Chapter 123: 123-Healing
"Why are you crying?"
Princess Sheana hugged her body without letting go. The emotions that lingered from the horrible nightmare she just had exited her body through the floods from her eyes.
The horror of watching Aenyra walk away from her was worse that all the torture she’d endured from her father growing up.
She closed her eyes, leaned down on Aenyra and took a deep breath of the dragoness’s scent. The scent coming off Aenyra was smokey mint, strong and herbal, it was perfectly calming to Sheana’s nerves.
"My mother made you some porridge. Why don’t you try some and see if you like it," Aenyra coarsed.
Without letting go, she guided both of them to the bed and sat the phoenix princess on the bed and placed the platter on the side.
Princess Sheana broke the hug. She slid further onto the bed and sat with her legs crossed and stared at the appetizing, mouth watering porridge.
"Your mother... made this personally?" Sheana asked, doubtful.
"Yes, to welcome you," Aenyra let out, picking up the spoon.
Princess Sheana looked down on the porridge and wondered if Aenyra was lying to her to make her feel better. There was no way that Nadelyra Zhen would go to the kitchen to cook for an unworthy guest like her.
She knew because even her father the emperor had to stand and bow when Nadelyra entered a room. That was how powerful Nadelyra’s position in the empire was and Aenyra wanted her to think that Nadelyra went out of her way to cook for her, she couldn’t believe it.
How could she? She’s never known a mother’s love of a parents care.
"The flame on the porridge is from her dragon flame. No other dragon can imitate it, not even me," Aenyra explained as she sensed that Sheana didn’t trust her words. "You’ve seen my mother’s dragon flame before, right?" She raised an eyebrow.
Who hasn’t? The entire empire had gathered for the start of dragon month, every year and the grand function was always launched by one of the matriarchs of the Zhen family. And last year, it was Aenyra’s mother who did it, and every year she attended to catch a glimpse of the cold detached dragon princess standing by her mother’s side.
She knew the dragon flame of the dragon queen. It was rare and stood out among other dragon flames, none of her children had inherited it according to records.
Aenyra dipped the spoon into the plate and scooped a spoonful of the porridge. It glowed with a flame whose colour danced between red, blue and purple. It created a unique mix that was impossible to name like it was made from three flame roots.
Aenyra blew gently on the porridge as her mother did for her back then when last she had the porridge, not that it did anything to the flame or the hotness of the porridge.
"You’re a phoenix so I don’t think that you’ll suffer much from the flame. Aah?"
It was princess Sheana’s turn to raise an eyebrow. "Do you intend to feed me?"
"Mmh," Aenyra nodded.
She hoped that her kindness at that moment could start to make up for her cowardice behavior. But she understood that had her elders not been so understanding, she probably wouldn’t have given Sheana attention which she intended to improve on.
She set her mind to do better and be the best version of herself while with Sheana. The phoenix didn’t ask to be bound to her, that was her choice and she needed to hold herself accountable to that.
She fed Sheana the first mouthful of the porridge. Sheana closed her eyes, assuming the flame would burn away at the insides of her mouth.
To her surprise, the rice porridge was the tastiest thing her taste buds had ever been exposed to and the flames were more than gentle with her skin.
It healed it’s way down. Every part it touched that was wounded, either new or old, was soothed before the skin was provoked to heal.
Sheana closed her eyes, savouring the taste and the feeling of the flame going down her throat. Her mind ached when the flame touched her throat.
She remembered all the times her father had a collar around her neck, how forceful the collars would get on days when her father decided she was breathing too loud and how much her throat hurt.
Her tears that she had stopped before started falling again. The flame kissed her throat as though caressing her inner scars and telling her that it was over now. In that moment, Sheana saw on her mind, invisible hands reaching out and removing any lingering essense of those torture devices from her neck.
"Why are you crying again. Is the flame too harsh on you," she set down the spoon and stretched her hands over to wipe the tears streaming down Sheana’s face.
"More," Sheana opened her mouth, her eyes remained closed, refusing to let go of that warm feeling of her shackles being undone.
"But you are crying. I’m hesitant to feed you more."
"I need this," Sheana whispered in a notch so low that had Aenyra not been seated right next to her, she wouldn’t have heard it. "Please..."
Her aunt’s words came echoing in her mind. "She is carrying years of loneliness and disappointment. If you’re not going to be her happiness then I suggest letting her down slowly. She’s been through more hell than paradise that any beast her age should."
She always thought that princesses lived lives of luxury and indulgence. However with Sheana the rules seemed to have been rewritten in a way that made no sense.
The phoenix got excited when Nytherael gave her a simple bag of gold shards like she’s never seen that much wealth in her life which shouldn’t be possible since she was royalty. And she reacted so emotionally to a flame rice porridge even though phoenix’s had their own recipe that mother’s made for their young ones all the time.
However, she didn’t air any of that out. She simply complied and scooped another spoon and fed her.
This time, the flame travelled to her collarbone. Sheana’s memory got triggered again, she recalled being in a dark dungeon with her father sitting in a high chair while his trusted soldier held claws from slayed war tigers and attached them to her collarbone.
She recalled how her screams tore through the room. How she pleased for mercy and begged her father to let her go.
On winter nights, she could always feel the pain from those wounds shoot up. More tears flowed from her closed eyes, Sheana dropped her dress tightly and felt the flame lick clean those scars and the pain from them seemed to fade from her mind.
She opened her eyes. Her eyes glanced down at that simple dish that felt like rare magic. "What is in the porridge?"
"No idea," Aenyra immediately said. "It’s the family recipe. Hasn’t been passed down yet and my mother said she added something that you’ll find most pleasing?"
Princess Sheana blinked. She wondered if the healing effect of the porridge was what the dragon queen added for her. She felt so warm.
"Why? You don’t like it?"
Aenyra didn’t think there was anything wrong with it. She took a spoonful and tasted it herself, she forgot to change spoons and used the same one Sheana had used.
"Mmmmh, yummy," her eyes lit up, "Tasty," she exclaimed.
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