“Sybil,” Gerard whispered. “It’s me.”
“And who are you?” I yelled. “You look just like that male!”
He jerked back in surprise and I saw guilt on his face. “I know I haven’t told you everything, but I had hoped you would learn more later.”
“Who are you?” I screamed.
He looked down at his sword and said, “I’m Prince Geoffrey of the Eastern Troupe.”
“No,” I whispered in horror and backed away from him and into a table.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Sybil, but that doesn’t change anything.”
“Traitor!” Charles yelled as he tossed something at Gerard/Geoffrey. The contraption opened and vines popped out and latched onto his arms, pulling him down to his knees.
“Please, Sybil. You have to believe me.”
Giles dropped down next to my mother and stroked her hair. “What happened?”
“Ask him,” I said angrily as I flew up into the air. “I want him taken into custody,” I commanded Uncle Giles. “Interrogate him extensively. I want to know who contacted the Eastern Troupe and who our traitor is.”
“Sybil,” Gerard/Geoffrey whispered. “I love you.”
“I will do as ordered,” Giles answered.
Hugh picked my mother’s body up and caught my eye. “I will take her to the burial grounds.”
“I want her and Octavius to be buried next to each other,” I told him.
He nodded. “I will see to it.”
“Sybil,” Gerard/Geoffrey whispered.
I turned my back on him and walked to the nearest injured fairies and tried my best to help them. Someone hugged me from behind and I turned to find Audrey. “Are you alright?” I asked in concern.
“Yes, Hugh protected me,” she said. She turned and looked at Gerard/Geoffrey being taken away by Giles. “Do you really think he had anything to do with this?”
“I don’t know. I hope not,” I answered honestly.
“I told you he was a traitor,” Charles said triumphantly.
I wanted to be mad at him. I wanted to hit him, but he was right. “Audrey, you and Charles need to tend to the wounded. Find the healing fairies and get them here as quickly as possible.”
Audrey nodded and flew off. I turned back to my sword, being careful not to look at Octavius’ body as I did. The present Charles had given me sat a few feet away on the ground, somehow safe. I picked it up and pressed it against my chest as I flew into the palace and to my mother’s library. I used to hide in the library when I was scared or upset and read the books about happy families and happy beings called humans. I knew there were other books that told of the horrible things the humans had eventually done and how they had caused their own extinction, but I always avoided them.
I sat down on the floor and leaned against one of the bookcases. How could this have happened? What was I going to do? I pulled my knees up to my chest and rested my head on top of them as I let out the pain I felt and cried.
My mother was dead. Octavius was dead. And Gerard wasn’t even Gerard, he was Prince Geoffrey and possibly a traitor. My world crumbled around me and I didn’t know what do to.
My tears eventually stopped and I lifted my head. I looked at Charles’ box and decided to open it, hoping that it would at least lift my spirits a little. I opened the small box and found a metal ball inside with a note. The outside of the note said, “Read after you place the ball in your right hand.”
“Okay,” I replied to the note. I picked up the ball and something started ticking. I was worried for a moment, but I trusted Charles. I opened the note.
“You never took me seriously. You never took my love for you seriously. Seeing you with Gerard made me realize that I couldn’t live watching you with him. So, if I can’t have you, no one can.”
I dropped the note in shock and tried to drop the ball, but the ticking stopped at that moment and the ball unraveled much like the contraption he’d used on Gerard/Geoffrey. Vines wrapped up my arm and no matter how hard I pulled, they only continued to climb up over my chest, down my other arm and ensnare the rest of my body. I screamed as a vine wrapped around my throat, but my scream was cut off as it tightened, constricting my airway.
I fell to the ground on my side and tried to move, but my body became tingly. A spectral image of Charles appeared from one of the vines to stand in front of me. “What you’re feeling is the poison I’ve encased in the vines. The more you struggle the faster the poison escapes. It’s on a time release and will continue to keep you frozen and slowly dying for the next week. The exact amount of time it’s been since you ripped my heart out and joined that warrior. I’m sure you’ll be glad to know that he’ll get off free since he isn’t a traitor and never was. I will be leaving, to join the Eastern Troupe and become their newest leader. Next time you should remember not to shun a male simply because he doesn’t have muscles.”
Fresh tears leaked from my eyes as this new treachery was unfolded and the truth about Gerard/Geoffrey revealed. I would die and he would think that I hated him because I thought he was the traitor. I wanted to scream. I wanted to struggle, but I didn’t want to die faster. My skin started twitching as it soaked in more poison. I wished I hadn’t yelled at Gerard/Geoffrey. I wished I had listened to him. Now I would die at the hands of a male I thought was my friend. One of my wings flexed involuntarily and the vine tightened, snapping my wing. I screamed from the pain and the vine tightened around my throat until I blacked out.
Chapter 5
Water. All I wanted was water. I’d been lying on the floor of the library for three days and through the pain all my body wanted was water. I woke a few times, since the vine around my throat had loosened slightly, but there was nothing I could do.
“Sybil,” someone called.
I wished I could call back, but I couldn’t.
“Sybil,” the voice called louder. The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
“Sybil!”
I knew the voice. It was Gerard/Geoffrey. I licked my lips and debated what to do. If I called out to him the vine would tighten and either kill me or choke me until I was unconscious. If I didn’t call out to him I would lie here for four more days, dying slowly. Not much of a choice.
“Gerard!” I screamed as loudly as I could.
The vine tightened and I gasped for air, but none came. The door to the library opened and Gerard/Geoffrey scanned around the room looking for me. His eyes finally found me. “Sybil!” he yelled.
I tried to stay conscious. I tried to look at him, but my eyes rolled up in the back of my head and I passed out.
I could hear someone talking to me, but it was muffled. I could feel consciousness coming back slowly, but I still couldn’t move.
“Sybil,” Audrey whispered in a soft voice somewhere near me. “I know you can hear me. It’s time to wake up. Wake up, sleepy troll,” she said as she sobbed. “Please wake up.”
I wanted to answer her, but I couldn’t control my body.
“Geoffrey, Giles, Hugh, and I here waiting for you to wake up,” she continued.
Some feeling started returning to my body, but it was mostly pain.
“You need to wake up,” she said, sounding angry. “I can’t sit here and watch you die! You have to wake up and talk to me!” she screamed.
My eyes finally opened and I groaned in pain. “Sybil!” everyone yelled at once.
I slowly lifted my hand and looked at the large bruise on my palm where I had been holding the ball. “How?” I croaked and then groaned in pain from talking on my raw throat.
“Geoffrey found you and cut the vines off, but you had already soaked up a lot of poison. It took the healers a long time to get it out,” Audrey told me, tears in her eyes.
Gerard/Geoffrey handed me a cup of water and helped me sit up. I drank from the cup slowly, avoiding his eyes.
“We postponed your mother’s funeral until you were better,” Hugh said.
“Thank you
,” I whispered and then instantly regretted speaking at all.
“You shouldn’t talk for a while,” Giles said. “Just rest.” He patted my knee and then left the room.
Audrey hugged me and then she and Hugh headed out together, leaving me alone with Gerard/Geoffrey. He sat silently beside me for a moment and then said, “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you everything.”
I made a writing motion and he grabbed a piece of paper and pen and handed them to me. I wrote: I’m sorry I thought you were a traitor. Charles had been putting those thoughts into my head and so…I’m sorry
He read the note and half crumpled it as he clenched his fist. He straightened the paper out and said, “It’s alright. I would have been suspicious too.”
I took the paper back and wrote: Do you hate me now?
He read it and laughed softly. “Of course not.” He tilted my chin up, forcing me to meet his eyes. “Do you hate me?”
I shook my head and before he could try to kiss me I wrote: What do I call you?
He smiled. “Geoffrey is my true name.”
I took the paper back and wrote: Nice to meet you Prince Geoffrey.
He shook his head. “I’m still the same person. I just have a different name.”
Are you going back to your Troupe to rule it? I wrote and forced myself to keep a straight face as I gave it to him.
He read it and looked up at me. His eyes searched over my face a moment and then he asked, “Is that what you want me to do? Do you want me to leave?”
What did I want him to do? I felt betrayed by him, yet I knew Charles was the real traitor. Just because it had been his father that killed Octavius and my mother didn’t mean I should hold it against Geoffrey.
Do you want to stay? I wrote instead of answering.
“My feelings haven’t changed. If anything, they’ve only intensified,” he answered. “The only question left is, what do you want to do?”
I set the pen and paper down and met his eyes. “Want,” I croaked and then had to take a drink of water to soothe my throat.
“Shh, don’t talk, Sybil,” he said and handed me back the paper and pen. I shook my head and felt tears falling down my face. I wanted to talk. I wanted to be able to actually tell him. “Write it down.”
I reluctantly took the pen and wrote: I want to be with you, but you’re a prince. There are customs and laws about a prince and princess courting from different troupes.
“You’re queen now,” he said. “Not princess. And I’m not from that troupe. I may have been born there, but I was raised here for the majority of my life. I don’t hold any feelings for that court. Do you still want me to be your guard?”
I shook my head and he jerked back in pain. I quickly wrote down: You can’t be my Guard since you’re of a royal bloodline.
He read the note and then looked up at me, eyes wide and pained. “You’re serious?”
I nodded my head and then scribbled quickly: You would have to become King if you wanted to be with me.
He stared at the note and frowned. “Oh.”
I had been a fool to think he’d want that. I set the pen and paper down and stood up, promptly falling to my knees. Geoffrey reached out to me, but I held my hand out stopping him. I pushed up and walked to the window, looking out over the growers and their fields. I sniffed as tears slid down my face and I felt my heart breaking again. How much could one heart handle?
“Why are you crying?” he asked as he turned me around.
I turned my face away from his and wiped at my eyes. He held out a small box to me. “Your birthday present,” he whispered. “I didn’t get to give it to you on your birthday.”
I took it from him and slowly opened it. Inside was a beautiful ring with a silver gem I’d never seen before. I looked up at him only to find him sliding down to one knee. “Sybil of the Northern Troupe, will you become my queen?” he asked.
I looked from the ring to him and then did the only thing I could. I dropped down and kissed him. He kissed me back and I could feel his smile against my lips. He pulled back just long enough to slip the ring on my finger and then we were kissing again.
“Is that a yes?” he asked as we broke apart again.
I nodded my head fast and then hugged him, enjoying being wrapped inside his wings like a cocoon of safety.
“Sybil!” Hugh yelled as he entered the room. “Oh, uh, sorry,” he muttered when he finally saw us.
Geoffrey helped me stand and I walked to Hugh. I raised my arms in the air to ask what.
“We caught Charles.”
I pushed him to the side and rushed out the door.
“Sybil, wait!” Geoffrey called as he ran up to me. I reached back for my sword and cursed in my head when I realized it wasn’t there. I motioned for his sword and he shook his head. “No.”
I pointed at myself then at him then at me and then at his sword trying to convey I order you to give me your sword.
“No. I am not giving you my sword,” he repeated as he held open the door for me and Hugh. I turned to Hugh, but Geoffrey pulled me away. “No. Just trust me, okay?”
I wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t give me the sword, but I nodded my head, agreeing to trust him. We stepped into the courtyard and I was shocked to see it back to normal. I hadn’t thought there would still be bodies, but I also hadn’t expected it to be so clean and look as though nothing had even happened. Adam and another of the warriors named Phil, whom was a total egotistical jerk, were holding Charles between them.
Charles looked up and stared at me, blinking. “You’re alive?”
“Release him,” Geoffrey said.
Adam and Phil looked at me and I nodded my head. They reluctantly released Charles and stepped back. Charles brushed himself off and then charged at Geoffrey. Geoffrey easily sidestepped his rushed punch and then thrust his sword into Charles’ stomach. Part of me was revolted at the ease of his killing while the other part of me wished I had been the one to kill him.
“She’s mine and has always been mine,” Geoffrey told Charles who was staring at the sword in his stomach. “I thought you should know we’re getting married.”
Charles looked at the ring on my finger and then yelled, “No!” He fell to the ground and before he could speak again Geoffrey thrust his sword into Charles’ heart. I had to look away as I tried not to remember doing the same thing to Octavius.
“Toss him over the cliff,” Geoffrey told Adam. “He doesn’t deserve to be buried in the woods with our other dead.”
I felt so betrayed and so miserable that all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep. “Sybil?” Geoffrey whispered. I couldn’t be the lazy princess anymore though. My days of childish play were over. Now I was Queen of the Northern Troupe of Fairies.
I turned to Geoffrey and met his eyes. My throat still hurt so I couldn’t talk, but as I stared into his eyes, he smiled and I knew he understood. He pulled me gently against his chest and kissed the top of my head. “We will rule together and together we will make this Troupe the strongest and most loving Troupe ever.” He paused a moment and then whispered, “I love you, Sybil.”
I looked up at him and smiled as I whispered, “I know. I love you too.”
THANK YOU FOR READING MY BOOK. IF YOU ENJOYED IT, WON’T YOU PLEASE CONSIDER LEAVING A REVIEW?
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