginary hand and crush it."
I closed my eyes, only hearing the wind that was blowing my hair behind my back as I waited. I heard my heart beat first, unexpectedly calm in my chest. Then I heard the queen's, pounding fast and loud. Finally I heard the squirrels, naturally beating faster than mine. After a minute all I heard was the squirrels beating in my veins like it was my own. I envisioned his small heart as my mind reached out to grab it. It exploded before I could touch it.
My eyes snapped open to find the squirrel lying lifeless a few feet away from us.
"Well, maybe you will be able to stop hearts the way I do now. Amazing," she whispered, watching me as I stared at the dead animal.
"Did he feel any pain?" I asked.
"No. It was done so quick it took me a minute to realize it was done. Darling, you are a weapon. The amount of pain you can cause to someone." She shook her head at the thought.
"Thank you for teaching me," I said as we headed back into the castle.
She waved a hand lazily. "Don't thank me, I barely did anything. It took me three months to kill my first heart. You're a master at it."
We walked into castle were Jaxon and Sol sat on the floor around the coffee table, playing a card game like nothing happened a short hour ago.
"She's a master at what?" Sol asked, placing a card down on the pile. Jaxon's back was facing me and he didn't turn around at our entrance.
"She doesn't just stop hearts. She makes them explode," the queen said, her voice light like she was flying in the clouds. I saw the twitch in Jaxon's shoulder as he listened.
"Well shit. Good thing she's on our team," Sol chuckled, shaking his head and placing another card down.
"Of course. We'll meet for dinner at six to try discussing our plan of attack. I expect everyone to be on their best behavior." I felt myself blushing as she left the room. No running out of the castle this time, got it.
"Can we start tomorrow?" I asked Sol, speaking over Jaxon from a few feet behind him.
"Start what?" He asked, swearing as he picked up a card.
"Fighting. I still want to learn how to fight," I said.
"You got it. Meet me here at nine am."
I saluted him. "Yes sir." I could see him roll his eyes from where he sat. Chuckling, I saw another muscle jerk in Jaxon's back. I opened my mouth to say something, but no words sounded right to say now. So I shut my mouth and shuffled out of the room. I would fix things with him... eventually.

Hours later I was changed into a maroon dress that was scooped at my neck and had short sleeves, the waist tight before the skirt floating out till my knees. It was simple, but I thought it was beautiful. So here I sat with the same people in the same seats as earlier, a delicious plate of meat and potatoes in front of me.
"So what we know for sure is that Solstice is being searched for. The borders will be patrolled by some men that I will send out tonight. Sol, you are her bodyguard." He nodded. "Then we begin the discussion of how we help Solstice with her quest. We could just charge the new castle, but there would some loopholes we would need to work through. I would personally like to talk with some lads to see why one of their men followed me here. There is a possibility it could be more than Solstice."
"Do you think they would try to wipe us off the maps again?" Summer asked, shoving a spoonful of mashed potatoes into her mouth.
"Possibly," the queen answered
"Why?"
"Because Frosts is in charge now and he doesn't give a shit about anyone. He just wants to conquer the world," I growled, stabbing the steak unnecessarily hard with my fork. Aurora pointed to me, like she was going to say the same thing.
"Okay so we kill him," Jaxon spoke for the first time since we sat down.
"That's the plan, but how?" Ray asked, lost in thought as he continued cutting his meat that was already cut so instead he was just scrapping the plate.
"Send me back in," I blurted. The idea smacked me across the face it was so obvious.
"No." Everyone answered in unison.
"Hear me out. It was staged that I was kidnapped. I could stumble back in there and pretend I had no idea where I was. Play dumb and act like she was still my mother. I could kill them from inside." I didn't know who to look at as I bounced between all of their faces. Jaxon looked the most distressed.
"Theoretically, this could work," Ray pondered only to get a nasty glare from Jaxon.
"We could come up with a better plan..." Summer trailed off, knowing this was the best plan but didn't want to send me in there.
"She would need trained. She would have to master her powers and learn to fight," Aurora said. Sol nodded in agreement.
"I'll have to dye your hair back to white, find those blue contacts again," Summer said, poking at the rest of her food with a fork.
The thought of having to go back to the fake blue eyes and ghostly white hair made my stomach turn. Going back into the lands of dead, pale blues and whites made me want to vomit.
"Wait, I'm so much tanner now they'll suspect something," I said, focused on swirling my potatoes around.
"Blame it on the journey there. We could take you the edge of the lands in your nightgown and we could rough you up, visually, and then it'll look like you walked for miles," Ray contributed.
"Is a week enough to train her?" Aurora asked, looking down the table at Sol. He nodded in confirmation. My chest felt tight. One week.
"I'm going with her," Jaxon said, his glass rattling off the table as he put it down with too much force.
"As who? It's suspicious enough the one bodyguard Frosts had his eye on disappeared when she did," Summer shot at him.
Jaxon sat up straight. "That man we killed. I'll glamour to look like him." Aurora's finger tapped her chin as she thought about it.
"It's a start. We will work on it," she said, looking over the table at him. He only nodded.
I sat in my seat, staring at him over the food in disbelief.
"He would have to leave sooner. It would be suspicious if he arrived back the same time as she did," Sol said.
"Or, he could play it off like he found her," Summer thought.
"But then we would have to let them know that we still exist," Jaxon stated.
"They don't know where. I think it's a risk we have to take. You return with her," Aurora ordered. I wasn't hungry anymore.
"Excuse me," I said quietly, rising from the table.
My feet carried through the halls until I was standing on the patio that surrounded the pool. I looked at the sunset that was blessing the lands tonight, deep and dark oranges and red. It looked fierce, dangerous. I looked down at my tan skin that was warm with a glow from being here. I saw him appear next to me, his hands deep into the pockets of his tan pants.
"If they found out who you are they'll kill you," I said, wrapping my arms over my self.
"I'm not letting you go back there alone," Jaxon said.
"Why not? I haven't been the kindest to you lately," I said, looking over at him. He was overlooking the hills, the sun bringing a warm glow to his hair.
"So you think I would be happy you're going back there?" He looked down at me, his lips in a tight line.
"Well no... I don't know," I sighed, breaking the gaze and staring at my toes.
"I never wanted you to go back there. I know how he's going to treat you. I know how she's going to pretend to care for you. I want you here, safe. But if this is something that you need to do then I'm not letting you do it alone." His fingers wrapped around my chin, tugging it until I was looking into his eyes. "I'm not letting you feel alone like that again." My heart swelled in my chest.
"You're too good to me," I whispered.
"Let me be good to you," he said, his voice just as quiet as mine.
"I can't, not now."
"Solstice..." his nose was touching mine as I closed my eyes, breathing in the smell of smoke.
"Please, just let me do this. I need to do this before I can focus on anything else," I said, breaking away from him. I could see the hurt in his eyes.
"Okay. I meant it last time, I have all the time in the world." I sighed, feeling the heaviness in my chest leave. I leaned forward on my tip toes to kiss him on the cheek. A light sigh escaped his lips as I turned on my heel and walked back into the house.
We did have all the time in the world after this to love each other. We both would come back. I hoped.