Air {Elements of Power 3}

Chapter 29: Roxy

I was going to see my sister. Even if my brain still shuddered at the word, I was trying to keep using it. I needed to reconcile my mind to a fact that I wasn't going to be able to ignore.

If I was still in the Helian Realm, I could have moved on and forgotten all about her. But here, in the Arcan Realm, living in the same space... Interested in the same boy... It was beyond complicated.

Even more so now that I had kissed him. Flames, I was the worst sister in the world. No. Actually, she left me for dead to keep a guy. She was the worst sister in the world, but I was currently contesting for the title.

If I wanted to make things better, I was going to need to start by being honest.

I was still trying to get used to the airy corridors of the Arcan Realm: white walls, panoramic views glimpsed between highly ornamental colonnades and a horrible chill I would never be able to get used to. The floor was a marble of grey and white, like the sky on a blustery day, and it felt slippery beneath my feet. Marble carvings, as stark and white as everything else in this Realm, were hung at regular intervals along the wall. The one nearest to me showed Arcan Protectors in flight; an image which reminded me of Brae's tour of the Helian Realm. We had come so far since that first conversation filled with distrust and political manoeuvring.

As another gust of wind blew along the corridor, I tried, and failed, to suppress a shudder, just as a tall, regal woman came out of a door in front of me.

"Cold?" she asked. Her eyes were icy. I had never been alone with the Arcan Queen and my instinct was to hurry away as quickly as possible, but this was Brae's mother and I didn't want to seem rude.

"Just struggling to adjust," I replied, shrugging my shoulders. I couldn't let her get to me.

"Perhaps you never will." The Queen walked along beside me, every inch an Arcan royal: from her poise, to the unreadable expression on her face. She was giving nothing away.

"I think I just need time. Jasmine manages."

"Jasmine is more an Arcan than she is a Helian or a Brizan."

"Jasmine is the all-powerful super hybrid," I replied, with more bitterness than I had intended.

"She is like a daughter to me. For a long time... For a long time I had hoped that she would be my daughter at some point." She sighed. "But I know I cannot blame you for the fact that it is unlikely to come to pass." The Queen's hands were balled tightly together in fists and I wondered if she was about to threaten me. I felt my fingers tingle expectantly; ready to spring into action at the first sign I might need to defend myself. "I cannot say that I understand my son's choices, but I do trust his judgement. If he sees something in you that makes you in any way worthy of him, then I am willing to give you a chance."

I was stunned into silence. Whatever I had been expecting from an encounter with the queen, it certainly hadn't been that.

{Sorry this is so short! Next week's will be longer! Please vote/comment to let me know what you think of Roxy's conversation with Brae's mum.}