For example, how nice it was to feel her in my arms. How right it felt to hold her there.
Once outside on the terrace overlooking the gardens, where we could be alone, I let her out of my arms, where she immediately collapsed against the marbled bannister.
There was something else afoot here, something beyond a shaken human who’d just seen their first battle. This was trauma, real and made manifest in her every shivering cell. I lowered myself down to her level, leaning against the bannister so she would know she wasn’t alone.
Maybe she was my enemy. But that didn’t mean she needed to suffer.
“Are you alright?” I asked, lowering my voice so it blended in with the wind. After a battle, no one wanted to have loud words thrown at them.
“I don’t like violence.”
The fur cloak around my shoulders now felt like a cruel injustice, a symbol of my status and how it held me unfairly high above her. Here I was, sweating from the battle and she could barely keep her teeth from chattering. I slipped it off and offered it to her.
“Here. Take my cloak.”
“Why?”
When she made no move to accept it, probably still stock-still from the shock, I carefully laid it over her shaking shoulders, placing it against her bare, exposed skin in such a way that my fingertips never touched her. Besides not wanting to endure even another one of those lightning sparks that travelled between us every time we so much as brushed one another, I understood what it was like to not be touched, and I didn’t want to pressure her if she wasn’t comfortable.
No matter how much my body wanted to pull her into me and cling to her body as a reassurance that she was alright. That was an urge I wouldn’t allow myself to acknowledge, much less indulge.
“Because you’re shivering.”
“No, I mean why did you do that?”
“Do what?”
Her voice was hard and bitter, much darker and more cynical than I could ever remember hearing it before. She usually carried her wit and her humor like a shield, defending herself against the world with her fast words and light, lyrical jokes. But now, she stared out at the dark, unlit horizon and seemed to get swallowed up in that darkness. “Keep them from killing me. I can understand your brother coming to rescue me, but you? You could have just let them have me and all of your problems would have been over.”
“You heard my father. Anyone who raises a hand against the humans—”
Her head snapped in my direction. Her eyes were full of a fire I couldn’t deny, a fire that burned straight through me. “Even a blind person can see that you don’t care about your father's wishes. Why did you do it?”
I tried to think of a lie, or a way to stretch the truth. Instead, I gave her the only answer I knew how to give. “...I don’t know.”
“That’s not a good enough answer.”
“It’s the only one I have for you.”
All at once, the fire slipped out of her, and she was once again the small, exhausted creature leaning against the bannister for support. Part of me wanted to invite her into my arms, to be the place where she rested, but a voice in the back of my mind that sounded decidedly like my brother’s demanded that I keep my distance. With those two wills pulling me apart in equal measure, I couldn’t force myself to move.
Carolyn blinked. “You saved my life and you don’t know why?”
“No.”
“Bullshit. You know, you just don’t want to tell me.”
Change the subject. Just change the subject. As a prince, I always knew it was better, easier, more diplomatically advantageous to keep the conversation as far from my thoughts and feelings and motives as possible.
Princes, Adric used to say, weren’t allowed to have feelings. Only strategies.
Right now, with no idea what moves to make and more feelings than he knew what to do with, I decided that it was best to just move the spotlight away from me.
“Would you have done the same for me, if the humans were coming against me, trying to kill me?”
“...I don’t know.”
I shrugged, trying not to think of how much that uncertainty hurt, of the way it stabbed through my chest sharper than any knife. My jaw tightened. “Then we’re even, I suppose.”
“I don’t even understand. Who were those people?”
After Mother’s story about Ariedre’s abuse, I didn’t think it was wise to mention that the man who had just tried to kill her was the elf maiden’s father. I had to wonder if there was more to his little crusade tonight than just a principled stand against the dangers of humans. Maybe he thought that his daughter was going to be the Queen of Velkin one day, and he didn’t like the idea of a human swooping in and taking what was “rightfully” hers. Ariedre obviously believed that, despite my complete lack of interest in her. Perhaps the mornfruit didn’t fall far from the vine.
Even the thought of Ariedre and Vertor twisted my stomach. Mostly because I had to realize that I was just like them. Only an hour ago I’d been contemplating what it would mean to murder all the humans just like my brother wanted. Only an hour ago, I’d seen the shivering, frail, delicate human as the ultimate nemesis, worthy of total destruction.
I still saw her as a threat. Just...not necessarily a threat to the kingdom anymore.
“Our Honored Guard. They are the best trained warriors in Velkin and trusted with the safety of the Royal Family, have been for thousands of years. Some of them, it seems, have fallen under my brother’s spell.”
“Your brother?”
Ah, so word hadn’t quite traveled to all of Earth that it was a member of the royal family who’d wanted their complete annihilation. “We discovered the presence of your Earth with the help of our best team of magical scholars from the university and the Magical Congress. We knew about you long before you knew about us. Some thought that your existence was a good omen, a sign of a bigger and better world for us all, where we could share knowledge and expand our understanding of life itself. But there were others...” including myself... “Who thought that you were a threat. And more likely to cause harm than any kind of good. My eldest brother, Adric, was the leader of that particular camp and he was the one who disobeyed father’s orders for a peaceful meeting and brought the dragon to Earth. He was banished for what he did, and many people in Velkin think that he shouldn’t have been. Most of those people agree with him that you humans shouldn’t be here at all.”
I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere in the story, Carolyn had leaned into me, her body arcing towards mine as though...as though she felt safe near me. The warrior of Velkin within me protested, but the rest of me couldn’t help but reciprocate the gesture. Her warm, human breath made small dragon’s breath clouds in the dark, cold, night air.
“What about you? What do you think?”
A stray lock of hair danced away from its bun, pulled by a chilly, playful wind. My fingers itched to rip off my gloves and run the strands between my fingers, to use tucking the hair behind her ear as an excuse to see if her skin was really as soft as it looked. “...I think that you could be very, very dangerous for me, Miss Carolyn Connors.”
“So, what happens now?”
I could kill you. I could kiss you. I could wrap you in my arms and refuse to let you go for all of eternity. I could press my lips to yours and see if you really taste like stardust like I imagine that you do.
Clearing my throat, I turned away from her. No sense in giving in to fantasies, not when there was so much reality to be dealt with. “My brother has excelled in divination, just like my mother. He believes that there is a saboteur in our midst, one who wants to destroy Velkin. My mother has told me of a similar threat.” I paused, braved a glance in her direction, and tried to keep from revealing just how important she really could be. “She thinks we could be the key to preventing it.”
“Why us?”
“We are meant to bring out the light in each other.”
For the first time in our entire brief
acquaintance, Carolyn laughed. A rich, warm, human sound that rattled me to my very core. I wanted to hear more of it, wanted to be the person who made her laugh like that all the time. It was as if I’d gotten a taste of a sweet summer liquor and suddenly wanted to drink nothing else. These feelings came in riotous waves that barely bowed to all of my logical reasoning against them. For every she’s my enemy, my heart countered with something like, perhaps, but she’s an enemy with a smile brighter than any star in all the Heavens.
Carolyn brushed off the prophecy. “Ridiculous. All we ever do is fight.”
“Then perhaps we should turn our energies away from fighting each other and instead fight for our peoples.”
She gave a little hm, which I supposed was human for that’s not a bad idea. “Like, if we’re good at fighting, we should put it to good use?”
“Something like that.”
From the corner of my eye, I watched as she big down on her pink bottom lip and considered the proposal. “So, you want a truce? You and me taking on the forces of darkness to save Earth and Velkin?”
“Do you have a better idea?”
Again, she bit her lip. Did she know how thoroughly enticing she looked when she was deep in thought? How hadn't I noticed before? “...We can’t be seen together. We’d have to keep up this whole enemies act when we’re in public. If the humans think I’m canoodling with you, they’ll never tell me anything just in case I pass it along to you.”
“And the dark forces guiding my people against the humans won’t tell me anything if they believe we are working in tandem.”
“So...” One of her hands withdrew from beneath my fur cloak. I’d read about this human custom of shaking hands to secure a deal. “A secret truce?”
“Yes. A secret truce.”
I relieved my hand of my white glove and answered her handshake. The moment her skin met mine, I regretted it. Because her skin awakened a lightning storm inside me, one I wasn’t going to be shaking any time soon.
Leaning in, I captured her gaze with mine. And though I was speaking to her, I think I was trying to convince myself. “But remember, human, this is just for the good of our people. Nothing more.”
She smirked. “Don’t worry, your royalness. I still don’t like you either.”
An Interlude.
Somewhere in The Far Reaches.
The banishment was everything that Adric had feared. And more. The harsh woodlands of The Far Reaches were unforgiving and unkind. The wind there battered him. The creatures of the darkness stalked him in the night, waiting for him to show any sign of weakness so they might attack and rip him limb from limb The land was harsh and nearly barren; barely anything edible grew. He resorted to eating the carcasses of whatever dead animals he could find. He was scarred. Bloodied. Bruised.
And that was just the way he needed it, just the way he liked it. This exile was all part of the prophecy, all part of the journey that would deliver him home as the savior of Velkin. See, it wasn’t just literal darkness wrapping around him out here in The Far Reaches. It was magical darkness, feeding on his soul and devouring his insides, replacing all that was once good and kind and generous of spirit with an evil wickedness, a strength that only the darkness could bring him.
Soon, he would be in his full power.
As he stared into the firelight projection of his brother and the little human, though, the prospect was bittersweet. So far, everything was going according to plan. The seeds of discord had been sown between the humans and the magic folk. He’d been sent into deep exile in the place with the highest concentration of dark magic. Anatole believed that there was a plot by the humans to destroy his kingdom. And soon, the exiled members of The Honored Guard would make there way out here to his side.
But this human and his brother’s apparent softness for her...that was an unexpected wrinkle, one that certainly agitated Adric’s perfect plan.
No matter. He would just have to send a little magic to separate the two of them. The two of them together could destroy everything, but it wasn’t anything a little darkness couldn’t kill.
After all, one day soon, Adric would ride back to glory on the backs of dead humans and a scorched Earth. One day, he would rule all of Velkin with an iron fist, liberating them from the tyranny of this family and the presence of the humans.
And nothing would stand in his way. Not his brother. Not his parents. Not some pathetic little human girl who fancied herself in love with Anatole.
Nothing. He’d kill them all if he had to.
Chapter Thirteen
Carolyn
Okay. Cool. Yeah. So...My plan of flying under the radar and not rocking the boat too much so I could survive the school year in Velkin and get my degree and get into a good college with a killer scholarship...It wasn’t exactly going to plan. In fact, I would say secretly teaming up with the future King of Velkin to save both of our worlds from war was probably the exact opposite of what I had in mind when I decided to come here.
But, on the plus side, I guess, if we survived the threat of war between our two worlds, it would probably make for one hell of an essay on a college application. How I Saved the Universe with the Help of a Prickly Elf Prince had a nice ring to it. Admissions officers would eat that stuff up. According to all of the admissions guidebooks I’d bought, they loved stories of overcoming adversity. Battling the forces of darkness threatening the lives of millions of beings—human and otherwise—would make me look like a pretty attractive scholarship candidate.
On the negative side, I now had to, you know, actually do the whole world-saving thing. And I wasn’t going to manage it on my own. Whether I liked it or not, Anatole and I were stuck together.
The problem was...I didn’t actually know whether I liked the prospect of spending more time with Anatole or not. Sure, he was a stuck-up, pompous asshole who believed in the superiority of Magic Folk, thought all humans were murderers bent on destroying his home-world and there was that whole thing where he told Ariedre that he was going to torture me. On the other hand...maybe there was more to him than met the eye. He’d asked me dance. Awakened feelings in me that I didn’t know I was even capable of having. Saved me from a pack of murderous soldiers determined to slaughter me and every other human they came across. And he trusted me to help him do this whole world-saving thing. That had to count for something.
Or, maybe this was part of the torture. What a con job that would be, huh? Make the little human fall for your stupidly beautiful eyes and tell her she’s part of a grand, master plan to save the universe, only to tell everyone at school that there was no plot and she was just stupid enough to believe that she could be special.
Occam’s Razor told me that the simplest explanation was usually the most likely one. But when your options are, “there’s a plot to destroy Earth and you and the elf prince are the only two people who can stop it,” and “the elf prince created an elaborate conspiracy to humiliate you in front of the whole school of magical beings...” it was pretty difficult to decide which of those particular scenarios was the simpler explanation.
So, I had a choice to make. I could either take a leap of faith and hope that I was going to help save the world, all while knowing that it could be a huge game that left me heartbroken and embarrassed. Maybe it was the stupid choice, but I decided to trust him. He was an asshole and an arrogant one at that, but anyone could see that he did really care about his people and his homeland. He wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize them or their safety. The situation must have been pretty dire if he was willing to reach out and ask for my help. Me. A poor, pathetic human nobody.
And besides, I’d look pretty damn stupid if the world did end up in a fiery, smoldering ash heap because I’d been too afraid to bother to save it.
The next day, at The Academy, everyone was buzzing with secondhand stories of the elite ball last night. Word traveled fast in Velkin, it seemed, and once again, I was the center of a lot of unwanted attention.
At leas
t this time, Kyra was right there with me. Every second or third person she passed hissed something to their friend about how they simply couldn’t believe that Tormin had deigned to go to such an important event with a Pixie.
Every time Kyra heard that, she was quick to tell them that Tormin had been my date and she’d just been the third wheel and that they’d gotten terribly inaccurate gossip. But I could tell that it was getting to her.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, as she walked me through the complicated maze of halls to my next—-and most dreaded—session of the day. The morning had been fairly benign, with Queen Freia’s card-reading class after breakfast and a history of Velkin lecture directly after, but this afternoon...God, I could barely hold in my anxiety in check. My hands had been shaking so bad during Velkin history that I'd spilled the ink pot for my quill three different times. I made a mental note to use the contraband pens I'd stowed away in my bag tomorrow.s
Kyra shrugged. “I don’t know. Do you want to talk about what’s going on with you?”
“Me? Nothing’s going on with me.”
I could hear the lie in my voice. I’d always been pretty good at keeping secrets—most of my life had been a secret, even before coming here to Velkin—but outright lying had never been my forte. I usually just kept secrets by not talking to anyone and by not being the kind of person someone ever found the need to talk to. Now that I had a friend, though, I suddenly realized that I’d have to up my lying game significantly if Anatole and I were going to keep up this enemies charade.
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Kyra. It’s that I didn’t really know how to trust anyone, especially not with a secret this big.
Kyra’s sweet face twisted into a grim mask of annoyance. Clutching her books to her chest, she dropped her shoulders to push her way through the crowd of students in her way. “Oh, really? So I guess it’s just a coincidence that the prince who hates your guts saved your life last night and you came home wearing his cloak?”
Magic Exchange: A Supernatural Academy Romance (The Velkin Royal Academy Series Book 1) Page 10
