Six

Chapter six

Amelia

It had been about a month since Alaric left. When I returned back to my parent's estate drenched in the rain, they had taken me inside asking me what the problem was, but I didn't give any reply as I was still frozen with shock.

My parents tried all they could to get me to tell them what the problem was, but I didn't. I just stood up and went to my bedchamber, locking the door behind me. 

I didn't come out of my bedchamber at all at first  and my father almost had the door pulled down. I didn't eat anything, neither did I drink any water. I would just spend my whole day crying. 

My mother would come to my door almost every two hours to ask if I needed anything, but I never gave her an answer. The only thing I did was to wake up, cry, sleep again, cry some more, and then sleep again.

But after a week, I would only come out to take food and then return back to my room without speaking to anybody. My parents were really becoming worried, so after sometime, I decided to speak to them. 

I had one of the servants call them to the drawing room, while I waited for them.

"Amelia." My mother said the moment she sighted me and ran towards me, pulling me into a hug.

"Oh, my darling. What is the matter? Why have you refused to talk to us?" My mother said, holding my face in between her hands.

"I'm fine, mother. I just had somethings to think about, but I'm fine now. There's no need to worry about anymore." 

My father came over and stood in front of us, towering over us. 

"Are you sure you don't want to tell us what the problem is?" My father asked. 

Even though he seemed calm, I could tell that he was worried. He always seemed that way to other people, but he was my father and I knew what was going on in his mind.

"There's no problem, father. I just wasn't feeling well, but I'm okay now." 

My father nodded his head and moved to sit elsewhere, wat himg my mother and I.

"Please, Amelia, don't ever do anything like that ever again. You have absolutely no idea how scared I was. I wanted to give you time to overcome whatever it is that you are going through, but at the same time, I was so worried not knowing if you were okay in there." My mom ranted and I laughed, hugging her.

"It's all settled now." I pulled away from her.

"Well, your mother and I have been thinking about something…" My father began rubbing his chin and I frowned. "...we really don't know if we should tell you or not." 

"Oh, you have to tell me now. I'm curious." I said, siiting up on the chair.

"Well, we know that we've shielded you all your life, and we're sorry about that. We never let you have any friends or even go out to play like other children did." He started and I was taken aback.

All my life, my parents never spoken about the reason or the mere fact that they were shielding me from the world. They always just told me never to leave the house and not to talk to any stranger no matter what, but I think they got less strict as I grew. That or I was just good at escaping. 

I never really had a problem with them keeping me in all the time. The townspeople already didn't like me from the few times I was ill-fated to run into any of them, so I tried my best to stay away from them too. 

"Why are you talking about that all of a sudden?" I laughed a little.

"Well, like I said your mother and I are trying to make a decision before letting you know." He said.

"We're sorry if we ever make you feel like your different from other people. We were thinking that we might have been the reason for your breakdown, so we're really sorry." 

"You both weren't the reason, mother." I said between laughs.

"We just wanted to let you know that you're now free to leave the house whenever you like. No one is going to stop you, you can make friends with whoever you like." 

I looked between my parents, a little bit shocked at what they said. They were finally letting me do what I pleased, but I didn't think I needed that freedom. I had no friends and no one that was willing to be.

Alaric had disappeared, so there was absolutely no reason for me to leave the house. I didn't think I could even go close to that shack without bursting into tears. 

"Thank you for finally thinking that I need my freedom. Your offer is very well appreciated." I smiled at them. "Is that what you were trying to make a decision about?" 

"No, it's not. We'll let you know whatever conclusion we come to by the evening." He said and I nodded.

After talking with them for a while, I went back to my bedchamber to rest, really curious about what they had to tell me. I stared up at the ceiling as I lay in my bed. 

I tried my best not to let my mind go to Alaric. After the pain and shock of Alaric's leaving, all that was left was anger. I was angry firstly at myself for falling in love so quickly, I was angry for letting myself be used, and secondly, I was angry at Alaric for using me and leaving me without even a goodbye. 

I was so absent minded that I didn't even know when I fell asleep.

****

A knock on my door woke me up from my sleep. I sat up and rubbed the back of my hand on my eyes to clear the sleep from them. I lazily pulled myself off the bed and went to the door.

I opened it and saw one of the maids standing there with her head bowed.

"I'm sorry for waking you up, my lady." She said.

"It's fine. What do you want?" 

"Your parents are in the drawing room and have requested your presence." She said and I perked up.

They finally wanted to talk to me. The curiosity had been eating at me since they had said it.

"Let them know that I'll be down soon." I said and closed the door without even waiting for her response.

I quickly washed my face and changed into another dress. My dresses weren't really hard to wear on my own as they didn't have corsets and other things that made dresses really hard to wear. 

I rushed out of the room and down the stairs to see my parents talking among themselves, but when they noticed me, the stopped talking.

"Sit, Amelia." My father gestured to the seat in front of them and I dropped into it waiting for them to say something.

"Well, what were about to tell you is something I'm sure you haven't heard about before. You might be shocked or even scared, but we will need you to stay calm." 

He said and I frowned but nodded.

He sighed and looked at my mother before continuing. "The town that we live in is a human town, but we are under a bigger country that is headed by the dragon shifters." 

I laughed a little. "What do you mean by dragon shifters?" I furrowed my eyebrows.

"The town we live in is a human town meant for humans, and the kingdom that we live in is headed by the dragons, meaning that there are other towns apart from ours that have dragon shifters living in them." 

"Are you really serious? What are dragon shifters? I know what dragons are, but I don't know what dragon shifters are." 

"Well, Amelia…" My mother started. "....dragon shifters are humans but the only difference is that they can turn into dragons. There's no difference between a dragon shifter and a normal dragon when they shift forms." 

My eyes widened in shock and curiosity as I moved forward in my seat. "So, you're telling me that there are humans that can turn into dragons?!" I asked, the concept really blowing my mind. 

"Yes, Amelia. When you see them in their human form, there's really no difference between them and a normal human, so you might not be able to differentiate them unless they tell you who they are, or show you their dragon scales."

"Really!!" I said and moved forward, wanting to hear more. "They can show their dragon scales on their human skin?" My eyes were so wide it almost felt like they were going to fall out of their sockets.

So there were such creatures that I wasn't aware existed this entire time. My parents had shielded me so much that I really didn't know much and people classified me as naive and innocent. 

"Yes, they can do so at will. But, it's something special to every dragon. They don't just show their dragon scales to anyone at all, only to family or loved ones."

"Tell me more." I said and both my parents laughed.

"Why are you both laughing? Or are you lying to me?" I asked them frowning.

"No, Amelia. We aren't lying to you. The reason is that we expected you to be scared and all, but you really seem to want to know more about them." My mother said as she laughed.

"Why wouldn't I? I've lived my whole life not knowing that creatures so fascinating exist, so why shouldn't I be?" I said, jumping in my seat.

I was still surprised how I hadn't even heard a rumour about it before. Normally, theaids talked a lot about things that happened outside and I always found out things from eavesdropping on their conversations, but I never once heard them talking about dragon shifters or even dragons.

"That isn't the reason we called you here. We want to tell you the main reason why we even told you about the existence of dragon shifters." 

I frowned. What else could they possibly want to tell me?

"The ruler of our kingdom is a dragon shifter and he has made a decree that all young ladies from the ages of sixteen to eighteen years both human and dragon shifters alike are to be in the palace within the next few days." He said and I frowned even deeper.

"Why did he make the decree?" 

"It is time for the choosing of a bride, Amelia, and you are eligible." He said and I gasped. 

"What?!!"