Post by dreamwriter on Feb 22, 2011 13:46:23 GMT -5
Tia
My head hurt like crazy and I vaguely remembered the hired hand on a nearby farm at home that cracked his skull on a stone when he fell off the harvesting machine. I hadn’t wanted to see, but father made me look.
“That,” he had said, “is what happens to people who want to rise above their station. He was known to have been trying to marry up in the city.”
The man was dead, but father forced me closer, into the cloying scent of blood, to see the man’s head without the body’s most vital organ.
My father’s feelings towards me made sense now. I was not his real daughter. I was the daughter of a traitor whose very identity had been erased from the city.
“Oh, you’re awake.” My mother’s voice was cold which was to be expected since she believed me to be the daughter of her hated sister, the queen. “You lied to me about your identity. My sister would never let her daughter work a day of her life, yet your hands are calloused and rough, like a farm workers. Perhaps you are a farm worker. I believed you before because you look so much like Gwendolyn. But you use no palatial accent. Now who are you and who is that boy you were with?”
“I…I…” I couldn’t answer her. I wouldn’t give away Bryan, even though we’d just met hours before. “I’m only a farm girl. We didn’t mean to go through that door. It was an accident. And now we’re trapped! We were playing around since he had a sword with the royal crest and he told me to pretend that I was a princess, but I’m not. The queen had a son.” At least most of it was true.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” The woman sounded much happier than she had before and not as menacing. “We’re all exiles here. You could join us here in Paradise. Just for the record, what is your name? Your real name, please.”
“Tia Harker.”
“Harker? I’m sure I’ve heard that name somewhere before…But no matter. Let’s get your boyfriend out of confinement, shall we? How silly of me! I nearly forgot. My name is Athena Lionspaw, but you already knew my surname, although those puffed-up peacocks in the city say I have no claim to it anymore. What Gwenny will never find out, won’t hurt her…or maybe it will.”
My head hurt like crazy and I vaguely remembered the hired hand on a nearby farm at home that cracked his skull on a stone when he fell off the harvesting machine. I hadn’t wanted to see, but father made me look.
“That,” he had said, “is what happens to people who want to rise above their station. He was known to have been trying to marry up in the city.”
The man was dead, but father forced me closer, into the cloying scent of blood, to see the man’s head without the body’s most vital organ.
My father’s feelings towards me made sense now. I was not his real daughter. I was the daughter of a traitor whose very identity had been erased from the city.
“Oh, you’re awake.” My mother’s voice was cold which was to be expected since she believed me to be the daughter of her hated sister, the queen. “You lied to me about your identity. My sister would never let her daughter work a day of her life, yet your hands are calloused and rough, like a farm workers. Perhaps you are a farm worker. I believed you before because you look so much like Gwendolyn. But you use no palatial accent. Now who are you and who is that boy you were with?”
“I…I…” I couldn’t answer her. I wouldn’t give away Bryan, even though we’d just met hours before. “I’m only a farm girl. We didn’t mean to go through that door. It was an accident. And now we’re trapped! We were playing around since he had a sword with the royal crest and he told me to pretend that I was a princess, but I’m not. The queen had a son.” At least most of it was true.
“Well, why didn’t you say so?” The woman sounded much happier than she had before and not as menacing. “We’re all exiles here. You could join us here in Paradise. Just for the record, what is your name? Your real name, please.”
“Tia Harker.”
“Harker? I’m sure I’ve heard that name somewhere before…But no matter. Let’s get your boyfriend out of confinement, shall we? How silly of me! I nearly forgot. My name is Athena Lionspaw, but you already knew my surname, although those puffed-up peacocks in the city say I have no claim to it anymore. What Gwenny will never find out, won’t hurt her…or maybe it will.”