Dragon's Love with Dangerous Letters

Chapter 18

". . . Artemis. . ."

". . . Artemis. . ."

The brunette spun in circles as she stood in the darkness all alone trying to find the two different voices calling her name. The sound of wood popping in a fire rattled out from the endless dark color in front of her making her heart pound against her rib cage frantically like it was looking for a way out. Her breath was short and shaky and she could feel the beads of sweat rolling down her forehead. Artemis wanted to speak out but when she tried to she felt her that her throat was to sore and dry to allow her to utter even a simple sound.

"Run Artemis!"

The urgency in the voice startled her so much that she couldn't help but listen. Her feet began to move leading her further into the dark abyss where she had no clue what would be lying within. Each step she took shattered the disturbing silence that filled the dark void. But her footsteps weren't the only ones ringing through the dark; someone else was following her, running after her. The teen screwed her eyes shut and pumped her legs harder, her inner thoughts screaming at her to go faster. The brunette suddenly felt herself being tossed forward and falling onto her face as if she tripped but what was there to trip on!? Air!? She felt the side of her face hit what seemed like some thick glass floor that allowed her to see the darkness below herself. She would have gotten up and to run again but the footsteps were so loud and sounded so close now that she didn't think it was worth it anymore. All the brunette did was curl herself up into a ball and placed the palms of her hands to the back of her head waiting for her pursuer to catch up to her.

"Artemis!"

"Artemis run away!"

All at once everything ceased and a heavy silence lifted through her ears once more. The pounding footsteps were no more and the screaming of both voices had stopped. Artemis let her eyes flutter open slowly and she sat up in her spot, her olive toned eyes scanning her surroundings slowly. She felt a set of fingers curl themselves gently onto her shoulder and she whirled around with her hand curled into a fist ready to defend herself but it was only stopped by the others free hand.

The person who had been crouching behind her wasn't what the teen had been expecting at all, she hadn't been expecting a friend. The sight of him made her heart twist but she didn't understand why he would be the one with burn marks on him. He hadn't been in a fire that she had known of and his kingdom certainly wasn't burned down because she would have known about with how fast news travels these days. It hurt her to see him this way, his skin tainted with black marks and pin tendered skin, his chest moving quickly like he was searching for as much air as he could. The male pulled Artemis into a gentle embrace, the thought of him hugging her any tighter probably would have brought him pain from his wounds. Artemis parted her lips to say something but nothing seemed to want to come out from her mouth.

"Artemis . . . run."

The said girl's eyes widened when he spoke to her. His voice had been one of the ones who had spoken to her but his was the one who spoke more than the other, his was the one who had been telling her to run but from what? Had something been after her? Was that what gave him the burn marks because he was holding it off for her to get away? Artemis didn't know the answers to these questions and the only thing that kept repeating itself around the rest of all of it was what he was called, just that one word which was his name.

". . . Sting. . ." She whispered.

Artemis sprung up in her bed, her nails digging harshly into the sheets of her bed while her panting sounded rapidly through the room. She looked through the windows to her left and wiped the sweat from her brow. The sun was almost up fully in the sky which allowed Artemis to guess that there wasn't much time left until noon time. She threw her covers off and slipped out of trying to erase the crazy dream she woke up from mere moments ago. A dress was already neatly lain out for her on top of the cushioned chair a crossed her room. She picked it up and found that today's attire would be made of a royal blue fabric. She made her way into the bathroom and quickly changed into the dress from her nightclothes before pulling her hair up and pinning it with a jeweled hair clip, she slightly curled the remaining chunks of hair in the front that weren't long enough to reach and be clipped in the back with the rest.

The brunette found a tray of food set on her nightstand when she stepped out of the bathroom. She handed the maid who had been waiting outside the door her clothes and then watched her leave. Artemis gladly walked over to the food and began to eat since she had not eaten anything yesterday after she rejected the food at lunch. The memory of the conversation made her shiver as she picked up her glass and began to drink the light brown liquid content inside which tasted like tea. The newspaper set on the tray was what she picked up after she finished with her meal, the first picture on the front page making the corners of her mouth turn down and the paper to sag in her hands. She saw nothing but a crumbled house that had been probably once a beautiful home for someone back in the Pyre kingdom. The picture showed its remaining ashes along with its support beams that had collapsed and in the middle of the picture, the one thing that caught Artemis's eye the most was the stuffed bunny rabbit that lay there with a missing leg and ear, a stuffed animal that had once been loved by a small girl but now had no owner and was sitting there in a pile of ashes all alone. Artemis closed her eyes and placed the paper back onto the tray with the cover page laying face down. She buried her face in her hands and tried to fight the sobs bubbling up within her throat and the tears rushing up to the rims of her eyes. Nothing but the words 'It's my entire fault' repeated like a record player through her mind making her feel terrible. The moment she felt as if she couldn't hold in the tears and sobs anymore a loud crash came from down the hall outside her room's door. The female's head shot up while her eyes became fixated on her white marbled door. Another crash sounded and it was a lot louder than the first. She heard muffled voices and a pair of footsteps running quickly in the direction of her room. Artemis slowly stood from her bed and walked towards the door with her eyebrows pulled together in curiosity as to what was happening outside her room. She didn't even make it half way to her door before it flew open and slammed against the wall revealing a male panting and leaning on his knees, a flying feline that much resembled happy but had brown fur and a fancy blue vest hovering behind and looking down at him worriedly.

Artemis stood there shocked to see this particular male standing in her doorway out of breath. His head flew up and his sapphire eyes bored into her, a look of relief washed over his face as a smile crept onto his face and . . . tears pricked the corners of his eyes? He rushed forward and pulled Artemis into a bone smashing hug as he chuckled into her hair, a mixture of very faint sobs finding their way into his soft chuckles.

"You're ok . . . I thought you didn't make it out of that fire and nobody I had asked ever said anything or heard anything about a girl named Artemis. I so glad you made it out . . . So glad." He chuckled into her pinned up hair.

". . . Sting. . ." Artemis whispered just as if she were reliving a better version of her dream.