Chapter 36

~Calea~

"Where is she!?" Calea rushes through the dungeon where Browen had lost his damn mind. Putting his pregnant Queen in a dungeon. The guards stop her, their long spears cross-blocking her way in, "Do you have permission from the King?" 

"I'm her Priestess. My job is to teach her, no matter what," Calea glares at them, "Get you're spearing out of my face, " she growls. They glance at each other and move. Nothing made her blood boil more than knowing this girl got the bunt of everything. "Lyra! Lyra, where are you!" Calea's voice echoes through the dungeon

"I'm over here! Help me, please!" Lyra cries out, frantically waving her hand through the cell bars. Calea slides down to the ground, grabbing the girl's hand. Lyra's face is coated in dirt, and her dress is nearly torn, "What happened to you." Calea caresses Lyra's face, smudged with tears and soot. Lyra sobs, "I just wanted to know if they came back," Lyra sobs, holding her folded hand and opening it.

When Calea sees the white scale, she lays her head against the bars and says, "You didn't…"

"I didn't steal it; I borrowed it. I was going to give back."

"Stupid girl!" Calea screams, "I've told you time and time again to stop this." And for good reason, Browen's madness got the better of him.

"I'm not stupid for believing!" She screams back. Calea stares at the girl, her own eyes glistening. "I've seen them; no one will tell me I haven't. I'm not crazy. He's ripped everything off the walls, he's executed everyone whose mention them by name. How am I supposed to let a child live in a world like this?" Lyra's words stab at Calea's soul. "Do you believe things will get better, Calea?" The desperation in the girl's voice tares her apart, "Tell me, please."

"I don't know, but we can pray—"

"Bullshit." There was venom in Lyra's voice. 

Calea's eyes widened as she saw Lyra's twisted face, "Do you know why I accepted this position so quickly, with no thought at all," she pauses, "Because my fucking family was starving." Calea's breath catches as she rests her head against the bars, "I finally felt like I could do something about it." Lyra chuckles, which sounds like a chortled sob, "But they haven't gotten anything extra since I've been here. Nothing good came out of me being here." Calea pinches her eyes closed, knowing this was a truth she had already known. 

"I'm sorry—"

"No, you are not. You don't say anything." The sudden anger in Lyra's voice makes Calea look up at the rage-filled girl, "All you do is tell me to study, but I'm not doing anything. I'm a damn breeding mule and a placeholder." Lyra shakes her head, "No one cares about me."

Calea feels her heart shattering, a sharp stabbing in her chest, "I can find a way for you to get back to your family, Lyra." Calea didn't want to see Lyra treated this way. It ripped at her soul. "We can do it together." 

Lyra's eyes lose their light as she looks at the scale while she pulls back her hand. " My father passed," she pauses. I read that in a letter Browen hid from me along with this," she lifts the scale. Lyra chuckles, but it's full of sorrow. She shakes her head. "My mother left after that. In the letter, she told me to have a good life. That's how she thought I was living."

"Lyra…" Calea didn't know what to say because sorry didn't cover what she felt for her. Lyra continues, "I remember meeting one of them, Aneth," Calea exhales, pain filling her chest, "My mother and I saw him walk into the shop. He looked like a charming prince and insanely handsome. But I remembered how he carried himself and looked at me," Lyra looks at the concrete wall with awe in her eyes, "I asked him why he liked our things; we sold more than clothes. Trinkets, books, even food items, and he said it wasn't the things, it was us. We intrigued him. I even made him laugh once. He had the most warm-hearted laugh."

"Really?" Calea had never heard Aneth laugh before.

 "Yeah. My mother loved it; she felt we were special to have a dragon in our shop. I did, too. For the first time, I felt everything would be okay and get better. Then it all went to shit." Lyra's eyes grow distant.

"They had no choice," Calea tells her, but the light in Lyra's eyes dimmed. "I want to believe it will get better; I do." Lyra lays her head in her lap, "What happens to the Dragonborn if my child is born?" She asks.

Calea's gut flutters, "Your child will ascend the throne, " then she hears a soft pop. Lyra lifts her head, a broken girl Calea desperately wanted to get out as soon as possible. She'd raise hell with Browen to get her out. "I will speak with Browen, and you will get out. Okay?"

Lyra doesn't say anything but stares at the wall. "Lyra?" Calea reaches her arm into the cell and rubs her shoulder. " It's okay." Calea tries to comfort her. Lyra smiles meekly. "It will be." She says, then Lyra down a blue vial of poison, and Calea's soul rips from her throat.

"No! Lyra! Throw it up! What are you doing!"

Lyra starts to cough, "Guards!" Calea screams, "Help, please!" Calea grabs Lyra's ripped dress as Lyra stares at her. Lyra gives her bittersweet smile, "Long live the Dragonborn…" Lyra falls to the floor, seizing. 

Calea screams and grips her hair, "NO!" The guards storm over to her. They swing open the cell, but it's too late. The poison wiped out the young girl's life. Calea's body shakes as she backs up. The horror of what she witnessed made her soul numb. She walks away like a zombie, her mind not able to come to terms with what she's just seen.

Her mind takes her to a new forbidden place, her feet just the wheels that carry her there. The door to the under-dwelling wasn't locked yet. Calea pushes it open with little effort, then closes it. Lyra couldn't stand living in a world Calea knew it was turning into, yet she was still here. Calea picks up a picture of Kamari and her family. Everything she did was for her, and she is drowning in uncertainty and sorrow. Her hands clench around the frame, and a wave of anger rips through her, and she snaps the frame in half. Calea becomes undone and lets out her emotions about all that they left behind.

She's left breathing hard and gripping her hair, she slides down the caves wall pulling the knees to her chest, sobbing her heart out. 

"Calea." Her heart skips a beat as she turns and sees Ryuu. Calea's eyes widened, "Wha-Why are you hear?" She stands up, rage fueling her already rabid emotions, "I told you to leave!" she shouts, "You're an idiot! Good Goddess," she pulls on her hair, then points back to the pool, "Leave!" She marches up to Ryuu and pushes him, "Go!" And when he doesn't move, it angers her more.

She starts to wail on him, he catches her hands but says nothing. "Let go of me!" She screams. Ryuu stares at her, his head slightly tilted. Calea wanted to push him back in the waters and seal him out for good. Ryuu lets go, and then his finger wipes her tears and smushes the liquid between his fingers.

"You're crying?" Ryuu asks, then takes her head between his hands, "Who?" He growls out. Calea's eyes widened, and she swallowed hard. She shakes her head, "Don't please. I can't lose anyone else…" Calea's feelings threaten to choke her, and she feels like she can't breathe. As she stares at Ryuu, he leans into Calea and places his forehead on hers. This is crazy, Calea thinks to herself, but something was happening to her; she could feel it. Something's changing. Calea gives in and hugs Ryuu because she feels she has no one.

"Hm," Ryuu hums in his throat and lays his chin on her head. "I will listen." He says, embracing her. She never imagined she'd be friends with a Dragon of any kind. But she didn't have any friends at all anymore. Kamari was somewhere she couldn't get to without being in a coma from the pain her blood-bind to Javall. But there was something about Ryuu that was comforting to her. Ryuu pulls back, "Sit," he says; Calea purses her lips. She knew she couldn't stay for long. Ryuu sits with her, and she gives him a meek smile, but he gazes at her. Although his gaze drew her in, his eyes lit up, making Calea flinch back. Then she felt drawn in again, his eyes yanking at something with her that she didn't understand.

"What are you doing?" She asks softly as she leans into him, her body no longer in her control. "When I want something," Ryuu whispers, Calea's stomach flutters, "I lure it to me." He says softly.

"But I'm right here," she says breathlessly, a hand length away from him. Ryuu's eyes brighten. "Closer," his voice makes her mind tingle, and shivers down her spine as she feels his lips brush against hers. She can't pull away. 

No. No, she can't do this. It's not right!

And yet, when her lips touched him, her body felt like putty in his hands. Calea feels her pain vanish, and for a moment, she can breathe. Calea cradles Ryuu's head with her hands and deepens the kiss, letting the feeling wash over her. As she parts from him, his eyes fade, and she feels she can let go. Then, the heavy reality of what she's done sets in; she's kissed Kamari's son.

"You have to leave." She whispered,her breath shaky, "Please." 

Ryuu caresses her cheek, "Don't cry," he says. For some reason, Ryuu's presence and his words had a different effect on Calea, one she liked. Calea nods, "Don't come back, okay?" She swallows. Ryuu doesn't say anything at first and then asks, "Why did you come back?"

"Well–because," Now that she thought about it, she had no reason to come here, yet she was with Ryuu. And like a match, she realizes why, "Oh Grace of Kadea…" Her eyes lock with Ryuu.

"You come back for me." Ryuu gives her the answer she just figured out. It couldn't be; this never happened. Calea knew very little about it, but she knew imprints were possible if not rare. But she knew it could never work. She stands and shows Ryuu the ring on her finger, "I'm married. This couldn't work for so many reasons Ryuu, this being just one of them." She didn't know how this happened, and it scared her. Ryuu stands and looks at the ring then her, "You belong to someone?"

"Yes."

"No," Ryuu's voice drops an octave as he hovers over her. "You belong to me."

 Calea swallows hard, "Okay," she slaps a hand over her mouth, and he smirks at her. She said it so quickly it slipped out of her mouth. Something about Ryuu made her want to give up control, which was very bad. Calea and Kamari weren't that far apart in age, but Calea couldn't understand why Ryuu had bonded with her. 

Calea knew she couldn't stay with him, so she backed away from him. "Stay away from here." She says, then races up the stairs, locking the door behind her. 

What has she just done?