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"So, what's a Switch?" Acelius whispered in his ear.
The boy turned around, with his eyes wide in shock.
"How do you know that word?" he whispered back.
"A little birdy told me," replied Acelius now walking beside him with his hands tucked in his pockets.
"A black bird with blue eyes and a sharp tongue?" asked the boy.
"Perhaps," replied Acelius.
"Then go and ask her."
"Were both of you born without manners?" asked Acelius harshly.
The boy gave him his answer by raising one of his favorite fingers.
Acelius smiled falsely and walked away but not before the boy heard him mutter burn in hell. "I do, in your company," replied the boy but Acelius seemed to not have heard him or just ignored him.
They were walking in a marble corridor heading for the throne room. Like most of the castle, it was open on one side with massive azure marble pillars standing guard letting in pockets of cool air drift in from between them. Guards stood in stoic postures in front of every pillar, their eyes gazing off into the distance. The ceiling was high, high, above their heads, its ornaments a glittering blur from the distance. Gold engravings hugged every wall and pillar, spreading everywhere like expensinve, etheral ivy. Hidden portraits of the Stealers and cherubs and molten bluebells and silverlillies, forever incased in gold. Shimmering like sunlight made metal. Racing and kissing and chasing in twisting envelopping the jewels above. On the other side of the corridor ran a marble wall with wood doors embedded in it every few feet. The palace seemed like a breathing, tangible thing as alive as its residents. Somewhere in the distance the boy could hear a beautiful piano melody play and just the way that moment in his life was assembled made him wonder if he had somehow died and reached heaven. The doors for the throne room stood on the other, far side of the corridor. Unlike the rest of this floor, the doors were carved out of wood instead of marble but they looked just as impressive. Massive carvings of foxes, and ships and flowers and eagles embedded with glistening sapphires and emerald greens and rubies that diffracted sunlight in thin rainbow streaks on the neighbouring walls.
As soon as they entered the Palace grounds, each performer had instantly found themselves walking in new found grace, like little children imitating their elders. Ana was walking on his other side, her brown hair braided back in a loose braid that looked like twisted gold in the sunlight. She was looking around, aptly drinking in her surroundings the same way he had been. The boy's heartbeat drummed loudly in his chest, each thrum ejecting hope-infused blood into his veins and arteries. Soon. Soon. Nia had told him that she had talked to the Master and somehow convinced him to end the deal as soon as they were finished with the Apertum performance. With the money they would get from it, they could finally run away, start a new life. Away from the torture they'd been through, the Switches, the constant manipulation, worry, fear. And maybe... maybe Ana would like to come along. The boy wondered if Ma would ever approve of her. It doesn't matter. She could be very well dead. The thought sobered him instantly, warring with the hope that had elated him only a few moments ago that said, No. She lives. She's out there alive somewhere. Alone, but alive. She has to be. He didn't have too many vivid memories of her, her face muddled with the smoke of a long lost past. But he knew that he loved her. Even if she wasn't his real mother. It was sweet, he thought how neither Nia or Ma never even tried to entertain the possibility of him being an outsider. Even if the differences stood starkly when he looked back. But no matter their blood, they were his family and he was theirs. He'd grown with the same love Nia had, been beaten by the same rolling pin as she had. All that differed was their appearances but it never truly mattered, and it sure as hell wasn't going to start now. Family for him had never been about whose blood he had, but who he would bleed for.
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Author's Note: Thank you for reading and voting and commenting!! hope you enjoyed (say yes even if you didn't) Come back soon for the next part!
Love,
Cora. ✮
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unraveled
Fantasy"I've seen rats with better attention spans than you," she said onto his face. And then the boy was there pulling her onto her feet and off of him. "But have you seen them with such beautiful faces?" he asked, standing up, brushing off th...
