Cassandra

My eyes flutter open in a flurry as I instantly get up, my breathing rapid and harsh as I look around. But my vision is still blurry, not very exact as before. I rub my eyes, trying to get rid of the crust. Another day of operations, another day of life.

But when I open my eyes once again, I'm not in my room. I'm not on my bed in the Stilts. No, I'm in a much fancier room, with a large, extravagant window to my left and pale white walls surrounding me. There's a dress in front of me, as well as a full length mirror to my left. I stare at the room in confusion before pressing my left hand against the bed, lifting me up.

A spark of pain blasts into my senses as I let out a sharp scream and memories flood my senses. The Queenstrial, the girl falling into the lightening. The headache, the heartburn.

The Silver Blood leaking from me.

I instantly grab my arm and look at where it was patched up. Perhaps it was just a dream, I wasn't well and I thought that I had Silver blood. Maybe… Maybe its was all just a bad dream.

The wrapping around my arm is terribly done, I could've done it so much better. I wince in pain as I unwrap it, only to confirm my beliefs. Dried up Silver blood is layered harshly over a burned over layer of my skin. Its healing, yeah, but its tingling with the aftershock of pain.

My heart hurts as I run over to the mirror to look at me. Maybe all of this is just a bad dream, and I'm going to wake up any second now. But when I look into the mirror, I know that this can't be a dream.

All my life, people always told me that I looked funny. I don't blame them, my skin is too pale to belong in the Stilts. The Red flush never truly showed that well. My bones were too long, too agile, like a bird's. I looked like nobody else in the Stilts, the small dabs of colour in myself would hardly appear.

When I look at myself in the mirror, my skin is a ghostly white, pale and fair. The ash-blond streaks are at the top of my head, over the layered gold which all stand over the brown. Most people think that my hair looks beautiful, but I always thought it didn't match anything about me. I felt like a ghost, but somehow, I also felt right.

But the mirror scared me. Looking at myself in that mirror made me shiver and want to run away from my own reflection. Still, somehow, I could still stand in front of the mirror, facing myself. A light blue coated my white skin, which looked more natural than a light red. This is why I never truly belonged in the Stilts-Because I am not like them.

Suddenly, the door opens, making me up. I turn to see the Senitals once again. If they are surprised about me, then they don't show it. Instead, they speak a single sentence.

"King Tiberias Calore, would like to see you." He says as I nod and follow him. I note my clothes, A simple white silk dress that's long in the back and short in the front. I blink and realize that someone must've changed me. They must have in order for me to have different clothes. A single, black ribbon is wrapped around my waist, hugging my body and showing off my curves. You know… if I had any.

I have a stick body figure, like a child. No curves, and just an ounce of body fat laced over my cheeks which are much to stubborn to just leave. I don't under eat or anything, I just can't get fat, just like my Mother.

My Mother… Her blood is Red, I saw it every day ever since I was three. Does this mean my Father was a Silver?

Questions spin in my brain when I reach the Throne Room. I pay no attention to any of the decorations as the Sentinel opens the door and I step inside before the door immediately shuts. When I glance up at the Royal Family, I can't help but feel intimidated.

"Cassandra Englanes." I hear and flicker my eyes up at the King. He doesn't seem as kind and loving as when he was requesting for me. Perhaps that was all an act. And by probably, I mean I'm 99.9% sure that it was.

"You were born with Red blood. Yet, now, somehow, your blood is Silver." He says as I continue to stare at the floor as if I've never seen it before. And I haven't, I've never been in the throne room before.

"What is your ability?" I hear, the Queen. She seems more insistent on knowing rather than her husband as I speak up. I feel like I'm lower than them. And maybe I am.

"I don't know." I whisper as they stare at me.

"You never had a Father." The King speaks. "Your Mother was never married, she never took after another name. You had no Father, in the files, there was no name for your Father. It just said, Adoption."

I chew my bottom lip as the King says something. I think it was, Medic, or something. I wasn't really listening as, suddenly, something pricked my skin. I immediately jumped as I turned and saw a nurse, a Silver one, with some Silver blood within her little tube. My blood.

"Test results will be ready inside three hours." She says before leaving the room with my blood. Where she pricked feels dull and slightly painful as I rub my arm, hoping the pain would go away.

"How did your blood, ever so magically, turn Silver?" The King asks me as I look down at my feet. "Look up at me when I address you." He announces as I turn to look at him right in the eye. But when I do, something flickers in those red-gold orbs, something that I can't seem to catch.

"I. Don't. Know." I say, stretching out every single word. I've always been known for being well spoken, for thinking my way through. But right now, I was fuming mad. I couldn't think. "I didn't know I was coming here until today, I only know that somehow, someway, my blood has turned Silver. Perhaps its fate, perhaps I'm fake, but I do know that my blood is Silver."

I bring my head up to stare at the king once again, my icy blue eyes shining. Everything about me was wrong, and now I know why. Why my skin was always so pale, why my eyes didn't match my family's. Because I am not part of this family.

"If I am truly such a burden, why don't you just kill me?" I ask them, my voice simple and plain, not breaking one bit. I stare at them, at the Princes and the King and the Queen.

The Queen stares at me, but she instantly looks away, but the King and his sons just stare at me. As if they're searching for something.

"We shall not kill you." The Queen announces and turns to the King and tilted her head. "Becasue you have cured my husband. Isn't that right?"

Her voice is cold and full of aggression. The King stares at her, then he glances at me.

"Of course."

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Emily