Unveiled

~ Chapter 15 ~

For the rest of the ride home, they didn't say anything. They only greeted each other when they went their separate ways to get prepared for the evenings banquet.

The next two hours went by and Naya soon found herself in the dining hall of the castle. Next to her, on her right was Xander and on his right was his brother Marcus. Across from her was Harold, next to him, Richard and next to him, Jacob. The bothers talked and talked, occasionally dragging Naya into the conversation. Mostly they just wanted her advice on woman.

Xander leans over and whispers in Naya's ear, "You look good."

"Thank you." Naya says, trying not to sound too sincere.

Everybody looks up from their conversations at the sound of silverware hitting glass, to get everybody's attention. "Good evening, everyone." The king's voice booms through the dining hall. "We are gathered here tonight in honor of our esteemed guests, to sign a peace agreement, so our kingdoms will no longer be enemies, but allies. We have found a new friend." The king and queen of Tendora follow the king of Nocturna to the bottom of the dais, where a piece of paper on a table, with two quills, await. King David picks up the a quill and signs the document at the bottom of the page. Then King Choal picks up the other quill and signs the document. "It is done." And everyone starts to cheer.

"Are you okay?" Xander asks over the cheering as the kings and queen take their seats.

"Yeah." Naya says. She felt the first stages of a headache and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I'm fine." Xander nods and sits back in his chair. Who knew he could be so caring?

Naya reaches for her glass of water, hands shaking, hoping it will sooth the headache. As she slides it off the table it slips and spills on her crimson dress and on the floor, the glass shattering. Everybody turns her direction.

Two servants come rushing in to clean up the mess. Naya yelps and jumps from her chair. Everybody just keeps staring. She sinks to her knees, pushing her temples with her palms and screams through her teeth.

Naya hears rustling footsteps and blinks through the tears of pain to see her parents. "It is okay." She hears them say. "Everything is going to be fine" Only Naya knew it wasn't going to be okay, nothing was going to be fine, as she feels a worm of darkness creep through her mind. The source of all her pain.

Naya tries to burn the darkness within her, but it backfires and she bursts into flames. She hears the people in the hall gasp and then start to whisper, shock on all their faces. She calms down, breathing heavily, finally having the strength to stand again. Whatever she did, it worked. As quickly as the darkness came. It was gone.

Naya saw the looks of concern on her parents faces, but it didn't seem like they were surprised. And neither was her uncle, who had a small smile on his face.