Chapter 38 Damned to Faerie
"Long time no see, Unseelie Prince." Zhier greets Klovis, looking down on him with clear displeasure in his gaze. Being by his side after Efeiza and I knocked him out this morning doesn't sit right with me. Not to mention that the way he's holding on to my hand is not what I would consider gentle.
I wonder if he holds a grudge. Well, knowing him, he probably has.
"I would rather hear you say that you miss me, your highness.
" I'm more anxious than usual because of Klovis's sarcastic attitude toward Zhier and the situation.
"Say, it's been a while, but I never thought that I would find you taking interest in a human, much less make her a crown princess.
" He's trying to smile, but it looks more like a sneer.
"It does not concern you."
"It does when the lady looks uncomfortable."
I hate that Klovis is trying to divert attention from him to me. Because of what he said, Zhier briefly gives me a glance, which I have to avoid. I am terrified of what I would see in them.
Should I smile? Should I say sorry? Or maybe, should I flip him off and throw the ring?
Nah. I don't think that the last option will do me any good.
Plus, speaking of the ring, I tried taking it off earlier but it would not budge from its spot on my ring finger. Ugh, I hate it.
"I think that you should mind your own business." Zhier eyes me for a brief moment and pulls me close to his side, like he is trying to hide me from Klovis. "She's not yours."
"She doesn't belong to anyone, even you, your highness.
"The soldiers around Klovis point their weapons in his direction as he stands as if ready to challenge him.
As if anticipating an attack, Jade draws near his master to protect him.
"Zhier, leave her to me. I'll send her back to the human realm. "
"She's my queen!" Zhier's grip on my wrist begins to tighten, and I begin to try and pull my hand away from him.
"Zhier, my hand. Let go!" Zhier continues to disregard my request in spite of my pleading. He turns to me, a puzzled expression on his face at my defiance.
"Livia, I am trying to keep you safe!"
"You're the one that I need saving from!"
"Tsk. You're confused." Zhier sighs. "The Unseelie prince must have donw something to you."
That does it. I finally snapped and bit his hand in frustration. Zhier makes a painful noise and then lets go of my hand.
"Livia, come quick!" Klovis stretches out his hand for me to take.
Without hesitating, I reach out and grab it, letting him pull me to his side.
Right away, he takes me behind him to protect me from Zhier.
A soldier tries to stab him in the back, but Jade jumps in front of him and trips him up with his tail.
Klovis gets that chance to grab the weapon and kick the fairy aside.
Klovis points the sword to Zhier, who happens to be holding his own weapon as well.
"Stop this. What are you even hoping to accomplish when we have you surrounded?" I hate to admit it, but Zhier is right. With just the three of us, what could we do against Zhier and his soldiers? We're in his domain. Even if we have Jade, it will only be a matter of time before we get outnumbered.
"Who says that you have us surrounded?" A siren sounds in the distance, and everyone looks up to see Klovis grinning smugly. The panic in Zhier's eyes, which is quickly replaced by anger when he directs them at Klovis, leads me to believe that the situation is urgent. .
"What did you do?!" He bellows.
"I did nothing. My right hand man, on the other hand, apparently did." Klovis's response gave me the answer to my question.
Grignel. He probably just arrived.
There seems to be a commotion happening on the other side of the palace because we hear screams and panic bells ringing in the air.
When Klovis sees his chance, he lifts me up and sets me atop Jade.
I react on instinct and grab hold of Jade just as he is about to pounce on the distracted soldiers.
When I turn around, I see Zhier and Klovis locking swords.
Because he is the only one who is smiling and taking the initiative, Klovis appears to have gained the upper hand.
He is met with a glare of defense from Zhier.
Upon first glance, it is clear that Zhier is physically larger than Klovis, but Klovis gives off a stronger impression of being the more astute of the two princes.
"That was sloppy." Zhier comments.
Klovis snickers. "When it comes to combat, you were always the better player. However, we both know why I never make the effort to practice the sword." With his left hand, he uses it to release a blinding light that he aims towards Zhier's vision, blinding him in the process. Zhier screams.
Jade just stops short, giving Klovis enough time to get on his back before proceeding to head towards the commotion that we have heard.
Klovis shivers. "Geez. What did you do to the guy that he is head over heels for you?"
"I never did. Ask his mom if she ever dropped him during his birth." I reply, earning a cackle from the prince.
When we arrived, there was smoke and the sound of metal on metal.
The Unseelie folks are surprisingly overpowering the seelie.
Perhaps it was the advantage of the surprise attack or Klovis and I were far too much of a distraction to everyone that left the soldiers scattered.
Either way, we spotted Grignel at the center, taking command of the unseelie soldiers.
Jade leaps and sprints until we manage to meet up with Grignel. The moment the dark elf spots us, his expression starts to change from a cold steel gaze to a soft-relieved one.
"Your highness!" The elf automatically lowers himself to the ground upon our arrival.
"Get up, Grignel." Klovis says. "It's not the time or place for you to be kneeling. I have to say that I am surprised that you even allowed a raid."
"It was a life or death—more specifically yours, your highness." Grigel responds after getting up. "I apologize for this, and I will sincerely accept any punishments later."
"Yes, we'll talk about that later. Listen, Grignel. I need to take Livia out of here so I need you all to buy us some time. Give us a few minutes, after that, you can retreat. I don't want anyone to get hurt or lose their lives."
"Yes, your highness. Your request shall be done. Efeiza went on ahead carrying the mirror." Grignel raises his head and meets my gaze. "Thank you. Truly." To my surprise, he lowered his head.
There's no time for a response because Klovis has already encircled me and told Jade to leave. Jade avoids the majority of the conflict and concentrates on our escape. Soon we find ourselves in the woods, in the middle of the seelie and unseelie palaces.
Jade comes to a stop, and Klovis gets me off of the emerald beast. "There you go, princess. You're safe now."
"You can stop it with that before I hit you." I have a feeling that Grignel is going to flip out if he hears how I address Klovis right now, but to me, he will be the goofy Steve in my dreams.
As expected, Klovis just laughs at my threat.
"Ohh. Scary." When his laughter finally dies down, his expression turns serious.
"I'm really sorry about all of this. When I left you that mark, all I wanted was to keep you safe and return the favor, just like you saved my life.
" He sighs dejectedly. "My intentions suddenly backfired, and it pulled you into trouble. I'm sorry."
"You had good intentions." I say, trying to comfort him. "It wasn't your fault that you were locked up in the mirror as well."
Klovis smiles wanly. "Your forgivingness is really going to put you in danger one day.
Which is why," He takes my hand where his fading mark is located and plants a kiss on top of it.
His kiss seemed to have brought a spark to the top of my hand, and when I checked the mark, I found that it had been restored.
I look at him. "It's for when you need me in the human realm.
" He smiles, but his eyes don't seem to reflect the emotion that he wants to project.
"Human realm? You mean..."
"I'm sending you back." He confirms. "You have done everything that you can to help. Don't worry, and let me handle things here." He adds it when he sees my hesitation.
"Will you be alright?"
Klovis places a gentle hand on top of my head. "You may not believe me because I got trapped, but trust me when I say that I am very powerful. In terms of magic, that is." He chuckled briefly before meeting my eyes. "Thank you for saving me again."
There's something about this moment that makes me want to cry. I know that I have been longing to go home, so why does it feel like I am going to be split in two at the idea of returning?
"Will I see you in my dream again?"
A gleeful and mischievous smile spread across his lips, lifting up his eyes. "As many times as you want, so you better sleep early." He winks, taking both of my hands in his. "So, are you ready to return home?"
"Mm-hmm." I can't help but feel a little lonely when I let out my response, but I know that this is for the best. This realm is beautiful, and I have had plenty of good and bad experiences here. Maybe someday I can return here when everything is fixed.
When Klovis closes his eyes, I get a warm, comforting feeling from his hand that travels all over my body.
It's the same sensation I had when Zhier teleported me from Earth to Faerie.
But then the sensation vanishes, like something brushes away the comforting warmth of the magic.
Even Klovis opened his eyes and looked confused.
"That's odd. Let me try again." He tries, but just like before, it feels like something is trying to stop his magic.
"Um, maybe you still have not fully regained your magic?" I suggested it when Klovis failed the fourth attempt at sending me back, but something tells me from the creasing of his forehead that it was not the case.
"No, I don't think that's it. I know I have enough magic to bring you back to the human realm.
" He says it with worry and fear. He stares at the ground in concentration, like he is trying to think of a reason why his magic keeps failing him.
Then a look of horror washed over his face when he lifted them.
"Livia, you could have...you couldn't have eaten blue fruits, have you? "
"No, I haven't. I've been really careful."
Klovis shakes his head. "No. Think carefully. Is there any chance that it was hidden and you accidentally ate one? To humans, blue fruits have a distinct taste."
"Klovis, I wouldn't be stupid enough to eat blue fruits. It would have to be—" My mind seems to recall a time when Zhier did bring me food from the human realm that had a weird taste. I remember that, as I ate it, Zhier looked delighted.
It feels like I have lived in the faerie realm for a long time because my taste buds are tasting something weird with the sauce. Zhier smiles as I eat, making me a little conscious. "Can you not watch me eat? It's weird."
"Sorry. I am just glad that you are starting to talk to me again."
The hotdog. He put something in the hotdog!
I turn to Klovis with a frightened expression. "Zhier...he put something in the hotdog." My voice is slowly turning into a whisper as horror begins to sink in at the realization.
If a human eats blue fruits, they are now damned to this realm for the rest of their lives.
My home, my parents—does that mean that I can never see them again!?
As a result of my shock, I collapsed to the ground, and Klovis cradled me in his arms.
I cannot describe the swirls of emotions as I continue to cry. I feel sad, angry, and betrayed. Whenever I remember how Zhier smiled at me as I ate the food that day, I can't help but have this feeling of wanting to go back to the Seelie Palace and wipe the smile off of his face.
"This can't be happening. It can't, it can't, it can't! Zhier...I HATE HIM!" The words easily leaves my mouth while Klovis tries his best to comfort me.
"It will be okay. We'll find a way around it. We'll figure this out, and when we do, you can go home. I promise."
I appreciate how Klovis is trying to console me, but at this rate, I wasn't even thinking about home for the first time.
Right now, I just want revenge on Zhier.
I want him to suffer like he made me suffer. He damned me to this place, so I will return the favor by finding a way to make his life hell!
And to do that, I will help Klovis restore the realm in whatever way I can.