“There’s something else we should tell you, so that you can prepare,” Esmeralda said.
“What?”
“Part of the group that is fighting against him are Elves,” Jared said.
Elves? Elves!
“I didn’t know they actually existed,” I whispered in shock.
“They do and they have quite a few creatures that we do not have here,” Esmeralda informed me.
“Do we get to meet the Elves?” I asked hopefully.
Faxon nodded his head. “You’ll get to meet their entire royal family. Apparently one of the princes was visiting one of the other royal families when the attack began and that prompted the entire Elvish army to join the fight.”
“How long will we be gone?” I asked.
Esmeralda sighed. “That’s the problem. We have no idea how long you will be gone.”
“Which means that the wedding may have to be postponed,” Jared explained.
“Oh.” I hadn’t really thought about our wedding much lately. “Well, that’s okay. If we can save their people, then we can get married afterwards.”
I looked at Finn and he nodded his head.
“Good,” Esmeralda said. “I was hoping you would say something like that.”
“What’s going on?” Eric asked as he entered the dining room.
I quickly turned away from him and stared down at my hands.
“They’re going on another mission,” Jared explained. “We were just going over the details.”
“Oh,” he replied. “Am I…”
“No,” Jared said, interrupting him, “you won’t be part of this mission.”
“Okay.” He didn’t seem upset by that.
“We wouldn’t want to take you away from Natalie,” I said bitterly and shoved my chair back.
“Tilia,” Eric said in shock. “We were going to tell you and…”
“It’s fine Eric. I’m glad that she found you. Now, if you will excuse me, I have packing to do.” I left before I said anything rude or admitted how I felt. I knew that I should tell him how worried I was that he would take her from me, but I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to admit that I was afraid. There had been too much fear lately as it was.
I had begun sorting my clothes into piles to determine what I was going to bring when Finn walked in. “Are you okay?” he asked and leaned against the inside wall of my room.
“Yes.”
“Tilia, talk to me,” he whispered.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I told him honestly.
“Are you jealous?” he asked.
“Jealous of who?” I asked him.
“Natalie and Eric.”
“No.”
“You seemed pretty upset. You didn’t even tell me that you found out they were a couple.”
“You’ve been busy,” I reminded him.
“If you aren’t jealous, then why are you upset? You seemed to think the idea of them dating would be a good thing before.”
“It was good in the abstract sense,” I mumbled.
“So, what changed?”
“Everything.”
“Care to be a little more specific?”
“No.”
“I don’t understand. If you were fine about it before why aren’t you now?”
“Because that was before and this is now.”
“Tilia,” he begged.
“I don’t want to lose her. She’s going to spend all of her time with him and she won’t have time for me. I hardly have time for her as it is, which makes me a terrible friend, but now when she does have free time it won’t be to come see me or hang out with me and watch the trainees. She will go off with him somewhere and I’ll only get to hang out with her when Eric is busy.”
“Ah,” he said and nodded his head, “I see.”
“Can you leave now?” I asked.
“No.”
I groaned and tossed another shirt on the pile to pack. “Fine.”
“You need to learn to talk to me more,” he whispered. “You are bottling too much up. There have been a lot of changes for us both and it is important that we are able to discuss them and get them off our chests.”
“Why were you so angry that night in Elady?” I asked.
“Tilia…”
I set down the shirt I had been trying to make a decision on and faced him. “No, you answer me. If you want us to be open and honest then you need to answer me.”
“I was upset because I saw Brigid and she tried to kiss me. She didn’t, but I was worried that you would be mad at me and that it would cause us to fight. So instead I was a raging jerk and we got into a fight anyway.”
“She tried to kiss you?” I asked in shock.
“Yes, but I moved out of the way and told her that I was engaged so she couldn’t do that.”
And to think that I had complimented her hair!
“What are you thinking now?” he asked.
“That I shouldn’t have complimented her hair,” I grumbled.
He laughed and hugged me. “I heard that you have been spending a lot of time with Riley.”
“Yes, he has been teaching me to use a staff and keeping me sane while you were all shut in at your super secret meeting,” I told him and picked up a pair of breeches.
“You two seem pretty close,” he commented.
“It’s not really that. There’s just something about him, it’s that power he has. It makes him easy to be around and helps me relax. After everything that has happened, it’s been nice to have that.”
“So, you enjoy being around Riley when I’m not there?” he asked.
I turned to say something, but he was smirking and teasing me. “If I said yes, what would happen?”
“I’d most likely become angry and…”
“Would you try to decapitate me?” I asked with a smirk.
“He startled me!” he yelled.
“Who did?” Jared asked.
“Faxon,” Finn responded.
“How?”
“He teleported to our room and we didn’t know he was there, so it scared Finn. He almost cut off his head,” I told Jared. “I don’t know if I would have been able to tell you.”
“I didn’t cut his head off. I stopped the blade in front of his neck and he is perfectly safe.”
“I don’t know. You might have caused psychological damage. A psychologically damaged Arch Mage is a loose bomb,” I commented.
Jared said, “Maybe we will have to have him tested.”
“Who?” Esmeralda asked.
“Faxon,” I told her.
“For what?”
“Finn almost decapitated him and now he might have damaged him psychologically,” Jared told her.
“Finn!” she yelled. “Why would you try to kill Faxon?”
“He startled me!” he told her.
“That’s no reason to kill someone.”
“I didn’t! I stopped. It’s not my fault that he just poofed into the room and scared us.”
“Poofed?” Jared asked.
“Yeah, poof here he is. Poof there he went,” Finn said.
“Ha. Next time he teleports into a room where I am, I’m going to say that,” Jared said.
“We should all start doing it,” Esmeralda agreed.
“Jared,” Faxon said after he teleported to where we were.
“Poof!” we all yelled at him.
He blinked slowly twice and asked, “What?”
We all laughed and he rubbed his temples. “I’ve missed something again, haven’t I?”
“We were just discussing how Finn almost cut your head off in Qual,” I updated him.
“Yes, that was terribly frightening. I had nightmares for two days,” Faxon lied.
“See, you did psychologically damage him!” I told Finn.
“He’s obviously lying,” Finn muttered.
“Could you imagine the headlines? ‘Chief decapitates Arch Mage because he was startled’,” Faxon said.
“Maybe next time you should let us know before you teleport in,” Finn said.
“Now where is the fun in that?” Faxon asked him.
“You need to talk to me?” Jared asked Faxon.
“Ah, yes. Let’s go to your room and leave Tilia to sort through that mountain of clothing,” Faxon said.
“Maybe you should help her,” Finn suggested to Esmeralda.
“I suppose I can do that,” she said with an exaggerated sigh.
“Well if you have more exciting plans, please don’t let me stop you,” I teased her.
“I had very exciting plans. I was going to change and go to bed. Very cutting edge.”
“Someday I hope to be just like you,” I teased her.
“You’re pretty close already,” Finn commented.
We both turned to him and he smiled.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I asked him.
One moment he was there and the next he was gone.
“Coward!” I yelled after him.
“I love you!” he yelled from his room.
“Men!” I grumbled.
“So, how’s the sorting going?” Esmeralda asked.
“I don’t know what to bring,” I admitted.
“I can be of service,” she told me. She cracked her knuckles and then whispered something too soft for me to hear. She clapped her hands and clothes began resorting themselves into different piles.
She pulled me away from the piles and I watched as her magic did the work for us. “What type of spell is that?”
“That is one I came up with myself,” she told me. “It sorts clothes by type of mission and possible meetings.”
“Handy,” I commented.
“Incredibly.”
We stood by as the clothes finished and then she helped me put the clothes away that were not going and we sorted through the maybe pile.
“So, do you want to talk about why you bit Eric’s head off?” she asked.
“No.”
“Tilia.”
“I talked to Finn about it,” I told her. “I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”
“Well, at least you talked to someone about it,” she agreed.
“Thanks,” I mumbled.
“A guard reported that Lance and Sebastian sailed away,” she told me.
“Good. Those idiots.”
“You know, this will be something that you can hold over Sebastian’s head the rest of your lives? Next time you’re trying to get the Kingdoms to agree on something and he isn’t doing as you ask, you just remind him of this incident and how bad it would look should it get out to the public.”
“You are such a devious woman,” I told her.
“Thank you.”
“Have you ever experienced a succubus’ spell?” I asked her softly.
She flinched. “Twice.” She looked at me and her eyes widened. “What happened?”
“Well, nothing too bad,” I mumbled.
“Tilia, what happened?”
“Faxon kissed me.”
She paused, one of my shirts in her hands, held up in the air in front of her. She stood perfectly still and then she burst into a fit of laughter that had her rolling on the ground and kicking her feet.
“It’s not that funny,” I grumbled and tossed another pair of breeches into the pile of to go clothes. She continued to laugh and I wondered if she would ever stop. Seven clothing choices later, I sighed and stared at her with my hands on my hips. “Are you done yet?”
She wiped her eyes and stood up. “I’m sorry. It’s just so funny. I’m sure Faxon was incredibly embarrassed and I wish I had seen his face when he finally broke free of the spell.” She started laughing again.
“He felt awful.”
“How did he break the spell?” she asked.
I blushed and looked at my hands. “Pulled my hair so that I gasped in pain.”
She stopped laughing, her face growing serious, and said, “That’s genius. Since he would never hurt you intentionally, he broke the hold of the succubus’ spell.”
“Right,” I said.
“Well, what did you learn from this experience?” she asked.
“Avoid incredibly attractive men because they are likely a succubus.”
She laughed again and I said, “I didn’t know what I was going to say to Finn so I hid in my room.”
“How did you break it to him?” she asked curiously.
“Faxon did. He took Finn to a deserted area away from the ship in case Finn tried to attack him.”
“How did Finn react?”
“Apparently, he has had a run in with a succubus too. He said the one he ran into used fear instead of lust.”
“Yes, that was what the first one I ran into used,” she told me. “It took me a long time to recuperate after that experience.”
“How old were you?”
“Nineteen.”
“So, where was Jared?” I asked.
“He was the one who rescued me.”
“He killed the succubus, didn’t he?” I didn’t doubt it. Jared did not take kindly to people hurting Esmeralda.
“Actually, no. The succubus tried to use fear on Jared, but it wouldn’t work, so he used more of his magic and more until he died of exhaustion.”
“So, Jared made him die because he wasn’t afraid of anything?”
“Oh no, Jared was scared, but he used that fear to increase his anger and the succubus does not feed on anger so he continued to try to make him afraid. He would get a bit of fear from Jared and then he would grow even angrier. By the time the succubus had died, Jared was ready to take on the entire Realm of Olanze singlehandedly. It took a few days for him to calm down.”
“Wow,” I whispered. Jared continued to impress me. I needed to find a way to channel my fear into anger like Jared did.
“He is quite a man,” she said with a deep sigh.
“Ew.”
“Oh please. I have to watch you and Finn fawn over each other constantly. I am allowed to fawn over Jared occasionally.” I opened my mouth and she growled, “If the word old leaves your mouth I will turn you into a toad.”
“Wow, you’re so crabby. Is it nap time?” I teased.
She waved her hands and I held up the shirt in my hands. “You can’t hit me behind this protective shirt.”
“Well, I can’t argue with that logic,” she said and laughed.
“Are you and Jared going to be okay while we are gone?” I asked.
She put her arms around me and said, “It is going to be very quiet and boring. However, it will give me time to catch up on all of the things that I have been putting off. Are you going to be able to handle so much time with Finn and Faxon?”
“It is rather frustrating and often times psychologically damaging, but I will suffer through it to meet Elves.”
“I am jealous of that. I would love to finally meet the Elves,” she said and spaced off, no doubt daydreaming about them.
“Well, maybe after we defeat the evil man, you and Jared can transport where we are to meet them,” I suggested.
“Maybe,” she said, but I could see the light in her eyes at the prospect. Who wouldn’t want to meet Elves though?
“Well, I will plan for it and have Faxon contact you after we defeat this army and save the Elves. Do you think they’ll give me a Pegasus after saving them?”
She shook her head. “From what Faxon says, the Pegasus are highly intelligent and respected by the Elves.”
I sighed loudly. “Well, there goes that awesome plan.”
“Perhaps I can trade Jared in for an Elf. I hear they live for a very long time and are incredibly talented fighters,” she said a bit louder than she had been talking.
“Excuse me!” Jared bellowed and entered my room. “I will kill any Elf you even glance at if I have to.”
She stepped into his chest and he hugged her tightly. “You know just what I want to hear.”
“Okay, go to your room. I do not want to se
e you two getting smooshy and lovey,” I ordered them. “Plus, I have a ton of packing to finish before dawn.”
“Pack for warm weather,” Jared told me.
“Okay.”
“And you definitely need to take the Dragon’s Tooth,” he said.
“I wouldn’t dream of leaving it behind,” I assured him.
“Oh, and dress to impress with all of your daggers. Rumor is that the Elven Princess loves daggers too.”
“Oh! Competition!” I said excitedly.
“Exactly what I was thinking,” he beamed proudly.
“Jared, I have such an amazing story to tell you,” Esmeralda said with a wicked smile.
“Really?” I asked in embarrassment.
“Oh, don’t worry. He will think it is as funny as I did.”
“Well go tell him in your room so I don’t have to witness it,” I requested.
“Tell me what?” Jared asked.
“Wait,” I stopped them. “Jared, can you teach me how to use my fear and transform it to become anger?”
“It is not really something that I can teach,” he admitted. “I just focus on the thing that is scaring me and tell myself that if I get away or get out of it, I will kill anyone who witnessed it and save myself from embarrassment. Or I just tell myself over and over again that I am the Dragon and the Dragon fears nothing, but is angry about everything.”
“Well, I’m not the Dragon,” I whispered.
“No, but you’re my protégé,” he said. “And you did cut me. So, you’re the first to make the Dragon bleed. That should help you a little bit.”
“Thank you.”
He pulled Esmeralda’s arm and said, “Now hurry so you can tell me the story.”
She began whispering to him as they walked away and just as their door closed, Jared began laughing maniacally. His laughter turned into huge booming laughter and seemed to last hours longer.
I finally finished packing and climbed into bed. We were setting off on another journey, one that could lead to amazing discoveries for us. What were Elves like? Were they similar to us? Or were they more like a tribal group?
Chapter Nine
It was harder than I would have thought to say goodbye to Jared and Esmeralda. We took the same ship that we had used on our most recent mission and set sail, northeast. Faxon brought a bunch of books and other things to continue my education, since we were unsure of how long this journey would last. I was not too thrilled about that, but he told Finn that he had to participate as well. The look on Finn’s face made it infinitely better.
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