Sahara Ashdell: The Son of Evil (Book 2)
Chapter 5 - Holiday

Sahara has been busy speaking to the staff at Kinderton since she arrived back home yesterday. She never realized having guests was such a large ordeal. She had to plan meals, decorations, room assignments, and even staff scheduling. She was finding the chores to be overwhelming, just as the entrance door opened and the butler, Carmot, announced the arrival of Aran Rayterbay, Tari Nathila, and Cundu Brystol. Sahara waves her hand hastily toward the maids she had been instructing. “Just do whatever you think, please.” Sahara says before turning to meet the smiling expression of Tari Nathila.

“Elfie!” Tari Nathila moves towards her as she speaks, “It is so good to see you.” She wraps her arms around Sahara.

“Hi.” Is all Sahara can muster out of her lips as she realizes she is in an old pair of sweat pants and rock t-shirt, she had stollen from her cousin, Trina, on one of her secret teleporting trips back to the human world.

“You look,” Brystol gives her an odd hand gesture as he looks her up and down. “Interesting.”

“Yes,” The aran says pointing to her shirt, “What is Led Zepp-e-lin?”

“Um..” Sahara hums as she tugs at the hem of her shirt trying not to laugh at the aran’s pronunciation. “It is a rock band.”

“In the human world?” The tari asks looking confused. “How did you get such a shirt here?”

Sahara remembers their promise not to lie as she looks down at the fuzzy socks on her feet as she speaks, “I just wanted some things from the human world. I am sorry, I know I broke the rules.”

The aran huffs with an eye roll before he says, “We are getting use to your rule breaking.”

“I apologize for the way I look.” Sahara tries to brush her hair out of the way and tuck it back into her messy bun as she speaks, “I did not realize what time it was. Mathquin?” She calls toward the maid at the bottom of the stairs, “Could you please escort the aran and tari to their quarters?”

Mathquin curtsies with her response, “Of course aranel.”

“Thank you.” Sahara says awkwardly looking around for another elf available to escort Brystol.

“We will see you both at dinner, yes?” The aran says as he walks toward the stairs with the tari.

“Yes. It will be served at six.” Sahara says.

Sahara moves over opening the door to the sitting area, hoping to find someone to escort Brystol. “It seems, I will be the one escorting you.” She says defeatedly turning back toward Brystol.

“You don’t have to sound so unpleased with the situation.” Brystol says shrugging his shoulders.

She remembers it is the same room he stayed in when he came over the summer. “Oh!” She says far to excitedly. “It is the same room you stayed in over the summer. So, I am sure you can manage.”

He looks up the stairs before shaking his head as he looks back at her. “I can’t say I remember.”

She rolls her eyes in aggravation. “Yes you do.”

“No. I am certain I can’t remember.” He says with a smirk Sahara finds attractive.

“Fine.” She says moving toward the stairs fighting her smile, “Come on.” They quietly walk up the stairs and down the hall before she finally thinks of something to say again. “Where is your sister, Trylla?”

“She will be here before dinner, she had a friend’s birthday party to attend.” Brystol says.

“Ah.” Sahara says feeling awkward about her appearance. She wished she had not been caught is such a messy state.

“Human clothes suit you.” Brystol says softly, catching her off guard.

She stops in front of his door to his room as she shyly speaks. “You don’t have to make fun of me. I know I look a mess.”

“I am not making fun.” He says looking serious.

“Here you are.” She says motioning to his door. “Try to remember where it is this time.”

“I might need an escort, at least two more times.” He says with a faint flirtatious smile that causes Sahara to laugh. “Which way to the dinning room?” He asks pointing toward the wrong way on purpose.

“You know where it is.” She says shaking her head and moving his arm so it points the correct way. Her eyes catch his and she finds the attraction toward him stronger than she had ever noticed before. She quickly pulls her hand from his arm and steps back away from him along with her eyes. She was still hurt that he lied to her. “I will see you at six.”

“Sahara.” He says sounding sad as he grabs her hand stopping her from leaving. She feels the tingles his touch is sending up her arm. “I am sorry. I went along with the lie, because…” He steps closer to her before he takes a deep breath and speaks again, “I was being selfish. I didn’t want to lose you.”

She swallows hard realizing he is being honest with her. “Lose me?”

“I know you are about to say I never had you, or something like that, but if you can forgive me. Forgive my family. And just wait, to give this a chance without thinking of it as some kind of punishment or inconvenience, you may find it to be exactly what you are looking for.” His words warm her heart. “And I know you saw the future and we weren’t together, but what if we could change the futures you saw and create our own? Together.” She is not sure what to say as she tries to focus on her breathing. He makes her feel things she had not ever felt before and it scares her more than anything. He moves closer to her so that she can now feel his warm breath hitting her cheek. She has to close her eyes as she fights the need to kiss him again. “Tell me you don’t feel what I do.” He whispers against her cheek.

She feels a longing to have his lips touch hers again, remembering how good they felt on hers the last time he kissed her. “I…” she wants to lie and tell him she doesn’t feel anything but her hands are betraying her as they move up Brystol’s arms. It feels good to touch him and he smells so musky and good. His breath moves from her cheek to her lips and she feels her heart rate grow faster.

“You feel it.” He says heavily against her lips as his fingertips brush along her cheek.

She gives into the urge to kiss him and she can feel his smile against her lips. She pulls her lips from his and steps back as she speaks, “No. I don’t.”

“You said no more lies. You just kissed me.” Brystol says stepping closer to her again and pulling her waist toward his.

“No. You’re right. You are a much better liar.” She says fighting him off of her.

“What about Slagwart?” Brystol scuffs at her and she wonder’s what he means, but he answers her before she has to ask. “You lied, when you said you were dating.”

She feels offended but realizes he has a point. “How do you know that?”

“He told me.” Brystol says crossing his arms toward her.

“What? When did you talk to…” She doesn’t finish her question before he answers.

“The night of the ball when you disappeared, I thought you might have gone to him. But he had not seen you and confessed your whole dating scheme was just a lie to annoy Waizlynn. And he said you kissed him that night you were drunk and he tried to stop you.”

She feels annoyed at remembering Slagwart kiss her back the night of Brystol’s party. “What?” She does remember him trying to stop her at first but then he seemed to be fine with what was happening. She realizes she has no right to be mad at Brystol for lying when she had lied to him and everyone really, besides her roommates. “Okay. Fine. Yes, I lied.”

“Then, why are you going through with this ridiculous holiday invite thing with him and his father?” Brystol asks.

“Because he took the fall for us.” She says remorsefully.

“No. He didn’t.” Brystol says rolling his eyes. “He had the alcohol and got you drunk. He was not objecting to your kissing him, either. He just took the blame for what he actually did.”

“Which he would have never had to do if you had not come along and..” She motions toward him with her words.

“Stopped you from making a mistake.” He finishes her sentence.

She hates how right he is but she would not dare admit it. “I need to go change.” She says adjusting her shirt to avoid further discussion on the topic.

She notices him step closer to her again and it surprises her as he kisses her lips. She does not fight him but instead kisses him back. She liked kissing him. “You sure you still don’t want to come escort me down for dinner?” He asks, releasing her from his grasp.

She shakes her head no with a flirtatious smile as she replies, “You know the way.” He laughs as he watches her leave.

By dinner time, Trylla, Quinton, and Mr. Slagwart have arrived to Kinderton. The large banquet meal is spread out on the dinner table and everyone but Brystol is seated at the table. Sahara leans back slightly in her chair so that she can see what time is on the large clock in the hall outside of the dinning room. It is ten after six. “Perhaps he is lost.” Slagwart says.

Sahara sighs in agitation as she pushes her chair back to stand up. “I doubt it. Please excuse me.” She says trying to sound as polite as possible. She is too annoyed to walk all the way to Brystol’s room so she teleports as soon as she is out of sight of the other elves. She knocks on his door that to her surprise never opens. “Brystol?” She asks impatiently. Still, she hears nothing inside his room, so she opens the door. He is not inside and now she feels more confused than anything. Where could he be? Perhaps she just missed him on his way when she teleported. She knows there is no way he could be lost. He knew his way around Kinderton and never had an issue the whole week he stayed over the summer. She stomps back down the hall toward the dining room again, only to find he is still not there. “He is not in his room.” She says bewildered.

“He is for sure lost.” Trylla says licking her lips, “Might we eat without him? I am hungry.”

“Yes.” Sahara says looking behind her again to make sure Brystol is not in view. “Perhaps we should eat. I will ask the staff to search for him.” Sahara moves toward the kitchen, finding the staff all circled around laughing. In the middle of the gathered elves stands Brystol. “What are you doing in here?” Sahara asks curiously as the staff elves quickly hush their laughter and go back to doing their jobs. “We have been waiting on you, and you weren’t in your room.”

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“I got lost.” He says smugly with a shrug of his shoulder.

“No you didn’t. Now come on, they already started eating.” She says turning to leave the kitchen.

“Thanks for escorting me to dinner.” He says as he catches up to her.

She rolls her eyes with a short laugh. “Thanks for forcing me to.”

“I will take what I can get.” He says.

“At the expense of everyone else.” She says coldly. “I thought your sister was going to starve to death.”

“Not likely.” He says simply as he holds out his hand for her to enter the dining room before him.

“Brystol!” The aran says as he wipes his mouth with a napkin. “Finally.”

“I found myself lost.” Brystol replies as he pulls out Sahara’s chair for her as she arrives to the table. She squints at him wondering what he is trying to prove. She sits down without thanking him. She notices Slagwart is watching her with a smirk.

“You spent an entire week here and you do not know your way around?” The tari asks unbelieving.

“That was months ago.” Brystol says sitting down in his seat. “Hello.” He says nodding toward Slagwart and his father, who are standing and bowing toward him.

The conversation stays light as they progress through the meal, with the aran and Mr. Slagwart dominating the conversation. Sahara keeps catching Brystol’s and Slagwart’s glances toward her. She finds herself not sure what she is wanting anymore. Before Brystol kissed her earlier, she was so sure she was going to break the betrothal, but now she just cannot decide.

“I would love to tour the castle.” Slagwart says toward her after they are all finished with the meal.

“I would love to show you.” Brystol says with a large grin.

“He was talking to me. Besides, you got lost already, so what kind of tour guide would you be?” Sahara says trying to sound polite, since she knows the tari is watching her.

“Ah. Yes. Well, I should love to join then, so I can learn my way around.” Brystol says.

“Wonderful.” Sahara says sarcastically. Brystol indeed joins the tour and makes his presence known frequently by moving in between Sahara and Slagwart or asking random questions. “Ah, and here is Brystol’s room.” Sahara says stopping and turning to smile at Brystol.

“Indeed. Shall we tour the garden next?” Brystol asks with a smile.

“It is dark.” Sahara says simply.

“Well, I am far from tired.” Brystol says refusing to leave them alone.

“Yes. Well, I believe my room is just down there.” Slagwart says awkwardly as he points down the hall. “So, I will leave the two of you to figure out your plans.”

Sahara glares at Brystol as Slagwart walks away. She waits until after Slagwart waves toward them and closes his door to finally say something to Brystol. “What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?” Brystol asks innocently.

“Is this your plan to annoy us the next two days?” She says crossing her arms.

“It was not my intent to annoy you.” He says and Sahara can hear the honesty in his words.

“Just keep me from being alone with Quinton?” She asks.

“I want to make sure you don’t change your mind.” He says stepping up closer to her.

“Change my mind?” She asks knowing what he is meaning, but she needs to hear him say it.

“On not breaking the betrothal.” He says reaching for her hand.

She yanks her hand back away from his. “I never said I would not break it.”

He suddenly looks wounded. “But I thought we…”

“Well, you thought wrong.” She says, briskly interrupting him as she turns to leave him. She feels bad as she walks away from him but she shakes her head trying to remember that the declure showed her two futures and she was not with Brystol in either of them. She had not used the declure but that one time, last holiday. She had been to scared to even try to see the futures again. She feared it would show her some other disaster that she would have to figure out how to fix in addition to the current one of saving Brystol’s life.

She tightens her fist as she steps closer to the large ball of water in front of her that has an ellon inside of it. “Finish him. Set yourself free.” The evil laughing elf standing next to her says. As she squeezes her hand tighter, the water tightens around the elf inside, who is struggling to breath. Her vision clears showing what she had already known, the ellon inside the water was Brystol. She watches his life fade as the evil laugh next to her grows louder.

She suddenly wakes from her dream and sits up in bed panting. “I kill him.” She says out loud as her eyes flood with tears. Why had she not realized it before, that Brystol is dead in the future she saw not just because of her but by her hands. She knows what she must now do. She has to stay away from him. She has to break the betrothal. She quickly slips her robe on before running out of her room and down toward the sitting room where the large Christmas tree stands. She couldn’t stay in her room and fall asleep again, not if she was going to go back to having that dream. The lights on the Christmas tree are sure to cheer her up and distract her mind she thinks.

“Aranel?” The sound of one of the maids saying her names makes her jump as she wakes the next morning on the couch. “Did you sleep here all night, your Royal Highness? We have been looking for you for some time now.”

“Um.” Sahara stands straightening her night clothes. “No, not all night. I am sorry if I alarmed anyone.” She looks up at the clock and realizes it is already past breakfast time. “Oh no! Have our guests already eaten?”

“Yes, Aranel. Mathquin did not want to alarm them with you missing until we were sure you were not here… but you are here,” The young maid curtsies before moving toward the exit as she finishes speaking, “So, I must inform the other staff.”

“Of course. Thank you.” Sahara says before following her toward the exit so that she can sneak up stairs and dress for the day.

Slagwart was only going to be here one more night, so she knew she had to work fast and somehow avoid Brystol’s overbearing presence. To her surprise, she finds Slagwart alone in the library just an hour later. “Hi. We missed you at breakfast.” He says with a bow towards her.

“Yes. I seem to have overslept.” Sahara says with a polite smile.

“Late night with the cundu?” He asks and she knows he is teasing but it still aggravates her.

“No.” Sahara replies quickly.

“He doesn’t like me in his territory.” Slagwart says closing the book he was so obviously not reading and putting it back on the shelf.

“This is not his territory.” She says crossing her arms.

“I was referring to you.” He replies.

“No. I am not his territory. I am breaking the betrothal.” Sahara says sternly.

“Yes. You mentioned that before.” Slagwart says sitting down on the couch.

“Because, I want you to help me break it.” She says feeling less sure of herself.

“You also mentioned that.” He says.

“So, will you?” She asks avoiding his eyes.

“No.” He says gently and she feels her heart sink in disappointment. “I am not sure that is what you want.”

“Yes it is.” She says more confidently. “It must be broken to avoid..” She stops herself realizing she was about to tell him too much.

“To avoid what?” He asks in curiosity, leaning up towards her.

“Me having an aggravating life.” She says, hoping that would suffice his curiosity.

“So, you are willing to sacrifice me for you a less aggravating life?” Slagwart shakes his head in disagreement.

“Sacrifice you?” She asks in confusion.

“I could be put to death for helping you break the betrothal. That is treason, is it not?” He says standing to his feet again. Sahara gasps in a gulp of air realizing the Treegan’s had not fully been truthful with her again. “I think I should like to pass on dying just yet.”

“I didn’t realize.” Sahara says feeling a new crushing feeling in her chest from disappointment. “That part was left out, when told to me.” She thinks back to Waizlynn and she knows that evil little elf knew that it would be treason. She wonders if she should be mad at Waizlynn instead of the Treegans.

“Well, that makes me feel a bit better about you, because I was not very happy with the idea that you would purposely have me killed.” He says.

“No! Never!” She exclaims. She feels embarrassment start to show on her face. “I am sorry.”

“Is that why you invited us?” He asks as if he is teasing her.

“No. I asked because you sacrificed yourself for me and for Brystol.” She says.

“Ah. Well. It is my first time in a castle so, thank you.” He bows to her.

“I am glad to have you. I was thinking of going out shopping, would you like to join?” She asks. “I could give you a tour of Kinderton.”

“Ah. That sounds lovely.” Brystol says suddenly appearing in the doorway.

Sahara rolls her eyes wondering how much of their conversation he had overheard. She ignores Brystol. “I will have the carriage readied for the two of us.” She says before turning toward Brystol to exit the room.

“Three. You mean the three of us.” Brystol says with a smile. “Father would never allow you to go without a proper escort.”

“And you are proper?” She smirks at him.

“No. But if you would prefer to have my father or mother tag along, I am sure that can be arranged instead.” He says with a smile.

“Fine.” She huffs pushing past him as she speaks. “The three of us.”

When Sahara arrives at the carriage, she finds Brystol already waiting in the carriage alone. “Did Slagwart change his mind?” Brystol asks sliding over in his seat for Sahara to sit by him.

She purposefully moves toward the opposite side of the carriage to sit as she speaks, “He did not.” She notices him walking down the stairs as she looks back out of the door. “Ah, see.” She says pointing toward Slagwart with a smile. Brystol suddenly rises from his seat and moves over next to Sahara. “What are you doing?”

“Sitting by you.” Brystol says with a smile.

“Are you really that jealous?” Sahara says smugly as she tries to rise and move back across to the other side of the carriage but Brystol stops her from moving across the carriage as he grabs her hand.

“Yes, I am.” He says with a solemn face. She decides to not move as she looks at him in his intense blue and green laced eyes. She had never realized his eyes were so interesting. It was as though they were both different colors, because one looked more blue than the other greenish one.

Slagwart entering the carriage draws her attention away from Brystol. She takes her hand from his quickly as she greets Slagwart. “Hey.”

“Hello.” Slagwart replies sliding into his seat across from them.

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