The broken ones

My knees eventually gave out in front of the mirror. My legs landed with a thud on the floor as I clutched the sapphire necklace with my hands. I finally allowed myself to sob. My chest felt so tight, while my wrists throbbed horribly.

Why is this happening? Did I do something wrong to anger a king from another country?

This feels so pathetic, I keep crying and nothing good ever happens.

I felt something touch my elbows. Shire nudged his soft pink nose towards me as he purred and lay beside me. I hugged my knees while gently sweeping his soft fur and it gradually made me feel calm.

I decided to cast a small light above my palm, illuminating a small part of the room. It was just me, my Shire and this ball of light on my hand. Everything inside me felt empty and desolate. If only Anette were here. But then again, what if she never made it out into safety?

And if those Ri Shālli came back, what am I supposed to do?

These questions inside made me want to cry again. But someone knocked on the door, making the light flicker away as I lost my concentration.

I tucked the necklace into my pocket and stood up, wiping the tears off my cheeks. Shire was on my feet as I marched to open the door.

When I opened it, Lavi was the one standing in front of me. He was wearing black pajamas and I noticed that his hair was wet. The young wizard was holding a pile of clothes on his hand.

Lavi's brows shot up the moment his eyes landed on my face.

"You should really go for a wash." He held out the white fabrics to me. "And here, change into these after."

I took it and realized that they were pajamas, and quite soft to the touch. "I will. Thanks."

It seemed like he had more to say so I kept the door open.

"Uhmm, hey?" He looked away for a second. "C-can I come in? I figured you'd have some trouble sleeping… and I do too… so uh- don't worry I'll go once you feel sleep kicking in-"

I rolled my eyes. "Sure."

His golden-flecked hazel eyes widened. "Really?"

"Yes, now move it or I'll shut the door in your face."

Lavi quickly stepped inside. I turned on the switch to the chandelier that was only by the doorframe.

"I'm going to take a bath, so you can wait over there and play with Shire." I gestured to the bed.

Lavi looked at Shire who was circling his feet. "No thanks."

I lifted one shoulder before turning to the bathroom. It was smaller than the one I had at home, but I'd prefer this one at any given moment. After taking off my gown and undergarments, I dipped into the bathtub that already had warm water with sunflowers floating above it.

I decided to let my hair as it is. And I probably still won't change this in the morning. I have to cherish the last thing my maid gave to me.

After a minute of soaking in the water and letting out a few tears, I decided to get out of the bathtub. Then I finally dried myself and wore the pajamas Lavi gave me.

When I got out, I saw Erion sitting on the floor beside Lavi. Their backs were leaning on the bed. Of course, if Lavi and I didn't want to sleep, the same would go for him too.

They gave me a space to sit in the middle which I quietly took. I found that Shire had went back to sleeping on the bed.

"You didn't change your hair?" Erion asked from my left side.

"My maid, Vivian, did this for me. I wanted to wear it a bit longer." I answered, feeling the sharp pang in my heart once more.

"She's the one who sacrificed herself for that man, isn't she?"

I nodded. The sides of my eyes were starting to heat up.

"I'm sorry." Erion's tone sounded sincerely sympathetic.

"Enough about that," I sniffed away the tears. "Where did you guys learn to fight like that?"

"The academy teaches swordsmanship to all the students." Lavi answered.

"You go there too?" I asked.

"Sometimes."

I chuckled. "What do you mean 'sometimes'?"

"He just comes and goes whenever he wants." Erion answered.

"My magic doesn't practice by itself you know."

"You're really crazy about magic, aren't you?" I teased.

"Uh-huh, I'm going to become an arch wizard." Lavi's voice came out dead serious.

I saw Erion shake his head. "You have to surpass your father for that to happen. He keeps on saying that you're a hundred years too early for that."

"Lavi's father is an arch wizard?" I asked.

"The only one there is." Lavi said.

I hugged my knees to myself. "That's amazing."

"How about we train together at the academy?" Erion suddenly blurted out.

Lavi faced Erion. "You dummy, Calla's homeschooled."

The black-haired prince sighed. "It's not that hard to file for an enrollment, her father's a Duke after all."

Then again, thinking back at my private tutors, they probably don't have the motivation to teach me after what happened. I know that all of them had attended the banquet and one had just lost his fiancé. This feeling of not knowing if everyone made it out alive is the worst.

"What's it like at the academy anyway?" Now I was feeling curious.

Erion leaned his head on the bed behind us. "Well, it can be fun if you want it to be."

Lavi scoffed. "Of course it's fun for you, you get to flirt with any girl you want."

The prince gave out a laugh. "You can't call it flirting, I'm just friendly."

"Yea right, everyone at the academy calls you the Heartbreaker Prince."

I raised my brows at Erion with disbelief. "Is that true?"

"No, don't believe him." He turned to Lavi. "Where'd you get that, anyway?"

"Rumors, my prince, rumors." 

A random thought passed on my mind.

"Hey guys," I started as I crossed my legs. "Why does the Elder Council call us 'broken ones' or 'malfunctioning descendants'?"

The both of them flinched at the same time.

"You heard them say those names, huh?" Lavi scratched his head. "Ah well, don't let it get to you. Erion can explain why."

"What? Why me?" The prince threw a hand in the air.

"You're friendly, aren't you? So you probably know everyone like the back of your hand."

Erion sat straighter. "Fine, but I only know the basics for everyone else."

The air around us became heavy as we waited for the black-haired prince to continue to speak.

"I'll start with mine. You saw how my sword was filled with lightning, right?" 

I nodded. 

"Well, I have a great affinity to lightning. It was due to my mother who loved to stare at the windows during thunderstorms when she was pregnant with me. And when I was finally made to extract perithia, I couldn't help but mix lightning with it, and sparks fly every time. Eventually, I wasn't allowed to provide the life force anymore." Erion gave out a fake smile. "Thankfully Alis was there to save the day… as always." 

I saw the flash of sadness that appeared on his eyes. Still, he continued speaking.

"We already know about yours, when you had allergies and all. You're friends with Seinfrede from the West so I guess you already know. For Lavi… it was simply just because he was addicted to magic."

My jaw dropped. "What? Are you serious?"

Erion chuckled. "Yep, you heard me right. You don't remember-" He cleared his throat. "You haven't seen him when he was a child but he was unhealthily obsessed with magic that his father had to tie him up. He actually gave me the creeps at one point. "

The dark blue-haired wizard clicked his tongue. "Everyone just didn't understand me."

"Ah, there it is everyone, the emotional edgy teenager!"

A thin light flew right past me but Erion was able to dodge just in time.

Lavi leaned his head back on the bed. "You won't be that lucky next time."

The sight of the two made me let out a snicker.

"What about the others?"

"This is the part where it gets interesting… and a little funny." The prince's ebony eyes were lit with brightness. "You see, the Southwestern Duchess gave birth to twins. It was later found out that the twins contained only half of the amount of a normal descendant's mana — like they split it up while they were in the womb or something. During their first try at extracting, they needed to do it together to make it happen but since there were two of them, they'd call in too much and well… they always blow up." 

"That's pretty weird…" I said, feeling the heaviness in my eyes.

Lavi isn't moving anymore, is he asleep?

"And for the Southeast they have a type of power that is hereditary but sometimes skips generations. The youngest daughter can extract and spin perithia normally but-"

"Yea, I've seen it."

"You saw her control the human body?"

A yawn escaped from my mouth. "I didn't know she can basically control the human body itself. She came to me one day, a few minutes into the talk she cut me with a knife, and then she eventually healed it."

"She what?!"

"She cut me." My eyes were getting droopy.

"Yes, I know that. I also know that she's mental but why the hell would she do that to you?"

"Althea warned me to not get too close with Prince Alistair…"

And then I dozed off into slumber.