Why did Lyal have the boys? Why me? What about the three of us was important that he wanted three fucked up kids? Could there have been a chance he knew? Knew that I wasn’t human?
No, no that couldn’t be it, because Lyal was as sluggishly human as they came.
I entered the circular room without knocking and stood with my hands hanging loose and looked at the three figures with a bored face.
“Amaya.” The salt and peppered haired man nodded at me, his eyes looking behind me, no doubt searching for Rí.
“It seems we got off on the wrong foot. I am Mikhail, and this is Fergus and Finigan. We are the Council andbring order to Wisteria and have done for the past eighteen years.”
He paused; was he waiting for me to gush and applaud him?
I stared at them in silence.
“We understand the confusion you must be feeling with everything if you truly are from the human realm.”
Was he trying to trip me up there? They still didn’t believe me, and I simply didn’t care.
“Now, as the leaders of this realm—”
“Who appointed you?” I interrupted.
“Excuse me?”
“Who appointed you three leaders?” Did I have to spell it out?
“Listen here child, your kind almost destroyed this realm, and in doing so,diddestroy others and closed off our entire travel system. Thousands are dead and lost to us because of the Dark Witches and their greed.” One of the red-haired men sneered, his cold eyes stabbing me with his loathing.
“So you say,” I said flatly.
He sputtered in outrage as I fought the urge to grin. The urge now becoming a regular occurrence. They were truly pathetic. Thinking they could simply take over from the dragons and Dark Witches’ leaderships. Thinking they could control what was never theirs. I knew I wasn’t essentially a true Wisterian, but surely the people deserved to live as they pleased?
“Do you care to explain as to why the gentlemen we had lined up for you hand in marriage was tied to a chair and dismembered last night?”
The fuck?
“You actually thought I was going to take some random man as my husband?” I could feel an odd vibration in my feet as the anger I had been holding back began to spill from the edges. Its white-hot burn was similar to the flame on my dragon’s tail.
My teeth ground together as I wiped my hands on my pants, digging my nails into the material.
“I want you to understand something child.” Fergus or Fanny, whatever their damned names were, stepped closer to me. Their cold eyes settled on my own as their lips curled in disgust.
Yeah, they really hated my kind.
“You do not have a choice in any matter. You are a monster. You are not wanted in Wisteria. We were kind in finding you a White witch. We thought it would simply defuse a situation before it got out of hand. You arenothing.”
Was he trying to hurt my feelings? Was I supposed to be tearing up and begging for their kindness? I breathed slowly to try and ease the boil that was brewing in my veins.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
The noise in my head became screams. It begged me to delve deep and cause this man to bleed. To make him hurt.
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
I knew I was nothing. Being given a home and more people to protect didn’t change my way of thinking of myself. I knew I was cold. I knew I was different. I just didn’t care.
