Fate and Destiny (The Fated Series, #2)

Chapter 6 - Katarina - The Dancing Lights

There are lights in the sky. Lights that have never before been seen in Vandaria. At least, that's what Blight claims, as I've never traveled outside the castle walls. They're beautiful, and every night since they've shown I've sat outside with my back against Melody's side and watched them until dawn. Sleep isn't a thing of recent experience for me, but even when I skip it for a few days I don't find myself as tired as I thought I would be. The closest thing I get to sleep is laying down with an awake mind and forced shut eyes on the couch in Fauna's old room.

Sixteen of us share the small three bedroom, two bathroom cabin in the Dearg Forest. The royals, Aillard, and Siscilla share the master bedroom. Thomas, Thea, Julyan, Sibella, and Levi are in Lance's old room. Leaving me, Blight, Reynald, Mirabilis, and Roseia to share Fauna's. We originally had the orphans in the same room, but then Levi wanted to sleep with Thomas – who gave everyone pleading eyes to convince the boy otherwise - and so we traded him for me. That's not going to mention that since we've been here and the boys have been on their searching quest, Roseia has glued herself to Reynald's side. Even when Claritia or I tried offering to spend a few moments with her, she refused and went back to reading a stack of books she found somewhere hidden in the house. I'm not entirely sure where she found them, but by the looks of the titles, I'd say they were Fauna's.

They're mostly books on different languages of the world, and I'm not entirely sure that she's truly learning anything since she's gone through two of them already.

Mira and Levi run around all day with everyone's energy to waste. Even after chasing them for a few hours doesn't have me falling onto the couch and drifting off. Siscilla keeps trying to give me sleeping elixirs, but they taste metallic and disgusting, so I just put them back into the medicine cupboard in the bathroom. I'm fairly sure that Thea is using them to put herself to sleep. She falls asleep like the dead and doesn't wake until mid afternoon.

She says, "good morning," we say, "would you like some lunch?" At least one part of our day is a routine.

Thomas has warmed to the presence of Levi over the cycles, and every now and then I find a rare true smile spreading on his lips. I did, however, manage to hear Levi call Thomas his brother once without either of them realizing it. It had me filling with joy, and then running into the bathroom so that no one else could see my tears. I've turned into an emotional wreck.

It's tough to live in the same house as so many people who are finding a sense of peace when I've been battling with my own thoughts every second of every day. It helps to have the weight of Lance's trick knife weighing down my right skirt pocket, but even that doesn't keep me from tipping over the edge as Lance once did for me. I miss him more than anything, and I'd never ask him in a million years to come back and relinquish his search for his lost sister, but sometimes it's hard not to make a wish to the stars. Most of those wishes include Fauna's safe return, but from the stories we've heard on the night of the Elysian Ball, I'd say that most – if not all – those wishes will go unheard.

Everyone arrived around the same time two days after the ball. Everyone, except Thomas. He stayed behind while the rest of us either escaped or were thrown out. He saw when Fauna got up and fought Xaxias, then fell, but not before she unleashed a pack of water wolves onto them. It took a great deal of convincing before we all accepted the little, unbelievable fact. It did sound like a very Fauna like move.

"One second she was there with her hand outstretched, a large golden-eyed wolf standing between her and Xaxias and Will, and the next she fell unconscious. The wolf walked away, and then all it took was one touch from Xaxias and they just...disappeared. Like a ghost. There, and then gone. I left after that, using one of the servant passageways to get to the front of the castle. People were being dragged towards the gates while others were being tugged to the moat to be drowned. I thought that they were herding us to be eaten, but then I noticed how they weren't drawing blood on anyone but Xaxias's followers. Everyone else was just being taken to safety away from the ballroom."