Chapter 7: The Pain That Doesn’t Belong to Her

ASTRID

The first breath I take upon waking is dense, heavy, as if I were inhaling through ashes. My body feels strange, numb, and my mind… my mind is chaos.

I blink, trying to focus on my surroundings. There’s dirt beneath my hands, cool and damp, and the scent of vegetation tells me we’re in some kind of forest. But nothing is familiar.

My heart pounds. Where are we?

I clumsily move my fingers and feel something warm near me. When I look down, I see her.

sienna.

She’s curled up at my feet, her breathing slow, her expression serene—but not in the way I’m used to. Her skin looks paler, her face sharper, and something about her posture tells me she’s not just asleep… but trapped somewhere far away, unreachable.

A tightness grips my chest, an anguish I don’t understand.

—Sisi… —I whisper, my voice trembling as I gently touch her shoulder.

She stirs slightly, her eyelashes flutter, and with a choked gasp, she opens her eyes.

And then I see it.

The fire in her gaze is gone.

I freeze. The Sienna I know has never been easy to read, but her eyes have always spoken for her. They’ve always been alive, defiant—a spark of anger and determination that never fades.

But now… they’re empty.

Dark.

Extinguished.

A shiver runs down my spine, and for the first time in a long while, I’m afraid.

—You’re awake? —Her voice is barely a murmur, hoarse and broken, as if speaking costs her.

The sound unsettles me. Sienna never sounds like this.

—Yes… I think so —I manage to say, though it feels like my voice doesn’t belong to me—. What happened, Sisi? Where are we?

She closes her eyes for a moment and takes a breath.

—We’re in the Earth Court.

The Earth Court.

The words hit me, but I can’t fully process them. I know where we are, I know what it means… but something inside me keeps me from piecing it all together.

I force myself to focus.

—How did we get here?

Sienna doesn’t answer right away. Her gaze drifts into nothingness, as if carefully choosing her words.

—What do you remember, Astrid?

I try, but my mind is a maze of shadows and gaps. Some moments are clear, sharp—others feel like they’ve been ripped away from me.

I frown.

—I remember entering the cabin… —my voice is slow, as if each word weighs a ton—. Father arrived a while later. He was angry about something, and… and I froze. He asked about you, I told him you were coming…

A pressure builds in my chest. A knot forms in my throat.

—And then… he started hitting me.

Sienna’s breathing changes. She tenses, the muscles in her jaw clench, and her hands curl into fists.

But she remains silent.

I swallow, feeling the burn of memories returning in waves.

—I lost consciousness at some point… but I remember your screams, Sisi. —I lift my gaze, searching her eyes—. What happened after that?

She lowers her gaze. Her chest rises and falls unevenly, as if she’s holding back something too vast to express.

—A lot of blood. Then smoke.

My heart stops for a second.

—Our cabin… did it burn down?

She doesn’t answer.

But her silence is enough.

My mind jolts with fleeting images. The cabin where we grew up, the home that was sometimes a refuge and other times a prison. Ashes. Destruction.

Sienna is not okay. I see it in the way her shoulders are stiff, in the slight tremble of her lips, as if she’s holding back a storm.

—Sisi… tell me everything —I plead, my voice shaking.

And then, without even blinking, she says it.

—I killed him.

The air freezes around me.

—He will never hurt you again, As. —Her voice is firm, but there’s something in it… something that makes my skin prickle—. And I burned our cabin. There was nothing there worth remembering.

I stay still.

I don’t know what I feel.

I don’t know if his death hurts me or if it should.

All I know is that something inside me shatters as I look at my sister and realize she carried it all alone.

A weight settles in my chest, the burn of tears I don’t know if I should shed.

—Oh, Sisi… —my voice is barely a whisper—. I’m sorry. I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.

She moves. She gets up and walks toward me, her steps firm yet unsteady, until she wraps me in an embrace.

A tight embrace. A desperate embrace.

—Never be sorry —she whispers, her voice breaking slightly—. He deserved to die.

And for the first time in a long time, I don’t know if I can argue with that.

The air in the room shifts suddenly.

It’s subtle at first, like a barely noticeable current carrying a new, unfamiliar scent. Then, I truly feel it.

We are not alone.

My body tenses, my heartbeat quickens, and my muscles, trained to react to danger, prepare themselves without my command. But when I lift my gaze, what I see is not a threat.

It’s something… different.

The man—or perhaps he is something more, something majestic—I don’t know. He has just entered, and he is immense. Not just in height, but in presence. His bronzed skin gleams under the warm light of the room, and his musculature is so perfect it looks sculpted from stone. But it’s not his strength that takes my breath away… it’s his eyes.

God.

I could get lost in them.

They are a deep amber color, as if the sun itself had been trapped within his gaze. They envelop me, and for the first time in my life, I find myself unable to look away.

Sienna clears her throat.

I am usually quick to regain my composure, but now… now I feel like a child discovering something new and terrifying.

Heat rushes to my face immediately. My skin burns, my thoughts burn.

I am as red as a tomato.

I have never felt this before.