Melody of Blood and Night

Fourteen

"My fear?" Aedlyn asked, her brows knitted in confusion.

"Mmmm....Yes." Sereia drawled, licking her lips, her eyes twinkling with anticipation.

Aedlyn lowered her head, her lips parting slightly, in internal deliberation. Sereia sighed, rolling her eyes, "It's very simple, princess. I will trade with you, the answers you seek in exchange for your perpetual nightmare." The goddess enticed, "I'd say it is a blessing in disguise. Wouldn't you?" As she walked back to where she had been standing.

"It's a small price to pay for winning."

"Winning?" Aedlyn frowned.

"Oops." Sereia quickly pressed her finger to her lip, batting her lashes with feigned innocence. Aedlyn's eye twitched with exasperation.

"Oh! Did I offend you Kaelahni?" The goddess cooed mockingly. "What...what is it that you mortals say?" Sereia tilted her chin, her eyes squeezed shut and brow furrowed in recollection. "Ah yes! An eye, for an eye, princess." She said, squinting slightly, a smug grin plastered on her face.

"Well?"

"Fine." Aedlyn snapped, "But I need answers first." Sereia laughed, ignoring her completely, "Take a breath princess, this will hurt, only a little. Nothing that a Kaelahni cannot handle."

Before Aedlyn could ask what she meant, agony flooded through her being, bringing the assassin to her knees, mouth opened in a silent scream.

Searing hot pain burned through her body as if etched into her flesh, spreading like branches of a growing tree from her abdomen. Aedlyn struggled to breathe through the anguish, praying for it to end.

Then, as if the Goddess had read her mind, the pain ceased. Aedlyn gasped, her body going limp, as she fell backwards onto the ground, holding herself up with her trembling arms braced against the ground.

Panting, she attempted to speak but the Goddess interrupted her. "Now, Kaelahni, for your answers." A jolt ran through the air before it struck her. Aedlyn let out a blood-curdling scream, arching upwards as a jet black orb of crackling energy emerged from within her. She wondered if this was how it must feel to have her heart ripped out. But in the blink of an eye, it was over. Aedlyn collapsed, panting as she watched the hovering sphere connect with Sereia's skin, settling on it like a cloak, glowing against it with a blackish hue before disappearing beneath. Her eyes rolled back, lips parted in pure ecstasy. She tipped her head back in delight, savouring what Aedlyn had just given her.

"I held up my end of the bargain, now hold up yours." Aedlyn rasped.

The muscles in her swan-like neck strained as the Goddess raised her head to look at her. Her face was glowing and the gold in her eyes seemed to shine so brilliantly that she thought they would consume the brown in them.

"That was truly delicious, princess."

The words sent shivers scuttling down Aedlyn's spine, gasping as she attempted to stand up, trying to overcome the searing hot pain that ran up her torso.

"What have you done to me?" Aedlyn rasped.

"Is that really what you wish to ask when the number of questions you have is so limited?" Sereia cocked her head to the side, eyebrows raised slightly.

Aedlyn looked her dead in the eyes, "Tell me why." She asked. "Why today?"

"The tome must have sensed it too," Sereia answered.

"Sensed what?" Confusion pulled the assassin's brows together.

"Her. Your twin. The Serahni." Aedlyn's heart skipped a beat at her sister's mention, "What does she have to do with anything?" she demanded.