And here is the next chapter to the tale of Esmora. If you are interested in learning more about Chiara, look at Caladria Napea's story about that character. Same disclaimer, no stealing. . . Thanks for the comments!
Chapter Thirteen
Esmora walked down the familiar halls, but thought they seemed more cramped than she remembered them. She turned into her room to find Amara waiting for her.
"Did the culling go well?" she asked eagerly, "Did our Queen find many to feast on?"
"She did, indeed," was Esmora's calculated answer.
Amara sighed and Esmora new that she wished to see one.
"Did you get to feed?" she asked with a kind of reverence.
"Yes," Esmora replied as she flexed her hand. For the first time she felt slightly repulsed by it.
"I wish I had that ability," Amara sighed wistfully.
"Never wish for that!" Esmora snapped at her and immediately regretted her loss of temper.
"Bring Chiara to me," she said impulsively.
Amara ran to do her bidding as Esmora sat down to think. If what she had seen on the world was true, then what the Wraith had told her must not. And if the Wraith told her lies, then Chiara was right. But if everything the Wraith had told her was false, then she everything she had done was wrong. Everything she had ever lived for was nothing but lies. She heard the door opening.
Ushering Chiara into the room, Amara went to sit at Esmora's side. "Leave us," Esmora snapped at her without looking away from the Ancient's face. Hurt, Amara left the room and Chiara stood stiffly, waiting for Esmora to speak. When she did not, Chiara turned and looked for a place to sit. She located a small chair and placed herself in it, Esmora's eyes still burning into her.
"What did they do to you?"
Surprised at the tired tone in Esmora's voice, Chiara said, "The Wraith?" and at a slight nod, she went on, "They took me from my husband who is most likely murdered by now. They tore me from my loved ones, my family and friends," Chiara said, fire burning in her eyes.
"Love," Esmora mused out loud, and caused Chiara to once again puzzle at the usually strong Esmora's change of mood.
"Love," Esmora said once again, "is a strange word to me. Describe it," she commanded in a subdued tone.
"Describe love?" Chiara asked incredulously, "How can one describe that feeling? It is like a fire within that yearns for another person. To keep that person safe and to make that person comfortable, to want nothing bad to happen to that person, to weep when they leave, to have an empty spot in your heart when they die," Chiara said, thinking of her husband and almost shedding the tears of which she spoke.
Esmora looked past Chiara and into a void only known to that girl. In that moment, all of her strength seemed to vanish, and she was once again a little girl, waiting for her mother to wake up. She was once again told that her mother would never wake, and was comforted by the Wraith Queen. When she thought of that day, her hands clenched, and she was brought back to reality.
"I want to leave here," she said, her eyes focusing once more on Chiara.