REINA

3. The one in blue robe

How long has it been? One hour, maybe two - the feeling of time felt a little fuzzy here. There was nothing to tell if it was morning, afternoon or evening. The same fields, the same sky, the same path kept appearing no matter how much time passed.

"Let me down," I screamed for the nth time while struggling to get out of my restraints. It was hard to move seeing how I was on horseback with my hands and feet tied by a goddamn rope. No one even had the decency to make me sit properly on the horse. My face was barely inches away from the ground with my upper torso dangling on one side while my feet on the other.

"Let me go, you dickhead," I glared at the feet of the person walking alongside the horse, aided by my constant yelling. He was the main reason for the state I was in. Every time he whistled, I could feel his smirk at the back of my head. In his glorious blue robes with white cloth underneath, his tall figure loomed over me while the other two guarded me on the other side.

One moment I was in my room slitting my wrists, next moment I found myself waking up in a strange place I have never been before. When I asked them if this was heaven, they simply laughed it off saying I was new.

Frustrated, I closed my eyes and counted to ten. This was all in my head. It has to be! Losing too much blood can make one lose their mind, I read that somewhere. I closed my eyes again and repeated the same process. However, the more I denied everything, the more it became difficult to separate the dream from reality. My insane mind had made up a dream which felt so real that it was impossible to deny that it hurts to ride on horseback in this position.

While I failed miserably to come up with a logical explanation, I tried to deal with my current scenario. Breathe! Just breathe! Be calm.

"Where are we going?" I turned my head sideways to look at the person leading our way. The first time I laid my eyes on her, I was too mesmerized to even speak. For such a beauty, she sure as hell was rude. Without even bothering to give me her name, she immediately asked her guards to tie me up. In an instant, I was bound and picked up like a sac.

"Patience, princess," the whistle-guy patted my head.

"Don't you dare touch me, dickhead," I snarled. The horse didn't make it easy to look up but for some unknown reason, I could feel the presence of everyone around me. If I concentrated long enough, I was even able to tell who was where and how far apart each of them was without even looking at them.

As this weird feeling engulfed all my senses, the whistle guy decided to speak up,"I have a name, it's Aoi," he said, "And I am sorry if your current position makes you feel sore later."

I strained my eyes on him, he grinned at me while speaking at the same time. At first I didn't realise it but when I said grin, it meant a grin only, no formation of words. I looked around trying to make sense where he made the sound from. Until and unless he was a ventriloquist, it sure as hell sounded like his voice.

"So you can hear me?" He said, with his lips still sealed together.

What the fuck is happening? Does he have a double with the same voice or one of those men are speaking for him? I searched around wildly. Nothing made sense anymore.

"Oh no! I wish I had a double who could speak like me. I know my voice is enchanting but sadly princess, there is only one of me," he said, his eyes still on me but his lips not moving.

Stop calling me princess! I internally screamed as my brows furrowed together in confusion and then it hit me. Did you just read my mind?

That's a yes and a no but you are quite close. I thought it would take much longer for you to figure out. Again, without looking at him I could feel his facial features. He was smirking. Looks like you are not as dumb as I thought, Aoi said using whatever voodo magic he was currently using.

Are you a mind reader? I thought to myself as words were no longer needed to express what I was feeling. He was literally in my head.

I am nothing that grand. Here, everyone can communicate through their mind's wavelength. He said in a matter of fact tone. We call it 'acies'.

I rolled the word around my tongue to get a sense of it but it sounded strange. The whole concept of talking in my mind felt foreign. As if it wasn't hard enough to believe I magically ended up in this place, now I have to deal with people eavesdropping on my thoughts.

So everyone is listening now? I asked cautiously, trying to verify if he was telling the truth or he simply had some unknown ability I was unaware of. Almost as if reading my mind, Aoi replied through acies.

As much as I would love to have a personal chat with you princess, you are still incapable of masking all your thoughts. And to answer your question - yes everyone is listening in on our conversation including the fact that you think I have hidden powers.

My mouth formed an O as I stared at the ground. It took time to process as his words finally sunk in. So he heard everything from the beginning, including my plan on how to run away. Starting from every little thought to every feeling my mind held were being broadcasted like radio waves.

Correct! Aoi chimed.

"How do I stop it?" I gritted my teeth, tired of the mind game already, "You heard me all the time but I could hear only after you let me. So there must be a way to do this masking or whatever you just mentioned."

To do that, you have to understand acies first. This time he answered seriously. His earlier light, cheery tone was gone. One minute he was shooting daggers at me while tying me up, next minute he was all happy go lucky and now he was back to his previous self.

"Enlighten me," I mocked. Instead of using my mind waves, I decided to speak clearly in hopes that it will help me to stop thinking or blurt out something stupid in my mind.

Well it's like...Aoi couldn't finish as a second voice decided to cut in.

Shut it. Someone said in their acies. It sounded like a female voice, heavy and cold. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it could be. On her white horse, her back looked tall and proud. Not even once had she cared to look back ever since we started to ride.

Even though my destination remained uncertain, it was clear she hated me. Bitch! I used my acies to retort back.

You called this very bitch a tiffany model. Aoi chuckled at her thoughtwave, making it clear that he could hear us as well. A blush crept up my face as I tried my best to keep it at bay.

Damn! I really need a grip on my thoughts. 

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A/N: Oh my god! I am freaking out here. Did I do a good job at their mind conversation?

In case you didn't notice I just wrote an entire chapter where they have the ability to talk in their minds and I am not even sure if the readers got a clear picture 😭😭😭

Please leave some comments if you have any suggestions how to improve this plot. Anything will be much appreciated.