[PRODIGAL SERIES | BOOK 0]
Beauty comes first; for Cybele it's a lesson she's learned since birth. Cybele's unbelievably lovely, and she thinks that the rest of her life is set in stone thanks to her charming looks. One day she'll become a queen of...
WITH THE CRYSTAL in hand, I managed to navigate through the sewer system. It had no doubt been the most disgusting, horrific experience of my entire life, but I'd made it out of Opulentia alive.
In the tunnels, I'd walked for what felt like days, using the gemstone as my source of light as I navigated through cement tubes that twisted and spun through the earth in all directions.
Wading through ankle deep water, I trudged through the muck and grime with a grimace, occasionally glancing back in case I caught anything following me. There was never a person in pursuit, but I couldn't shake the paranoia. After what had happened at the party, I couldn't assume differently.
My stomach was in a knot the entire walk through the sewers, my thoughts as chaotic and as winding as the tunnels I moved through.
What would happen when no one could find me? Were Georgio, Bella, and Parisa safe? What would Felix and the demons do now? What would Xavier do?
I'd be his missing fiancée. Would they all come searching for me? I gritted my teeth; what was I going to do? Who would I go to? Where was I even planning on going now? My only plan had been to get out of the fortress to escape the demons and pixies, but where and who would I escape to?
Nowhere was safe outside of Opulentia's walls. I knew that Parisa would protect me until the end but I couldn't turn around and go back to her with the demons waiting for me.
Could I make it to Lamia? His kingdom wasn't too far away, but on foot I didn't know if I'd manage to get there. They'd find me before I'd walk the entire way, or something else would.
The water was rising the further I walked until finally I could see light ahead. I waded through the rushing water until I broke out of the tube and into a gurgling stream.
When I drug myself into the shore, I laid down in the sand, stretching out my wings as I panted for breath. The air at last was sweet and fresh, the breeze through the tree branches refreshing as I rolled onto my back.
The blue sky gazed down at me as I looked up at it, a few birds soaring from one branch to another over head. I'd been inside the sewers for the remaining hours of the night after the ball, and today was a new day.
I raised myself up on my elbows, looking down at my body. My dress was soaked and stained, my bare feet equally as filthy and caked in mud; I looked like an utter wreck.
What was I going to do now? Where was I going to go? A better question: where was I now?
I managed to stand to my feet, feeling the grass under my toes as I walked along the river bank. There had to be some settlement or town by the water, and I was determined to find it.
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Eventually as the sun was beginning to set I found a town, a quaint one not too far off from the river. Despite my better judgment, I stole a dress and cloak off a lonely clothesline to hide my wings since I knew that these people would recognize me if I didn't conceal them. I left my dress on the line as a trade, pulling the hood up over my head and tucking in my feathers.
