● Ember Elliot Elysian ●

"Is this the reason why you asked me to come here? To show Ira's renèi Possession?" I asked father, raising my eyebrow after Ira terminated his renèi. Some of the feathers of his wings were scattered around the small room and I had to say, it was inexhaustible- just those few feathers were breathtaking to look at.

"No, of course not." he chuckled, cocking his head. "We'll talk about your curse, your amalgamation with one of the Aesterin sisters and how we can break the curse." he explained, a smile plastered upon his face which was similar to Ira's smile albeit it was rare to see it.

"It might be a curse for you, but for me it's a gift," I said sternly, my voice quiet. "Why're you so desperate to break it?" I asked despite knowing the answer. Maybe because a pathetic part of mine always believed he would have a different reason? A reason that wouldn't make me think low of myself?

"I want to change you," he simply said, not even being careful with his words.

"That gives me another reason to protect my gift," I replied, looking at my father in the eye. His eyes were always cold, always lacking fatherly warmth.

The only time I saw passion and warmth in his eyes were when he was with the people in his kingdom, when he was ruling, when he was making decisions on how to protect his people.

"The world will not accept you if you're an Ezèrian, Elliot," he tried to pursuade me.

"I don't want the world's acceptance," I snapped. "Or yours."

His eyes softened just for a second before they returned to their usual state - cold, calm and calculative.

"Be grateful that I'm not having you hanged like the previous Ezèrian who deserted this nation-"

"Father!" suddenly Ace yelled and I craned my head to see my brother whose head was bent down, clearly afraid of our father but still, he decided to stood up for me.

"He's just born without renèi Possession," his eyes were cast down, his voice cracked. "He's still my brother," he whispered the next words. "And your son."

"I can't keep him hiding forever. For how long he's going disguise as one of us? People are doubting weather he really possesses renèi or he's just like that woman because they never saw his renèi Possession demonstration." Father reasoned, his calm façade slowly dying and replacing with anger.

"Do you even know what my curse is, father?" I asked mockingly, as he turned around to face me.

"Protection," he said solemnly. "Which was given by Miranda."

Exactly. And that was the reason why he never succeeded in harming me. Breaking the spell would mean I won't be shielded anymore. It'd mean father could do anything with me - change me.

"Do you believe my curse will break after amalgamation?" I asked.

"I've tried many things to break your curse-none of them worked and this will be just another try," he said, pursing his lips.

"Why do you think an amalgamation will break my curse?"

"Do you know one of the vows we take in an amalgamation?" Father asked coyly.

I frowned, not being able to understand where this was going. "That the two souls who are amalgamating will protect one another until the gods above take them back?"

"Indeed. I was told by one of those witches that the Protection Spell has its own life. Not the same life as us, of course but it can sense power in you. When two souls amalgamate, what do you think happens?"

Realisation hit me. I opened my mouth, closed it, my eyes wide. "The two souls become one; in other words, both of them become one another's saviour,"

"It's a quite big process, isn't it?" he was smiling, again. "The moment your Protection Spell senses that there is something to protect you, in other words, your amalgamator, it might break," he then looked at my brothers, as if wanting a statement from them. "After all, a Protection Spell only works if you have nothing to protect you, doesn't it, my sons?"

"What if it doesn't break? What if my Protection Spell doesn't sense my amalgamator as a protector but as a threat instead?"

"Then," he said, stepping towards me. "This will be just another try."

He isn't even sure if it's going to break.

I scoffed. "You're really determined to make me a renèi Possessor, aren't you?"

"I have no choice. I'm tired of killing my people just to shut their mouth about you not being a renèi Possessor." Was his answer. "Seventeen people. That's the amount of innocent lives I have taken. And they were all my people. My kingdom's people. They were suppose to be protected by me but I killed them, Elliot." He spat hatefully, anger and hate visible in his dark eyes.

"What's so wrong with not being able to possess renèi?" I finally asked, clenching my jaw.

He let out a humorless laugh. "Do you even know the importance of renèi? Oh, how would you even know?" He scoffed, looking away.

"You need to have something to understand its significance," he said quietly with his deep voice.

His words stung me even though they were expected. "It's not my fault. It's not my fault that I'm an Ezèrian, it's not my fault that I'm like this, it's not my fault that I don't have the ability to become like you. It's not. . . my fault." And here I was, being vulnerable again.

So much for not being weak in front of Ira.

And I thought I was doing well, standing up for myself.

"Right, it's my fault. It's my fault for having the desire to have another child after Ezèkiel," he spat and continued as I prepared myself to hear more hurtful comments. "Despite being Ezèrian, how could you not perform those stupid magic? Isn't being able to perform magic your only speciality? Not only you don't possess renèi but you also don't have the ability to do something that your race does. Truly a nugatory."

I can't use my power because of the Protection spell. Everything has a cost. The Protection spell had one, too and its cost was the absence of my Ezèrian powers. I wanted to spat those words to him but didn't because no words were coming out of my mouth. There were only whimpers that wanted to come out instead.

So weak, so weak.

Although I wanted to stay quiet like I should've but somehow, I mustered up some courage and finally asked the question I wanted to ask him. "You hate us so much? Then, tell me this father," Now I walked to him and eyed him, praying to the gods my tears wouldn't form right when I was trying to show him his words didn't affect me.

My eyes travelled to his throat where a silver crescent shaped locket was placed, its texture old, tarnished and despite him disliking old things, he still wore it, everyday, every time. There wasn't a single time I didn't see it there, dangling, hanging - just like she was - hanging.

"If you detest Ezèrian so much, then why did you amalgamate her? She was one of us, wasn't she? Why marry someone of a kind you hate and produce a child that has the possibility of being an Ezèrian?" I asked, smirking.

He didn't answer and judging by his perplexed look and furrowed eyebrows, I could definitely say that he wasn't expecting this question from me and especially when all of his sons were present.

"You don't have an answer of that, do you?" I snickered as I retreated back, exiting the room while thinking about how was I going break my amalgamation.

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Returning to my chamber, panic flooded through me when I saw Erin laying on my bed, breathing heavily, her hair no longer in a bun, her eyes barely opened, a wet cloth placed on her forehead while Keith sat beside her with a bowl of water, looking concerned.

Keith noticed me. "Her fever has increased again,"

I rushed towards them as I took off my vest and tossed it across the couch, feeling more comfortable in my button down shirt and black pants. I took a seat at the edge of the bed, observing Erin as I saw how her eyebrows were furrowed deeply, her amber eyes not noticing me, her body shaking.

I took her hand in mine, my own heartbeat quickening when I realised how warm her body was getting by each second. "It's worse than before, isn't it?" I asked, looking at Keith who had his lips pursed.

He nodded. "I should have just used my healing powers on her instead of relying on some herbs and medicines from the beginning," he said, regret evident in his voice. "I just didn't realise it would come again and us feeding her information after information since morning made her more stressful,"

"This was bound to happen. We should have told her everything then," I said, guilt burdening my heart as I let go of her hand and just then, she managed to open her eyes slowly, seeing me and then, surprisingly, she let out a small chuckle, making me confused.

"I think I might be tripping," she said, giggling. "But your eyes are suddenly gray," she said and then frowned.

I realised she must be talking about my eyes returning to its original colour - which was silver and it meant I was no longer under Zenix's magic.

I laughed hearing her. "You will be alright," I said quietly, gently squeezing her hand in mine.

"Keith," I called, looking at Keith as he nodded firmly. "Heal her, please."

Keith placed his right hand above Erin's face, moving his hand around it while mumbling spells that I could never make out for Keith was always whispering them. His eyes were closed as he continued saying incoherent words in old Elysian language, his hand still placed above Erin's face while I watched Erin's scowls and pain slowly dying along with her trembling and after a few moments, she was breathing normally again.

Keith opened his eyes which were now tired and sulked due to him using his healing powers. He ran his hands through his face, as if trying to wake himself up from the exhaustion.

He laughed, slapping his cheeks. "Healing really drains all my energy,"

I stood up to my feet, letting out a sigh of relief. "Take rest, I will take care of the rest," I remembered father's words. "I won't be getting any sleep tonight anyways."

Keith gave me a look with his tired eyes. "What did the king say?"

I looked at Erin who was sleeping soundly, no more creases between her eyebrows, no more heavy breaths and no more trembling. "He may or may not have found a way to break my Protection Spell."

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And here's another chapter! Hope you liked this chapter? Let me know your thoughts on it.

And oh, Ember is gonna amalgamate with one of the Aesterin Sisters! Hope you guys remember them? They're pretty important characters, so if you've forgotten about them, I'd suggest you to take a look at their aesthetic board and get what their vibes say, hehe. Do let me know what you think about them UwU.

Thank you so much for reading!

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