Bright One | Empire of Blood and Swords Series

33. Eight Lands

-33-
-Eight Lands-

There was chuckling. My eyelids lifted just a bit, only to have the sun glaring at me. It was too bright. What time is it? Who would wanna wake up at this time when they could just sleep until noon?

"Get out," I hear Seth whisper.

"Aww, Seth is a bit shy now, isn't he?" A male voice said.

"Get out."

"Oi! What was that for?"

I narrowed my eyes as my vision cleared. Seth was throwing a pillow at Samuel who dodged it easily and laughed. Seth was embarrassed, his cheeks rosy red. It was a little cold so I pulled up the blanket.

"Are you two naked?" Sam suddenly asked.

Seth gave him a pointed look and he only laughed. He told us he came back early from his assigned city after hearing the news about Saoirse. Athos is now kept in the dungeons, waiting for the Wolfbloods and The Five to come back to decide his fate. We asked how Saoirse was, but all he did was say, "If you want to know, go find out yourself." With that he left the room.

"Blast him," Seth cursed.

"Morning," I greeted, rubbing my eyes as I sat up.

"Afternoon," he corrected.

Afternoon. How long have we slept? I looked at his attire. He already changed into a indigo doublet. All the memories from last night kept blurring in, and my head hurts.

They lied. I had to kept reminding myself. They lied to me.

"I'll come down myself," I told Seth.

His lips parted but paused for a second. He observed me silently and nodded. I watch him walk out of my room, wondering where the hell did everything go wrong.

A knock came from my door. Walking in was a girl with wavy, chin length black haired woman. Kakak Erna. She smiled sadly at me, in her hands were a tray of food. I walked over to her, too tired to smile.

She brought it to my table as I sat down. Pancakes with cream, fried eggs and sausages, accompanied with a cup of warm milk.

I nodded. "Thank you."

She touched my arm. "Connie. . . Sorry."

I smiled and shook my head. "I'm sorry as well. Thank you, kakak."

She gave my hand a squeeze, smiled once more and left. I ate in silence. After this I'll have to see Saoirse. I don't want to, how could I after I said those hurtful words?

Walking to the dressing room, I took off my sleeping gown and changed into a yellow tunic and black pants. I don't feel like wanting to dress up today. I want them to see how messed up I am. I want them to see how much their lies had affected me.

I made sure my hair was combed throughly before stepping out of my room. Only to find Rubio already there. He is to escort me, I realize. His head was facing the ground as he extended an arm towards me.

I grabbed it and we walked down the hallway, not even an exchange of greetings.

"I'm sorry," he whispers.

I stopped dead in my tracks, he stopped walking as well. So everyone knew, everyone knew and they didn't plan to tell me. Clenching my fists, I blew a punch at his chest. It didn't do much, seeing as he was still rooted to the ground. But his expression was pained, his eyes sad.

"I don't want to hear about it," I said quickly. "I don't even want to think about what I did."

"The more you run from the truth, the quicker you submit to it. You may not want to hear it now, but sooner or later you will face it."