Chapter Four.
Sierra's POV
I couldn't manifest my powers.
Most children in the kingdom developed theirs by age five. It was the same in all the seven kingdoms, but at six, I had nothing. Not a spark. Not a flicker.
In Ivoryglint just like the other kingdoms, powers defined everything. You either healed the sick and injured, revived the dead, or created shields. Every child was expected to manifest at least one power. Those rare few who possessed all three powers were sent to the prestigious Akhale Academy in Crimsonstone, the first kingdom. They were legends in the making.
My parents clung to hope, thinking my powers would manifest by age ten but sadly, they didn't.
I became a laughingstock. I was the only child in Ivoryglint without powers. Children mocked me; adults whispered behind my back. I was an outcast.
My brothers tried to protect me, but they couldn't always be there. They had their own lives and their powers to grow. They were part of the few of the strongest and they were always at school, training.
Alone, I buried myself in spells, hoping to make up for what I lacked. It didn't matter. No spell could erase my shame or fill the void.
Then, when I was nineteen, everything changed.
The annual meeting was held in our kingdom that year, and all the high-ranking members of the seven kingdoms attended. That was when I met Kaelvar.
I wasn't blessed with powers, but as my mother often said, I was blessed with beauty. Beauty that rivalled the most beautiful in all of the kingdoms.
During the celebrations, I played the piano for the guests. It was the only thing that gave me joy apart from reading spells and trying to make new ones.
That day when the performance ended, Kaelvar found me. He told me my music had captivated him, that he had fallen deeply in love with me.
His charm swept me away like a fool that I was. He introduced me to his parents that very night, giddy and insisting he wanted to marry me. By morning, the arrangement was finalized.
Overnight, I went from an outcast to the future queen of Azurea, the fourth-strongest kingdom.
The bullies who had tormented me were suddenly jealous. I revelled in my victory… if only I had known the cost.
The celebration turned sour when news arrived that Kaelvar's parents had been killed on their way back to Azurea. The rumours pointed to the fifth kingdom, but nothing was ever confirmed.
Our wedding proceeded as planned, but Kaelvar wasn't the same man I had met. His eyes, once bright and warm, were dull and cold. He barely acknowledged me, and when I tried to reach out, his glare stopped me in my tracks.
I told myself he was grieving. I ignored the warning signs and went through with the marriage.
On our wedding night, Kaelvar didn't come to me. I spent the night alone.
From then on, he only approached me when he wanted something. We never lived as husband and wife.
The bottle crashed at the headstand, one of the shards grazing my cheek and blood trickling down to my neck, soiling my white nightgown and bringing me out of my reminiscing.
Kaelvar stumbled into the room, and in a gruff voice, he shouted.
"Get out! Now."
I scrambled to my feet, trying to leave as quickly as possible so as not to anger him any further. I was almost out the door when a body blocked my view.
A lady with purple eyes and Blonde, long hair steps out from the shadows. She was barely clothed and her red, popping lipstick was the same shade as the ones scattered all over my husband.
Oh.
Her eyes looked familiar. Extremely familiar but… I just couldn't place it.
Kaelvar stumbled into the room, falling ungracefully on the bed. While the lady waltzed into the room like she owned the place.
Of all the many times that he had been with women, he had never brought any home, talkless of our matrimonial room. The earlier unshed tears began to fall from my eyes.
The door was shut in my face, and I crumbled to the floor, having nowhere else to spend the night.
The lewd sounds they were making filled my ears as I cried out in agony. My heart felt tight as I tried to breathe. The air was stale, and I just couldn't take it anymore. I sat there all night torturing myself with all that I heard.
Gripping my clothes tighter, I drifted off to sleep on the cold, hard palace floors with my back turned to the doors.
Light tapping on my shoulder awoke me from my slumber.
I raise my head to spot two guards looking at me with pity in their eyes as they informed me that Madam Vaelora would like to see me.
I opened my mouth to reply when the lady from last night burst out of the room, giggling as she tried to keep herself decent.
She was wearing one of my robes.
My husband followed behind her, laughing heartily, totally ignoring my presence.
"Lead the way," I said to the guards, ignoring the looks they passed my way.
Lady Vaelora stood in the middle of her room, staring at the huge portrait on the wall when I walked in. It was of her and her late husband.
Lady Vaelora wasn't originally from the Azurea kingdom, her husband was.
She was from the second kingdom, Aurelgem.
Just like me, she moved here after marrying her husband. But unlike my marriage, they were very much in love from what I had heard and that was why she stayed for a longer while to feel closer to him even after his death many years ago.
"You're finally here, and you're…" she said as she turned to me, but she stopped mid-speech, noticing my attire and the blood stain on my gown.
If she had something in mind, she didn't say.
The slight frown on her face disappeared and she smiled warmly at me.
She dismissed the guards and gestured towards me to take a seat.
I sat on her bed, and she sat beside me taking my hands into hers.
"My dear, this may come off as sudden to you and you may be wondering why I am leaving now of all times when I could have years ago."
She was right. I did have that thought in mind when I noticed her packed bags.
"The only reason why I am telling you this is that I see something in you"
I nodded at her, following her
every word as she spoke trying to make out why she was saying all that.
"I want you to leave with me."