Chapter Twenty-six: Growing pains part 1

I found myself floating in a dark space as I came to, causing me to raise my arms and trying to feel around. Doing that seemed to make a floor appear as my feet felt solid ground beneath them.

I started to walk, but it felt like I was moving in place.

'So your still trying to be accepted.' A cruel voice, one that I was sure I've heard before echoes in the darkness. 'Haven't you realized that it's useless?'

"Who are you?" I shout, looking around to see where it was coming from.

'Who am I?' The voice chuckles. 'Are you that stupid that you can't even figure it out?'

"How am I supposed to know when I can't even see you?"

'It looks like you finally learned to talk back.' It seemed to come from right in front of me. 'But you are still the helpless, useless child no matter what you wear or clean your self up as.'

A mirror appears before me, showing me myself; matted hair, scarred skin stretched over my bones and wearing only thing I was allowed to wear with Daddy- a stained long shirt that the color had long since faded.

'See?'

It felt like hands where holding my face, forcing me to look at myself.

'How could anyone love such a dirty thing like you? You clearly have no worth.'

"N-no!" I struggled against the cold hands and managed to pull away. "I do have worth! Papa said that I am his daughter!"

'His daughter?' The voice laughs as a flash of light brightens the space, materializing into an outline of me, a black line was the only definable feature on the white figure.

'What a joke!' The line starts to move, opening and closing like a mouth. 'You have a father and even he abandoned you. He let you die.'

The barking of dogs start to appear from around me, shadowy forms of the same dogs circling and getting closer with each pass.

'Your 'Papa' will eventually do the same'   The white me cocks its head to the side as the line became a horrible grin. 'No matter the nice clothes you wear and how hard you try to be accepted- you will be abandoned once they all realize it.'

"No." I stopped backing away from the dogs and frowned at the other me. "I trust them. They have shown me that I do deserve everything they have given me."

It steps back at my words.

"Why would I trust someone who doesn't even show their face?" I stand my ground.

I am no longer the child who was helplessly chained to a pole nor the child who was forced to do dangerous work in a mine.

"I am Soraya de Rirgonath Gecaea. Daughter of Terzin de Rirgonath Gecaea! My past does not defined me- I will not let you manipulate me anymore!!!"

My words turned into a shout that caused cracks in the space, allowing sunlight inside.

'You win this time.' The white me starts to fade. 'But you'll realize eventually that I am right. You will come to me once that happens.'

I open my mouth to say something back but as the sunlight hits my eyes; felt really sick and bent over to hold my hands over my mouth.

~~~~

*Cough!*

I woke up with every part of me in pain and my throat feeling like it was burning

"Dear! Your highness! She's awake!" Mimi's voice was full of worry as I struggled to open my eyes.

It was too bright.

"Hold on." Mimi seemed to notice as I tried to move, using magic to close the blinds.

"Soraya!" Papa's hand brushes my hair away from my face as he leaned over to meet my eyes. "How are you feeling?"

I try to answer him but another cough escapes me.

"Here." Papa lifts me up and tucks a pillow behind me before using his magic to lift water from a pitcher and sending a small stream into my mouth. "Does that help?"

I swirled the water around which helped a little though the burning feeling didn't go away.

"P-papa?" My voice cracks a little. "W-what happened?"

"You inhaled pollen from magic flowers that had a high concentration of magic. They caused you to faint."

"Oh." I felt a tickling sensation on my hand and when I looked down I saw that there was still three flowers clenched in my hands as wells as numerous petals scattered on the bed.

"You are still in the middle of treatment." Dr. Strom takes my pulse on the opposite side of the bed. "In time, we can remove the last few flowers and clean up the petals."

"Why?" My throat felt better after a few more sips of water.

"You were over stimulated by the high concentration from the magic flowers. We have been slowly removing them over the past few months-"

*Cough!!*

"M-months?" I couldn't help but be surprised. "How long was I asleep?"

Nadia and Aidan who stood off to the side, wouldn't meet my eyes as I glance over at them; Mimi held a hand against her mouth as Grandpa and Papa looked upset.

"It's been about 7 months." Dr. Strom knelt down to my eye level, his one eye showing a deep bag under it. "It took that long to get you awake and there are still three flowers that we have to remove."

"Can't I just let go?" I tried to move my hands but Papa placed his hand over mine.

"You can't." His face looked full of pain. "It's too dangerous. If we are not careful, it could kill you."

I looked at each one of their faces and saw the same deep bags under their eyes with pale skin.

"To be honest, I thought it would take longer for you to wake Princess." Dr. Strom sighed. "It would of been better if you had."

Papa's hand clenched over mine at his words.

"Why?"

"The withdraw symptoms can be extremely harsh, that alone could kill you. We were lucky to stabilize you while you were unconscious but it might become worse now that you are awake."

"Why did you not say anything before?" Papa's voice was cold, a stark contrast to his warm hand.

"Most humans do not wake before almost all the flowers are gone." Dr. Strom bows. "I had no reason to believe that the princess would wake-"

"That is not an excuse." Papa seemed to hold himself back as he smoothed my hair.

I wasn't sure why they were all tense but I couldn't help but groan a little.

"Princess!!" Everyone rushed towards me until a growl that echoed in the room stopped them in their tracks.

"Haha!"

"Of course you would be hungry!" Mimi says over the beastkins laughter as Papa and Grandpa relaxed a little. "Lets get some soup into you Dear."

Mimi disappears while Papa pats me on the head.

"I wish that you did not have such a talent in making us worried Granddaughter." Grandpa smiles at me, his beard much longer then the last time I saw him.

"Sorry." I couldn't help but blush.

"Its alright." Papa reassures me. "We'll talk more once you've eaten."

"Okay."

Hello everyone! Your favorite author here! I had some free time between some classes that I have to take so I decided to sit and write a bit.

I saw a bunch of everyone's comments- you guys crack me up! It makes me glad to know that you guys love this story!

The next chapter is gonna be posted sometime next month since I'll be leaving in a few days to visit a friend so I have a lot of stuff to prepare for that (which I've been pushing off the past couple of days- outside of classes). 🤫😅

Summer is finally here and its been a crazy one, I hope that you all have been staying safe and wearing sunscreen.😎

Also do not forget to drink water- its really not fun to get dehydrated.

Love you all and Thanks for reading!!! 😘🥰