The the glowed brightly, becoming all that I could see. Shouts could be heard all across the town, gazes swaying towards the tree. My captors halted, looking for the cause of the commotion. The one that held me turned, causing me to no longer be able to see the tree.

A heaviness fell over my head. The man that held me shouted something, but I couldn’t hear. There was a buzzing in my ears. Nothing could heard over the buzzing. It was the ringing of bells on the old church tower. But louder. Like it was in me. I struggled to breathe, there was only darkness in front of me.

Then, like the rushing of a river, the buzzing was swept away. A gently voice soothed the screams I didn’t know had been coming from my mouth. It said, “When you wake, darling, you’ll know what to do.”

I opened my eyes, a canopy swayed over my head. A gentle breeze caressed my face. The window was open. I turned to look, all I could see was treetops and a bird flying into the leaves. I watched for a long time until a body storing next to me took my attention away.

“Camellia?” My younger brother rubbed his eyes, trying to get the sleep out from them.

I smiled, kissing his head. “Good morning sleeping bug.”

“Good morning.”

We both raised out of the bed, stretching. This was the normal routine before- before what? I thought for a long moment. What happened that stopped this?

Callum pulls me from my thoughts again, “Camellia, it’s time for breakfast, get up!”

I chuckled, saluting him, “Sir, yes sir.”

Callum was the next head of the house, being the only male heir. I was to be his most loyal supporter, a position I was proud of. Was proud of? Is proud. My smiled stuttered, something was missing.

We walked to the dining room in our sleep clothes, my mother greeted us at the door. She picked up Callum and rubbed my head. “Good morning you two.” Tickling my brother, she asked, “Did you sneak into your sister’s bed again?”

Callum laughed, squirming. I hadn’t seen her this happy in a long time, I thought. I paused, no, she’s always this happy. Suddenly a thought struck, “How old am I?”

My father laughed from the table, “I don’t expect you to be a genius but I do expect you to know your own age. You’re sixteen for heaven’s sake!”

Sixteen. I was sixteen. I smiled wide. It was all a bad dream. Callum never went away. Mother and father never got fasted out. They never left me behind. I grinned and sat at my place at the table, on mother’s left side.

I dug into my food, looking at my plate. While staring at the toast, I watched it slowly morph into steak. The piece in my mouth change from bread into the meat as well. I looked up in shock, finding that the room had become dim. I looked at my mother, finding anger on her face.

“I’ve received a letter from your school.”

I gulped, knowing what was coming. We’d had this fight in my dream. She yelled at me because I couldn’t use magic. No aptitude the teachers had said. They put it nicely that I was just one of those that couldn’t use it, that it happens, but mother bore down on me.

“They say you can’t use magic. What kind of child are you? You aren’t mine!” She gradually got louder and louder until her voice was shrill. I could feel the tears start to run down my face. Mother was a nice woman, always a perfect woman. She never raised her voice, nor worried the small stuff. She threw parties that our neighbors were always envious of. Mother was a kind woman. Mother wasn’t this.

I looked to my father for help, but found his seat empty. When I looked back at my mother, she bacem a pillar of smoke before my eyes. I cried harder, looking to my brother. He sat in his seat, his throat slashed. I screamed, touching my face with my hands. I could feel slickness on my face and pulled my hands away, they were covered in blood.

Then I heard the voices.

You did this.

How could you do this?

He was your own brother.

I tried to scream back, no! No, it wasn’t me. I loved him! I didn’t do it. But the voices fell away, leaving me at the table to stare at my brother. I wept, crying for him, calling for him.

He went rigid, his pale face looking up at me, “Why did you kill me Camellia? Did you want to be the Baron that bad?”

No. No, I was fine. I liked my job. I loved you. But the words wouldn’t come. I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t do anything but cry as his words accused me, stabbed me, struck me dumb. I closed my eyes against the words, trying to block them out.

Then his voice fell away.

I opened my eyes again, finding a very different scene playing out in front of me. The pirates all wandered around. I tried to move but I found my wrists and ankles chained. I tried to call out for help but just like the dream, no sound came out.

One of the men saw my struggling, “Someone fetch the captain, she’s awake.”

My throat burned, I clawed at it, finding the skin raised on it. What happened?

“We took your voice.” The man from earlier said, the captain as the men called him. He entered my line of sight, a smile on his face. “Don’t worry though, you won’t need it.”

I glared at him, his men coming up behind him. A few of them snickering at my state. I brandished my hands, wanting the chains off. He motioned to one of the men and had me released, ankles too.

“My name is Ruben,” he tilted his head, “think of me as your new king.” His smirk was infuriating.

I was trembling, anger coursing through my veins hotter than any liquid. The men laughed at me, whispering amongst themselves. That’s when I spotted her. An angel sitting on Ruben’s shoulder. She smiled at me, only her voice could I hear above the rest.

“My name is Lily, god has sent me to be your guide.”

Guide to what? I asked, I clutched my throat, remembering that I could not speak.

She chuckled gently, “Worry not child, I can hear you just fine.”

The men threw insults my way, as well as Ruben telling me the rules, but I couldn’t hear them. I was focused on the woman. Clad in white with light brown hair and green eyes, she looked just like a vision. Like an angel. Are you and angel?

She laughed, but it wasn’t like the laughs I was used to hearing, this one was soft and sweet. “I am, little one.” She floated towards me, grace in every step. She crouched in front of me and the light she gave off almost blinded me for a moment. “Open your eyes little one, let me show you what I can give you.”

I opened an eye, afraid to be blinded again. The scene in front of me had changed, it wasn’t men that stood in front of me but an adoring mass. People of every size, shape, color, and race stood in front of me. Cheering for me.

“You saved them,” the angel whispered to me. “From destruction and a king that burdened them with cruelty. Now you’re their queen.”

How do I get that? I asked, eyes wide. This, the love I felt from these people, I wanted. I longed for that feeling of being loved that I used to have. That my parents used to give me. Before it all went down hill.

“Simple,” she said, “follow what I say, I am your guide after all, and I will grant you numerous things that your heart desires.”

I nodded, blinking, finding I was back with the men. They all looked at me funny. Did I say something weird? I asked the angel.

She sat on my shoulder and said, “You agreed to be sold to the highest bidder.”

I gulped, Shit.

“Exactly.”