The Fae Princess' Hidden Fate

10.

It took me a while to get used to seeing Sebastian walking around the halls of the palace. He was so strange-looking, and so unlike us that he stuck out everywhere like a sore thumb.

For one thing, he was so pale and pink that it was obvious he wasn't a fae. He was slightly shorter than I was as well, and even though he didn't show it, I could tell that this bothered him.

It had been three days since my birthday, and three days since I found him in the woods. And yet, it felt like I had known him my whole life.

Sometimes, I would sit by my window and stare down at the stables, where I could see him grooming the horses with an apprehensive look on his face. Even the beasts got skittish around him, seeming to sense that he was not one of us. They would dance about with their tails frolicking about, and they would move as far away as they could from his touch. The other stable boys would have to rush towards them, and after stroking their faces in a soothing manner, they would finally calm down and allow Sebastian to touch them.

He didn't seem to mind however. He would always be smiling whenever he was grooming the horses. I could sometimes see him whispering to them, his hand wrapped around their necks and his face pressed up against theirs. I found that fascinating, and I made a mental note to ask him about it.

I only ever got to see him at dinner, but even then we could hardly talk about anything in the presence of father and mother. At first, when I insisted that he would join us for dinner everyday, mother protested heavily. Even father showed his disapproval to the idea. But then, when I made it clear that I would not join them if Sebastian wasn't allowed, they finally caved.

I couldn't have him mingling about with the servants. I needed him close, so I could continue trying to pry some information from him. So far, he still couldn't remember anything about himself. But he could remember 'the sea', a great body of water so vast that its end could not be seen. When he was describing it, he made us imagine a great big lake which stretched out in every direction, and we were like ants on the bank of the lake. It would seem like it stretched on forever, and the waves would crash upon themselves tumultuously, roaring and raging as the winds swept them up.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what it would look like, a lake so vast that it couldn't be crossed. I'd spent my whole life here, trapped within the walls of the palace. It was part of the reason why I kept sneaking out into the woods every now and then. If I didn't, then I might just run mad from the emptiness of it all.

Life within the palace was stable. It was so simple, and there was nothing that would happen to surprise me. Everything moved at a routine pace, and I could tell exactly what would happen every single day. It got boring quite quickly, and for someone who craved a bit of danger and adventure every now and again, I couldn't say that I particularly enjoyed not being able to go beyond the palace walls.

Sebastian made me feel this way, and for that I was beginning to grow fond of him.

"So tell me," father said that evening at dinner, "have you noticed anything distinctly strange about the way we faes live our lives?"

"I beg your pardon, your majesty," Sebastian replied, "but I'm not sure I fully understand the question."

"Well, you've been living among us for over three days now," he explained. "Surely you must have noticed something strange in the way we go about our daily business. Perhaps it's in the way we walk, or the way we talk, or simply in the way we interact with one another. I'm certain we can't be so similar to the humans that nothing sticks out to you."

Sebastian had to stare down at his plate as he thought hard. His eyes were focused so carefully on the fork in his hands that I wondered if he had gotten lost in his own head. I could have sworn that I felt his mind fogging up, and the closer he got to figuring out what he was trying to see, the quicker it would disappear from him.

"I don't think it's so different," he said finally, looking up with a distant look in his eyes. "I mean, based on appearances alone, I think it is quite obvious that there is a difference between our races, even though it's not so firmly pronounced. I think it comes down to the little things, like the way humans just don't seem to care about anything around them but themselves. I have noticed how the faes are more in tune with nature than their human counterparts. You seem to respect every aspect of nature, right down to the tiny blade of grass which is just beginning to appear from the damp earth. I tried to pull out what I believed to be a weed at the entrance to the stables yesterday, and master Larmir, the head of the stables, nearly had my head on a spike for what he believed was an atrocious sin that I was about to commit."

Father laughed at that, and I smiled at Sebastian when he briefly glanced at me.

"Nature is life, Sebastian," he said finally. "We must respect that which we came to see, for we have no power over it. The only things we can control are those which we created ourselves. Everything else belongs to nature alone, and we do not interfere for whatever reason."

"But what about magic?" Sebastian asked suddenly, throwing the room into a dangerous and deathly silence. I froze with my fork halfway to the plate, and I looked up to see a very serious look in his eyes. He seemed determined to find the answer to a question which was clearly written all over his face.

I leaned forward, and when he shifted his gaze towards me, I asked in a very quiet voice, "Why do you ask?"

"I saw some women yesterday bending the water around the bank of the lake with their hands," he explained. "It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I was just wondering how it is possible to control some elements of nature."

"Magic is a gift," father said. "Some of our people are blessed with this gift, and they used it to maintain the balance in nature. It is a great honour to be blessed with this magic, and we must do whatever we can to protect and preserve it."

"So, those who have the gift..."

"Are considered the guardians of nature," father answered his question even before he asked it. "We do what we can to preserve the life, and we maintain the balance so that it does not spread into chaos."

"But why only faes?" he pressed on. "Isn't there some other race who possess magic as well? I mean, with the little I can remember, humans do not possess any magic in them. But surely there must be another race who have been blessed with these gifts."

"There are some humans who have the gift of magic," I said before father could speak up. "They are called wizards, and they are very powerful people. Some of them are good, but others are pure evil. They are the ones trying to destroy the sacred balance of nature, and they will do whatever they can to ensure that magic is used for nothing else but to cause chaos."

"Wizards?" Sebastian muttered, as if the name meant something to him. The distant look in his eyes returned, and his lips began to move slowly as he dived into the depths of his mind once again. I tried to see what he was seeing, but there was nothing except the familiar fogginess.

And then, just as he was about to speak, the doors were thrown open and Antonio floated in with a very animated look in his eyes. He seemed to have been carried away by something, and he stopped at the end of the table to bow before us all.

"Your majesties," he said with a small smile followed by a hiccup. "Sebastian. Forgive me for being late. I had to stop on the way to resolve a small issue down in the wine cellar."

"And what might this issue have been?" father asked.

"A leakage, your majesty," he said. "Some of the barrels were not carefully stacked, and they suffered a puncture or two. I had to make sure that all the wine was transferred into new barrels, and carefully stacked so that it wouldn't all be wasted."

"And how many glasses did you have while you were down there?" I asked sarcastically, seeing how unsteady he was on his feet. He kept swaying from side to side, only managing to catch himself right before he tipped over. His eyes were unfocused as well, and he was clearly so drunk that I didn't think he could remain standing for much longer.

He turned to look at me with unseeing eyes, and he blinked several times before he smiled.

"Princess Layla," he said with a ridiculous grin on his face. "My, you do look absolutely ravishing this evening. Is there a ball perhaps which I was not made aware of?"

Rather than finding him irritating, he was actually quite amusing in his drunken stupor. In this state, it could be assumed that it was the wine talking and not him. I could forgive some of his remarks as just silly talk.

But then he made his way towards me, and the small smile which had been playing at my lips vanished instantly. Silence fell over everyone as he came to stop behind my chair, smelling heavily of the wine which he most certainly almost drowned himself in. He placed his hand on the chair, and tried to steady himself before he looked at any of us.

"Yes," he whispered. "Very beautiful indeed."

Slowly, his hand came up to stroke my face, and I jumped as his skin made contact with mine. It wasn't just how cold his hands were of the fact that I knew he was drunk. It was the fact that it was him, and he wasn't supposed to do something like this, in front of my parents as well.

"Antonio, perhaps it would be best if you returned to your room for the night," father said in a deathly quiet voice. "I think you can be excused from having dinner with us tonight."

I hated that father even gifted him a chamber in the palace. That was when I had stupidly confessed to Antonio that I liked him, and father, thinking that it would help, gifted him a chamber in the palace so he could sleep in on days he wanted. That, and the fact that his father was the prime minister, and a close friend to father as well.

"It's not a bother, your majesty," he replied, almost toppling down to the floor. "I can manage."

"Nonsense," father said, snapping his fingers and summoning two guards. "Please escort him back to his chambers for the night. And make sure he doesn't wander off and do anything inappropriate."

"I'll do it," Sebastian said, rising to his feet and reaching for his cane.

"But your wounds..."

"It's not a bother, Your Majesty," he said in a cold and icy tone. "I can manage."

Antonio laughed at his repeated statement, and Sebastian hook his arm underneath him before escorting him out of the hall.

I was far too flustered to continue eating anyway, so I left the table mere minutes after they had walked out. Neither father nor mother bothered to stop me, as they too had realised the severity of what had just happened.

Out in the hallway, I was hurrying towards my room with my temper rising when I suddenly heard what sounded like arguing up ahead. I made my way slowly forward, and when I looked around the corner, I was stunned to find Sebastian pinning Antonio to the wall with his hands around his neck. There was a wild and murderous look in his eyes as he leaned towards him and spoke in a soft whisper.

"She's mine," he said in a voice which sent shivers down my spine. "You ever come close to her again, and I will kill you without hesitating. I promise you that."

And with that he drove his knee into the man's stomach before throwing him to the ground and limping away.

What the hell did I just witness?

***

A/N;

Well, thoughts so far? I sincerely hope you are enjoying this book. Thank you so much for reading.