Favian held me tightly against his chest as he guided Fire and whispered softly in Elvish to me. I hadn’t fallen in love with Alexandre, but I could have and that hurt just as much. The tears finally stopped after what felt like an hour and I was able to breathe normally and think logically again.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered to Favian. “I should have told you, but…”
“Don’t apologize. You were right to keep it from me. I would have overreacted and we would have fought about it.” He tucked my hair behind my ear and ran a finger along the curved outer part. “I’m sorry things didn’t work out for you there.”
I jerked and turned to face him. “You want me to…”
He put a finger to my lips. “I want you by my side as you have been my whole life, but I want you to be happy. You’re my best friend and your happiness and health is my main priority.”
“I’m happy,” I argued and then frowned, “Well not right at the moment, but I usually am.” I looked around at our surroundings and asked, “Where are we going?”
“To the Kingdom for your birthday,” he said with a smile.
My eyes widened in shock and I asked, “Truly?”
He nodded his head. “We will make it in enough time so of course we will go celebrate your eighteenth birthday.”
I hugged him tightly. “Thank you.”
“Are you alright to ride on your own?” he asked. I nodded my head despite my desire to keep him with me. He stopped the horses and then kissed my cheek. “I missed you.”
I stared dumbly at him as he dismounted my horse to mount his. “Did you take care of the ogre problem in Avonlea?” I asked to change the subject.
He shook his head. “No, you did.”
“What?” I asked in shock as we started on our journey again.
“The ogres ran from me. That’s how I ended up in Aralia, I followed the ogres there.”
“Someone really wants me dead,” I mumbled as we started our ride again. “I wonder who it could be.”
“We’ll find out,” he said seriously.
I didn’t speak anymore as I tried to regulate my emotions. I had learned to shove my problems and emotions down, but sometimes it was difficult to do. I had just been too overwhelmed last night and this morning to shove them down properly. Now that we were away from the town and the people there I could pretend it never happened.
Favian rode silently beside me, but I could tell he wanted to talk to me by the way he kept looking at me. We stopped for the night and ate some Elven bread for dinner before laying out the bedrolls and lying down together.
Tonight Favian must have thought I needed consoling because as I laid in the curve of his body he stroked my hair and sang to me. The return of his warmth and presence soothed me more than his song and I was almost asleep when he started whispering to me. “I missed you, Marin. I could hardly sleep because I was worried for you.”
I wasn’t sure why he was suddenly being so open with his feelings to me. Usually he kept quiet about whatever he was thinking or feeling. “I was the same way,” I admitted.
He exhaled loudly, a rush of relief surging through him. “I was incredibly frightened when I saw you in Aralia with that man.”
“Why?” I asked.
He tilted my chin up and I could barely see his features in the dying fire light. “Because I thought you had decided to stay there and I wouldn’t be able to be with you anymore.”
I rubbed my nose against his, something I used to do when we were younger as a sign of affection. “You’ll always be my best friend.”
A strange fire lit his eyes and he stared at me for a full minute before adjusting and whispering, “Good night.”
I linked fingers with the hand which was curled around my stomach and whispered, “Good night, Favian.”
Just before I fell asleep my father whispered, “Now you have made your choice here, but you will still need to make your choice when you arrive home and turn eighteen.”
I wasn’t sure why it mattered to him who I chose, but I knew he was right.
Chapter Thirteen
Two days later we finally made it to the castle. The castle was magnificent to look at and its sight always amazed me. As soon as we were within the guards’ sight the gate opened. I looked at Favian, my sorrows shoved deep down within my chest and smiled. “Race you to the steps.”
He smiled back and for a moment we were kids again. I squeezed my legs and Fire responded by leaping forward into a gallop. I lifted my butt from the saddle and stooped forward, lessening the strain on her back and urging her forward with soft words of encouragement. Ice edged forward until his nose was even with Fire’s. Fire did not like to lose though and after swishing her tail in indignation she pushed herself even faster, inching away from Ice as we flew past the gate and into the entrance of the castle grounds. Fire slid to a step at the steps and I dismounted, patting her approvingly.
“It must be Marin because none of the others would stir up so much dust,” said a melodic female voice.
I turned and curtsied to mother who looked as regal as ever in a flowing silver dress that made her hair shine like starlight. “Hello, mother.”
She smiled and then wrapped me up in a warm hug. “Happy Birthday, daughter. You have been gone too long.”
“Yes she has,” said a deep voice.
I turned from Amadis and was instantly enveloped in a much warmer and tighter hug. “Father,” I whispered happily as I hugged the King of the Elves.
“I have missed you, daughter,” he whispered, “I was very close to ordering you brought here and your mission aborted when Balon reported back to us.”
I smiled happily and pulled back from him. “I’m sorry. I will come more often to visit you two.”
Mother hugged Favian and then Favian shook hands with his father. “The Death Bringer has returned!” yelled Maddock as he walked towards us. His silver hair was braided and still hung down to his waist.
I pulled my swords and lunged at him as fast as I could, but he swerved away from me and stuck his foot out. I jumped over his foot and kicked him in the side. He grunted and we squared off. “You’re getting slow.”
“I’m simply trying to avoid harming the human,” he said with a sneer.
I stopped moving and sheathed my sword, the play cancelled as his comment opened the recent wound of Aralia. “Then I shall take your leave and retire to my chambers,” I said as I walked to my mare and began leading her towards the stables. Mercifully Favian, Mother and Father allowed me to leave without trying to discuss the issue. I had just handed the reins over to Alex, when a hand gripped my shoulder and tugged me out of the stable and around the corner.
“What did I do?” he asked softly.*
“Nothing, Maddock,” I said.
He grabbed my chin softly and turned it from side to side as he examined my face for wounds and my eyes for signs of my emotions. “What happened? Did Favian do something?” He had become more open with me after the incident where his necklace had saved my life and we had begun to spar with each other every time I returned home.
I rolled my eyes at him and slapped his hand away from my face. “Of course Favian didn’t do anything. How can you even ask?” I raised my hand, stopping him from answering. “Rhetorical question. I don’t want to talk about it, okay?”
“You never want to talk about things with anyone but Favian and the Queen,” he accused. “There are others who worry for you and care about you just as much as the Prince.” I stared at Maddock in shock. I had known him as long as I had known Favian, but he and Favian were better friends than he and I were even with his newer interest in me. He smiled at me and brushed a loose hair behind my ear. “I had not thought you would be blind.”
“Blind?” I asked after finally finding my voice.
He stroked my cheek softly with the back of his hand. “To the fact that many of us elves fancy you.”
“I know you are all friendly to me,” I said softly, still una
ble to pull away from his caress or speak loudly.
He shook his head and laughed softly. “You truly are blind, Marin. I didn’t not mean that we like you as a friend I meant that we wish to…”
“Marin!” Favian yelled.
I jerked away from Maddock as though I had been slapped. I took a deep breath and then ran away from both males and towards the side of the castle. I burst through the door and right into an elf. We tumbled head over heels a moment and then the elf caught me and we stopped in a tangled pile on the carpet. “Sorry,” I blurted as I untangled myself from the person.
Balon’s face appeared from underneath my leg and he smiled at me. “Well, hello.”
I climbed off of him and brushed myself off. “I’m sorry Balon. I wasn’t watching where I was going.”
“Quite alright,” he said as he stood up. “I’m always glad to assist a beautiful woman when she needs a man to fall on.” I turned to go and he asked, “What brings you here?”
I turned back, wishing I could just hide in my room. “My birthday.”
His eyes sparkled mischievously. “Really? I thought you weren’t coming?”
“We finished our job in time,” I answered.
“Marin!” Favian and Maddock yelled at the same time, but from different ends of the castle.
Balon watched as my eyes widened and I searched frantically for somewhere to go. “Do you require refuge?”
It took me a minute to understand his meaning. “Oh, no. Thank you for the offer, but I shouldn’t hide anymore.”
He walked to me and then snapped his fingers. A beautiful blue gemstone appeared in the air and he placed it in my palm before kissing my cheek. “I’ll see you soon, beautiful.”
I stood dumbfounded as I watched him walk away and then looked up to find Favian’s furious face staring at the stone in my hand. He said a very bad phrase in Elvish and then yelled “My chambers, now!” He grabbed my arm and dragged me down the hallway.
“Favian, let go. I can walk on my own.”
“Not without getting into trouble apparently,” he said and then cursed in Elvish again when mother stepped into our path.
“What’s going on?” she asked, looking from Favian’s vice-like grip on my arm and my shocked face due to Favian’s strange behavior.
“I thought you were giving her lessons on all of our customs,” Favian said softly as he tried to rein his anger in while talking to her.
“You are well aware that I have been,” she answered.
“Did you give her lessons about courting and mating customs yet?” he asked as he kept his eyes on the ground.
Amadis stared at her son in shock and then looked at me. “What has happened?”
“Can we go to my chambers? I do not wish the entire Kingdom to know,” he said as he started dragging me along again, this time up the stairs to the second floor.
“Please let me go,” I said as I tugged at his arm.
“I’m not going to let you get into any more trouble.”
“You’re hurting me!” I shouted in both anger and pain.
Favian immediately released me and then turned and examined my arm. “I’m sorry, I wasn’t trying to.”
I pulled back from him. “I know that, but it doesn’t change the fact that you did.”
Mother linked arms with Favian and me. “Let’s get out of the hallways and into the room.”
Favian closed the door behind us and then started speaking in Elvish rapidly to his mother. I tried to follow the conversation, but he’d switched to the older dialect which I knew very little of, probably on purpose so that I wouldn’t be able to understand what he was saying. Amadis listened to him a moment and then picked up the hand which was still holding the gemstone and opened it. She stared at it a moment and then said a very bad word, something the refined Queen never did. “Marin, you know that accepting gifts is a sign of accepting a courtship. I taught you that,” Amadis said.
“He just handed it to me and walked away,” I said defensively, “he didn’t give me time to accept it or not!”
“For now, take it to your father and explain to him what happened. He will go speak with Balon,” Mother said.
Favian took the stone and turned without looking at me. “I’ll go speak with Father.”
After Favian shut the door behind him she looked straight into my eyes. “There are more customs than just getting a gift, aren’t there? You have a lot to tell me tonight, I’m sure. Let us go to the bathing room.”
We hurried down the stairs and to the large room where a maiden filled tubs with hot water and helped bathe people. She and I usually bantered when I came in, but today she was dismissed by mother as soon as we came in and I was left alone with the upset Queen. I undressed as mother commanded because she was my mother and I never disobeyed her. Okay, except the time I had borrowed her horse without her approval and ridden it halfway across the country. She asked me for details about our trips since the last time I had been here. I told her everything that had happened starting from our departure from the castle last year until now. I told her every single detail and word I could remember because it was what she wanted and because she was the only one besides Favian that I could talk to.
I hadn’t expected to tear up as I described my trip to Aralia, but as she washed my hair I felt the warm water slipping down my cheeks. She made no comment on my tears, just washed me silently as I talked. I finished with Favian hauling me down the hallway into her and exhaled loudly. “That’s all of it.”
She closed her eyes a moment and then sighed heavily. “Oh Dear.” I finished toweling off, waiting for her to elaborate, but she simply sat down in a chair, drumming the arm with her fingers as she thought. I put on a dress which was always here for me and then turned to her where she was now staring off into space. She shook her head and then motioned for me to follow her. We walked into my room and she said, “It is time to explain our customs to you. I am afraid that you will be dealing with a lot of them in the next few days.”
“What do you mean?” I asked as I sat on my bed and folded my legs up next to me.
“You’re no longer a child,” she whispered and then laughed softly, “At least not in human standards and apparently the others have noticed.” She turned to me and laid her hand gently on my cheek. “You have grown into quite the young woman, Marin, and it seems the others are now going to be expressing their interest.”
“I’ll have suitors?” I asked in question.
She nodded her head. “Yes, or so it seems. Though this is sort of a predicament because normally they would approach your parents’ first, but since we aren’t technically your parents they can approach you personally, as Balon did.” She looked away and got a far off expression on her face. “I’ll start from the beginning.”
A mind numbing two hours later I fully understood all of the courting customs of elves. I felt lightheaded and slightly nauseous. A servant knocked on the door and stuck her head inside. “The King requests your presence, Your Highness.”
She nodded her head and stood up. “Take a nap, Marin. You look dreadful.”
“Thank you,” I muttered.
She smiled and kissed my forehead. “I am so glad to have you back.”
I gave her a quick hug. “I’m glad I’m back too. At least mostly.”
I watched her follow the servant down the stairs and then noticed Favian standing next to my door with a deep frown on his face. As soon as he saw me he looking at him he straightened and asked, “Did she explain everything?”
I nodded my head and opened the door. “Yes.”
He followed me inside. “What are you doing?”
“Taking a nap as she ordered,” I said as I face-planted into the bed and my luxuriously fluffy pillow.
“A nap?” he asked in shock and then sat down beside me. “Are you feeling alright?”
“Tired and dizzy,” I admitted. “I’ve had a rough week.”
He pushed the hair which was covering one
side of my face away to look into my eyes. “I’m sorry I hurt your arm.”
This was quite a week for me getting him to apologize. “It’s alright. You didn’t mean to.”
“I was upset at seeing you with a gift from Balon and my anger overcame my common sense.”
“I didn’t accept it from him, Favian. He just dropped it in my hand and walked away.”
He smiled. “I know. It was wonderful to see Balon’s face when Father gave him the stone back.”
“Was he mad?” I asked.
“Father was very upset.”
I rolled my eyes. “Balon.”
Favian glared down at me. “Why do you care if he was upset?”
“Because I do not need another enemy.”
“Well if anyone is his enemy, it’s me. He gave me quite the glare before slamming his door shut.”
I rolled over and sighed. “Wonderful. Can you please leave so I can rest? My head feels as though a herd of ogres stampeded over it.”
Favian bent over me and looked into my eyes. “You’re really taking a nap?”
I closed my eyes. “Yes, now please go.”
He laughed softly. “Alright, grumpy. I’ll fetch you for lunch.”
“Favian,” I called as he was about to shut the door.
“Yes?”
“I understand Elf courting etiquette fully now.”
He smiled. “Good.”
He shut the door and I closed my eyes. Why couldn’t I just flirt endlessly with as many elves as I wanted and not have it mean anything? Life had been so much easier last year. I tried my hardest to sleep, but sadly sleep never came. With a nap out of the question I decided it was best to go find Favian. I wandered around the halls, but didn’t find him inside the castle so I made my way out the back to the training grounds and then to the flower fields which towered a foot above my head beyond that. I had just entered the fields when I heard a female screech excitedly. “It’s beautiful.”
I turned around and found Favian holding a dagger with sapphires and emeralds all over the handle. The female elf was gorgeous and also one of the few females I could actually stand, Emily. Emily turned seeing me and snapped her mouth closed. Favian followed her gaze and then tried to hide the dagger behind his back.
Protector (Little Death Bringer, #2) Page 19
