The Fae Princess' Hidden Fate

18.

I should have realised that something like this was coming sooner or later. Of course they would try to rope me into a situation like this. And I had been the one who was foolish enough to imagine that everything would be fine.

Why would I want to be forced into going to Cornia earlier than I had planned? The whole idea of the proposal had been sprung on me suddenly, and I wasn't given a choice in the matter. At least I had a right to withhold this decision without being compelled to leave against my will.

Father never told me how long I would spend at the kingdom, or what the true purpose of my visit was. He claimed it was so I could become familiar with the family I was getting married into, but I suspected he was hoping that once I got to meet prince Blaze and I got to know a little bit about their kingdom, then I would accept him wholeheartedly.

Like that was ever going to happen.

When I stormed into my room, I slammed the door shut behind me. I balled my hands into fists to prevent myself from screaming, and I flopped onto my bed with all my frustration pent up and threatening to explode. I was sick and tired of being treated like I didn't have any right to say or do anything.

Why couldn't he see that I wasn't a child anymore? Why couldn't he understand that I just wanted to be respected and treated like I mattered? I didn't want anyone to make me feel like I was doing anything without consenting to it first, and that was exactly what father was trying to do.

Surely this had something to do with the whole issue with Sebastian. I was almost completely sure that he was doing all this in a bid to try and get rid of him, even though he knew that was almost impossible. How could he think he could get away with it?

A knock came on the door then, and I looked up to see Abigail walk in with a tentative look on her face. She looked at me carefully, most likely gauging whether I was in a mood to talk or not. When she saw that I wasn't as furious as she imagined, she walked into the room then and attempted a smile before she realised I wasn't actually going to smile.

"Regan and Sebastian have returned to the infirmary," she said in a quiet voice. I dropped back down, sighing heavily. When she came and sat down beside me, I looked up at her and sighed once again.

"Was that rude of me?" I asked.

"In a manner of speaking," she replied. "But I'm sure they will forgive you, seeing how you weren't really expecting to be ambushed like that. They will probably excuse it as you being tired or merely in shock."

"So I don't need to apologise?"

"Only if you feel like it," Abigail stated. "You are the Princess of Nibiru, so you do not apologise to anyone, no matter who they think they are."

"But I apologise to you when I've done something wrong, don't I?"

"Well that's because we've been friends for years," she said with a slight chuckle. "I'm sure you wouldn't have bothered to if I was some random person roaming through the palace. But we've known each other for over seventeen years, so I think I cannot be compared to some random strangers you just happened to meet today."

That finally made me smile, and I manoeuvred my head so that it rested on her lap. Abigail laughed as well, and she placed her hand on my shoulder. She smelled the same way she always did, like rosewater and a hint of something sweet and savoury, like spring if it could be bottled up into a fragrance.

Sometimes, I tend to forget just how much she meant to me, or how she was my dearest and closest friend. Truth be told, she was my only friend. There was no one else in the entire palace who I could claim to be close to, apart from her and mother. I couldn't even begin to imagine what would happen if she wasn't here for me. I would probably just be very miserable and grumpy the entire time.

Ever since father brought her into the palace and assigned her as my lady in waiting after her parents death, Abigail and I have been inseparable. We have been together since I was three, and now, I’m twenty. The years have surely flung so fast.

She was always smiling and warm. And she always listened to me without judging me. She was the only one who knew most of my secrets, some of which even mother doesn’t. I sighed as I stared at her skin, noticing the contrast between hers and mine. Although we all shared the same dark skin, hers had no green taint to it like mine did. Simply because she wasn’t royalty.

Abigail was a nature fae that deals with potions and plants. Mostly, she spends her time making potions from plants while I draw. It is how we mostly spend our spare time. Truth be told, every time is a spare time for me as I’ve never been assigned a complete task. According to father, I wasn’t due till I get married to a high fae.

Quite typical of him to find me one of the princes from Cornia. Well, Blaze be damned!

"Layla?" Abigail’s voice drifted into my ears as she whispered. She tucked my hair behind my ear.

"Hm?"

"Do you care about Sebastian?"

She asked it so calmly and slowly, as though it was a regular question she would usually ask me. I couldn't even begin to explain how odd it felt to sit there and listen to her asking me about a human whose soul was now tied to mine. None of this was normal, and yet I would have to accept it as my new normal. For better or worse, Sebastian was a part of me now. And there was no way around that simple truth.

"Well, I don't really have a choice, do I?" I laughed, trying for humour. "I have to care about him, because if anything happens to him, then I will have to bear the punishment of it happening as well."

"I don't mean it that way," she said with a frown. "You know what I'm trying to ask."

"I really don't," I replied, feigning ignorance.

"I mean are you starting to have feelings for him?" she finally plucked up the courage to ask.

I blinked at the question, and the more I tried to think about it, the more Sebastian's face swam in my thoughts. I couldn't think straight, and I was so flustered by the question that I didn't know what I was going to say. I tried to think of a rational answer, but nothing came to mind.

Did I care about Sebastian? I certainly have a damn about him, otherwise I wouldn't be making such an effort to try and uncover the truth about him. It wasn't just that I wanted to find out who put a spell on him, but I also wanted to figure out what he was truly like, and if the spell was the reason he was acting the way he was. For all I knew, he could be an assassin who had forgotten everything about his past. What would happen once he remembered who he actually was? Would he remain the same way he was, or would he be a completely different person?

That was my biggest fear; what if I had gotten myself trapped with a sick twisted person? How would I be able to handle the situation then?

But to actually have feelings for him? Absolutely not; I hardly knew the man.

And yet, when I looked at him and saw the seriousness in his eyes, and the brightness in his eyes which were always filed with curiosity at this strange new world he had found himself in, I could feel something strange and exciting bubbling in the pit of my stomach. Maybe I did care about him, and I was just in denial.

But the only way to find out was after I did what Billie told me to do. The weight of the crystal was still heavy in the palm of my hand, and I couldn't ignore it at all.

"I'm not sure," I replied truthfully. "It could be that I am starting to have feelings for him, but we'll have to wait and see. After all, it could just be that I am feeling the effects of the spell."

That answer seemed to satisfy her for the time being.

*

"Enter!"

I stepped into the room quietly, and I found mother sitting at the edge of her seat, as if she had been staring at the door this entire time and waiting for me to come and see her. She looked genuinely pleased, and she stood up immediately when I walked in.

"I just saw your father," she said. "He's furious with you."

"When has he ever not been furious with me?" I sighed, which made her to chuckle slightly. In that laughter I detected a hope; a belief that perhaps things were not as bad as they were.

She must have been worried this whole time that we haven't spoken, and it had been getting to her. But I had been of the impression that she was furious with me, and that was why she was making my life difficult. But now that I looked at it in a different way, perhaps I had been mistaken this whole time. Maybe, just maybe, she was only angry with my actions, and not necessarily myself.

"How's your human?" she asked sarcastically.

There it was again.

"He's not my human, mother," I chuckled. "And he's certainly not just 'a' human as well. His name is Sebastian, and I would appreciate it if you called him by his given name."

"Well he's more yours than anyone else's," she pointed out, which I couldn't necessarily argue with.

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" I asked. "Why won't you just accept him for who he is?"

"Because he's not one of us," she said quietly. “And I know you want to pretend otherwise because of the law which binds you together, but we are not humans, Layla. And he is not a fae. Never have two beings more distinct in nature been forced to live with one another. You can understand why it's hard for us to accept him, when we all know the nature of his kind. Humans are unforgiving, and they will not hesitate to kill a fae if they feel even slightly threatened. Just because your great grand father did it doesn’t mean it is safe.”

"But Sebastian..."

"Is still a human," she cut me off. “He might not be able to harm you, but that doesn't mean he can't harm the rest of us. Even you can't deny the fact that there is something off about him. I have tried to tolerate him for your sake, but every time I look at him, all I see is you making that mistake and putting your entire future in jeopardy. His presence is driving a wedge between us, and that is the last thing I want. You are my daughter, Layla. No human should ever come between us."

She reached out for me hand, and I accepted her with a faint smile. She was right when she said Sebastian's presence was driving a wedge between us. The same could be said for father, even though we hadn't been that close even before Sebastian's arrival. But why couldn't they see him the way I saw him? Why couldn't they see that he wasn't really evil at all? I could feel the good in him, and I knew that he was not a bad person. He hadn't been lying when he said that he only wanted to find out the truth about himself.

Perhaps they just didn't understand him the way I did. They probably saw him as nothing more than a human, while I could see him for much more than that. Maybe it had something to do with the spell. Or maybe it was simply the fact that they hadn't taken the opportunity to try and know him. That was probably the reason. And when I told mother exactly that, she merely grimaced.

"How about this," she said. "Once you return from Cornia, then I promise to have a proper conversation with him and get to know him properly."

At the mention of Cornia, my mood turned sour once again. She didn't miss this change however, and she immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

"I don't want to go to Cornia," I said truthfully. "I don't want to meet Prince Blaze, and I don't want to marry someone I don't even know."

She pursed her lips for a moment, but then she said, "There is a way out of this."

I sat up immediately, and I asked, "What is it?"

"You will have to get Prince Blaze himself to break off the engagement," she said. "If he decides he doesn't want to marry you anymore, then you will be free of him. That is the only way."

Her words were like a beacon of hope which had suddenly cast its light over me. Why didn't anyone tell me this before? Now, I had something to look forward to. My plan was already beginning to come together in my head.

I was going to make sure that he ended up hating me at first sight.