Abandoned (Born From Shadows #2)
Chapter Twenty-Nine

The guard. The solider. The killer. All one of the same, all doing what a murderer would do yet in the name of a King or Queen it is fine. Go battle for them, go die for them while they would sit on their throne and let the kingdom wash away.

The Prince of the Elves sat above them on his mother’s throne, waiting for an Elf to come and regurgitate all of their problems onto him. Until them their was just silence that poured into the room. Riley resisted his urge to sit down after a few hours of standing still by the throne.

He tapped his fingers impatiently against the hilt of his sword, leaning towards his good foot to try and alleviate the stress on the joint. He may not be in his father’s house anymore, but he still felt that every step was like walking through rows of eggs trying not to crack them open.

The Prince let out an audible sigh before calling out,“Guard.” The Prince was focused once again on the Elf closest to the Throne.

“Yes, your highness?” Refverné replied in the correct mannerisms.

“Go tell one of the maids to fetch me some water,” he demanded.

“Yes, your highness,” Refverné answered with a small bow before trudging out of the throne room. His armour heavy foot steps, illuminating the room with noise. Riley watched the Elf leave wishing it were him, just aching to move. How did people do this for years? For their whole life? If he didn’t get out of here, he would find out…and that was not something he looked forward to.

He had no choice, he was trapped in this position. All this for the girl that was outside of his reach. When she returned he could free her, but until then he was their puppet.

“Human,” the Prince said addressing him.

“Yes, your highness?’ Riley automatically replied.

“Entertain me,” spoke the Prince. Riley stood still for a moment, not quite knowing what to say.

“What would you like me to do?” he asked.

“You are human are you not?” questioned the Prince making Riley even more confused at what he was implying.

“Yes, your highness,” he answered.

“Then play the part, aren’t all of you fools?”the Prince said sarcastically. He wanted to protest, but this was not a man he could just yell at. It wasn’t a man at all, it was an Elven Prince.

Luckily, he didn’t have to think of something to ‘entertain’ the Prince, for an Elf ran through the door, frantically rushing to the King in distress.

“My Prince,” panted the Elf, more collapsing into a kneeling position than wilfully bowing.

“Are you not one of the guards that were sent with my mother?” The Prince asked.

“I am,” he stated between breaths. He looked as if he had ran the whole way here from Haveenté, or at least ran what his horse no longer could. “I come with…grave…news.”

“Continue,” the Prince gestured, sitting up in his throne intrigued at the Elf’s words.

“The Princess has disappeared along with the Coward,” he announced. Riley watched as fury ran it’s way through his face a the disappearance of his wife. But the only emotion going through Riley was fear. Tatianna, what have you done? he thought.

“And the Queen is dead,” he stated and it seemed like even the birds stop speaking. Silence filled up the throne room, all waiting for the Prince to react.

He stood from his throne, stepping down the stairs. “What did you just say?” The Prince’s voice was quite, cold.

“She was assassinated. We believe the humans did it,” the guard said and the Prince collapsed back on his throne.

Riley could almost feel his anger and the fear in his heart grew. What if it wasn’t the humans? It seemed the now King had the same idea. “I want you to find the Princess and the Coward, bring them to me. In the mean time, go to the Hollow Plains and kill every last one of them.”

“But, my King…that would be war,” he muttered.

“They killed my mother, your Queen. Do they not deserve to bathe in their own blood? And it is the Hollow Plains, not Haveenté. Go kill every one of them. I don’t care if they are 5 or 50, I want them dead,” commanded the King. “And human,” he said directing his attention towards Riley.

Riley took in a deep breath, knowing what was coming. “If you and your sister want to continue living, I suggest you go with them and prove your loyalty,” said the King.

He was scared. Scared for Tatianna, for Freya and for the innocent people that were going to die. Riley looked up at the red haired king, he was insane with an army of Elves in his command.

“Of course, my King,” he told the Elf on his throne.

“You are all dismissed,” the King announced to the hall filled with guards. Riley didn’t need to be told twice.

As they were leaving he passed a maid, walking into the room with a glass of water and Refverné looked around confused. “What happened?” the other Elf guard asked him.

Riley sighed. “The Queen is dead, the now King is basically declaring war on the humans,” he explained. “I am sure the Captain will give us all new orders by tomorrow, for now we have been dismissed.”

Refverné looked at him in shock. This whole day had been one shock after another, and all Riley wanted to do was find Freya before a vengeful Elf did.

He had to protect her. The world was going to be lit aflame, and he knew no one was prepared, least of all the Kingdoms that were ruled by children. He needed to escape this place, he decided. They may hunt him down, but he needed to go somewhere safe.

Anywhere…perhaps hide in Zarenda and hope that the Fae have a warmer hearts. He cursed and stumbled through the streets. He had to find Freya first.

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“Riley, your back early,” Freya said in shock as he stormed into her room. The female she was seeing sat comfortably spread out on the bed.

“Freya we need to leave, serious this time,” he said.

“Oh come on,” she giggled. Riley cocked his head, his sister didn’t giggle. “We were about to go…somewhere. Vivian, where we going to go?”

Riley couldn’t understand what was going on, his attention turned to the Elf girl. “What did you do to her?” he demanded.

“We had some fun, although her human body is a bit slow to get over it,” Vivian replied. He did not have time for this. “It’s just a special herb, nothing harmful. It will wear off in an hour max.”

“What the fuck?” he grumbled.

Freya started to walk over to the bed, but fell over in the process and ended up laughing at herself. “Don’t be such a grumble bum brother. Oh look that had alliteration, you know Gelta always used alliteration in her works. Do you think she was a litterer?” Freya said.

“Can you not fix this?” he glared at the Elf.

“Nope,” Vivian replied and started to inspect her finger nails. “She’s just having fun.”

Riley did not like this female at all, especially the effect she was having on his sister. “If you are going to be no use, then leave,” he said. “I have important things to discus with her.”

“Oooh, someones angry,” Freya commented from the floor.

“For fucks sake,” Riley grumbled. He went over to his sister and picked her up, placing her on the bed. “Vivian there is probably a group of Elves waiting to kill her, and you let her get high.”

“No one’s going to kill her,” Vivian replied, rolling her eyes.

“They will when they find out that a human just assassinated your Queen,” Riley spat back at her. Vivian finally looked away from her nails and up at him.

“Shit,” she said.

“Yeah, it’s shit. Now help me get her out of here,” he said.

“Who did a shit?” Freya said confused. “I swear it’s not me. You can check.”

“If what you say is true, then you wont be allowed to leave the kingdom without the King’s permission,” replied Vivian, ignoring Freya’s words.

“I know, so we have to go before people find out,” he said.

“We can go to Kayter’s place in Sylfin,” Vivian said.

“Thank you for actually being helpful, now lets get out of here,” he said.

“We are going somewhere?” Freya asked as Vivian wrapped an arm around her girlfriend in support. “Please tell me we are going to get food. I could kill for a sandwich. One of those cheese ones that they squish real flat like mash potato.”

“You are never giving her anything again,” Riley warned Vivian.

“You don’t control her choices. Anyway, aren’t you the one who wanted to leave?” she replied.

Riley glared at her and walked out of the Inn.

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