Enchanted World: Elves and Vampires

5: Bargaining

*****

Arwin made his way up the stairs having just left a meeting with his father. He would be making an appearance at a ceremony celebrating the completion and opening of a new parliamentary building in a day and figured he would try to take Nora along for it. Of course, she would have to wait in the car but he thought she would appreciate seeing the outside of the palace during the drive there. Perhaps it would make her feel less… trapped.

He was heading back to the room to take her down to the dinner table because she had yet to eat anything as the guard outside of the bedroom had informed him that she had made no attempt to exit or ask for anything. As he reached the room, he gave Titus a nod effectively relieving the guard of his duties. Titus had mostly been there to assist Nora if needed while Cullum was with Arwin even though he was certain she would not ask anything of the man standing right beside his room’s door. He had figured the girl would not even open the door and was right about that. After Titus left, Arwin pushed his door open gently in an attempt not to startle Nora but paused as soon as he stepped inside seeing the room and bed empty. There were not many places to hide in the room, the bed had no space to slide in beneath it, the balcony doors and curtains were closed and there was not a sound coming from the bathroom. He stepped back into the hallway, but Titus was already gone and he knew the man would have mentioned it if Nora had left.

Turning back into the room, Arwin let the door shut behind him and walked over to the glass doors in case Nora had just slid them shut once she left, but they were locked and could not be locked from the outside so she had definitely not left the room that way. Arwin lowered his brows feeling his heart pick up at the possibility that she might have somehow found a way to lock the doors from the outside and had gone against his orders and tried to find a way to leave from the balcony. There was no way to safely make it onto land from the balcony; the only escape from it was into the ocean where there wasn’t much of a chance of survival so close to the house even with a boat because of all the rocks at the base of the cliff and just beneath the surface of the water. Trying to calm his heart, he repeated to himself that there was no possible way she had left the room and began to run his eyes over everything again trying to look for hiding places.

He walked over to the bathroom and, despite already thinking it would be empty, seeing it vacant caused his anxiety to intensify as he sighed and began mumbling a spell under his breath being too worried to perform it silently. Even though Nora did not know she was his lifemate, he knew and that was enough to make him feel her presence through the spell if she was nearby. He raised his brows feeling her quite close by and followed the slight pull the spell created into the closet before pushing it open quietly and turning the lights on. His eyes found her immediately and he gave a breath of relief seeing her balled up on the carpet in the corner of the room. He was both amused and dejected that she refused to use the bed or even stay in the room itself. Why hadn’t he thought of checking the closet first? It was the most obvious place. Maybe the amount of worry at not immediately seeing her had messed with his common sense. Walking deeper into the room, he knelt down beside her smaller form and lifted a hand to pat her head gently.

“Nora, wake up.” The whisper was enough to make her jolt awake before quickly trying to move away from him, but she was already in a corner and had nowhere to go so just stared at him with her brown eyes wide and frightened. He tried not to react to how much it stung that she looked at him that way, reminding himself that it would take time to get used to the stranger that snatched her from her home unannounced. “It’s time for dinner.”

“I’m not hungry,” she said.

He sighed lightly and sat down, crossing his legs pretty uncomfortably between them because he rarely ever sat that way and could not remember the last time he had even sat on the floor. The carpet was soft, but not as comfortable as a chair in his opinion.

“Elaria – one of my attendants – healed your brother and the others. She said they were quite malnourished, everyone underweight. No one seemed older than their mid-twenties. You are an orphan, aren’t you?” He had been thinking about it a lot when they were trying to locate her with nothing but a still image taken from the video footage of her stealing from the store he had seen her come out of. He acquired the footage because it would be the only image he could use to find her and had not known Nora, or the man she then ran away with who had been in the same store, had been stealing before watching it. It had mostly been Cullum’s job to look for her, but after a few days of no progress, Arwin insisted on coming along despite most of his attendants strongly suggesting he did not. They had driven around bad parts of the city asking people if they knew her face. The part of town she lived in was run down with abandoned buildings and homeless people, basically just a place for people to sleep if they had nowhere else to and for criminals to hide. They were all just humans though, so he had nothing to be cautious of. “If you are worried about the others, we gave them some food.” He was surprised when she gave a soft scoff and lifted his brows. “I am told they reacted the same way: refused it, tried to fight the elves again. Ungrateful.” he said it to annoy her and it clearly did.

“You know nothing about us.” She glared up before averting her eyes to the carpet and muttering, “They’re not going to take anything you give them, it’ll be like p*****t for taking me.”

“Oh.” He had not thought of it that way and figured it was just pride that made them refuse the food. “Your parents… drug addicts?” He did not receive a response, her eyes continued to avoid his as they glossed slightly and her jaw tightened while she swallowed. The reaction made him more curious but he stopped himself because she seemed bothered by talking about her parents. “Okay… Nora, we are having dinner downstairs.” It was not a question. She looked at him, eyes dull and upset and he felt himself cave instantly without her even having to say a word. “We can have dinner in here, just you and me.”

“I-I’m really not hungry.” her voice was soft, truthful. Arwin frowned wanting to hear more of it, afraid that was never going to happen.

“I will answer a question or give you a minute alone for every spoon full of food you eat.” Her face twisted and he fought back a laugh. Right, a minute was ridiculous, but he did not correct it. “Then it’s settled.” He pulled his phone from his pocket to text Cullum. They were quiet as he tapped until she spoke again.

“What’s a lifemate?” the question caught him off-guard being as random as it was, as did the simple tone of voice she used for it, as though for a second she forgot about being scared and upset just to be curious. It made him chuckle and he did not miss her eyes dropping to glance at his smile.

“That counts towards a bite of food.” The opportunity to make her eat could not be missed.

“I…” Her jaw clenched, “Fine,” she said softly, “but you can’t avoid answering it fully like you’ve been doing with everything else.” He smiled. He liked her. She seemed quite straightforward despite being fearful.

“Truth… A… soulmate.” He watched her reaction and it seemed as though she did not fully comprehend it because her eyes didn’t move from his face and there was no clear reaction on hers. “So essentially, I brought you here to marry me, Nora.” His clarification quickly made her eyes widen.

“What? No. You-you’re an elf. I-I don’t know you, you don’t know me.” She did not mention his title. He wondered whether it was because she did not think it mattered or because the first two things mentioned were already big enough issues that addressing the third was not even necessary.

“This may not make sense to you, but this is how elves find their partners. When I saw you outside that store, I just knew immediately that you were my lifemate. I felt it. If I did not find you within a week, I would have continued searching until I found you, Nora. No matter how long it took.” Nora's head shook slowly while she dropped her hands to her ankles, her knees still up against her chest like she was trying to hide behind them or shrink further away from him.

“It-it doesn’t make sense, you can’t – you don’t… I don’t even know you, I barely know anything about what you are. You can’t – you can’t make me.” her voice seemed to rise slightly in panic. He had the urge to tap her temple again to calm her mind and put her to sleep just so that she would be less distressed but kept his hands down knowing they would have to have that particular conversation eventually and right then was as good a time as any.

“Try to understand, elves just know when we are meant to be with someone the second we see them.” He knew it made no sense to her; humans developed feelings slowly, maybe they became friends or developed crushes and then got to know each other like vampires did. Of course, elves had crushes and dated but they knew it was all just for fun until they found their lifemates. There was no telling when an elf would find their person. The connection to a lifemate was instantaneous and so much deeper than anything that was possible with anyone else, even when the pair had never met before in their lives.

“Can’t you just find an elf? I‘m-I’m sure there are - I'm sure you’ve got a few princesses or other elvish women that admire you.” He bit the inside of his cheek. She could not understand, he understood why but it terrified him knowing there was a real possibility of her never even considering him. They had not started off well in human terms.

“They are not you.”

“You don’t know me,” she repeated.

“Then let me get to know you, Nora.” He followed her eyes as she looked down when his hand gently took hold of her wrist to pull her hand from her ankle so he could hold onto it. The warm hand was small in his and he noticed another scar on the outside of her thumb. He instinctively rubbed his thumb over it wondering how she got it, “I understand that you are human and this is new to you, but…” What could he say to buy himself time? He did not want to have to force her; that was not how it should be done… but it could be done that way… Still, he did not want it to be like that. She was his lifemate, he did not want her to be anything but happy and feel completely safe with him, “Okay, give me a year.” He wanted to laugh at how cliché fairy-tail that sounded but was too focused on having her agree. If she agreed and spent time with him, she would grow to like him, would start feeling the connection as well and begin to understand… hopefully. He was not sure how it would work with a human. Elves never had human lifemates, his kind usually did not pay too much attention to the weaker race, preferred to stay away from them because half-blooded children were nothing but trouble… but he could not imagine giving up his lifemate. The thought was alarming, it was physically crippling. He could always convince her to convert to elf later on to prevent creating half-bloods. First, though, he needed her to try to understand their connection.

“What?” Her brows rose with the question.

“Give me a year, just trust me for a year and if you do not want to be with me thereafter, I will... let you go completely.” He felt his heart pick up in his chest not knowing whether or not he was lying to her yet. She seemed to run over it for a few seconds, quietly thinking while staring at their hands.

“A… year…” she whispered.

“I will let you go.” He leaned down close to her, “But only if you trust me for a year.”

“And if I don’t agree to this you’re keeping me here anyway, right?” She pulled her hand from his leaving it feeling empty and cold. He swallowed keeping his eyes down. She was probably right. If it was already so terrifying to even think of letting her go within less than a few days of knowing her, what would it be like in a year? Maybe he should have used a spell to disguise himself as human and then pretended to bump into her in the street. Would she have considered him then? His parents and guards would never have let him do that. It would have been way too embarrassing for their family and the elves.

A knock on his room’s door made them both glance in the direction of the closet doors before they looked back at each other.

“That’s dinner.” He attempted to get up but she spoke.

“Fine.” He was surprised by the word, had expected her to take some time to think about it although knowing that he was not giving her much of a choice. Despite how bad that made him feel, he was too selfish to let her go without their even trying to get to know each other. “A year, but you have to promise… you said elves keep their word… and you cannot keep me here, I want to see my friends,” she said.

“Alright. I promise.” He smiled despite being uncertain about whether it was a promise he could keep, but breaking it would come with its own set of consequences for him. Arwin reached out his hand and Nora tentatively took hold of it so they could shake on the promise, he had mostly done it just to touch her again but it did not last long as she pulled her hand away soon after. “So, do you want to eat on the balcony?” She shook her head.

“It… No.” He nodded getting up to head to the door.

He retrieved the cart of food from Cullum thanking the older man before walking back into the closet. It felt odd because he had never gotten food for himself in his life – he always just walked into a room to find it already laid out on a table for him. Nora was right where he left her but she looked up as he walked in and bit her lip glancing from him to the carpet. It was innocent and something she seemed to be doing because of nerves, but it made his heart skip at how adorable she looked.

“We can sit outside,” the mumble made him smile at the fact that she was being considerate despite the situation and how uneasy his presence clearly made her. It gave him some hope that getting close to her would be easier than he thought it would be a few seconds prior, but it also made him wonder if Nora was always too nice to people she considered strangers and even threatening. He wanted her to trust him and be comfortable in the palace, but not be the same with just anyone. That was dangerous. Though, of course she could handle herself. If not, she may not have survived that long living on the streets, right? That consideration did not make him feel any less uneasy about her niceness.

“I’m alright.” He carefully lifted the tray from the cart and placed it between them before sitting on the carpet again.

The tray was filled with some fruit, bread, salad, two bowls of soup and two plates with meals on them. Beside him in the cart was a jug of juice and a bottle of wine with two glasses next to it. He occupied himself with the wine while trying not to keep watching her, thinking it was probably going to make her feel uncomfortable but looked up after he had poured a glass and she had yet to touch any food.

“Wine?” She shook her head, “Don’t drink?” The answer was a shrug that made him raise his brows in silent question.

“Haven’t tried it.” He nodded.

“Are you allergic to anything?”

“No. It’s nothing,” she mumbled. He frowned at the reply but let it go as he poured her a glass of juice assuming that she would not want to try anything alcoholic with him just yet.

They began eating in a silence that was not the most comfortable, but it was not uncomfortable to the point where he was trying to think of something to say to ease the atmosphere while practically choking on his food. He mostly stole glances at her as he ate. She was eating very slowly – 'very' because he was already a slow eater and once full he found that she had not even eaten a quarter of the food on either of her plates. She seemed to like grapes though and stuck with those for the most part. He would remember that. Not soon after he finished did she stop as well.

“Full?” he asked, surprised. She nodded. He doubted it but was not going to push her. “Let’s take a walk.” He did not give her a chance to reply and grabbed her hand to lift her from the floor while getting up.

“No – no.” She pulled back when he began leading her towards the balcony. He turned around raising his brows. “It’s terrifying – and it’s dark right now,” she said quickly. Arwin chuckled.

“It’s okay, it’s the best time and I will dive in after you if you fall.”

“So we can both die ice-cold watery deaths, how romantic,” she muttered with a frown and he began laughing.

“Trust me, come along.” He tugged her gently. She gave a soft, defeated groan that sounded cute to Arwin and let him lead them towards the doors. He noticed that she had not tried to pull her hand from his and was taking the time to enjoy the feeling before she remembered he was touching her and would then probably pull away from him. “Cullum, in the closet,” he called out while unlocking the doors and heard his room’s door open just as he stepped out onto the balcony with Nora right behind him.

He smiled feeling her grip on his hand tighten slightly as she took a step further towards the edge of the balcony and then another until she could lean against the rail if she wanted to, but still held onto his hand as if afraid of falling over the edge while he watched her from behind. He glanced back into the room hearing the cart and gave Cullum a thankful smile before returning his gaze to the girl in front of him. Short strands of her curly dark brown hair that had managed to come undone from her bun and the ribbon on the collar of her shirt moved with the wind as she placed her other hand on the concrete rail so she could lean over slightly. Arwin fought the urge to pull her back away from it because he was worried despite knowing full-well he would be able to catch her before she even hit the water if her hand somehow slipped from his. Nora just looked so delicate, like she would be blown over the edge by a gush of wind if it was strong enough. He should have forced her to eat more… He missed having her close to him like he had in the car and wanted so badly to step up close behind her to hug her. How upset would she be if he did that?

“So you have a brother,” he spoke making her look back at him from over her shoulder, “I have a brother too. Vaegon. He is younger… a year.” Her head turned towards the direction of Vaegon’s room. His lights were out, as was the lounge area which left the rest of the balcony disappearing into darkness, giving the illusion that there was no end to it. Arwin figured his brother was still out visiting someone because Vaegon did not usually go to bed early. Nora stepped back from the wall finally pulling her hand from his, leaving him disappointed.

“Aren’t there any vampires here?” she asked still staring into the dark. She was afraid.

“In this part of the country? Rarely. We do not exactly… get along. We have rarely ever even had royal vampires step foot in the palace.”

“Aren’t… you afraid?”

“Of vampires?” he asked, “No. They are fast and strong but we have a wide range of magic which gives us a wider range of abilities.” Also, he did not want to brag but he was pretty powerful.

“So they don’t feed on you.”

“They cannot feed on us. Elvish blood is toxic to vampires.” He watched a slight frown form on her face as her brows lowered. She looked somewhat upset although thoughtful. “You did not know that?”

“No, I didn’t.” She glanced back into the darkness of the balcony before adding, “I wanna go inside.”

“You really have nothing to be afraid of, Nora.” He knelt down while lifting his hand and watched a smooth, small ball of bright blue light form on his palm and then grow until it was the size of a bowling ball, though it still hovered without touching his skin. He then placed it on the ground before standing back up and kicked it letting it roll all the way down the balcony, lighting up everything around it as it went. It stopped rolling somewhere in front of the living area and the balcony on that side was no longer in the dark. “See?” He looked up at Nora, but she had stepped a few feet away from him seemingly unsettled by the magic. He snapped his fingers and the ball slowly turned to dust blowing away in the gentle evening wind and disappearing gradually along with the light it created.

Nora letting out an astounded, soft sigh caused him to turn to face the girl again. She was still staring at the other side of the balcony mesmerised by what had been there just seconds earlier before blinking and looking at him, but didn’t say anything.

“There are pyjamas in the closet, I have to say goodnight to my parents.” Arwin held his hand out to motion for her to step back inside. She did so, slightly shrugging away from him as she walked by to keep a little bit of a distance between them. It made his heart drop slightly while he studied her form from behind. She was not just physically small, but also seemed quite timid. Her shoulders slouched slightly because she kept her hands clasped together in front of her. She clearly was not much of a fighter and seemed to only speak when it was needed. Was that just because she did not know him yet and was still afraid or was it just who she was? He had a feeling it was the latter. He would have to wait to get to know if he was right, luckily there was plenty of time.

*****