A Crown of Gold

Queen of the Sky

A black smoke surrounded me, it's fingers reaching out to cover my face. I attempted to scream but the sound was caught in my throat. My vision was a blurred haze, no escape route evident to me in my panic. The dark smoke eventually overtook me, nothing but a suffocating darkness left around me.

In a flash I saw familiar eyes reflect in my own—the mismatched irises glinting with same fear guaranteed to be lining my own.

Finally, I woke. A gasp filled my lungs as I jolted in the bed. My bed now, I suppose. A film of sweat covered my skin, making me wince at the sticky feeling of my body. I tossed the covers from my legs, swinging them over the side of the bed, hesitating a moment before pushing myself to my feet. I crossed the wide room, the breeze pushing itself through spanning window causing a chill to break over my warmed skin.

When I made it to the long table, I broke one of the candles away from its surface, pressing its base into the socket of the candlestick. I furrowed my eyebrows, nibbling on the inside of my cheek when I realized I had no way of lighting it.

I brushed my fingers over the tables surface, feeling around for matches or a flint. Nothing. My fingers did, however, find their way back to the maps that lie like a nocked arrow across the table. Before I knew it, the pages were pinched between my fingertips, moving them so they were all placed side-by-side.

My eyes scathed over them with the same curiosity they did the first time. My gaze fell on the map I'd moved to the right—the one labeled "The Sorenti Territory". Most of it was labeled in a strange language I'd never seen before, strange symbols accompanying the foreign looking lettering.

I found myself tracing the large tree marked at its center, my mind falling back to the nightmare I'd just awakened from. I had seen Nik's eyes, reflecting in my own. The darkness was swallowing us both.

I dropped the candle I'd been clutching in my hand on the table, deciding my questions for Sephraim could wait for the morning. At the moment, I wished to clear my mind. My attention turned to the wide balcony now concealed by the thin curtains being toyed with by the breeze.

My feet barely made a sound on the cool stone as I tiptoed out onto the balcony. A smoothly carved railing separated me from the cliff's edge; which was a sheer drop to the rocky shore below. I could hear the ocean churning far below me, the waves thundering against the cliff side. The moon sat in the sky as a sliver, barely casting any light on the black water underneath it.

The cold air soothed my burning skin and pulled the locks of hair that stuck to my sweat-covered skin away from me. I let my eyes fall shut as I breathed in the salty air. For the first time in a long while, I felt as though I could breathe again.

My mind open, I couldn't help but think about my village—about my father. I felt my throat tighten. I wasn't upset at myself anymore, now, it was about him. I was so angry at him for betraying my trust, for lying. All he ever did was treat my like a child, never giving me a chance to prove I was otherwise.

"But he did," I whispered to myself. "He took you out into the Beyond. He gave you a chance."

I felt tears well in my eyes. I didn't blink them back this time, I let them stream down my cheeks instead. I pulled in a shaky breath and released a small sob in return. I let myself cry, then. It'd been too long since I really let myself cry. I leaned forward on the balcony railing, using my palms to brace myself as I shook.

I cried until I felt as though I didn't need to any longer, and once I was done, I felt liberated. That was the end of shedding tears over my father, I told myself, That is the end of letting them get anything more from me.