Right on cue, the door to my room open and Veren stepped inside, wearing form fitting black pants that looked similar to jeans, and a dark red t-shirt that showed off all of his muscles that I had hated not getting a better look at earlier. His long hair was tied back with a ribbon in the same shade of red as his shirt, and his eyes seemed to glow brighter as he looked me over.
"You look beautiful" He smiled at me, looking so charming that I had to fight not to swoon.
I noticed that his feet were bare, just as were the maid's and my own. In fact, now that I thought about it, the only people I had ever seen wearing shoes were the human's I had met when I first woke up here.
I wanted to ask about it, but he interrupted my train of thought by saying "My mother is waiting for us in the study. She is quite eager to hear the story of your life."
I grimaced, but said nothing, as he moved to stand in front of me, so close I could feel his breath on my skin. He moved his hands to my shoulders and I could feel his warmth through the fabric, and my mind went into many different directions. I didn't want to talk about my past, or where I had come from, I wanted to forget, and when he touched me, even through clothes, it felt like I really did forget for a while. Everything within me wanted to lean into his touch, to just lose myself in that perfect peace I felt with him. Although it hadn't been peaceful at first, being in his presence, now that's all it was. I no longer felt conflicted or confused. I didn't care that I couldn't see every detail of his life just by looking at him, in fact, I felt a new sense of relief from it.
He moved, not saying anything, to stand at my side, resting his arm around my back and his hand on my hip, and he started pulling me into walking with him.
"Thank you very much Stella" he said, over his shoulder, to the maid.
"Of course" I could hear the pride in her voice.
In the hallway, he started guiding me through turn after turn until we reached the too tall, main stairs of the entrance. This time it wasn't as exhausting to make my way down them.
Several people stood around the main entrance, all staring up at us as we walked. I did my best not to stare, already recognizing the slit eyes and the colors under the skin as the indication of the dragon clan members. I felt uncomfortable, remember that several members of the clan had actually seen my freak out from the night before, and I wondered if any of them were viewing me like I was some crazy girl who nearly tore out her own throat.
"Good morning" a soft female voice said, approaching us as we reached the last step.
"Good morning, Kaya" Veren answered brightly.
I looked up at her sheepishly.
Just like every other dragon clan member, she was tall and beautiful, with long flowing platinum hair and huge sky blue eyes. Her skin had a blue appearance, and as I looked, I could tell that it was her dragon colors. Just as Veren was darker, with red veins. Each of the dragon clan seemed to have unique coloring, that didn't have any effect from lineage or any other hereditary traits.
"G-Good morning" I said, nervously.
She looked at me curiously, and at first I began to fear that she would look down on me, or just ignore me, but, instead, she smiled at me, and said "Good morning Raelynn."
I wondered how she knew my name, but everyone around us also seemed to be getting closer and started giving me greetings by name as well. They all seemed so excited to meet me that it felt almost overwhelming. They all began to introduce themselves at once, but none of them seemed willing to get closer than a foot from me. I could see as they all seemed to look to Veren for some kind of approval.
"Everyone, I know that you are all quite eager to meet Raelynn, but I really do have some important business with her." Ternia stepped into the main hall from a door to the left of the stairs, looking as beautiful and as intimidating as when she had entered the clinic.
She was wearing a green dress that tied around her waist, still showing a large amount of cleavage. Her hair was tied back, similar to Veren's, using a green ribbon, but falling in more of a wave appearance.
"Of course, your majesty" someone in the large gathering said as the crowd began to step aside, creating a path for Veren and myself.
I felt on edge, feeling Veren guide me past all the on-lookers, my subconscious still trying to put together the pieces that, these people weren't rejecting me, but were fully accepting me into their lives. Growing up in a society of judgment and separation, it felt so strange to me to be accepted without them asking any questions.
Veren and I walked past through the doorway that Ternia had come into the room from and the three of us began to walk down an impossibly long hallway, wide enough for a van to fit in.
Neither of them said anything during the several minutes walk to approached a pair of double doors that were as wide as the hallway.
"No one will come in here now, so you can talk about anything and know that your privacy is protected in here" Veren spoke quietly into my ear, making me shiver.
I looked around at an unmistakable library. Shelves that had to be as tall as a second story floor lined the walls and stuck out into the room, with dangerous looking ladders to reach the higher levels. A table that was almost as large as my new bed sat in the center of the room, having one chair on one side, and 2 chairs on the opposite side. This really was a room just for meetings and studying.
There were a couple chairs and lovers'-couches spread out in various places in the too large room.
Veren brought me toward the side of the table with the two chairs and gestured for me to sit, taking the seat next to me.
The seats felt so amazingly comfortable, with a green fabric over a layer of impossibly fluffy filling, and a dark wood frame that matched with the table. The table was ornate, with curved legs and framing. The entire set, back on earth, would have cost a fortune.
Ternia took the seat opposite us, feeling like the distance was a way of showing her important position to those on the opposite side of her.
"Please, Raelynn, we want to be as supportive to you as possible, but we need you to trust us" She spoke, a slightly layer of pleading that would probably have been deemed as undignified to anyone competing with her for power or position.
I felt my rising conflict in my chest, knowing that I truly was safe here, but still afraid to explain everything. It was made worse when I could feel Veren shifting beside me, obviously aware of all of the emotions going through me. I would never be able to hide anything from this guy, and part of me was kind of glad for that, while I also felt bad that he had to feel all of my darker emotions.
I looked down at my hands, took a steadying breath, then steeled myself to reveal everything, looking up at her expectant gaze.
"I didn't lie to you" I started "I really don't have any family here… because I'm not from here." I tried thinking how best to explain. "Where I'm from, there is no magic. No creatures like the people here, everyone is human and, well, they aren't all very good people. My family has always been the only ones with magic, because we needed to protect the humans."
"From the rogue demons?" Ternia asked, her hands clenched as she leaned on the table.
"We never knew what they were. We called them dark creatures, and they would create gateways to my home-world, where they would infect and corrupt everything they would come into contact with. By my family has always stopped them."
"What do you mean by 'home-world'? Where exactly are you from?" Ternia interrupted.
I thought for a moment, again, trying to find the right words "I… I don't fully understand it myself, so I'll explain it as best as I can..."
And I really did my best in explaining. Telling Ternia and Veren of Earth, of the people, of my family, explaining that the dark creatures had stopped appearing, and how my sister had gone berserk, how I technically shouldn't have even been born, everything.
Much like with Amy, I had gotten stern looks from them both when explaining how I shouldn't have existed, knowing that, even though I did exist, and I wasn't arguing that fact, it went against the family tradition. It wasn't like I didn't want to exist, I was kind of glad that I did, but it still didn't make any sense to anyone who knew of our family trait.
I also could feel their growing tension as I explained what had happened with Kat, and how she had clearly lost any humanity that she had possibly once had.
"She will come for you." Veren had pointed out, reminding me of my initial fears.
"I know" I agreed anxiously.
"But how? This woman doesn't have the power to get here" Ternia asked.
"If she's truly demon corrupted, then she will find a way" Veren stated.
I felt my eyes burn as tears tried rising, knowing that my sister would gladly go out of her way to truly harm me. And I had no doubt that she would, in fact, find a way to get here.
"What should we do?" Ternia asked Veren directly.
"We prepare. This may be a real fight, unlike anything we've had in quite some time." He answered
I felt my guilt rising again, knowing that, what should have originally just been my fight, was now a fight for an entire clan.
"Stop that!" Veren snapped, earning a gasp from both myself and Ternia.
"Veren?" Ternia looked at him, clearly speaking with caution.
"You have nothing to feel guilty about. She was your sister, so of course you wouldn't have been prepared for something like actually having to fight her. Yes, she's a threat, but not just to you and not just to the dragon clan." Veren said, an edge of anger in his voice, but not anger fully directed at me. "She's a threat to this and that world you call 'Earth'."
"Veren… are you-" Ternia started.
"Yes. Mother. I am linked to Raelynn. And I have been for as long as I can remember." he stated, interrupting her.
"Oh… oh my..." was all Ternia seemed to be able to say, looking like something so precious was now completely lost.