~RUNE
The slap tore across my cheeks before I even got the chance to see it.
The sound echoed through the large room and the burning pain came right after as shock and shame drowned me.
“How dare you touch your twin sister’s wedding dress? Are you trying to jinx her sacred wedding with your cursed hands?” Mother’s harsh voice sliced through the air.
It cut into me just as hard as her slap had done.
“I’m sorry, Mother,” I whispered shakily as I stepped away from the bed where the ethereal dress rested.
“Don’t you dare call me that. You don’t deserve to be my daughter!” She spat venomously.
“I don’t even know how something as bland and useless as you came out of House Aylin. The holiest house of light blessed by the goddess herself!”
Her words stung me harder.
You would think I’d be used to it by now— the constant reminder that I was the abomination, the anomaly of the pure royal House of Aylin.
I once tried to gaslight myself into thinking it no longer got to me.
Yet, you could never lie to yourself no matter how hard you tried.
“I’m sorry, your majesty,” I muttered again, not daring to look up at her golden eyes— the only thing I had inherited from this family.
“Don’t speak. I detest your voice. I detest everything about you!”
That was when the doors came open and Sayla entered the room.
Her aura was brighter than ever.
Her silver hair cascaded elegantly down her frame.
But her expression suddenly grew stern when she understood what was happening here.
“Mother, why are you scolding Rune again? What did she do wrong this time?” She demanded as she walked over to hold me protectively.
I tried to step away from her to avoid intensifying Mother’s anger but Sayla only held on to me even tighter than before.
She touched my face gently and noticed my burning cheek.
“Did you slap her?” Sayla’s voice turned icy as she challenged our mother.
“It’s already bad enough that you have reduced her into nothing but a slave in her own home; now you hit her too?”
“I am doing this for your own good, Sayla. That thing is cursed and she might try to ruin your marriage with the great Orin King. You know how important this marriage is to us. The lives of our people depend on it,” Mother pointed out.
“My sister is not cursed. She is just a victim in all this,” She defended.
“I don’t want her anywhere near you or the wedding. In fact, I am taking her away,” Mother stated and began to come over to do just that when Sayla pulled me behind her.
“If you touch her again, I will call off the wedding. Have fun facing an unstable Orin King and his procession when they feel insulted,” She threatened.
Mother stopped instantly and narrowed her eyes at the threat before she backed away.
“Fine, protect her all you want but don’t be surprised when she ends up stabbing you in the back.”
With that, she stormed out of the room.
The thick tension that hung heavy above our heads finally began to clear.
Sayla turned to me then.
“Does it hurt badly?”
I shook my head in response and smiled.
“I am more worried about you than myself. You are marrying the Mad Orin King. I have heard about how unstable he is. He is mad, Sayla. If the Orin whom we already fear are very terrifying, what can we say about him who experiences bloodlust and pleasure ten times that of an average Orin?”
She smiled.
“My Uriel might be scary to the rest of the world but he isn’t to me. He’s very gentle, madly in love with me and will burn the world first before anyone hurts me.”
“Let’s say he never tries to hurt you, what about his people? What if they gang up on you when he’s away, try to drink from your essence and drain you dry till you die?”
She laughed.
“You have wild imaginations, Rune. You forget I am not powerless. I could always burn them with my light if they get too close.”
“But there’s only one of you and many of them. What if—”
“Rune!” She called.
“I’ll be fine.”
Then she touched my shoulders gently.
“You know I am not just marrying him because of love. As much as King Uriel needs me to keep his madness stable, our people need them too.”
I swallowed as I was reminded that she wasn’t just my sister after all but a princess of Valaris.
She had a duty to her people.
“Most of our lands have been damaged and rendered barren. The Orin still have vast fields of fertile lands. They will grant us access to use them and we won’t have to suffer famine again,” she explained.
I sighed heavily in defeat as tears began to fill my eyes.
Nothing I said could make her stay.
She was the only person in this world who showed me kindness.
The only person who cared about me and stood up for me.
“When you leave, I’ll be lonely. Who will protect me?” I asked in a shaky voice, allowing my vulnerability to rise to the surface.
She placed her hand on my chin and lifted my face so that I could look into her eyes.
“Come with me, Rune. Let’s go together.”
I widened my eyes at her.
“Mother would never allow it!”
“That’s why we won’t tell her, Brother or Father. You’ll sneak away with me. It should be good riddance for them since they never liked you,” Sayla explained.
I blinked hard.
It was dangerous to follow her to the Orin Kingdom.
I had no light to protect myself from them, thus, I would be relying heavily on her protection.
But it was way better than staying here where I was constantly belittled.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Mother threw me out of the house the moment Sayla left.
“Let’s say I agree to follow you, how will I sneak out? Mother would surely catch on to the plan,” I pointed out.
Sayla gave me a one-sided smile.
It was mischievous and it meant that she had already thought it through.
“What do you have planned in that smart head of yours?” I asked, grinning too.
“The grand library… I found a secret passageway. You could use it to sneak out after the wedding and I’ll wait for you on the other side with my husband of course,” she revealed.
“You think King Uriel will accept this?”
“Of course he will. He’ll do anything I say,” she waved it away like it was nothing.
“Tonight, meet me at the library so I’ll show you the secret passage.”
I sighed heavily.
“Fine. I’ll go with you and we will face the future together.”
“Together forever?” Sayla asked as she gave me her pinky finger.
I smiled.
“Together forever.”
Then I began to walk away.
“I should go finish my chores. You, on the other hand, need to rest as you wait for your husband-to-be to arrive tomorrow.”
I walked out of the room before she could protest.
I ended up spending the rest of the evening scrubbing the grand hall where the wedding would take place.
By the time I was done, it was already well into the night.
The castle had grown quieter.
Usually, I’d go to Sayla’s room where she would have snuck food for me and we would eat together until I would fall asleep.
Tonight, we were meeting at the library instead.
I thought of her wedding again and an uneasy feeling hit me.
I had been getting those since I heard the Orin were coming.
I sighed and quietly walked down the now dark corridors that led to the library.
The grand double doors came into view.
It was slightly open, allowing muffled voices to escape out.
I frowned as I recognized Sayla’s voice.
Who could she be talking to?
I increased my pace when suddenly, a piercing scream sliced through the dark corridor.
My heart skipped a beat.
My eyes grew wide.
That was Sayla’s scream.
Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I began to run hard with all my might.
The moment I reached the doors, I pushed them open and burst in.
My heart hammered hard against my chest.
My eyes searched frantically until—
A shocked gasp escaped my lips.
Because there, beneath the moonlight spilling through the large stained glass windows—
Sayla lay motionless on the floor.
Her blood pooling beneath her, soaking her dress, staining her perfect silver hair crimson…
Painting a new reality that I was not ready to accept.
A reality that my sister, the only person I had in this world—
Was gone.
“SAYLA!”
I am excited to tell this tale and I hope you enjoy it