Snow and Silk: Sacrificed to the God’s

Fear

{Theluun’s POV}

When I woke up this morning, I could hear footsteps down the hall. I knew it was Feryn and Arabella.. they were off to explore the castle, and I couldn’t help to be curious. I got up, putting on my button up shirt, and a pair of black pants. I left the top three buttons on my shirt undone, and rolled up my sleeves, trying to look for any sign of the two of them.

It’s like they had disappeared, I knew they were still in the castle.. I just wasn’t sure where. I walked around aimlessly, until I heard the sound of a single violin, the melody echoing through the halls of the castle. It was beautiful.. sad, angry, haunting, as though the one playing were pouring all of their grief into the music. I looked up, seeing Andromedus, looking down from the top step. Hearing a clattering behind me, I turned to see Shitari running from the library, and groggily coming from the bath house, wrapped solely in a towel around his waist was NymKarna. We all knew who had to be playing.. none of us had played an instrument in centuries.. It was Arabella, and her symphony had all of us captivated.

“It sounds like..” NymKarna began.

“Pain..” I said, finishing his sentence. “It’s all of her pain..”

“You can hear it too?” Shitari asked, looking over to me. “How much pain is she in to create this feeling in others?” He asked, his hand sliding onto his chest.

Andromedus stalked down the steps, following the sound as we all fell in line behind him. “I’m going to put a stop to this..” he said, as we reached the ballroom, the doors were open, and inside we could see Feryn sitting on the stairs, tears spilling down her cheeks as she watched Arabella dance, and play.

Arabella waltzed around the room, twirling and looking to the ceiling, tears poured from her eyes, as she played. Her body swayed in time with the music, and watching her dance.. hearing her play.. I couldn’t look away no matter how hard I tried.

Andromedus who was so dead set on stopping her, stood with his mouth agape as we all watched her. It seemed we were all enchanted by her, I watched as her hair began to fall from the bun it was in, and that’s when I really noticed how beautiful she is. Her hair reached down to her butt, falling in large curls. She danced through the ballroom, her hair swaying behind her.

“She’s..” I began, but the word fell silent in my throat.

“Beautiful..” Shitari said softly. “She’s just a human.. but she.. she looks like nature itself..”

“Incredible..” NymKarna whispered, before turning on his heel and leaving.

I looked back after him, and could see him shaking his head as he practically ran away. Andromedus stood frozen, his body swaying slightly to the rhythm. He shook his head, turning and walking away, just like NymKarna.

Shitari and I stayed, we watched as her music soon came to an end, and she faced the ceiling, tears streaming down her cheeks. I knew she felt something.. no one would feel nothing when faced with death. I clapped my hands, catching her attention, she turned and looked in our direction, seeing Shitari and I both standing in the doorway. “That was incredible..” I said, smiling over to her.

She turned to me, and smiled softly, bowing down before standing back up. “Thank you, your highness.” She said, her voice weak. She wiped the tears from her face and turned back to Feryn. Seeing the tears spilling down her face. She ran to her side and wiped her face. “Feryn, don’t cry..” she said, smiling down at her.

Feryn stood, and did something I’d never seen her do. She pulled Arabella into a hug, holding the back of Arabella’s head against her. “I’m so sorry..” she whimpered. “I’m so sorry for the pain you’ve endured.. and I’m sorry that they picked you..”

We all stiffened at her words. We knew that the town picks one person to sacrifice, though, I was curious as to why they picked her. Arabella pulled away. “I’m not.” She smiled. “If I hadn’t been sold off.. I’d never have met you all.”

My heart felt as though it cracked, she wasn’t just chosen, she was sold to be the sacrifice, and she was happy about it, because she got to come here.. and meet us. “They.. they sold you?” Shitari asked from beside me. “T-They can’t do that.. it isn’t right!”

She walked gracefully to us and smiled up at him. “Your highness.. I’d been sold before.. long before this. I’m okay, I’m here now, and at least I know my fate, it isn’t a mystery to me. I’m here to die, and I’m grateful that it’s just that.”

“You shouldn’t be okay with this, and you obviously aren’t, you can tell by the way you played, you’re terrified!” I heard Andromedus’ voice from behind us.

She looked to him, her smile faltering for a moment before she smiled again. “Of course I’m afraid.. but I promise you, that death is better than the hand I was dealt in my life, so I’ve accepted it.” She shrugged, turning back to Feryn. “Shall we take this back to the music room, and continue our tour?” She asked.

Feryn nodded, running up behind her, and taking Arabella’s arm in hers. “Of course Arabella!” She smiled, leading her back to the music room.

They didn’t spare us another glance, but as they walked by I could see it. Arabella’s body was shaking.. she was afraid.. and exhausted.. just what exactly had those bas***** done to her?