Joining in with the other basilisks, many gave her smiles of appreciation. They weren’t looking at her as the queen, but as a friend. Most of them thought highly of her for putting in so much effort, rather than sitting around being pampered like the last queen.

Soon after she had joined the training, Orin approached her.

“There is a storm coming; I can smell it,” Orin said as he stood at Aurelia’s side.

She looked at him, worried that Noxus and Bryn might not return by the time the storm reached them.

“I would like to see you shoot down a storm raven,” Orin said without looking at her, playing it down.

Her bow furrowed. She hadn’t known the first bird she shot down was a great horn hawk. How would she know what a storm raven was? Was there something special about them that warranted the request?

Orin cleared his throat, “It will take more than one arrow. Do you think you can manage that? We can work on firing multiple shots in a short time before they come out.”

With a nod of her head, she followed Orin’s instructions on how to hold her arms after firing to load the next arrow into the bow. She learned fast, hitting the target with almost every shot.

The temperature dropped after several practice shots, sending a wave of goosebumps over her skin.

“It’s time,” Orin said, looking up above the trees in front of them.

Slowly, Orin and the others backed away to watch her from a distance.

She could hear the murmurs behind her. Several thought she could do it and a few laughed.

Aurelia drew back her bow and pointed at the sky, above the trees, where Orin had been watching.

After a few minutes her arms were shaking. She went to lower the bow to regain strength when she saw them. There were fewer of them than the great horn hawks, but they were twice the size. She marveled at them as she drew her bow back again.

The first arrow was released and it struck a bird in the underbelly. Feeding her bow another, she aimed for the bird and shot once more, a matter of seconds between the two shots. This arrow pierced its heart.

The storm raved spiraled down from the sky until it hit the ground.

There was silence. She had expected applause, maybe even a gasp or two, but there was nothing.

Aurelia turned to look at the people behind her and saw Noxus standing with them.

The sudden change in her triumph caused her to drop the bow to her side and start walking towards the group.

The silence was deafening. The darkness caused by the setting sun, made her body tense in fear.

Noxus started walking towards her, meeting her halfway.

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She could see the darkness in his eyes beyond any of the darkness she had previously seen. She shot a peek behind him to find Bryn. She only recognized the faces of the other basilisks. The women had now joined them.

Her gut was screaming with negative energy. It pulsed through her whole body when Noxus grabbed her chin in his hand and directed her attention to his face.

Before she could ask, he said, “I am so sorry, Aurelia.”

With perfect timing, lightning flashed, and a roar of thunder seemed to release the rain to pour down on them.

She stood there, thinking about his words. They made no sense. Had Bryn not believed him?

“What happened?” Was all Aurelia could muster.

The faes got to her first,” Noxus said as he hung his head.

“What do you mean?” she asked pushing herself back and struggling to keep her eyes on him.

His words rang through her mind. She couldn’t wrap her head around any of what he was saying.

Noxus looked up to meet her eyes as he approached her, grabbing onto her shoulders.

“They killed her.”

As the words echoed off of Aurelia’s ears, she stepped back again and screamed into the rain, plastering her face with water. Her knees felt weak and her head was spinning. Her brain automatically searched for blame.

Her eyes landed on Noxus. “This is because of you!” she screamed at him.

With the words now out of her mouth and into the air, his face froze in terror.

“Aurelia, please,” he said as he tried to take her into his arms.

She darted away, through the group of basilisks, into the house, and up to their room where she locked the door.

Noxus stood where he had told Aurelia of the news, tears running down his face, blending with the rain. He had thought that himself on the trip back. This was his fault. He should have brought her to the Otherworld sooner. Now, like him, Aurelia had no family and he felt the blame was all on him.

Orin approached him and led him back inside of the castle. He knew the door was locked and he knew Aurelia didn’t want to see him right now. He made up a bed in another room and laid there thinking of what had happened and what to do next.

The sight from Bryn’s apartment seemed to flash through his vision each time he closed his eyes and Aurelia’s scream rang through his ears.

The other basilisks found themselves turning in for the night as soon as they took care of the storm raven. None were sure what had happened, but they all could sense that nothing would be the same. The scream from Aurelia had been one of pain and horror. It seemed to bounce off of every wall in the castle all night.

When morning arrived, no one within the castle had slept. Noxus found himself standing at the top of the staircase, waiting for her to leave the room. Astrid made her way to him as she watched his dark eyes seeming to search for answers to how to fix this.

“Go eat, I am going to bring her a plate of food,” Astrid said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

There was silence as they both looked towards her door, knowing there was nothing they could do to ease the pain that was inside of her.

Noxus bowed his head as he made his descent down the stairs and into the dining hall where he would tell the others of what had happened.

Astrid knocked on the door to Aurelia’s room. There was no response and no noise beyond the door.

“My queen, I know you don’t want to see anyone right now, but I am going to bring you a plate of food and a drink. You probably don’t want to eat and drink, but your baby needs it,” Astrid said through the door.

Astrid understood her pain all too much. After her and Orin had left the pit, she learned how quickly loved ones could be taken. Her mother and father, along with her three siblings, had died in the fight with the dragons. She didn’t wish that pain upon anyone else, let alone their queen who had shown them all so much kindness and strength. She prayed Aurelia would have the strength to push forward.

Sitting the plate of food on the ground, Astrid knocked on the door once more before saying, “I am leaving your food outside the door, my queen, I will leave you now.”

Aurelia didn’t want to eat, she didn’t want to do anything; just lay in bed and cry her sorrows away. After she waited a few moments for Astrid to leave, she forced herself out of the bed and to the door, where she opened it quickly and grabbed her food before closing the door and locking it again.

She needed to eat, though her stomach felt like it would upheave anything she put into it, she forced each bite down with a gag.