The Fae Princess' Hidden Fate

17.

LAYLA

The room fell deathly silent, and none of us could even bring ourselves to say a single word. Billie’s words hung in the air, and I still couldn’t believe that she had said exactly that.

Even Sebastian looked absolutely stunned by what she had said. His mouth was slightly open, and he seemed absolutely confused. I could understand how confusing this must be for him, walking into a stranger’s home and having them immediately declare that he was going to be a killer. It must have been confusing as hell.

How exactly did she come to that conclusion? Was this another part of father’s propaganda against Sebastian, and he was just trying to show me that there was no hope for the two of us together? Was everything just some amusing game to him?

I couldn’t separate myself from Sebastian even if I tried. The two of us were linked together, and we would remain like that for the rest of our lives. It wasn’t something I was proud of doing, tying both our lives together that way. If I had known the truth about what I was doing, then I never would have done it. The last thing I wanted was to bind someone to me, especially someone who may or may not have been put under a spell with indications that he was meant to kill someone. If I had a choice, then I wouldn’t have done that in the beginning. But I was sick and tired of constantly being reminded of my mistake.

“You must be mistaken,” I said with as much conviction as I could muster. “Sebastian is not going to kill me.”

Her eyes shifted slowly towards me, and she narrowed them infinitesimally as she sat up slowly in the bed. Her long hair, which was beginning to grey near the middle part and had grown shorter since the last time I saw it was tied into a messy bun, exposing her neck and her back. She wore a loose black dress, with a dark brown necklace around her neck. Her earrings hung low, and she had several rings on her fingers. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that these were no ordinary rings. I briefly wondered what powerful spells were contained in them, and what their true purpose was.

She sucked in a breath slowly, and her lips trembled before she spoke. When she did, the sound was raspy and throaty, and her whole body seemed to shake as she did.

“He is the one who you invoked the Law of First Sight on, is he not?” she asked. “I heard a rumour that Princess Layla had invoked the law on a human, and now the king has decreed that he will live among us and remain with the Princess for as long as she wishes. Is this not the case?”

“Yes, but…”

“Listen to me,” she said. “The Law of First Sight is a dangerous and complicated law. Countless of lives have been lost to it, and it is not to be tampered with especially when it comes to living and breathing things. You do not invoke the law unless you are absolutely certain that you are willing to bear its consequences.”

“I know all about it,” I replied, waving offhandedly. “Father told me all about it.”

“Did he tell you about a knight who was killed because he invoked the law on the maid of a princess?” she asked.

That was a new one. Honestly, I was beginning to wonder just how far the extent of my stupidity was. How could I have been so foolish as to invoke a law just because I read about it somewhere? I had no one to blame but myself in this. And now, I would have to be the one to bear the burden.

“His name was Sir Marlan, and he thought that he could get away with it since no one would dare and come between them,” she explained. “But the emperor was a cruel man, and he pretended that he was happy for them and he allowed them to get married. But then, at their supposed wedding, he drugged them both and then had them tied in the middle of a ditch with thick chains imbibed with dark magic. Then, he ordered his men to shoot at the knight. Each time the arrows almost touched him, the explosion would throw both of them apart, while the emperor and his men stood above them and laughed. With each attempt, the knight and his bride would suffer a broken rib or two, until they were so badly broken and wounded that they couldn’t even move. Then, he had them buried alive while they were still bleeding in the ditch. It was a gruesome way to die, and that is the main reason why no one dares to invoke the law again.”

A chill ran down my spine as I imagined the two fate-crossed lovers, both of them believing that they would be spending the rest of their lives together, only to suffer such a cruel fate. Would Sebastian and I end up like that, even though we aren’t lovers? We were just two people who had ended up in a huge mess because of a mistake I had made, and the only way out was if one of us died.

“There are people who wish to harm you, your majesty,” she explained. “If they find out that you are tied to this human now, then they will use it as an opportunity to hurt you. Anyone who wants to get to you will do so through him, and there is no way out of this. You shouldn’t have made a mistake like this without knowing completely what you were entering into.”

She waved her hands, and four seats soared across the room and towards us. She then snapped her fingers and a tray which held some drinks and snacks appeared in midair.

“Forgive me manners,” she said. “I think it’s the fever getting to my head.”

I took my seat slowly, as did the others. Sebastian was still shaken from what he had heard, and he was looking at me like a lamb who had been dragged to the slaughterhouse. I wasn’t ready to explain the severity of the situation to him just yet, so I ignored him.

“Hello, Regan,” Billie said. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen you down here. How are the Frandilian elixirs coming along?”

“Quite good, actually,” he said with a smile. “I had trouble stabilising the mixture at first, but then I figured that some arsenic would do the trick.”

“Precisely,” she said with a smile. “It should be ready in a few days. And how are you doing, Abigail? I haven’t seen you in several weeks now.”

Abigail beamed at her, and she leaned forward slightly as she grabbed a cup from the floating tray. “I’m sorry I haven’t been coming down as frequently as before. There’s just so much going on in the palace, and I have been wrapped up in the preparations for Her Highness’s journey to Cornia.”

“I’ve heard,” she replied. “Prince Blaze, isn’t it? I’m sure you must be happy.”

I merely grimaced, not wanting to even create an opportunity for her to pursue the topic any further. Thankfully, she understood what I was doing, and she held her peace.

“Something else brings you here today apart from checking up on me, isn’t it?” she asked, looking at me directly in the eye. I blushed heavily, knowing that there was no chance for me to hide. Billie would always find out the truth.

“Would you please excuse us?” I asked the others, since I remembered father’s instructions not to involve as many people in my affairs. I trusted every single one of them, but I wanted to make sure that Billie wouldn’t be uncomfortable with her answers.

“You can wait in the next room,” she said, pointing to a curtain on the left. “It’s where the bedroom is, but I prefer the air in here.”

They left us silently, and only after Sebastian had pulled the curtain shut did she turn to look at me again. “Ask away.”

“Well, I was wondering if you could tell me a little bit about enchantments,” I whispered. I watched her carefully as I said that, and I didn’t miss how her eyebrows shot up curiously. She probably didn’t expect me to ask her something like this.

“Any particular reason why you are interested in this?” she asked.

I thought about coming up with an entirely different story to explain why I was curious about this, but she would surely find out if I was telling the truth or not. And so, I decided to tell her the truth.

“I think Sebastian might be under a spell,” I said with a sigh.

“You mean apart from the spell you put him under when you invoked that law?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Are you sure it’s not just you finding an excuse to an unexplainable situation?” she asked. “Enchantments are of different natures and purposes. Not everything can be simplified to having been caused by a spell or some wicked charm.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, even basic spells can be used on people to make them do things they do not intend to do, like the body binding charm,” she explained. “These are spells that even a child could do if they are trained to do just that. Then there are more complicated charms, like the memory lock charm, the hypnosis charm, time reversal charm, sedation charm, body swapping and all sorts of other spells, each one more complicated than the next. I’m not sure which one you think he is under, but there is a way of finding out if he is under the influence of a spell.”

“How is that?” I asked.

She suddenly produced a small crystal, which she handed to me. “Place this in his pocket,” she said. “After some time, it should change colour depending on which spell he is under. Once this happens, bring the crystal back to me and then we will know for sure which spell he’s under. We can’t find a remedy without knowing what we’re trying to cure.”

I took the crystal in my hands, and I thanked her for it. The question was now how I could find a way to sneak it into his pocket. Even after we left her house, my mind was completely preoccupied by thoughts of how I could manage to do this. I forgot all about it however when we ran into mother in the streets.

She looked at our party confusedly, and she narrowed her eyes when she saw Sebastian with us.

We hadn’t spoken since the day after Sebastian was discovered. I knew she wasn’t angry with me, but she was still not accepting of him in my life. Some of her residual anger was rubbing off on me, and she didn’t know how to control it. Perhaps I should make an effort to fix this.

“Hello, mother,” I greeted her with a smile. “Here to visit Billie?”

“Y-yes,” she replied, flustered by the fact that I was now talking to her. “Are you here for that as well?”

“Indeed,” I replied. “Can we talk when you return?”

“Of course,” she said, absolutely beaming. I felt happy that she was happy, and I made a mental note to always put an effort to bridge the gap between us.

When we returned to the palace, we found a large procession right at the entrance, and father was standing with some men, greeting them.

“Here she is,” he beamed when I approached. “Layla, these are emissaries from Cornia on behalf of Prince Blaze. They are here to ensure that your journey goes smoothly.

Why the hell couldn’t I go a single day without being forced to hear his name? I was sick and tired of having to head his name. With everything going on, I needed to be alone and not have to think about some fae prince and his obsession with me.

“Your Highness,” all six of them greeted. The most elegantly dressed of them stepped forward and said, “We are here to ensure that your journey will go smoothly as you travel to Cornia to meet with his majesty, Prince Blaze. We were led to believe you will leave tomorrow, isn’t that right?”

“No,” I replied in a clipped tone. “We leave in two days. And until then, I would like to not be reminded about it every single time.”

I walked away then without sparing them another glance, knowing that father would be utterly shocked by what I did. But I didn’t care.

Prince Blaze could wait.