I still remembered how awful my previous life was. My father was crazy rich, but it never helped me since he did not care about me. My mother was one of the many mistresses he had in his youth. And when she died of cancer and he had to start taking care of me, he simply left me alone in his huge mansion with his lawful wife. She hated me, of course. Even though I was just a child back then. But not too many women are kind enough to love the child born from their husband cheating on them.
She made my life miserable. Especially in comparison to my siblings, who were always loved and adored.
On one hand, I had everything – the best food, clothes, toys, education… On another, I was lacking what was most important. Love and family. I didn’t even have friends. At least, not the real ones. This was why when I started to have terrible nightmares and hallucinations, no one was there for me. They were happy to finally put a label on me. My family called me crazy Regina and...
This was how I ended up in the mental institution. They called it a rehab, of course. And it was one of the best ones in the country. Father did not spare money when he tried to get rid of me.
But it did not feel like rehabilitation for me when they shoved meds down my throat or strapped me to the bed at night so that I wasn’t troubling them. Those were long and dark days. And even now, after twenty years in this body, I still see those days when I close my eyes.
Surprisingly, this was where I made my first ever friend. A girl named Ewa, who became one of the very few light memories of my previous life. The two of us were getting along just fine in spite of all the craziness around us. Ewa got there because she got into a car accident once and spent some time in a coma. When she woke up, she was sure that she came from a world full of magic and dragons… I thought it was crazy back then…
Well, the joke was on me. Because this was exactly what happened to me.
One night at the rehab, two male nurses came for me. They grabbed me and took me into the treatment room. I was so scared and screamed for help. But no one came for me. I could feel that something was wrong. The rehab did not do any treatments at night, yet they strapped me to the table. My imagination was painting the most horrible scenarios...
This was when I saw a handsome man with red hair standing in the corner with his arms crossed. He looked at me emotionlessly and nodded to the nurses to go on.
“What are you doing?” I screamed at them, "Who are you?! Why are you doing this to me?!"
But they all ignored me.
“Don’t worry,” one of the men said as he got tubes they used to force-feed meds in the clinic and shoved them down my throat, “It will look like she stole the meds and overdosed herself secretly.”
My eyes widened at his words and I started begging for my life. I cried and I promised them anything that was in my power. I humiliated myself. And they still had no interest in any of this.
“I don’t care,” the man with the red hair said watching them killing me slowly as they poured the strange blue liquid down the tubes that were already deep in my throat. Too deep for me to spit this out. “I just need her dead tonight. That’s it.”
Tears were rolling down my face as I felt so dizzy. It was a terrible death. But at least it was a painless one…
The next moment I opened my eyes in a whole new world. And this wasn’t even the weirdest thing. It took me some time to realise what was happening. But I was a baby in the hands of a handsome but very sad man. I couldn’t speak or even move properly, but I could comprehend everything that was going on around me.
This was how I became Sage Satorr, the one and only daughter of the widowed marquis Roland Satorr. His wife died giving birth to me. And since that day there was only him and me.
It was strange growing up understanding everything with a brain of an adult. I tried to hide it for as long as I could, but, of course, my father figured me out soon. He was so proud of his genius daughter. Compared to other kids, this was what I was. A genius. Even though I felt like a cheater most of the time.
But I didn’t want to slow myself down. I knew far too well that chances like this were rare and chose to use mine wisely, learning everything there was to learn. So, by the time I was 19 and it was time to choose a magical academy for me, all the best ones offered me scholarships. Not that I needed one. My father decided to pay for me anyway so that my conditions were better than anyone else’s. This was how he always was…
And now he was taken from me. I watched through the window how they pushed him into the carriage for… prisoners. And I swallowed hard. Whoever accused him, had their facts wrong. Or they did this on purpose. And I was going to get to the bottom of this!
Roland Satorr was no traitor! He was the most honourable man that I had seen in not one but two lifetimes!
“You have forty-five minutes left,” I heard the stone-cold voice behind my back and turned to face the man who just ruined my life.
“Don’t enjoy this too much!” I hissed at him and stormed out.
“My lady!” my maid Yara was waiting for me on the staircase, “Please! Hurry! They are arresting the whole house! All servants are told to leave as well.”
I clenched my fists. This was too much. The people who worked in our estate were like family to me too.
I hated this. I hated that our enemies got everyone into this.
“Follow me,” I told Yara, walking straight into my room. A few royal guards were at the door but they did not obstruct me from walking inside. I went straight to my wardrobe room and Yara got the biggest suitcase out. “Get one more!” I commanded her and she followed my order without hesitation as always.
I started pointing at clothes for different occasions, choosing only what was necessary. The garments filled the first bag. Yara wanted to start filling the second one but I motioned for her to stop.
“Place my most expensive gowns here,” I said, “Pick the ones with jewels on them. This will go for sale at an auction. You will sell this and my jewellery. And make sure that the money is distributed between servants and remaining knights to keep you guys going while this matter is settled.”
She stopped doing anything and looked at me, gaping.
“My lady!” Yara gasped, “We will manage! We all have our houses and family members in the town nearby. You know that! But you…”
“I can take care of myself,” I cut her off, “But people who work here… They had a roof over their head just a few minutes ago, and daily meals. Now they have to leave urgently. I owe them this much. So, don’t argue! We don’t have time! Just do it!”
“Yes, my lady,” she nodded and went to get my exclusive dresses. In the meantime, I packed my books and the most precious artefacts that I created.
Artefacts were my life. It started as a mere hobby but soon grew into something completely else. Taking simple things and creating magic… It was an incredible feeling. This was what I was famous for because I created my first artefact when I was just seven. And I never stopped, creating an object after an object.
Artefactorics was my major at the academy. So, I packed my instruments next. If anything, with their help I would always be able to provide for myself. Artefacts weren't cheap.
But now I had more important things to think about. I turned to look at my jewellery. Very quickly, I packed the most precious family jewels into a wooden box. Then I gathered everything else that was left, which turned out to be a nice pile and handed it all to a startled Yara.
“My lady!” she looked at me with wide eyes, “You can’t!”
“I can only trust you with these,” I told her, “I need you to sell them if it will be necessary to keep people afloat. Until I… figure everything out.”
“But what are you doing to do?” she asked me with tears in her eyes. She lived in this house for as long as I could remember. Yara was my first playmate when I was little as she was the daughter of our kitchen maid. And when she became old enough, she started working as my personal maid. We were inseparable.
Until today came...
“I am going to get help,” I told her honestly, “All I need to do is to get to Dorian. I am sure he will help me.”
“True,” the girl wiped her tears and nodded firmly, “Sir Dorian is an honourable man. He would take care of you and will fight for justice for your father. I am sure.”
“Yeah,” I agreed with her, “Me too.”
A knock on the door let us know that our time was up and we grabbed the bags. We walked out with our heads held high and calmly went together to the exit of my house. I tried not to look at the portraits of the many family members that lived here before me and my father. And I especially tried not to look at the painting of the two of us right in front of the entrance. This was always the first thing that everyone who walked in here saw… Now it would probably be destroyed by those monsters!
We walked out of the house and I saw people loading their bags into carriages. Some of them were crying but most simply looked stressed.
All eyes were on me now and I fixed my dark green cloak, forcing a smile onto my face. I did not want anyone to see me broken.
“We prepared a carriage for you, lady Satorr,” one of the royal guards came up to us.
“I don’t need you…” I started saying but he only smirked at me.
“It’s a carriage from the town. You will have to pay for it yourself.” He said that clearly enjoying the moment.
“Excuse me then,” now a crooked smile came naturally onto my lips, “For a second there I thought that you had an ounce of decency and honour in you. My bad.”
His sneer faded and he opened his mouth to say something.
“You think you still mean…”
“That’s enough!” a metallic resounding voice made me turn my head and I saw Winter coming out of my house with his hands behind his back. One glance of his was enough for the guard to retreat.
But I was not going to thank him.
Luckily, he did not look like he expected it.
He walked past me and threw a small bag with coins to the coachman, “Take the lady to the Riordian Royal Academy…”
“No, thank you!” I interjected. Who did this man think he was? “I am not going to the Academy!”
“And may I ask why not?” Winter furrowed his silver brows and looked at me for the first time.
“You may not!” I retorted and went to the coachman, grabbing the bag with coins from his hands and shoving it back at the man I hated the most at the moment, “And take that back! I will pay for my coach myself! But if you need to know, I am going to my fiancé Dorian Riverflame!”
The man’s lips twitched a bit as if he wanted to say something.
“It would be best if you follow your father’s advice and go straight to your academy,” he said as if he was forcing the words out of himself.
“Here is one thing that someone like you would probably never get,” I gave him the most disdainful gaze I could master, “My father wants to protect me. But I want to protect him too! We call it family.”
With that, I turned my back on him and gave Yara one last hug. My bag was already inside and I did not hesitate to get in as well. It was getting colder by the minute.
The ride was long, Riverflames’ lands were quite far from ours. And it was getting properly freezing now.
However, when I saw the familiar towers of Dorian’s estate at the distance, I let out a sigh of relief.
They let the carriage inside the gate without any problems and I saw Dorian running out of the doors of his mansion. He looked worried and I jumped out and ran into his warm embrace.
“Sage, I just heard,” he said, giving me a tight hug, “I am so sorry…”
“It was horrible!” I looked at him, “Dorian, they took my father away! They…”
“What is she doing here?!” an angry voice interrupted our reunion, making me shudder...
AUTHOR'S NOTE: So, Chapter 2 is in and we have more of the backstory of Sage/Regina. Readers who read Dragon's Ice, do you recognise her? Readers who didn't read it - is the story more or less easy to understand like this? I was writing and rewriting it a few times. This is one of the reasons for the delay.
The next update will be tomorrow and then I will let you know the schedule for next week.
Aksara