Chapter 52

~Calea~

The pristine golden cobblestone she walked upon made her more aware of how fake Paldania strived to be. To those who didn't know its guts, it looked like you'd walked into a magical world of sorcery. Street vendors play magic tricks for children's eyes to lure in their parents to give them coins. The smell of bakery items lingered with spices from exotic places. Calea remembered it all, and it made her sick. She saw it for what it always had been. A corrupt Kingdom longing for control and power. The strict dress code was just the surface level of things. 

All around her, warlocks wore suits made of mythical fabric, and witches adorned flowing dresses that snatched your eyes. Calea wore a white dress, showing more skin than she wanted to. Ursula walked beside her with her head held too high; Ursula suddenly stopped when she saw a scuff on the golden cobblestone. "Ugh, how horrid." She snaps her fingers, and it vanishes. "Did not one-stop to clean it? We aren't heathens." Ursula flips her hair and steps over it as if it was still there. Calea walks behind her, stopping for a second, then making a minor scuff on the same place before coming to her side. 

"It's wonderful to be where you belong, Calea. I bet you've missed it. Nivilia is for animals, which you are not. Now, you can happily be at Javall's side as his Queen. As it was meant to be."

Calea sighs heavily, "We make our fates. I decided to be here despite the reason." Ursula and Calea stopped at different vendors and continued to speak about surface-level matters. Now and then, Ursula would throw her two cents into what she thought of Nivillia—a primitive forest filled with giant reptiles. But Calea knew it was so much more than that. There was a special feeling about Nivillia that nowhere else could cultivate. A Kingdom nestled in a forest, yes, but it wasn't out of place; it belonged. 

"You know, Calea, you would do well to restart your life here. Throw away those old feelings. It's not as if they cared for you to let you slip away so easily." Calea clenches a fabric in her hand. "I made the choice. No Kamari."

She did it on purpose. Aneth had outright told them to take her, but when Calea thought about it, it made more sense for her to go and hope she could somehow make her way back home. But she couldn't get the look on Ryuu's face out of her head—the anger and hurt. Calea swallowed hard just thinking about it. 

"You, the Queen of Paldania. Javall could have chosen someone else; I thought you'd be grateful." She crosses her arms. "You should be grateful."

Calea looks at Ursula with a baffled expression. "Are you joking? He forced the blood bind upon me. He gave me no choice. So no, Ursula, I'm not grateful." Calea tries to contain her composure, but she finds it hard when Ursula keeps poking at her. Calea clears her throat, "Shall we continue?" Calea says, gesturing to the following vendors. Out of the corner of her eye, she see a gleaming white scarf, she absently walks towards it, and thinks of Ryuu. She shakes her head.

Please stop it. Stop thinking about him.

She orders herself, but something about it, maybe her heart fills with warmth. It made her think of what Ryuu did that usually annoyed her, and now it made her smile. Calea remembered one encounter where Javall had made her cry, and when she came back to give him food the next day, Javall had a black eye. A seashell was on her door when she returned to her room the same day. Calea's eyes burn as Ursula returns her to the Castle, where she dines with Javall for dinner.

Calea picks at her food. Silence envelopes the room. Javall clears his throat. "I missed your company today. All the seriousness can be overwhelming sometimes." Calea gives him a meek smile. "I bet." There was an uneasiness in the air as they spoke to each other. Javall drinks the last of the wine bottle and lets out a heavy sigh. 

"How's a friend?" His voice is bitter. Calea pauses, playing with her food; the fork clanks on the plate as she looks up at him. "I didn't think you were interested in my letters to Kamari."

Javall chuckles dryly, "Not Kamari. Your sea fairing friend." His eyes lock onto hers, and Calea can feel a fire within them. Calea chooses her words wisely: "I don't ask about him. The letters are to Kamari only." Javall stares at her for too long, and the knot in her chest grows. Javall sits back in his seat and licks his lips. "I don't believe you. Not when it comes to him."

Calea chuckles in disbelief, "You're jealous of something that could never be." She pushes her feelings down, no matter how cold her words sound. "You don't need to worry about him, Javall. Dragons are different." Calea shakes her head, grabs her wine, and downs it. Can we speak of something else?"

Javall nods. "Yeah. Kiss me." Calea's face goes blank; she stalls before leaving her seat. She slowly round the table. Javall was jealous of Ryuu, and maybe he envied Ryuu for getting so close to Calea, she starting to see it in Javall's eyes. How could she pretend to love Javall? She didn't. Calea stops in front of him. "You and I know I wouldn't be here on my own accord." She swallows hard, "I don't want to kiss you." Calea steals herself in front of Javall, his eyes hold her in place, then he stands abruptly, his chair falls back and grabs Calea's face between his hands and forces a kiss upon his lips. "Mm!" Calea tries to push him away, but he holds fast to her, pressing her close to him. She bites his lip until it bleeds.

"Argh!" Javall shoves Calea to the ground. "Gods above Calea!" he growls out. "Did I not do enough for you?! Did I not save you from death and take you in with the title of Queen placed upon your head?" 

Calea's eyes burn, "I never asked for this! I wanted nothing to do with you or Paldania! I ran away for a reason!" Her breath quickens, "You tell yourself you saved me, that you relinquished me from the grasp of Browen and everything else. You kidnapped me. Held me hostage against my will, and you forced yourself upon me, Javall!" She screams, "How is any of that related to saving me?!" Javall marches up to her and grabs her by the throat, "I've done more for you than fucking Beast ever will!" He roars in her face. Javall lets her go, and she falls to the floor. Calea feels a burn in her veins, she didn't want to do this anymore. This wasn't where she wanted to be, and she was so tired of being in the throes of unfortunate. Calea gets up, walks to the table, and grabs a knife. "You want to trap me here, to keep me like a caged animal."

Javall turns around, his eyes shifting from the knife to her. He scoffs, "And what will you do with that, Calea? Do you not remember we live in the realm of magic?"

"I do." She stares at him, then stabs herself with the knife.

"Calea!" Javall screams; she falls to her knees, the pain-numbing at first from adrenaline. She fights off Javall. "What on God's earth are you doing!?" Calea scrambles and runs the other way towards the door; she halts when she doesn't see Javall bleeding. Did her pain not transfer to him? When would he fall from the wound she caused? She thought to herself. But when it does happen, she stares at him and takes a shuddered breath.

"You lied…"

Javall raises his hands, "Calea, let me heal you. Please, you're going to bleed out–"

"You won't." She swallows hard. Calea wanted to kill him and to do that, she had to take herself out. But it was all a lie. He never blood-bonded her. "I want to be free of you." Calea wouldn't die here, not in Paldania. She races out of the Castle, she knew she could go towards the gate, so she casts a spell that lets her slip through shadows long enough to get to a crack in the wall's interior, the last places she left through. She thanked Kadea that it was still there. Calea makes a getaway and races towards the shoreline. Calea could hear the guards not far behind her. She clenches her abdomen as she starts to walk into the water. "Ugh," she groans and falls to her knees. A Guard grabs her ankle, "No! Get off of me!" She screams, tears falling from her eyes. She kicks the guard in the jaw, gets up, and runs into the water. 

"Calea!" Javall's voice makes her swim further out. "Stop! You'll drown!" Calea didn't care and was running on false hope and a feeling. "Ryuu!" She screams so loud, that she treads, her head barely above water, she could feel herself getting weaker. She cries, glancing back at the shore, a fleeting feeling to swim back to save her own life, but she wouldn't be living; she'd be dying inside. 

With the last of her breath, she screams for him. "Ryuu!" The wind rushes in waves over her head, and she has no strength to surface. Her hand reaches for the light, but her vision fades to black, her lungs screaming as she lets herself sink to the depths. Ironically, she screamed out for the person she tried to stay away from.

Her only regret.