Was this how painful siblings fighting was? I thought, almost rubbing my chest at the stub of pain that was festering there.
I had thought it was only a broken heart from a broken relationship with a lover that could cause this hurt, but the more I watched Diana fuming and probably cussing me in her head, the pain increased. I haven’t experienced it before, because I hadn’t had a sibling, ever. Lent and Lilian hadn’t been siblings. They had been plain thorns in my flesh. But it was different with Diana.
I and Diana, despite the short amount of time we have known each other, were closer, loved each other, and had a deeper relationship than I even had with my foster father. But still then, I didn’t regret making the report to Laura and Peter, even though she was boring holes into my head, even though Laura and Peter were looking at me in disappointment. Better now than later, or rather better late than never.
"You both should come over here, and sit down. Seems, we have a long conversation ahead of us." Peter spoke, standing up and walking to the door.
I watched as he locked it, and then I stood and walked to the sofa he had told Diana and I to sit down on. When I sat, Diana was still standing, and not even her mother’s glare could make her move. She was that angry.
But that was alright. I was prepared for her hate. If she would think me jealous because of her relationship with the Queen, then so be it. I could deal with that. I have dealt with hatred my whole life even though this dull pain in my chest hadn’t really been present.
"I won’t repeat myself, Diana Akwoods."
Peter never called us with his last
name attached. That’s when I knew the man was angry. Diana was at least perceptive enough to know this too.
She shifted on her feet for a second, sighed loudly, muttered incomprehensible words which I knew were for me, before walking toward me. When she sat, she moved to the farthest edge of the chair.
Laura piqued an eyebrow.
"Diana, cover up that space, and clasp Maya’s hand in yours."
Tension crackled in the atmosphere.
"Why?" She asked. "Why would I do that? You know I don’t want to do that. Why impose it on me?"
"Diana, if you ask your mother questions again, you would have me to deal with. I don’t care who or what level of power you think that you have, or the Queen has brainwashed you into thinking that you have, but I wouldn’t tolerate that disrespect, even if you are the next queen." This was said in a steel voice, a voice that I had never heard Peter use. A voice thrumming with authority.
Diana immediately complied. She covered the distance between us, and clasped my hand in hers.
I screamed out in pain the next second when I felt the scorching heat that torched my hand.
"My hand!" I screamed again, unable to hear the pain that ransacked my entire nervous system. I held up my hand that was red as a ripe tomato, and Laura jumped to her feet and hurried toward me.
"Let me see..." She spoke in a worried tone, her anger digressing a bit. She paid no attention to Diana whose head was bowed in shame now, when her parents had nothing to her. They didn’t need to say anything to convey their disappointment.
Laura opened a cupboard lying adjacent to the first sofa, and brought out a box; a first aid kit I suppose, seeing the bottles and herbs that were inside when she opened it.
She applied a greenish liquid on my red hand first, and then after a few minutes, wiped it off with a clean rag before applying an ointment on it. She then gave me a pill to swallow.
Peter helped with a glass of water from the kitchen.
The pill was terribly bitter.
"You will be grounded this week. No school, and no leaving the house. You will stay in your room and reflect on your actions tonight."
Diana only glanced up when her father spoke about her no training with the queen for the remainder of the week. She wanted to speak, to probably ask about the queen, but Peter waved her off.
Shut up. His expression had seemed to say.
"Maya, I will be coming to your school tomorrow, after your classes. I will be following you to see the queen. It seems that I, too, need to have a word with her."
I nodded. Thank the goddess. At least, someone could enter the palace with me without getting stopped by the guards.
Diana never clasped her hand with mine again, seeing that my hand was bandaged, and probably not to be used in a day or two. Good it had been the left hand though. But her plan had worked. We didn’t hold hands.
"Since that is settled, let’s talk about the bombshells you both had dropped this night, bombshells that you both have been keeping to yourselves despite knowing how much harm it could do, how much wrong it could cause, how much distrust it will brood when dropped. Well, thank the goddess that Maya had the sense to drop it at last, because I don’t know what would have happened otherwise." Peter paused here, as if letting the weight of his words sink inside us.
"Now, Diana, over to you. Talk about your lessons with the Queen. What has been going on in the training? What is the nature of your training? And you better don’t try to lie to me..." Peter stated, already weaving magic with his hands, magic that surrounded both I and Diana. Google seaʀᴄh novel~fire~net
Without him talking about it, I already knew that it was something like a truth serum, or rather truth test.
If Diana was to lie, it wouldn’t escape the notice of us all. I didn’t know how that would show, but I just knew that we both couldn’t tell lies tonight.
"Tell me when the lessons had started, and then you tell me why you had kept the information away from us, despite knowing of our grievances, to some extent, about the Queen."