ELORA
~•~
“A walk? Sure!” Lucy replied, quite heartily.
She looked towards the door and started to walk away, but I had a question – a very important one – that prompted me to call her back.
The answer was important and would be a huge determiner of my next course of action.
“Lucy,”
She stopped in her tracks and turned to me. I watched how she held the sides of her dress.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Lucy looked over at me. A hint of worry flashed in her eyes before she took three steps closer to me. Perhaps my facial expression had sent the wrong signal.
I managed a small smile. Her previously tensed shoulders relaxed.
My fingers locked on their own accord. The thought of the question alone…
“Do you…? Has there ever been a Lycan king who…who found his mate?” I blurted out.
It was only after the question had escaped my lips, that I mustered the courage to look into her eyes.
They sparkled with amusement.
Lucy threw her head back in a peal of short laughter. She waved her hand at me, as though she advised me to dismiss the thought.
I swallowed hard. Was it that hard to believe? If she laughed at the thought, why did I think he would be any different?
“The possibility of a Lycan finding a mate is slim, Elora.” Her laughter had seized. She folded her right arm around her stomach, while her left fingers caressed her chin. She wore a thoughtful look on her face.
“It’s the reason Lycans are not so many, even though they are very strong creatures. Lycans cannot find their mates easily, unlike werewolves who sometimes meet three mates in a lifetime.” I heard her chuckle again. She shook her head while she spoke.
“The truth is, Lycans, have to fall in love with people to be with them.”
Love. The word struck a familiar chord in my heart.
I sucked in a deep breath. My orbs dropped to my feet.
“Right?”
“Yes.”
I looked up at her.
“So, a Lycan can’t have a mate, right?” I found myself probing again. I couldn’t explain why. I felt a dire sense to know how slim my chances were. What were the odds of the king seeing the truth in my statement?
Lucy seemed skeptical. I could tell I had sparked a match of curiosity in her.
“Why?”
I had barely said another word when she gasped, her hands flew up to cover her mouth. She stared at me with wide eyes.
“Did you hear anything about the king having a mate, Elora?”
“No.” I bit back, rather harshly. I caught myself and reclined into my seat.
I was being defensive for nothing. I could not let anyone find out yet, not until I had decided how to tell the king.
I rose from my seat and stretched my arms out. I must have been tired, a long yawn escaped my lips at that moment.
I needed the walk to clear my head.
We stepped out of my room together and made our way out of the palace. Lucy and I were on our way to Red River. The serenity and beauty of the environs around the river were soothing and good for the heart, mind, and soul.
While we walked, I noticed sturdy stares on me. I felt like an outcast walking down the hallways, an unwelcome stranger. The glares I received from palace workers who walked past me, caused my stomach to clench in a tight knot.
The people didn’t want me here. They hated me for the lies that had been told against my father.
Lucy’s giggles kept me sane. While we walked, she pointed to trees, flowers, and shrubs she could identify. I found myself smiling when she tried to spell the word “hibiscus” after we walked past a field filled with them.
I was starting to allow myself to bask in the quiet of my surrounding, ignoring everything and everyone else around me, until…
“Elora!”
Lucy and I turned our heads in the direction of the voice, at the same time.
My heart skipped a beat as my eyes collided with familiar ones.
Gael!
Seeing him there, walking towards me, put me at ease. I had been so worried about him. The sight of his handsome face still standing on his two feet… flooded me with a tide of relief.
The closer he got to me, the easier it was for me to notice his clenched jaw. His eyes no longer held the brightness and charm they always possessed. There was something dark about them, a grim touch to his usually elated aura.
I started to move towards him. I needed to ensure he was okay.
“Gael!” I called out. Heavens! The ease that relaxed my shoulders as I said his name.
My eyes danced around his body, searching for any signs of injury, bruises, scalds, or even burns. I…I just needed to know he had not been hurt because of me.
“I haven’t seen you since that night! Are you alright?” I exhaled. “Did they hurt you? Are you…” I reached for his face, but he pulled away from me.
He did not want me to touch him.
“You…you don’t want me to be your guard anymore.” Disappointment clouded his eyes.
I would have been able to answer if it had been a question, but it wasn’t.
Gael wasn’t asking me. He was telling me.
I staggered backward.
“What…” I tried to speak, but could not find the words.
“What are you…? How? Why?”
“I have been taken from your side, Elora. I have been appointed to guard the palace gates. A new guard has been assigned to you.” He spat out. The dismay in his tone, and even his stance…
It hurt to see him like that.
Still, I was confused. I had never asked for Gael to be changed.
“Gael, I…why?”
Lucy cleared her throat beside me. I tore my gaze away from Gael and turned to look at her.
“It would be dinner time soon, Elora. I need to return to the kitchen. Denise must be waiting for me.” She glanced at Gael, then back to me.
I managed to smile.
“Alright. Bye, Lucy.”
She nodded, before scurrying away.
Gael was still standing in front of me.
I knew I had to say something. I had to convince him nothing that had happened was my doing.
“Gael, whatever happened…”
“I did not leave for Blackfoot because of you, Elora.” The lethal edge in his tone forced me to step away from him. He covered every inch of distance I tried to put between us, by taking steps of his own towards me.
“I stayed back because of you, Elora. I stayed back because I knew that what happened last night was bound to happen, and when it did, I wanted to be by your side to protect you. I always wanted to be with you, Elora. I thought…I thought you wanted me too.” He continued to take threatening steps toward me.
The Gael standing in front of me was not the Gael who had sat with me, he was not the Gael who had sworn to stand by my side, who had urged me to speak for myself.
His thoughts had been possessed by hurt, and I needed him to know I had not betrayed him.
“Gael,” I breathed out, but he did not stop pushing himself towards me.
“Can’t you see, Elora? Can’t you see that I want you, and I want to be with you?”
I flinched. Why was he saying all these to me?
“They said a lot about you, they called you names. But I never believed anything I heard, until I could see you. Once I did, I knew. Elora, I knew that I wanted to be with…”
“Stop it!”
Once I found the courage to scold him, I found the courage to fix my feet on the ground. I wasn’t going to cower anymore.
I had heard enough.
I forced myself to take in deep breaths, before I continued to speak.
“Look, Gael…” I made sure to look him straight in the eyes.
“I never asked for you to be changed. I enjoyed having you as my guard, I did. However, you must not forget that I am the king’s mistress, and your words can be held against you for treason.”
I glared at him, he stared right back.
“You must stop,” I spoke with a defiant air of authority I had not known I possessed.
Yet, he was not deterred.
In one swift move, Gael caught hold of my right arm. He pulled me closer to him, and captured my left arm afterwards.
I glared at him, fighting hard to wriggle free, but he would not let me.
My heartbeat quickened in my chest. He was hurting me.
“Gael!”
“You think he cares about you, don’t you? You think he gives a shit about you?”
Tears burned the corner of my eyelids.
Why was he doing this?
“He…!” The rest of his words hung midair.
One moment, he was digging his fingernails into my flesh, the next moment, I caught sight of him flying across the wall.
A shocked gasp escaped my quivering lips.