Page 8 of Scalebound

“Anything,” I choked out, making eye contact with him. Our eyes locked in an intense exchange. The pause in his responseand the subtle shift of his gaze hinted that he knew something. What secrets was he hiding? Shifting, he leaned in close enough that I could smell his sour breath.

“There’s a sorcerer. He has been comin’ in here nightly. I heard he makes deals with those who need something. I heard a man last night who stole the Sardan king’s crown, and in return, the sorcerer granted him a never-ending supply of gold coins in his jacket pocket. He showed me himself. It’s da truth.” His breath reeked of alcohol as he whispered into my face.

The familiar idea of someone making deals for others to get what they wanted made me wonder if this sorcerer was linked with the tasks showing up at my door. Could he be the mastermind behind my killing? Would he also be able to rescue Sebastia from the clutches of death? Either way, I had grown to be a part of it. It had merged into me like a virus that could never be removed.

“Where is this man? This sorcerer?” My words laced with a mix of yearning and desperation. His scrutinizing stare bore into me, and I knew that I was going to be lonely for the rest of my life. Lately, I hunted down feelings with a knife to someone’s throat, or with alcohol spewing down my own. I refused to find love again. Sebastia’s velvety laugh screamed in my head. She was the only one who breathed life into my soul with the very stroke of her thin fingers. Without her, I was no more than a breeze in the wind, brushing death upon those unfortunate enough to cross my path.

There was an ache, a void that I longed to fill, a longing to feel some semblance of life again.

“I was told that if you say three words and stay in one spot, he will find you.” His eyes gleamed deeper into my soul. I didn’t know whether to trust him, but I would do anything to get Sebastia back. I was nothing without her. And I found that my kills have only made the ache for her worse.

“Tell me. What are the words?” The plea was evident with the tremor in my voice. He grimaced, grabbed a paper and pen, and wrote them down, handing me the parchment. I looked down at the paper, anticipation growing as I saw the three words,Tybalt Abaris Claudion.

Chapter six

AURELIA

My eyes fluttered open, the plushness of my bed greeting me a good morning. The sheets were natural silk and felt smooth against my clean legs. After the events of the previous night, I went up to my bed in the tower, and took my anger out by reading more books until the weariness claimed me. I wanted to learn more about Scalebornes and the curses, even though I had already read the books more than twenty or thirty times each. I stopped counting after at least ten.

The sun's rays gleamed in my room, shining into my eyes. After a few yawns, I kicked over my feet to find my white fluffy slippers near my bed, where I always kept them.

Following my usual morning schedule, I went over to the shelves that hung down along the wall of the far side of my tower, finding the one that held all of my bottles of potions. Held with glass vessels, the elixirs bubbled inside, secured only by a small cork. Each adorned with symbols and signs on the front of the bottle dripping with black ink—the contents of the vials,ethereal blues, shimmering greens, to deep velvety purples and fiery reds.

Making my way to the shelves along the opposite side that held all of my books, I looked for the one with all the hand-written potions and spells for different circumstances. Oddly, I found that the velour ancient crimson book was missing. Where could it have gone? Checking beneath my bed, it was still nowhere to be found.

However, under my bed sat one of my bright pink feathers from a wyssle that used to sit properly on my artifact shelf. I reached for it, grasping the small soft ends of it, and lifted it to put it back on my racks and back to its proper place alongside the random pens, earrings, or buttons that were washed out from the Forbidden Forest.

A timbered oak chest held all of my clothes as well, located near the window of my room. I only wore fancy dresses when I went inside the castle, but even then, my mother would send a servant out to my tower to give me a specific dress before the occasion–especially since I was never aware of what was happening in the castle, I never knew what to expect.

The remaining clothes in the wooden closet were two-piece matching sets with soft fabric. I picked out a light blue set and put it on. The fabric was lightweight and fitted perfectly to my skin. I delicately braided my pink hair down my back, sweeping it away from my face.

“Aurelia!” I smiled, recognizing my best friend’s voice. Shuffling beside the gaping window, I caught sight of her below, peering back up at me. The sky was clear with billowing clouds, softening the blue hue of it. With no speck of purple in sight, I knew the veil that kept me trapped in my tower was down. Some days, Nana allowed me to exit, whereas others it was strictly up.

“Coraline!” I yelled through the window. She made our whistle tune, and I mimicked the tune back. Her hair wasgenetically purple and slicked back into a ponytail draped over her shoulders. Her skin carried warm undertones of caramel, and her eyes were deep with hues of chocolate. Her fingernails glistened violet, mirroring the intensity of her hair color. Silver earrings of all sizes and styles lined her ears, catching the sunlight.

“I will come down to you!” I yelled out to her after finishing the mimicked whistle tune. Making my way toward the stairs, my feet pattered down the silver spiraling steps.

After finding her, I grabbed her in a rough embrace. “Cora! I have missed you! Where have you been?” Her hands were laced behind her back, holding something.

With a delicate touch, she slowly unfurled her fingers, unveiling the object she held within her grasp. Nestled between her fingertips lay a golden necklace adorned with a small glass vial. “I brought you something back from my trip! It’s for your trinket shelf.” She placed the gold chain into my hands, and I cupped the weight gingerly.

It warmed my heart that she remembered me. “Come up! Let me find a home for it.” My lips curled into a smile. Pivoting, she trailed behind me as we made our way to the pinnacle of my tower.

Climbing the stairs, I remembered the date. It was the anniversary of the death of her parents. “Cora, how are you doing today?” I asked, knowing that she dreaded this day each year, unable to escape the pain of losing her parents at such a young age.

“Umm,” she said through bared teeth, biting her lip. “I could be better. Definitely.” The air became heavy with sorrow.

“I am sorry. I can’t even imagine how hard that must be,” I said, thinking of what it would be like to lose my parents. Would I care? Would I miss them?

“I am just grateful for you and your father. I don’t know where I would be without you and your amazing family taking me in as their own. Him raising me and being able to grow up alongside you was all that I could ask for. It also helps to be able to travel to each of the cities. It has helped keep my mind off of things.”

Her parents were best friends with my father until they never returned from their travels to a far lake in one of the other kingdoms. There was said to be treasure at the bottom of the lake, so my father sent them to find it before any other kingdom did. However, they never returned. She had been my best friend ever since, and my father had treated her as his own.

This made me jealous at times. She had so much freedom. It was my dream to travel and explore the neighboring kingdoms, as she had been doing.

Our dream was to travel together through the Forbidden Forest and adventure through the Sardan Kingdom, to see the seas and what it was like to be so close to the water and the sand. Here, we only had mountains and valleys, which were dazzling, but I had yearned to see the never-ending water.

“Where did you go this time?” I asked as we reached the main level of my tower. Moving around my other trinkets on the shelf, I made a place for my new one. I treasured the souvenirs that she always brought me back. However, I couldn’t help the small slice of sadness and entrapment they made me feel.

---