Withered Plight

Jules' pov

 "Labyrinth!" Mother called out frantically, forehead etched with worry as she held out a hand to me, besconing me over. I closed the distance at once, sinking into her warm embrace.

Her scent filled up my nose at once, the scent of the beach and the scent of rain blended together along with a flowery undertone, and that familiar scent managed to calm my racing heart a little.

"My little boy." She murmured as she carded her fingers through my hair. Even though I was all grown up, my mother still treated me like a baby, and I soaked up every second of it at every chance that I could.

"Mama, I'm nervous… what if I mess something up?" I whispered as I slowly pulled out of her embrace to stare at her flawlessly beautiful face. The large ballroom which I had been practicing in for the most of the day is now filled to the brim with warlocks and witches of various covens who are in good times with my father's reign. 

One look at the crowded ballroom made me second guess myself at once, because I was yet to perfect the piano playing art yet, and I was expected to play in front of that kind of crowd tonight.

Mother leaned forward and brushed a kiss against my head, hand cupping my cheek. "Don't think about it too much, okay? I'm sure you'd do well. Your best is all that matters."

I chewed on my bottom lip for a moment as a thought resurfaced in my mind. "But, what about Father? He's gonna kill me if I mess up tonight."

Mother let out a soft but nervous laughter. "He isn't, don't be silly." She admonished and I nodded slowly, swallowing down the rest of my worries.

Father was a scary man, which was why it still shocked me till date how he had been able to get married to a woman as flawless and pure hearted as my mother.

My father wasn't a passionate man. He almost never shows any emotions.

He was cold and sometimes, scary. Which is why I always make sure to stay out of his way unless necessary. My siblings had taught me to do that as soon as I could understand a few grown up things.

"Go on in, dear. Anya is in there. Go mingle with a few people and let your mind be settled, before it gets to the time for your performance. It's gonna be alright, okay?" She murmured, a warm smile on her face. 

I nodded slowly and she brushed a kiss against my cheek before pushing me in the direction of the ballroom.

I let out a long breath on stopping at the doorway.

Alright, here goes nothing.

On stepping into the ballroom, all eyes were on me at once and I squirmed under all the attention, feeling extremely uncomfortable under all the peering gazes.

I've been a really shy person since I could remember, and I didn't do well with crowed like the rest of my siblings, but mother was convinced that I'd soon grow out of the shyness, although I wasn't so sure about that.

'Over here, Byrinth.' Anya mindlinked me and I instantly felt where she was positioned through the bond and I head over there at once, weaving through the crowd and ignoring every gaze following me.

Warlocks and witches aren't supposed to be able to communicate with each other through a mind link. But because my father was one of the most powerful warlocks out there, he was able to conjure a spell that made it possible for everyone in our family to be able to mind link with each other. That privilege came in handy in most cases because there are a lot of situations where we wouldn't wanna reveal something in front of a stranger, or in situation where Anya and I are gossiping about the rest of our siblings, and many other situations like that.

Anya grinned at me on sighting me and I stopped beside her, scowling up at Dew, my brother who had flicked my forehead back in the hallway, hours ago.

"Aw c'mon Byrinth, don't tell me you're still mad about that." He mused and I gave him a middle finger, causing him to almost double over in laughter.

"Stop laughing classlessly, father is looking over at us." Anya whispered and we all wore a composed look in the next second.

Father beaconed me over through the mind link and I waved my siblings goodbye before reluctantly making my way over to him. He settled a hand on my shoulder, and I felt conscious because he was standing with about five scary looking men, and they all had their eyes on me right now. 

"Labyrinth." Father called out and my spine stiffened.

"Yes, father?"

He waved a hand at the five men standing around us.

"In between these five lords… you're gonna have to pick one, whom you'd be getting married to."

My eyes almost fell out of their sockets. "W- what?"

"They've all taken a liking to you, and I've agreed to give your hand to one of them. Now, it's up to you to make a choice." As he spoke, my mind dimmed and I grew light headed.

Marriage?

None of my six siblings are married yet, and I was the last child.

Why am I being asked to get married before all of them… and to one of these scary looking men who were all old enough to be my father.

From the looks of it, it was clear that not even mother was aware of this yet.

My mouth opened and closed and nothing came forth. The men all laughed delightfully as they sized me up, probably finding that cute, and I felt disgusted to my stomach. 

'What's wrong?' I felt Anya nudging at my mind but I didn't respond, because I wasn't sure of what had just happened yet.

Father patted my shoulders and informed me that I've been given some time to make a careful decision.

I was still yet to get my bearings together when he tugged me along with him to the stage and announced that I was gonna be putting on the piano art tonight, and as everyone cheered, I felt nauseous and light headed.