Page 5 of One Last Promise
“Xavier and I spoke about it.I don’t think it’s something the princess should be doing.Wielding a sword...it’s not the impression I want to give.Not to mention, if anything were to happen to you on the battlefield, my bloodline would be lost.I can’t risk you.”Was that all he cared about?Hisbloodline.
“What if it helped me come into my powers?I’ve been getting really dull sparks on my fingertips.Wielding a light sword might help them to finally manifest.”
“You are one thousand, five hundred years old, Alora.You are still young.Your powers will come when the time is right.I can’t see how sword wielding would help your powers along any faster.In my three hundred thousand years, I’ve never heard of such a thing.”Elin whispered in his ear and he chucked.“You’re more suited to your harp playing, Alora.Perhaps you should concentrate on that.”Elin seemed more in his ear than usual.With a defeated sigh, I nodded.
With my birthright, I had all this power at my fingertips, but felt as trapped as a bird in a cage.Would I get to make any decisions withmylife?
Chapter two
“You don’t have to helpus.You know that, right?”Noor gave me a questioning look while I assisted in collecting all the dried flowers.
“Noor, if she wants to help, let her.”Luz gave me a reassuring smile, tucking her long blonde hair behind her eyes.She was much older than Noor and me, and was able to control the power of photosynthesis.She literally made plants grow.“You will not be judged here, Alora.I think it’s wonderful that you enjoy menial tasks.”
“Thank you, Luz.It’s always a delight being in your meadows.Helping with the dry flowers gives me such comfort.”The fields stretched as far as the eye could see, with vivid colours of blue, purple, pink and yellow.Dried flowers were used in a lot of our customs.Luz had to tend to her fields everyday.Helping to collect all the dried flowers had been a favourite task of mine since I’d been a child.It was one of the earliest memories I had of my mother.
“Are you going to tell us how you got on with your father?”Noor questioned, collecting another basket to fill with blossoms.“Will he allow you to train with the warriors?”I wasn’t the only female Dylin that wished to learn to fight.Noor was hoping if I had been allowed, she would be able to follow.She wasn’t some fragile female that needed protecting.She had the heart of a warrior.Why shouldn’t she be rewarded for that?Why couldn’t the other female Dylins and I train for battle if that was what we desired?I would never understand my father’s reasoning when having us fight could be a turning point in this war.
“It didn’t go well.Elin was in his ear.He thinks I’m better suited to playing the harp.”
“Oh, gods!”Noor sighed.“You already know how to play the harp!Why can’t your father and Xavier see it’s the next step?They coulddoubletheir army!”
“Our kind have never been good at making drastic changes,” Luz chimed in.“Look how long it took to change the tiles in the bathing pools.”She made a fair point.Those tiles took almost a thousand years to be changed.
“I wouldn’t call the tile choicedrastic.”Noor snorted, flicking a light breeze of wind with her fingertips to move a few stray pieces of hair from her face.“It was partly Lito and Nell’s fault for taking so long.They had to go and source the gold that was dusted around the tile’s edges.They were gone for almost acentury.”
“I think more went on than they admitted,” I noted, putting my hair up into a bun.Our two suns were beaming brightly, making my skin glow in the most radiant way.“Nell hardly talks about it.”
“What do you mean?Are you trying to say Lito and Nell...fornicatedwhile they were away?”Noor choked, dropping her basket of dried flowers.
“No, I’m not saying that.”She gave me a questioning look as I spoke.I might have put my foot in it, but I wasn’t sure what had gone down.To me, it was more like they had seen something neither of them ever wanted to talk about again.Afterlight Veil had its secrets.Our home, Dallethas, was a safe place, but if you ventured into Dreonarus, especially the Barren Lands, danger was around every corner.Night beasts that had escaped Eallarim, home of the Noxlin, stalked the mountains.
“Things rarely change here.That’s the point I’m trying to make.Noor, I wouldn’t worry about Lito and Nell.Whatever went on has finished now.Lito only has eyes for you.”
“I...oh...I wasn’t...”She was blushing, embarrassed that her feelings for Lito were becoming a little obvious.
“You don’t have to play coy with me, Noor.I have been around too long for that.Sexual awakening is a beautiful thing for our kind.You’re around the right age for it, too.It’s usually between one thousand and two thousand years.”Honestly, I was a little jealous of Noor.She had come into her powersandher sexual awakening.Lito would probably deflower her soon, and I’d be left even further behind.
