Below the Peak (Sola)(54)

“Care to renegotiate prince of Forod?” the king asked smugly. The room startled when the queen’s hand which held the fork slumped above the table, dropping the fork at the same time the king’s knife clattered to the floor. The prince had released them from whatever spell he had cursed them with earlier. The other elves did the same, releasing their hostages.



Calemir

Foolish of him to have expected King Lorenz could be reasonable after he had a reluctantly decided to approach him respectably in his court and revealed his purpose of what had brought him here. He had done it out of respect, but as it has always been with most of their predecessor kings, they were men whose greediness and arrogance ruled them. He knew someone close whose greed cost him everything in his life.

And he dared insult his brother. Dead or not, no one had the right disrespect his brother Tarron, even his people don’t dare to speak of him carelessly. To hear the king speak negligently caused his anger to spread like wildfire from his head to his toes, making his mind see nothing but a mist of red. And now, he had decided to teach them a valuable lesson, using the king and his men as examples. A simple task it was, to sift over the king’s and queen’s emotions and find that little hate which everyone harbored for another just hidden beneath the surface. A clear message for every human to understand they couldn’t enslave him or his people. Best they remembered where their place was because next time he wouldn’t be so merciful.

Calemir glanced over at Leena and then at Finn, he was no longer the winsome person he played, a warrior stood before him. Loyal, his comrades had acted the same as he had, taking the offence seriously.

How did this king know they would be coming? Calemir contemplated. Had they spotted lady Leena when she had first been searching for the well or was it the half breed who had sensed them coming? A muscle on his jaw jumped. Indeed, he was slightly surprised when he saw the half breed. He shouldn’t be alive, yet he was. The half breed lived long past the age of humans but not so many years as the pure blood. If alive then he should be looking old and not so youthful. Calemir wondered if some of his kind still carried relation relations with humans in secret even after it being strictly forbidden since the end of the Dark War. It was that reason, or the half breed drank the water of Var.

Still, slaves to kings Calemir ruefully thought of the mage. The sentiment hit close to home than he wanted.

“The deal is the same with a minor change. Ready to renegotiate prince of Forod?” the king repeated.

“Speak” Calemir clipped.

Although they had the upper hand over the elves, the room still didn’t breathe an inch. The tension didn’t ease a bit. Like everyone else, Nara waited to hear this new change that had been added to the deal.

“Marriage to seal the agreement.”

What! was the thought echoed in each person in the room except the prince who looked unaffected with the outrageous request. “That can be arranged” the prince replied directly.

“No” the king rose one arm up and ringed one finger in the air. “I’ve already decided who is going to marry who. You, my prince, will be the groom” he paused.

Brows knitting, eyes churning to the darkest color of green forest and feature twisting harshly, Calemir’s whole body turned sinister. “You dare command me?” power rode his voice and filled the whole room.

**

“He insults you. Let me kill him!” hissed the lady elf, her sword drawn up as she started forward for the king.

“Don’t!” the prince ordered the charging female before she got to the king. The lady elf cocked her head to the prince and spoke to him. The angry expression on her face told she was asking the prince why she shouldn’t but Nara couldn’t be sure. The prince reply had the lady snapping her teeth at the king as she backed away slowly.

“Well would you like me to continue?” the king asked arrogantly.

“Who is she?” the three death words left the prince’s mouth. Nara could almost see the pride swell inside the king’s chest. She could only imagine how he would boast to the ends of the earth how mighty he was before the prince of Forod, how he commanded him to his will. His ego would grow to new heights if his plan ended successfully. The kingdom would never hear the end of this.

Shifting his eyes to the members sitting around the table, Lorenz let them rake one face to the next. Every lady including the king’s own married daughters shrunk tightly back and tried to fold into the chair as his finger travelled across with his gaze until it paused. On her. It curled as if plucking her from the masses. “Her, Nara, daughter of Jae Thani.”

“I refuse” Nara hissed at the same time her father stood and called, “Your, Majesty.”

“Please reconsider, Your Majesty” her father begged. The rest of the room sighed in relief, glad it wasn’t them nor their children were chosen. The elves might be the wealthiest, powerful and beautiful beings to walk the world. Still, it wasn’t enough to flutter and convert the frailest and greediest heart to marry one of them even if it was the prince himself. The fear of death, terrifying and uncertain future in foreign land kept them from throwing themselves at the opportunity.

“Your daughter is unwed Thani, she’s at the right age to be a married woman” the king raked his eyes over her conspiratorially. It made Nara’s skin crawl.

“Please…” her father begged. Her mother hissed. “My daughter would not do your nasty biddings!”