by A. M. Hardin
He meets my gaze then without realizing what I'm doing, I move closer to him until our mouths are a breath away.
"Cherish," he murmurs my name like a prayer before he closes the rest of the distance and presses his mouth against mine. His hands tangle in my hair as he deepens the kiss, sliding his tongue in my mouth to tease mine. Xander pulls back, breaking the kiss a few minutes later, our breathing labored as he rests his forehead against mine. He releases his hold on my hair and rubs his thumb against my lips. "We shouldn't have done that, I just couldn't help it," he mutters quietly.
I pull my head away from his, so I can study his expression. "What do you mean?"
He sighs. "Cherish, things are different here. You know that our culture is vastly different than what you grew up with. We don't exactly have the right to be with whoever we want to be."
I narrow my eyes. "I'm not understanding."
His face pinches in a pained expression for a second before his poker face is back. "Guards and royalty . . . it just doesn't happen here. You being a princess will most likely mean that you'll find a prince or other high-ranked noble from this kingdom or another bordering here to be with."
I snort. "I happen to have a mind of my own, thank you. No one will dictate who I decide to be with." I stand up quickly and walk away, leaving Xander sitting beside the lake. Though, I don't doubt he'll follow behind me a safe distance away.
Chapter Seventeen
Cherish
I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing at my "tutor."
The woman's so fucking uptight. She looks like she's about to explode. Her cheeks are flushed a dark red, her jaw and fists are clenched tight.
Today's lesson is all about how to use utensils. Forks, knives, spoons. What spoons are for what, what forks are for what. How to place the silverware when they're not in use. It's a seriously ridiculous lesson that I see absolutely no point in.
"I am trying to help you, your highness," she grinds out through clenched teeth.
I roll my eyes. "I already know how to eat, I really don't see how this is all necessary." I wave my hands at the ridiculous amount of silverware in front of me.
Kade snickers by the door, and Andrei elbows him to shut him up.
Adelheid shoots a glare in their direction before taking a deep breath. "Your highness–"
I hold my hand up. "Can you please stop calling me that?"
She narrows her eyes at me. "But, you're the princess."
I cross my arms across my chest and sigh. "Adelheid, there's something you and everyone else around here, aren't getting. I did not grow up with titles. I'm just Cherish. Hearing the 'your highness' crap makes me feel weird and like a fake."
"Your father won't like it," she says, her tone haughty.
"Then go bitch to him. He doesn't control me anymore than you do." I really didn't think it was possible but her face grows redder as she literally stomps her foot and storms out of the room.
"Cherish," Andrei admonishes gently, expression soft. "She really is only trying to help, disa."
I stand up from the table I'm seated at and shoot him a look. "What the fuck does it matter how I eat food? I eat in my room, not around everyone else."
"That's going to have to change, eventually. Your father will insist on it."
I groan. "Then give me one of each silverware, and I can eat the way I want to. I'm not like everyone else here, Andrei. I highly doubt they expect me to be just like them. They all know I'm different, and you know as well as I do that so many of them are so fucking thrilled that I'm walking around in ignorance. For the most part, I don't give a shit. The one thing I do give a shit about is changing to make others happy. That won't make me happy."
Ever since I came here after my family's death, my temper has been worse than before, and I have absolutely no tolerance for shit that annoys me. Most of these lessons are annoying and pointless, in my opinion, anyway.
It really doesn’t help my attitude that so many of the elves around here don’t hide their disdain around me for being part human. I quickly realized that I’m one of the very few half-humans here. Adelheid is one of those that look down on me for being half-human. She hides it well, but it’s definitely there.
The door to the room opens, and my father enters with Elazer on his heels. I’ve only been able to see and talk to him at the funeral we had for my family. He’s been too busy to really have anything to do with me.
Kade and Andrei bow their head respectfully at him, but he ignores their presence and instead raises a brow at me. “Adelheid says that you’re giving her problems again?”
I inwardly roll my eyes. “If by ‘problems’, you mean me telling her that I’ll eat the way I want to eat, then yes.”
He snorts a laugh. “Ah, you sounded like your mother when you said that.” His expression nostalgic he says, “She was never thrilled with being told how to act or what to do either.”
“It’s a human thing,” I say dryly, before correcting myself. “Actually, it’s an independent human thing for those of us that have our own minds.” From the corner of my eye, I see Andrei and Kade fighting a smile.
He chuckles. “But, you’re not all human, my dear,” he reminds me gently. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be here for you more since you’ve arrived. I’ve been neck deep in meetings with my advisors on the best ways to end this war.”
“It’s fine.”
“No, it’s not. You’re my daughter, I should have spent this time getting to know you, not locked in a damn war room.”
I raise a brow at him. “You have a war room? Seriously?”
He snickers. “Yes, we do. On another note, I came in here for a reason.”
“Because Adelheid’s a snitch?” I ask with utter sincerity.
I hear Kade’s chuckle echo around the room while I watch my father fight his smile. “Actually, no. She stopped me while I was on my way in here to tell me what’s wrong.”
“Wrong?”
“With your tutoring,” he explains. “She’s worried that you aren’t taking it seriously.”
I rub my temples and groan. “She bitches even when I do what she wants me to. I’m not going to go out of my way to please her.’
His mouth curves into a smile. “Even so, that’s not why I came. I have some time, and I want to take the spell off of you that I had placed on you when you were a baby.”
I freeze, and my eyes dart to Kade and Andrei, only noticing just then that Xander had come in while we were talking. They all nod their heads once in encouragement. I bite my lip. “I, uh, okay?”
My father looks like he wants to laugh, but is holding it in. “Okay?”
“Yeah,” I say quickly before I run out of the itsy bit of courage I have left right now. “How exactly are we going to do this?”
He tilts his head to the couch off to the side of the room. “Go lay down on the couch.”
I bite the inside of my cheek while I stand up. "Okay." Doing as he says I lay flat on my back on the couch and watch him curiously. He pulls a seriously gaudy amulet from around his neck while Elazer hands him a small dagger. "What's that for?"
"I had to use blood magic to conceal your powers well enough and to ensure that the spell wouldn't fade for many years. I had to use my blood to seal it and a small amount of your blood, from pricking your finger, for the spell to actually work for you."
The 'pricking your finger' bit of that speech automatically has me thinking about the disney movie Sleeping Beauty I used to be obsessed with growing up.
He moves over to me and places the amulet on my chest. "Give me your hand," he says softly.
I swallow hard and place my hand in his. He flips my hand over, palm up and I jerk slightly, then still when he pushes the tip of the dagger into my palm, not enough to go through, but enough that a good amount of blood pools to the surface.
"I wouldn't have gotten enough blood by poking your finger, and if I were to slice into your palm there'd be too much. Since you'
re so much older than you were when the spell was placed on you it's essentially embedded itself into you, so I need a little bit more of your blood to break it." While talking he takes the dagger and slices his hand right down the middle of his palm. He holds his hand over the amulet laying on my chest and lets the blood flow from his hand to the necklace. Unfortunately, some got on my shirt.
Gross.
The coppery scent of blood fills my nostrils as he places my hand directly over the amulet in the air. I flinch when he squeezes my hand to get a little more blood to flow out of the small wound in my palm. I don't know what is supposed to be happening but the room starts spinning and darkness starts pulling at me.
Suddenly, my right wrist starts burning, gradually getting hotter and hotter. I cry out in pain as it feels like I stuck my wrist on a hot metal pan that just came out of the oven and just left it there. I distinctly register the feel hands reaching for me and feel someone twist my arm slightly, almost like they're looking at the thing that suddenly caused me so much pain.
"Shh," my father's voice says, though it sounds a little distorted. "It'll get better. Sleep, daughter."
Thankfully, darkness comes, pulling me in deep and away from the pain of whatever the fuck just happened.
Chapter Eighteen
Xander
"What the hell just happened?" Kade asks the suddenly quiet room now that Cherish has been put asleep and no longer screaming in pain.
The king doesn't answer, his attention on Cherish's wrist.
"My Lord?" I ask.
His shoulders start shaking a second before a laugh spills out of his mouth. Elazer, the guys and I all exchange uneasy glances before Elazer steps forward to place his hand on the king's shoulder.
"Holy shit," Elazer says, shock clear in his voice.
Now I'm getting annoyed and it's clear in my tone when I ask, "Care to share with the rest of the class?"
The king would usually have reprimanded me for speaking like that but he's still laughing and shaking his head in disbelief.
"I knew she'd be powerful, just didn't expect that," the king says through his laughter.
"She's half human, though," Elazer says. "That shouldn't be possible. I don't understand."
My brow furrows and I glance at the guys to see them sporting the same expression.
"What's going on?" Andrei asks, stepping away from the wall and towards them.
The king gestures for us to come over and we oblige. My jaw drops when I see the king hold up Cherish's arm. There, in the middle of her wrist is a mutli-colored butterfly that almost like a tattoo.
That wasn't there before they started this so it could only have happened when her father unlocked her powers.
"She's been marked?" Kade asks, awe clear in his tone. It's understandable, since no one has been marked for hundreds of years. All marks are unique due to the individual that the mark has been placed.
Being marked is the highest blessings that an elf can receive from the gods. It usually shows up a few days after the birth of a highly powerful elf. Even when being marked happened, it didn't happen very often. Maybe one in five hundred elves were blessed.
In any case, the marks have never appeared on an elf with even the slightest amount of human blood in them.
The king nods. "I don't understand how, or why, but she's been marked." He looks up at us, meeting our eyes one at a time. "You know what that means, don't you? We need to hide the fact that she's been marked. You three need to tighten security around her without being too obvious about it."
Andrei, Kade, and I nod once. "Yes, sir."
"This does not leave the room, or mentioned to anybody. Not even her brothers."
"She'll have to use makeup to hide it. There's too many here that can see through all glamour easily," Andrei says softly, his gaze still glued to Cherish's wrist.
"Should we wake her up?" Kade asks, looking worried. "I mean, we'll have to explain this to her."
King Leander sighs and places his hand over her forehead. Within seconds Cherish's eyes flutter open and she moans softly.
"What happened?" She asks, her voice hoarse.
"Have you learned anything about marks, since you started learning about our culture?" The king asks after a moment of silence.
"I think I remember reading something that said it was rare and hasn't happened in a long time. I don't remember much else."
"What were you feeling when your powers were unlocked?" he asks.
"I started getting dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out," she answers slowly. "Out of nowhere my wrist felt like it was being carved into with a branding iron thing. It hurt. A lot."
Her eyes fall to her wrist and her eyes widen before looking around at each of us. "What's going on? I didn't have a tattoo before this."
"It would appear that after I unlocked your powers, the gods blessed you with a mark. Usually if an elf is marked it's a few days after their birth. You never received a mark, but I could feel an almost untamed energy begging to be let free. I always suspected that just meant that you would be a powerful half-breed. Being marked, means that you're more powerful than any of us could have possibly imagined. Let alone when you're half-human and most half-humans aren't usually that strong. There is a rare case where their magic is as strong as an average elf's, but I've never known of a half-human to be stronger than the average elf."
Cherish stares at him, blinking rapidly. When she doesn't say anything, I reach out and place my hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of it. "So," she says slowly, "pretty much what you're saying is that I'm defective?"
Kade and I snort a laugh and Andrei's lips curve slightly. Even Elazer has the ghost of a smile on his face. Leave it to Cherish to make a serious discussion lighthearted.
King Leander scowls at her. "You are not defective. Special," he corrects. "You're special."
"You say tomato," she mutters under her breath. The king raises a brow at her but before he can say anything she starts talking again. "I thought that being marked was a good thing. Why are you guys so tense?"
He hesitates before answering. "There aren't anymore elves that have marks. The ones who've been marked in the past became hunted because of the strength of their powers. Marked are more powerful than others, yes, but even a marked elf is vulnerable to power blockers. Usually power blockers are placed on cuffs, but there's been times that they've been placed on a weapon and if one is even nicked by said weapon, they're powerless for a minimum of a half hour. Plenty of time for one to lose their head."
Cherish's face pales and Kade brushes his hand over her hair, offering some comfort.
"Why though?" She asks carefully.
"Most rulers were intimidated by the marked. Deemed them as too powerful. As such, they sent out teams to eradicate them. Due to that, and the war our kingdom has been a part of, our numbers have dwindled at an alarming rate. Though all elves numbers have dropped significantly over the centuries, the fact that we've been at war for so long is dropping our numbers even quicker. There's some marked elves that have the ability to promote pregnancy and a healthy child birth. Not all have the ability to do that, but they were the first to go unfortunately."
"So, you're saying that I have to hide the mark. So that people don't see me as a threat and try to kill me?"
King Leander looks at her with a grave expression. "That's exactly what you have to do. You can't tell anyone about the mark, Cherish. Anyone outside this room is not to know."
I lean against the door to Cherish's room next to Kade. Andrei's looking outside the window, like he's in a trance and Cherish is sitting on her bed with her sketchbook and a pen, ignoring us completely.
Her eyes snap up, meeting mine from across the room and I give her a small smile. Her gaze flicks to Kade and Andrei before her focus goes back to the book in front of her. She does this multiple times and I'm not the only one who notices.
"What are you drawing?" Kade asks after a while, a smile in his voice.
"Shh," she mutters. "You're distracting me."
Kade snorts a laugh. Her eyes flick up to him and she rolls them before going back to her drawing.
Andrei looks at the watch on his wrist and sighs. "Cherish, you should probably get ready for dinner soon."
Her head snaps up and she stares at him. "Uh, what?"
Andrei's lip quirks. "Your father said he wanted you to join everyone else for dinner tonight."
Cherish's upper lip curls in disgust. "Seriously? I'd rather just eat in here."
"Cherish," Andrei says, giving her a pointed look.
She groans and sets her book and pen aside. "What? I don't want to go. Everyone here already considers me a freak. This," she holds her wrist up for us to look at, "just confirms what they think of me. I'd really rather not deal with all the looks today."
"Looks?" Andrei asks.
Understandable, really, since he's not normally the one who walks with her when she leaves to go for a walk or something. He usually leaves that for Kade or me.
Kade sighs and starts to explain. "Not everyone is thrilled with her presence here. She's half-human, even though she's their princess, they still don't feel like she should be here. Many of them are more than happy to show that."
Andrei scowls. "Why haven't you guys told me about this?"
Cherish picks at her fingers when Kade and I shoot her a look. "Um, because I told them not to tell you?" She shrugs guiltily, giving him an apologetic smile.
"Why?"
She sighs. "You guys are so overprotective and I already have Xander and Kade growling at anyone who gives me a funny look, I really didn't want you do to that too. I especially don't want my father knowing and punishing people just because of how they feel. You can't control how you feel and they shouldn't be forced to. To them, I'm an outsider. I don't belong. Yeah, the way they're acting doesn't help me feel good about being here but I'd rather know upfront who is and isn't okay with me. I don't like backstabbers."
"I understand that," Andrei concedes. "Your brothers arrive tonight, they've been gone for a few days and your dad wants you all to have dinner together."