Chapter-XXVI
Bright lights, buzzing and whirring sound assaulted Twyll's senses as she opened her eyes. Her vision was blurry, her head throbbing and she was disoriented.
Common signs of a concussion.
She managed to open her eyes before scoping out the unfamiliar surroundings. The high ceilings, red brocade curtains that draped over an entire wall and dark, wooden walls and floors were not a part of her serene room with its calming hues. The room was abhorring to her senses and made her head hurt a bit more. She couldn't feel the energies around her and the absence of them felt confining. She tried catching on to even a sliver of it and came up with nothing. The bed she was on was a pile of red velvet covers and pillows. The sound of doors opening and closing echoed faintly through the room. Twyll felt the familiar panic spread across her mind. She tried persuading the panic into submission but the paranoia kept spreading until she was nothing but a trembling pile of bones.
Her vision was clouded, but she made out a vague image of a man. He was talking, but she couldn't hear him over the ringing in her ears. Her body was being moved and then there were cool hands on her. The cool seeped through her skin and spread across her body. It slowed down her trembles and cleared her senses until everything was back to normal again.
"Hello, Twyll Merrick. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Again." A smarmy voice greeted her.
Twyll sat up and came face to face with The Dictator.
"What is going on? Why the hell am I here? How the fuck did I even get here?" Twyll volleyed out in one go.
"Calm down Miss Merrick. You are here because my son failed to bring you directly to me and since you are my guest you will reside in the Rhodes residence- with me and my wife."
Twyll bared her teeth and launched from the bed with a perfect pounce stance, but he dodged her clawed hands and pushed his hands to her chest causing jer to go flying back onto the bed. Her spine made a crack sound and pain radiated across her back. Tears threatened to spill out and a scream struggled to break out. Every nerve of hers screamed, shouted, yelled. Wanting to break free from the pain that was slowly spreading to her thighs and neck. Even the smallest movement hurt.
"Did you know Twyll Merrick that my given name was Šlapat? It means to trample. I have trampled over everything in my life. My values, my heart, my sons' hearts, my wife's sanity, everything has been trampled upon and destroyed by me." He trailed a finger down the middle of her neck and to her heart. A claw elongated from the tips of his fingers. "Do not think for even one second that I won't trample over you as well because you are The Heir. I have all the more reason to kill you then. So don't act smart."
The pain suddenly calmed and her chest heaved with relief. "Don't cross me Twyll Ines Merrick. You wouldn't want your new friends to get hurt now do you?"
"What makes you think I care about them? I barely know them." She hissed at him.
The Dictator laughed at that. "You telling me you won't mind me killing your Tavaryš and his beloved family?"
Twyll's face looked stricken. "That's what I thought. I will be expecting you tomorrow at dawn for breakfast. Then we will discuss what I want from you. Your mental defences are too thick for me and I don't have the time to burrow through them. Your friends have already been notified of your absence." He said 'friends' with a sneer, as if it was hard to believe that anyone could have friends.
The Dictator walked out of the room, slamming the doors behind him. Twyll tried channelling to Cadence, then Bren, Trystan but the energies were too volatile and few to speak mind to mind. She already missed her Bavmeç and her room. She even missed training with Trystan and the others. In the weeks she had been there she had for the first time in her life enjoyed herself.
Her chest hurt when she remembered the last time she'd seen Trystan and the hurt look in his eyes. Everything was falling apart again. She hadn't even had the chance to ask them about Starr Freesia.
Twyll let the tears fall from her eyes, soaking the pillow under her.
...
The next morning, when Twyll woke up, she was greeted by a young woman in her mid-twenties. She introduced herself as Saira and informed Twyll that she would be her handmaid. Twyll just nodded and asked to be led to the bath chambers.
After she bathed, Saira dressed her in a flouncy skirt and blouse, completely at odds with the practical shirt and trousers that she was used to and then styled her hair in elaborate curls and braids. She was then blindfolded and led through what felt like endless corridors. They at last stopped and then her blindfold was taken off. The sight that met her eyes was probably the funniest and terrifying thing she had ever seen.
It was a large black lizard with feathered wings, clutching the Dictator in its talons. The Dictator was practically vibrating with anger and his face was red and puffy.
What caught Twyll's eyes though were the Dragon's eyes.
They were orange bleeding into midnight blue, like sunsets.
Trystan.