She looked around, at it seemed like they were in some luxury cottage. There were so many trees beyond the windows. The guy gently put her down. She looked at him for a second before the woman began speaking to her and telling her to be calm. She whipped her head towards the woman and an instant wave of calm hit her, despite everything in her head screaming at her that she should be anything but calm. She opened her mouth to speak, but darkness crept all around her vision. She only remembered feeling hands catch her before she was out.

She woke up to a breeze on her skin. She cracked an eye open, and it was so bright in the room that she almost felt like a vampire. She lifted her arm to cover her eyes and was surprised that she could do so with only mild soreness. She heard feet shuffling and a young girl closed the blinds some. She looked closer at the girl and realized she was a wraith, as parts of her disappeared in the sunlight. She had chestnut hair that was braided down her back with flowers in it. The parts of her face that Viri could catch were stunning. She had almond eyes, freckles, and long lashes. Her skin was almost as brown as Viri’s. She was wearing an old-timey emerald tunic with brown tights. She saw Viri looking at her and introduced herself. “I am Preya.” Viri asked, “Where am I?” and her voice came out raspier than she planned, but at least it didn’t hurt to speak. Preya fixed her some water, and she sat up in the bed.

Preya handed her the water and she glared at her, but she took it. She wasn’t dumb enough to pretend like she didn’t need it. She sniffed it and it didn’t smell like anything strange. Preya noticed and smiled softly. “This isn’t a house of your enemies.” Viri took a small sip of the water, which then turned into her gulping the entire cup down. She wiped her mouth and gave Preya the cup. “Who am I with then, if not my enemies?” Preya refilled her cup before saying, “It is not my information to share with you, but the person who can tell you is waiting out in the garden for you when you’re ready to know.” Preya handed her the cup and she finished the water again. They stared at each other for a while.

Preya broke the silence first. “You are very young to be the Vermillion Queen, but I suppose all queens start somewhere.” Viri flinched. “You know who I am?” Preya nodded. “My family has long served the line of the Vermillion Queens. Being able to serve you is an honor that I never thought I'd receive, but while my eyes are filled with joy and gratitude, yours are filled with grief and maybe even hatred.” Viri instantly remembered everything that had happened, and her shoulders sank. The tears that she’d been too shocked and enraged to let out finally began flowing. Her cry became harder and harder, and tissues appeared in her lap. Her tears were blurring her vision, but she knew Preya handed them to her. She took them and allowed herself to sink into the sadness. It was so powerful all of a sudden that she couldn’t stand to be awake any longer. She almost wished she could go back to the few minutes when she’d forgotten it all happened. She allowed the sadness to pull her into another deep sleep.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

When she woke again, the room was dark and Preya was nowhere to be found. She needed to use the bathroom terribly. She thought she’d cried out all the fluids she drank, but apparently not. She knew better. She got the highest grade in her college anatomy and biology courses, but being sad made her stupid, and there was nothing else she could bear to be right now. She lost Alyson. She lost Xylas. She hadn’t talked to her mother in so long that who knows what she even thought was happening, but she couldn’t bring herself to find her phone and see if she finally had service. Honestly, she didn’t even know if she had her phone or her backpack. That would have to be a question for another day. She couldn’t deal with the thought of having to tell everyone what happened to Alyson. Gods she was so stupid for deciding to take a trip in the middle of nowhere for a stupid jewel because of some crap-ass bird wench. She was stupid for agreeing to let Alyson come. She knew it wasn’t her fault, but it was. She thought of Alicantas and instantly felt pissed off. Maybe she would just bounce back and forth between sad and pissed instead of ever fully moving through the stages of grief. She couldn’t even allow herself to think of the words for what happened to Alyson and Xylas. She’d end up back in another grief sleep if she did.

She was pissed at herself for being too nervous to find out where the hell she was. It was easier to sit in this room and be sad. She was pissed at her mother for not telling her who she was. She deserved a fucking heads-up. Especially if the Asai were going to be trying to murder her. She was pissed with Anzel for even creating her. Why even agree to kill the Vermillion Queen if you were just going to make another? She was pissed at the universe for allowing his plan to be a success. Thanks to all of this, she was now a deity. A lonely, sad-ass deity. She didn’t even rule over anything. She just existed and managed to lose everything before even having it, and the one person she could vent to at a screwed-up time like this was d..... she was dead. Alyson was dead and she had left her to pick up the pieces.

She slapped herself. She couldn’t afford to be so sad that she ended up sleeping it off again. She had to pee and the only thing that could make her even more pathetic would be wetting the bed in the home of a stranger and possible enemy.

She slowly got out of bed and found the bathroom. The floor and walls were white marble with gold trimmings and a huge jade tub sat in the middle of the floor. Looking at the tub made her sniff herself. Gods, she stunk. Almost as bad as the night she met Xylas. Grief swam through her, and she had to steady herself. She couldn’t think about Xylas. Not until she peed and made it back to the bed. After using the bathroom and washing her hands, she stepped out into the room to see that the balcony door was open, and the moonlight was streaming in. Something was glowing. She took a silent step towards the door and a voice spoke, “I see you’re finally awake.” She recognized it as the voice she heard before coming to this place and blacking out. She made her way to the balcony door and saw the gorgeous woman who saved and/or kidnapped her. She wasn’t sure yet. The woman turned towards her, and she immediately saw her silver eyes with gold specks and braced herself for a fight.

She growled, “Who are you?”