Amelia ate her breakfast and finished it, although she didn't have much of an appetite. She stared at her half empty mug for a long time, wondering if she was brave enough to accept whatever result the selection would bring to their family today.
Once the clock hit ten in the morning, she and her brother headed to the town square. Everyone was required to show up, except for those who were bedridden and gravely sick. Guards were roaming around the town, making sure that no unwed women were hiding and planning to escape the selection.
There were some who attempted to do it in the past and they didn't end up well. Being chosen as a tribute, as one of the maidens to be sacrificed, was as much of a death sentence anyway. Those who were selected were forbidden from ever returning again.
However, it was also detrimental to the loved ones they were leaving behind. They could lose a daughter, a sister, a friend, forever and there was no hope of seeing them again.
One thing they had to accept soon was that their names would be forgotten, the townsfolk forbidden from uttering their names. Whoever left Calaren town and Dravial as tribute would be forgotten, as if they never existed in the first place.
Whether it was a way to cope or it was a way for their leaders to sleep peacefully at night, Amelia wasn't sure. She also doubted that there were any available means of communication that those tributes could use to reach their families.
"Keeping the peace with the darkling is an ugly business." She heard Jacob say one time and she couldn't agree more with him.
Was it really necessary to sacrifice a few human lives to keep the rest of them safe from other, more dangerous darklings?
The town square was already buzzing with people when Amelia and her brother arrived. From the other side of the square, she spotted Chrysanthe with her parents and little brother, looking just as worried as the other young maidens present. She was dressed in a white and blue long sleeved dress. Amelia thought that Chrysanthe would have looked so stunningly beautiful if her face was not marred by tears.
Up on the stage, Amelia spotted a familiar face. It might have been a decade since she last saw him, but the young Crown Prince, Prince Rupert, still had this arrogant expression on his face. He even had the audacity to look bored and uncaring, as if he would rather be anywhere but here, in Calaren town.
The square was just beside the town hall, and the town chief was standing a few feet away from the arrogant prince, looking nervous. Families kept their arms around their precious daughters, not willing to give them up no matter how hard their lives were.
The square became more crowded as more people arrived. Amelia spotted Junifer with her mother a few meters away from her, but she couldn't find her best friend anywhere. This only meant that Iris hadn't woken up and would miss the selection altogether.
Maybe it was a good thing that Iris was still in a deep sleep. It would save her and her family the heartbreak, if she were to be chosen during the selection today.
The town chief went to the chancellor, who was standing next to the crown prince, and received the decree that listed the maidens to be sent to Asnar. He then moved to the small podium set on the left side of the stage and faced the public.
He started telling a brief history of the Kingdom of Dravial and how they successfully freed themselves from the darklings' influence. How the treaty between the two parties kept every human safe from any harm, which Amelia knew to be a lie.
If they were really free from the darklings, then the royal court should have protected their citizens at any cost. How many young women had lost the chance to live their lives to the fullest because of this treaty?
What's more infuriating for Amelia was the fact that only those small villages and towns near the border were required to provide the maidens that were needed and no noble families from the capital would do the so-called 'honorable role' to give up their own daughters.
The names of the chosen maidens were called one by one, followed by several cries from the crowd. When the town chief called Chrysanthe Vale, her family refused to let her go, but the guards had harshly pulled her away.
Amelia was still distracted by the scene, but when her name was called up next, an inexplicable rush of coldness rushed through her. If it wasn't for her brother, who immediately gripped her arm, refusing to hand her over to the guards, Amelia would have been dragged away in a daze.
"Not Amelia! No!" She heard Jacob yelled, but his words were drowned by the cries of the other families of the chosen maidens.
Amelia went up to the stage and when Prince Rupert spotted her, he sat up straight and laughed.
"Well, well, well. If it isn't Lady Amelia Buchanan." He cocked his head, then paused as if he remembered something. "Ah, not anymore, but I'm glad that I'm the one seeing you off today."
Amelia hardened her jaws as she stood next to Chysanthe, who had thrown her arms around her the moment she arrived. She wanted nothing but to slice her sharp blade over his throat to shut Prince Rupert up. She tried to ignore the prince's stinging words and focused on what was awaiting for her and Chrysanthe.
'I hope they didn't choose Iris. Please don't let Iris be chosen.'
Even though the three of them were best friends, Amelia would never wish any harm to befall either of her friends.
Her prayers seemed to be answered by the old gods, because the last maiden that was on the list wasn't Iris Scarborough, but the other one.
Junifer Scarborough.
Iris felt like she had committed a grave mistake. She wished this was nothing but another nightmare, but it wasn't.
When she woke up, she found Ren reading a book next to her bed, but the way his brows furrowed, Iris knew that he was distracted. He hadn't even turned the pages on the book and had been staring blankly at the page in front of him.
"Ren!" She called him out and forced herself to get up, but she felt like she didn't have any energy left to even move an inch.
Ren immediately snapped out of his daze and looked at her with surprise. He set aside the book he was holding and helped her to sit up.
"How long have I been asleep?" Iris asked as she held her head with her left hand. She didn't need to ask what happened to her, since she would always end up in a deep sleep whenever she tapped into or used her magical powers.
"Almost ten days." Her little brother replied, which made Iris freeze in place.
She turned to face Ren and looked at him with widened eyes.
"T-ten days?!" She exclaimed.
She had been stuck in a deep sleep for ten days? This had never happened before!
However, as she gave it a good thought, it made sense to Iris why her body took a long time to recuperate this time. She had just ended a long winter, for old gods' sake! She was lucky that she was still able to wake up and live, considering what transpired in the woods that night.
Ren left her for a moment and came back a little later with a basin filled with water. He then helped her slip out of her bed and brought her to where he had placed the basin. Iris then settled on the chair next to it once she was done washing her face and noticed that her brother was rummaging through her closet for something she could change into.
"Where's Mother and Jun?" She asked when she noticed that Ren was the only one in their home. She couldn't hear her mother's soft voice or sense Junifer's presence at all.
"Sis, today's the selection day. Mother and Jun went to the square to attend it." Ren replied, with a hint of worry in his voice. He placed some of her clean clothes on top of her bed.
"Then, I need to be there too." She said in a hurry.
"But you need to eat first." Ren insisted. "We'll go together after. Mother would scold me if I didn't look after you."
Iris understood his worries and didn't argue any longer. She found an old dress of her mother's splayed on her bed and gave Ren a confused look. It was a light blue dress that her mother received as a gift from their father. The style might be outdated now, but it's still one of the best dresses Iris had seen in her life.
Her younger brother only shrugged. "Mom intends to let you have it today."
Iris smiled hearing what Ren just said. She dressed up and took hurried bites of her breakfast and dragged her younger brother with her to go to the town square. Since their cabin was in the outskirts of the town, it took some time before the siblings managed to arrive.
"I can't see Mother and Jun anywhere." She told her younger brother.
"They should be here." Ren muttered, his green eyes scanning the crowd to find their mother and Junifer.
The selection had already started and a few young maidens were already called. The town square was suddenly filled with cries of anguish and despair as young maidens were harshly taken away from their families. It was heartbreaking to know that after this day, some familiar faces would never be seen again.
Iris looked at the stage and saw the crown prince for the first time. He was dressed in silks and jewelries that could no doubt sustain and feed her family for months for what they were worth. He looked at the townsfolk with boredom, as if seeing families being torn apart in front of him didn't even bother him.
Iris finally understood why Amelia held such a deep grudge towards Prince Rupert. Because if the royal court truly was concerned about the welfare of its constituents, they would have stopped this ridiculous tradition in the first place.
When Chysanthe's name was called, Iris started to panic. It was clear that the old gods were not in her favor today. Were they trying to tell her something by waking her up exactly on the selection day?
Iris hadn't been able to recover from her shock when Amelia's name was called. Through the crowd, she spotted Amelia standing in shock as the royal guards pulled her away from Jacob. Jacob had been in tears, pleading to anyone, for someone to spare his sister, but Amelia was still taken away and brought up to the stage.
Iris staggered on her feet. If it wasn't for Ren who was holding her, she would have lost her balance and fell on the ground. She felt nauseous and breathless at the same time. Whether it was the effect of her long slumber or from her shock, Iris didn't care anymore.
Those two were her best friends. Her sisters through a blood pact. How could she continue living here in Dravial, knowing that her two friends would be sent away to the other side of the continent? There was no way she could pretend that Chrys and Amelia were no more after this.
Just as she thought that she had heard the worst, the last name called was enough to knock the air from her lungs, unable to speak as Junifer's name echoed in her mind. There must be a mistake. Did the old gods rouse her from her deep sleep only to witness this nightmare herself?
Anda mungkin juga menyukai
Komentar Paragraf
Fitur komentar paragraf sekarang ada di Web! Arahkan kursor ke atas paragraf apa pun dan klik ikon untuk menambahkan komentar Anda.
Selain itu, Anda selalu dapat menonaktifkannya atau mengaktifkannya di Pengaturan.
MENGERTI