The Fae Princess' Hidden Fate

7.

I stood there in Abigail's embrace for a very long time, feeling all those tumultuous emotions running around in my head. All I wanted was to rest, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to clear my mind even if I would take a nap.

We eventually broke apart, and Abigail led me to the bed where she made me sit down.

"Do you need anything?" she asked. "Perhaps I can get it for you."

"It's fine," I said in a weak voice. "I just need to rest."

"Is it about the prisoner?" she asked. "Please don't tell me the king has ordered for him to be killed."

"I thought you didn't care about him," I said, looking up at her. I could still remember how she kept on telling me to leave him alone when we found him in the forest. She had been scared throughout our encounter with Sebastian, so how could she care about him now?

"I don't care about him," she said hotly. "But I care about you, and I know how upset you will be if you were to see him killed. I don't know why, but you seem to feel some kind of attachment to that human. You seem ready to sacrifice everything just to be with him. I can't seem to wrap my head around that."

"His name is Sebastian," I said. "And even I do not know why I care about him. But now, I've made a whole mess of the situation by invoking that stupid law. I should have never done something so stupid in the first place. And now, both our lives will be ruined by my actions."

"What do you mean by that?" Abigail asked, furrowing her brows in confusion.

When I told her the underlying effects of the law, and how it would now intertwine our lives for the rest of eternity, her mouth fell open in astonishment. And when she heard the final part, that one of us would have to die before the spell would be broken, she covered her mouth in shock.

"But that's not fair," she said immediately. "Surely there must be a way to work around this situation. Isn't there some form of magic that can be used to get you out of this?"

"Apparently there is none," I said dejectedly. "It seems I have placed myself in a difficult situation, all because I thought I was doing the right thing."

"Well you can't blame yourself for it," she said. "I don't think it's fair to hold yourself responsible for a mistake you made. You were merely trying to save someone's life. And in my head, that is probably the most noble and selfless thing you could do. Surely that must account to something."

"It's all a big mess, Abigail," I sighed, throwing my hands up miserably. No matter where I turned, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise, I knew there was no way out of this. By my own stupidity, I had sealed my own fate in the most cruel manner imaginable.

I didn't want to be tied to some human who I knew nothing about. I didn't want anything to do with him. What if he was a dangerous man, and I had gotten myself wrapped up in his world? His wounds clearly showed that someone had attacked him mercilessly, and from all indications, it was because they wanted him dead. What could he possibly have done to make someone that would make them want to kill him?

Plus, how had he gotten to the realm? It still remains a mystery.

I didn't know the answer to that, and I certainly didn't even want to know. I would have preferred if I didn't have to deal with this, but it turned out that this was just a minor part of what was yet to come.

When Abigail finally left the room after we spoke some more, I was about to head back to my mother's chambers so I could apologise to her, but I was surprised to step out and find Sebastian standing in front of me, with his hand raised as he was about to knock on the door.

My breath caught in my chest, and I didn't know how to look at him as he simply stood there with his hand raised. He was slightly hunched over, and still looked as worn out and sickly as he always had. Two guards stood behind him, as though they were merely escorting him.

"What's going on here?" I asked, holding his gaze for a split second longer before I turned my gaze to the guards behind him. "Why have you brought him here?"

"His majesty just sent an order that he should be released," the guard on the right said. "His instructions were to bring the prisoner to you, since he belongs to you and is no longer a prisoner of the crown."

Sebastian tilted his head while the guard spoke, and I could tell that he was trying to gauge my reaction, seeing if I would receive the news well or not. His eyes were full of emotion, and a very sad expression sat on his face. He looked much younger than he appeared at first, and I could have sworn that I caught a flash of innocence in those eyes, dark pools of black which seemed to draw my attention the longer he stood there.

"Very well," I said. "You may leave."

The guards bowed before they walked away, and I was left with Sebastian standing in front of my room. He kept peeking over my shoulder to see the inside, but I had drawn my door close behind me. I didn't know whether it would be appropriate for me to invite him in, because he was still a man. I had never allowed a man into my room apart from my father, and I couldn't hide how awkward it was for me to have to gauge his reaction and see how he was acting.

"You look tired," I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

"That was the idea," he said with a half-smirk, but then he swayed unsteadily on his feet. I reached out immediately and tried to stop him from falling. If I hadn't been able to get under him and get his arm over my shoulder, he would have collapsed to the ground.

"You're still not strong enough to stand on your own," I pointed out. "You need to have your wounds looked at properly."

"I'm alright," he said in a weak voice which sounded like the complete opposite of what he had just said. "I just need some time to sit down and rest."

"What you need is for a healer to take a look at your wounds," I said. "Although I have healed you, it looked as though my healing powers couldn't completely heal you, which is weird. But maybe I did it the wrong way since I never truly studied the healing ways despite having the power."

He smirked at me, and I found the sight completely unnerving. I couldn't ignore how close we were even, or how the warmth of his body was all I could feel. He wasn't as heavy as I expected him to be, and he looked almost so fragile that I felt sorry for him.

"Are you sure you can manage that?" he asked with a soft chuckle which completely irritated me. What exactly did he think of me? Did he think I was some weak and timid figurine who couldn't look after herself? How dare he make that assumption about me? I was a princess, for Danu's sake, not a baby or a weak creature who would need taking care of. He was the one who need my help, and not the other way around.

Typical of a man to assume that a woman couldn't hold her own.

"Would you prefer if I were to drop you?" I asked icily. "I'm sure you can crawl to the infirmary yourself. Since you are such a strong man, it shouldn't be a problem for you, right?"

He scoffed, but then he kept his mouth shut as I led him down the hall. The infirmary was not too far from my bedroom, something which I always found quite strange. Perhaps it was because mother wanted me close to the healers because of how many injuries I had sustained as a child. I was always getting into trouble, and I would usually end the day with a scraped elbow, or with bruises all over my body. Despite the fact that I was meant to be a proper Princess, I couldn't stop myself from exploring, and getting into all sorts of trouble. That, and the fact that she constantly kept insisting I need to master my healing abilities.

Which is even more surprising. Because why have other healers around me when I can heal myself quite alright? I may not be able to heal other people completely, but I can heal myself, although, it takes a bit of time for that to settle in.

"Can I ask you something, Princess?" he said suddenly, drawing my attention as we made slow progress towards the infirmary.

"Of course," I replied.

"Are you afraid of me?"

I furrowed my brows at the question, not really understanding where he was coming from. Why on earth would I be afraid of him? The rest of the palace seemed absolutely terrified of him, but I couldn't help but see his as this weak creature who needed my help. For all the talks I'd heard about humans being wicked and malevolent creatures, Sebastian seemed like the complete opposite of that description. I couldn't see him harming a single fly, so how could humans be evil like that?

"If I were afraid of you," I said, "then I wouldn't even have helped you when I saw you in the forest earlier. Obviously the fact that I stopped to help should tell you that I feel no fear towards you."

"Of course," he replied. "But everyone else in the palace seems absolutely terrified of me. They can't even look at me directly. And when the king gave the order that I should be released, none of the guards wanted to touch me. He had to order them to carry me out of the cell."

We were almost at the infirmary now, and even though I wouldn't admit it, I was relieved that we had made it. I was already exhausted from everything father had told me, and now having to practically carry him across the palace was really tiring.

"It is natural to fear that which we do not understand. I'm sure that once they realise that you are not a threat, then they will stop seeing you as one, and they will stop judging you."

We finally reached the infirmary, and I was relieved when I saw Regan standing at the entrance. He looked up and saw us approaching, and he immediately rushed over to help me.

"You should have called the guards to help, your majesty," he said. "Or better yet, you could have summoned me to come and help you."

"It's fine, Regan," I replied with a soft smile. "So you've heard?"

"It's all anyone is talking about," he said as he helped Sebastian into the room. "I only just heard about it from Fanna, who heard it from Martha."

Great! Now everyone in the palace would be freaking out over the fact that there was a human in our midst.

The infirmary was a long, vertical room with high ceilings and tall windows. Several beds were arranged on either side of the room, with several curtains drawn over some of them to give the sick person some privacy. Reginald led us to the farthest bed from the entrance, and he drew the curtain shut.

As soon as he peeled Sebastian's shirt away from his wounds, he whistled.

"It's bad, isn't it?" I asked.

"Very," he replied. "Whatever did this was out for blood. It's a miracle it's still alive."

"He," Sebastian said with a strange sharpness to his tone. "I am not an object, or an animal."

"Of course not," Regan replied with the fakest smile I'd ever seen him muster. I could tell that he also didn't like Sebastian, and from the look on the latter's face, the feeling was mutual.

"Can you help him?" I asked.

"I should be able to," he said, still studying the wounds. "Don't worry, Layla. He'll be fine."

"Good," I said, relieved that everything would work out just fine. An idea struck me then, and I said, "Have him fixed up before this evening, if you can manage that."

"Why?" Sebastian asked, while Regan raised an eyebrow.

"Because you're having dinner with the family," I said before walking away. "So you might want to wash your hair and wear something decent. I'll have the servants find you some decent clothes."

I didn't wait for him to reply before I walked away, his piercing gaze on my back, most likely trying to figure out why I suggested this. It didn't matter. I had my own plans in my head already.