Chapter 5

Annora:

"Ugh! Get off of me!" I shove Jacobs' firm grip from my arm.

I may be a female, and I may be small, but I was strong. 

Father had me start combat training when I was only four. While I didn't often show my strength, it was an automatic reaction to someone grabbing me like a rag doll.

I wasn't a rag doll.

"Go!" I yell back to El and Chia.

They're looking at me with an expression that tells me they don't want to leave me behind because I don't have my wings.

I can't fly away the way that they could.

The screams continue erupting in different directions. 

Blood-curdling cries.

I could feel all of it. The death. The agony. 

"Dammit! That's an order! Go!" I scream at them again.

I'd never be okay with myself if anything happened to them.

I grab my bag before I begin to run toward the East side of the courtyard, where I knew I could escape into a secret passageway, so long as I could make it there.

My feet had barely hit the ground running when a pair of strong arms wrapped around my waist, lifting me into the air.

It felt like the air in my lungs had been stolen from me for the first five seconds as the warm air whipped around my skin and hair.

My dress was flailing up and around wildly with my arms, trying to keep my clothes steady.

"I didn't ask for your help!" I stomp my foot once I gain my bearings.

He sets me down in front of the palace.

I watched everything from above as we flew over the inner city.

Bodies littered the streets below. Empty, soulless eyes staring up at us. It took me a while to understand what was going on.

At first, I thought an accident or something similar had spooked everyone, but when the screams didn't die down, I knew something worse was at play.

Something sinister had happened, and I was spot on.

The royal army had already been dispatched and on the scene, but lives were gone.

It was too late. 

Mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and worst of all, children would soon be mourning their loved ones. 

My heart begins to crumble into pieces as I feel the devastation start to ripple through my people.

My connection with my people was intense. 

The closer I became of age, the tighter it grew, binding me to my region in unspeakable ways.

"I need to get to Father!" I rush out, as Jacob grins at me with his stupid smile, acting as if he hadn't just carried me across the region after I told him specifically not to touch me.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I'm sad that it wasn't Darin.

Where was he? Was he okay? 

Did he try to find me? Would he have done the same for me as Jacob?

I quickly push the thoughts from my mind as I flatten out the wrinkles in my dress and rush into the palace with Jacob following behind me closely.

"Daddy!" I yell, rushing through the massive entryway of the palace.

My feet pattering roughly against the marble floor as I run to the back of the palace, where my father typically was.

My hand grips the shiny golden knob of the dark oak door to Father's office before I burst through, out of breath and shaking.

I haven't felt this type of pain or disconnect before. We have never been under attack, and my body was riddled with an ache I couldn't mend.

"Nora, hunny," my father's voice is soft and full of relief.

He looks tired and worn down. The bags under his eyes are dark and heavy from the stress, but primarily because of the illness.

Something that had been pretending wasn't hurting me every day.

He was dying. 

Slowly. 

But dying nonetheless.

I ran over to him quickly as he stood from his chair and wrapped my arms around him in a tight embrace.

"It's okay, Nora. We have a hold of things," my father says reassuringly, but the pain is overwhelming me.

I knew that the attack was being handled. 

I could feel it all. The way the pain of the deaths was excruciating but turned to a dull ache that lingered in my bones just as painfully.

"Vampires," Jacob says from the doorway.

I had forgotten he had brought me here, and I hadn't realized he had followed me all this way through the palace.

"You are?" Father's voice is strong and commanding when he speaks.

His softness rarely came out with others aside from me and his horrible wife, my stepmother.

"My name is Jacob, Your Highness," Jacob says, matching the firmness in my father's tone before bowing respectfully to his King.

"Is he a friend?" Father asks, peaking down at me in his arms.

"Yes, Daddy," I say, awkwardly, my voice squeaking at the end.

He did save my life after all.

I guess he was a friend?

Jacob always gave me the impression that he would be perfectly fine seeing me die in a miserable death, but maybe I was wrong about that.

He wasn't from my throne or region, so I had no connection to him. I couldn't understand him the way I could with many of my peers.

"If you don't mind me saying, vampires haven't been seen around these parts for a long time. Do you know why they're suddenly attacking? I thought that we had a treaty with them? One that protected us against their attacks," Jacob says.

Everything he says is true. 

I had been thinking about all of it myself as he flew me over the inner city, but the visual of the battle had overtaken me.

I'm realizing now how little I know about Jacob, where he comes from, what his ranking is, etc. These types of things normally mean very little to me, but now that he is in the palace and in my personal space, I feel uncomfortable with this.

"You're correct. I can assure you that we will get to the bottom of this," my father says.

There's a glint of something unknown in Jacob's eyes at this comment.

Maybe he doesn't believe my father. I couldn't tell what it was, but he slowly nodded at my father and looked at me.

"I will see you at school tomorrow, Annora." The way he looks me in the eyes as he speaks to me formally before scanning my body sends a shudder down my spine.

What's gotten into this guy? I wonder.

"The dinner tonight is still happening as planned, Nora," my father says after Jacob leaves.

"Not even a vampire attack can make you reason with me on this?" I whine.

The contenders for the tournament are arriving tonight. Tonight we were holding a formal introductory dinner.

A time when they can "woo" me with conversation, I  guess.

"Will Edna and Diedra be there?" I grumble, plopping my butt into the seat in front of his desk.

"They're your stepmom and stepsister, of course, they will be attending the dinner, Nora." I can tell he is irritated with me for asking this, but he doesn't understand how they treat me.

They always make snide remarks and try to humiliate me in front of others.

Not to mention, it's so much worse when father isn't around.

"Your stepbrother also RSVP'd," Father says.

All the blood in my face disappears at once as I register what he's said to me.

"Darin never comes to any family dinners, are you sure, Daddy?" I ask, fidgeting with my fingers nervously.

Darin and I had been seeing each other in secret prior to my father marrying his horrid mother and well... we didn't exactly let it stop us.

Why would he come to this dinner?

Out of all dinners!

Awkward didn't even scratch the surface of where this dinner was headed.