Queen of Darkness

My blood started to boil. “FENRYS AND GAVRIEL?” I growled as my voice rose.

“Aiyana, is everything alright?” Aelin questioned.

I started to tremble with rage. My eyes started to burn, and my expression became feral. Just at that moment, Fenrys and Gavriel -- out of nowhere -- appeared in front of me, blocking my view of Aelin and Rowan. Everyone’s faces hardened, preparing themselves to hold me back if something went out of control.

“You,” I spat at Fenrys. “You killed my parents. You killed them while I watched. You made me watch them be tortured by you!” I yelled. The killing calm was taking over. Fenrys and Gavriel blanched. Their faces turned white, and were standing there, paralyzed in shock. Everyone stopped breathing -- no one moved. I started to cry. “You killed them -- innocent people!” I screamed.

“Aiyana --” Aelin started. I cut her off with a glare so feral she stepped back in shock. Fenrys and Gavriel had not yet moved. But then, in a movement so fast they thought I might not detect, pain and regret passed across their face. A minute later, it was gone.

“Aiyana--” Fenrys started as he reached out towards me.

“Don’t touch me!” I screeched. His face became whiter than it was before, and his mouth was set in a hard line. His face started to twist in pain as an invisible hand of mine gripped his wrist where his arm was still out in front of me. An invisible shield formed around me, Gavriel, and Fenrys. I twisted Fenrys’ wrist with the invisible hand, and a sob escaped from him. Tears stained Fenrys’ face, and splattered onto the floor of the deck. I twisted again, and this time, he shrieked in pain.

“Aiyana! What are you doing?” Aelin spat at me in anger. She looked panicked, and her face was drained of color; so were everyone else’s. Everybody stared, shock and horror coating their features. A flash of a memory passed by mind: a woman, with long, silver hair fighting against a man -- Fenrys -- whose face was a hard mask of stone: unmoving. Serious. Untouched. Disgusted. I growled, and started twisting Fenrys’ right ankle. He screamed, and fell to the floor. I was a burning wrath; alive and burning. Another image moved across my mind: my father, silver hair as well, strong, muscled, and tall, being stabbed through the heart by Gavriel, his face unmoving. My father’s mouth formed an O, and his eyes closed, his soul leaving his body. I was never -- never -- going to see him again. I remember what he told me before they attacked: I love you. I will never forget that.

I screamed. At that moment, I sent an invisible wave to Gavriel, pulling his feet out from under him. He fell, and I grabbed his hair with an invisible hand, and pulled it back. My invisible hands wrapped around his throat, and he started choking. I was going to kill him -- both of them. Aedion started yelling in the background, but I couldn’t hear. My ears were roaring with the sound of fire and pure hatred flowing through my veins and body.

Aelin was screaming, “Aiyana! STOP!” over and over again. I looked in her direction, and froze. Everything froze. Aelin held a sword in her right hand, and in her left was a burning ball of flame. Rowan was standing beside her, hands curled into fists. As I turned to face Aedion, he held a sword, and a ghost leopard took Lysandra’s place. Lorcan became a beast; he and Elide were both enveloped in darkness.

“Aelin, I am NOT. If you --” Aelin threw a ball of flame at me, but I was too fast. The ball of flame winked out in a blink, as if it was a candle flame that I just pinched and burnt out. Aelin tried to throw another ball of flame, but it also winked out. Everybody stared; they couldn’t believe it.

“Don’t,” I growled and gritted through clenched teeth. In the blink of an eye, Lorcan was swept off his feet, and started screaming in pain. My invisible hands kept on twisting his wrist, while the others wrapped around his throat. His face was losing its color. Elide started crying and screaming.

“Stop, Aiyana. Please,” Aelin pleaded, her eyes fixing on Elide. “Stop. You’re hurting them.” Her voice was gentle, soothing me. I loosened my grip on everything; Gavriel and Lorcan started panting, and tears ran down their faces. Elide scrambled towards Lorcan, sobbing. She was holding his face, and was wiping the away the tears that stained his face. Aedion bolted to Gavriel, picking him up. Fenrys tried to rise to his feet, but stumbled back down to the deck of the ship. Rowan walked towards Fenrys, watching me the whole time, and scooped him into his arms. Both Rowan and Aedion took Fenrys and Gavriel below deck.

Aelin started walking towards me, sadness covering her features. When she was about a foot away from me, I collapsed to the ground. My exhaustion, anger, fury, and sadness had taken over. I started to cry. I knew that I had done something wrong -- I knew it; but I had to do it. I couldn’t just leave my parents’ killers there, standing before me. Aelin knelt down, and lifted my chin with shaking fingers. She looked at me straight in the eyes, as if she could understand how I was feeling. Aelin pulled me close to her, and embraced me. She caressed my hair, whispering, “It’s all right, Aiyana. It’s okay. You are here with me now. You are safe.”

Even though she was the one saying those words, I didn’t believe them. I was living just an ordinary day in my own home when Fenrys and Gavriel attacked. I pulled back from Aelin, looked her in the eyes, and whispered, “I am sorry. I am so sorry.” I tear rolled down my cheek and splattered against my dark clothes. Aelin reached her hand up to wipe the tear away. I let her. I had been living in pain and fear for so long. “Aelin, I think I am going to take a nap. I’m exhausted.”

“That’s fine, Aiyana.” She rose up from where she was kneeling in front of me, and reached out a hand. I grabbed it. She helped pull me up from the floor of the deck, and faced me, a faint smile pulling at her lips. “Just try not to kill Fenrys and Gavriel in your sleep; we don’t need any more injuries.”

I smiled, and laughed under my breath, wiping away another tear that escaped. “Okay. I won’t; I promise.” I let go of her hand, and walked to the steps that led below deck. I walked down the narrow hallway, and into my bedroom. I silently closed my bedroom door with a Click! and fell onto my bed. I closed my eyes, breathing in the cool, crisp air coming from the ocean outside my window. I let the sound of the roaring waves against the ship fill my ears, and imagined the waves taking away some of the stress from me, like the way they pull sand into the water once they crash onto the beach. Sleep took over faster than I thought.

By Alexa Gantt