As soon as the darkness cleared out embracing the bright blue sky, I got up, showered, got dressed and rushed out of my room but bumped into Lord Gras who was just arriving.
'Your highness, is everything alright?' He inquired worriedly.
I smiled, 'Do not worry about me, I can handle myself very well. I need some private time with my husband so whoever comes, tell them I'm still in bed.'
For a brief second, his face darkened then he nodded, 'Yes, your highness.'
'Thank you Mikael, I hope I can call you by your name?' I tried to lighten the mood.
'Whatever you wish, my queen.' His response felt too submissive. I gave him a nod and dashed off, despite being warned, I still ran across the hall and finally reached Silas's chamber.
I did not wait to inquire about his presence with the guard and punched in unannounced.
Silas was already awake, he is standing by the window, gazing upon the sky, 'You couldn't wait another hour?' He said, circling around to face me as if he knows about the pressing matter that brought me to him.
'Silas I had a dream, it felt too real.' I approached him, 'You came to me and you said I was your …Am I a dragon keeper?'
He didn't seem surprised 'What do you think?'
'Stop playing around, please.' You sighed, 'Ever since I came to this palace, my entire life has been jumbled up and down and I can't even believe all that has been happening to me whether it's a hallucination, a dream or a f**king nightmare I just …I just need an answer. My brain feels like it's been crushed and I know you are the only one who can help me, so help me, please Silas.' I had to beg him, I have no choice. Silas knows what's going on with me and he's the only one who has an explanation for it.
He paused a moment, 'Every dragon has a dragon keeper that will protect him from dragon hunters. I already told you, it's not a coincidence that you came here and killed me. Our fate has been sealed even before you were born.'
Silas said these exact words to me in a dream, how does he know them? Is it a part of his magic playing with my head? Why is he torturing me?
'So it's true!' I was breathing shakily, 'Why am I your dragon keeper? How?'
He sighed and said, 'You come from a line of dragon keepers. Your family has been protecting my kind for centuries. It is your destiny and duty. You have always believed that you are not from here but it's a lie, you were born here, you and your sister.'
'How do you know about Aria?' I tensed, 'What do you mean my family is here? My father and mother were killed in Heiya. That is where I was born. I am a Heiyan.'
'No.' Silas fixed you a stern gaze, 'You are a Rheiss. You were born here and you belong here. Something unfortunate happened which created a rift between your parents and when your mother left, she took you and your sister with but fate brought you back here where you belong. You came back here as slaves and your father, he…'
'Wait a minute.' I felt flattened with confusion, 'My father? Are you saying that our father knows that we were forced to come here as slaves and he did nothing to help us?'
His gaze softens, 'I am afraid he will have to answer that himself.'
'So my father is here? He knows where I am?' I scoffed in disbelief, 'Who is he?'
'He will come to you at sunset, till then I need you to sit down and think with a clear mind. You have always known you were different Aria. You and I were connected before, so i know that you've felt my presence many times but ignored it, no, you didn't want to accept it and then something happened which broke that connection. We would have found you long before you were brought here as slaves. There is something inside of you Aria, stop trying to suppress it.'
With those words, he strode out of the room leaving me in complete shock.
How was I to process any of this with a clear mind?
I stayed in Silas's chamber all day going through what he said in my head. I couldn't sit nor stand nor sleep. My head was all over the place.
When the sun sets, I panicked even more. Anxiety enveloped me; like a thunder cloud clammed in a cage, my insides were rumbling inside me.
The door opened, I could hear the approaching footsteps and then they stopped. I tremble under my dress, so many thoughts swarm into my head. Who could my father be? Am I ready to face him?
Taking a deep breath, I slowly wheel around to see the face of my alleged father. When my eyes took stock of his face, a shocked chuckle came out of me. 'You? You are my father?' I started laughing at my own ugly fate, 'No, life can't be this cruel. You cannot be my father!'
'And unfortunately, I really am.' Lord Ayke said.
This man, who looked me in the eye and called me a mannerless woman is my father? This must be a joke.
'How am I to believe whatever you say to me when there is no evidence.'
Ayke chuckled, 'I knew you would say this.' He inhaled sharply, 'You have a birthmark on your lower back. You were born with it.'
How does he know that? Only Arya and my mother knows about it and they are both dead so how?
'How can you be my father?' The words wrenched out of me, 'You knew about me and Arya and still, you didn't help us. You watched us live a ruthless life and Arya, Arya died and you could have helped us but you didn't. I don't even want to ask why. You abandoned us anyway so what should I expect of you.'
'I did not abandon you.' Ayke growled, 'Your mother, that…' he gritted his teeth, struggling to refrain from cussing her in your presence. He eventually relaxed and speaks in a soft tone,
'My biggest mistake was falling for your mother. That woman ran off with her lover and took you with, my daughters, and I did everything to find you. I looked for you all over but that cunning woman went to Heiya, she knew I could never step foot there but still, she took you there and when the war broke out, she…' he paused to breathe,
'I do not wish to crumble the perfect image you have of your mother but just like she chose her lover over me, when the war broke, she ran off with him, shamelessly leaving her daughters to die. She ran off.'
'Lies!' I sneered, 'Your words are nothing but lies.'
Ayke sighed in frustration, 'Well believe what you want to Aria but it will not change the truth, your mother abandoned you just like she abandoned me and when you were brought here, I paid Camelia to keep you safe and she did her very best.'
'Keep us safe?' I couldn't help but laugh, 'Do you even know the life I've lived? Do you know how Arya died? And here you are trying to say you did everything to keep us safe.' I chuckled in disbelief, 'This must be a joke to you lord Julius Ayke.'
'I had to train you somehow and at that time, I was not in the right mind place and If I had brought you with me, you wouldn't be able to look at me with respect so i did what I could do. You were meant to be the queen, but how would you know about your responsibilities if you don't have an inkling of what the masses are going through. It was all I could do for you as a father.' His voice tremors, 'And unfortunately, Arya d…'
'Do not say her name.' I growled frustratedly. 'You do not have the right to speak her name when you left her to die and then you try to blame your own shortcomings and mistakes on my dead mother? How low would you stoop to clear your name and portray yourself as a good man? What else will you tell me?'
'I am not lying to you Aria.' Ayke said, 'Your mother is a liar, she is not dead, she is alive. She ran off with her lover and abandoned you because escaping with the two of you would be difficult and so she made her choice.'
I couldn't absorb any more of it and so I snapped, 'Do not talk to me, you are a liar.'
'I am not a liar, I am your father.' Ayke yelled, 'And there is nothing in this entire world that would erase that fact. I am your reality and I am your truth. Your blood!'