Chapter 47
The sneer left the Elf's face as soon as he grabbed my wrist and there was... nothing. He gripped my mark tighter and sent another batch of magic to where he "thought" my mark was, trying to awaken something.
However, nothing happened, and that angered him for some reason as if he wanted to prove to the king that I was this person but couldn't.
Is that why I couldn't feel Shilan? I silently wondered while he pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes while he studied me. Because the bond is missing?
"Can you understand me?" he asked in Elvish tongue, and I merely stared at him with a blank look and frightful eyes, and my bottom lip started to quiver.
I continued to stare at him blankly, my heart pounding harder and harder in my chest while I acted like the meek little girl they thought I wasn't. I stayed silent while I looked at him, still trying to come up with a reason why this Elf was working for the king.
He couldn't be like Lexus, I silently mused, making sure that he couldn't see what I was thinking. Did the High King ask for this, or no?
The Elf squeezed my arm tighter, and I couldn't help but wince. "Well?" he asked in his tongue. "Do you understand me?"
"P-P-Please," I said, my voice barely above a whisper while I ducked my head closer to my chest, "forgive me. W-wh-what are you saying? What do you want from me?"
"The truth," he said in his tongue.
"I-I beg your pardon?" I asked. "Your Majesty, please, what did he ask?" I didn't look at the king, praying that he would ask him to speak in a common tongue where we both would understand him.
"What did you ask?" the king asked with a small warning in his tone.
"I thought I told you to speak in this tongue, especially when we have company.
" He gestured around him, and I glanced to see a few guards that I knew personally from working with their families, all who were looking nervous.
Crap...
I silently cursed my luck before I again made it seem like I was again that shocked and scared little girl, even though I wasn't and wouldn't act like that for long.
Out of everyone they could get as his guards, they had to choose people that I knew.
The Elf bit back an annoyed sigh before he bowed his head. "Of course," he said, letting us hear the dissatisfaction in his voice while he switched to our normal tongue. "My apologies, Your Majesty."
The king grunted and waved off the "apology." "Now," he said. He narrowed his eyes and scowled while he looked at me. "What did you ask her?"
The Elf cleared his throat and pursed his lips in annoyance. He narrowed his eyes at me, and I had a feeling that he was trying to find out if I was lying to him or not.
"Well?" the king asked in a harsh tone, and the Elf had to hold back an eye roll and a scowl. "What did you ask her?"
"I asked her if she could understand me," the Elf said. "Clearly she can not, so my apologies, Young One." He bowed slightly, even though I didn't look at him.
I didn't respond and curled up into a tighter ball with a small whimper, "praying" that he would leave me alone and go bother someone else.
"So, is she the one or not?" the king asked while he looked at me. "Answer me, Fernorn. Is she the one?"
"I do not know," the Elf said, even though there was a small part of him that knew that I was whoever they were looking for, for whatever reason, "not at this time, at least."
The king pressed his lips into a thin line while he looked at me. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Why are you out and about?"
I flinched and looked down, my heart pounding hard in my throat. "I-I was g-going to deliver some bread t-t-to a friend," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "T-t-then I was going to make sure that my f-f-family is fine."
"Are you talking about that bread?" he asked, gesturing to the bread on the ground, and I hesitated before I nodded.
"Y-Y-Yes, Your Majesty," I said, silently praying that he wouldn't do anything to it because I knew that I wouldn't be able to get another one, and they needed something to eat.
The king pressed his lips into a thin line before he walked over to the bread. He stomped on it, and I bit my lip to keep myself from yelling at him.
The Elf's gaze was on me while I watched the king break my bread. "How does that make you feel?" he asked, switching to his tongue. "Does that make you feel angry? Do you want to attack him with magic?"
I didn't respond and made no move to show that I understood him. I watched the king break the bread before he started to kick my basket around, trying to break it but failing.
The king kicked the basket toward Silan before he stopped, cleared his throat, and looked at me. "Well?" he asked and raised an eyebrow. "What are you going to do now?"
I didn't respond and looked down, pressing my lips into a thin line, and my bottom lip quivered. I closed my eyes and gritted my teeth together while I waited for them to leave, even though I had a feeling that they were going to stay.
The king walked over to me and grabbed me by my shirt, and my heart skipped a beat. He pulled me up until I was looking at him and smacked me across the face, and I couldn't do anything to stop him.
I closed my eyes and bit my lip to keep myself from screaming out in pain. Blood gushed from my nose and my upper lip, and I had to signal for Silan to stay put and not move toward us to help me get away from them.
Anger washed over me like a raging fire, but I did not act on it because I couldn't let them know who or what I was.
"Your Majesty!" one of the guards exclaimed in shock, and the king paused and looked at him. The guard looked shocked and appalled to see his king strike someone, but I knew that he couldn't do anything because that was his king.
"What?" the king asked and narrowed his eyes. He gripped my shirt tighter and lifted me closer to him. "What do you want?"
The guard bowed and cleared his throat. "I think you should let her go, Your Majesty," he said. "I don't think it is a good idea for you to continue to land a hand on her in public."
"And why not?" the king asked and raised an eyebrow. He threw me to the ground, and I bit back a small groan of pain when I landed on my side. "Who is going to stop me besides you?" He narrowed his eyes again and scowled while he walked over to the guard that was bowing.
"Yes, Your Majesty," he said and bowed lower. "However, she is still a fair maiden, a lady."
The king scoffed a laugh and rolled his eyes. He glared at him, and I bit my lip to keep from saying something. "She is not," he said and gestured to me. "She is not a lady."
The guard looked at me and then at him. He didn't say a word, but I could tell that he didn't understand what the king meant. "I beg your pardon?" he asked, finally. "What do you mean she is not a lady? She is a girl."
"She's scum," he spat. "She is a street rat. She is not a fair maiden."
I held back an eye roll and stayed silent, praying that they would leave me alone so that I could take care of my face and try to recover the stuff that had fallen out of my basket.
"Please, Your Majesty," the guard said. "Please let her go. The people are watching. They care about her."
The king narrowed his eyes and scowled. He took a threatening step towards the guard, and I couldn't help but grow slightly tense while the Elf watched me. "And how do you know?" he asked, and the guard's eye grew wide before he looked at me and then at the king.
"I-I-" he stuttered before he cleared his throat and bowed lower. "Please, Your Majesty," he said again, his voice barely above a whisper.
The Elf cleared his throat to interrupt the king, and the king looked at him.
"What?" he asked, his voice hard and filled with warning. He narrowed his eyes and scowled while he looked at the Elf. "What do you want?"
"I believe we have what we need, Your Majesty," the Elf said, and the hair on the back of my neck stood up at attention because I knew that he was using magic to control him. He walked closer to the king, and the king stood at attention while his eyes glazed over. "Leave her alone."
I had to make sure that I didn't look at Silan while I waited for the king to do something or anything.
The king slowly nodded and cleared his throat. "We should go," he said. He looked at me and glared. "You stay out of our way. Is that understood?" he asked with a deep threatening voice, and I bowed my head.
"Yes, Your Majesty," I said, my voice barely above a whisper. "I will."
"Good."
And with that, they left with the Elf giving me one last confused look before he turned around and left, following the king and the other guards.
I sighed with relief and laid my head down before I slowly relaxed and closed my eyes.
Thank the Gods.
Thank the Gods...