Chapter 43: Did I Mess Up?
The sunlight seeping through the trees created flickering shadows that danced around Annalise as she once again stepped inside the orchard in the backyard of the castle. But this time, she wasn’t alone.
"What are we doing here?" She asked as she looked around her surroundings, the memories of the last time she entered the orchard came rushing back to her. To this day, she had no memory of how she ended up in that Dark Forest behind the castle. Wasn’t she just chasing that sparkly thing? But again, what was that sparkly thing, to begin with?
"It was a pixie," Pristine answered as if she had read her mind.
"Can you read my mind?" Annalise asked hurriedly, reminded of how Lord Valerius had been able to read her mind the previous night. She still had to confront him about it.
The fairy chuckled as she shook her head slightly while replying, "It’s not that hard to know what’s going on inside your head after taking a look at your expressions."
Annalise eyed the fairy suspiciously for a couple of seconds but it didn’t seem like she was lying which made her relax a little bit. "So... you said it was a pixie. Seems like they exist too."
"You sound surprised," Pristine commented back as she moved towards one of the apple trees that was standing on their left. Other than apples, there were also trees of cherries, tangerines, and mangoes, along with a grape yard near their servant cottages that was located in the west of the backyard.
"From what I have learned, all true seelie bloods disappeared with the Elemental faes. But here we are, I got to meet you, a garden fairy, and now you are telling me that there was a pixie in my backyard. Of course, it’s not hard to believe." Annalise replied in her defense.
Pristine took a moment to look at her as if she was searching for something and only after a couple of moments had passed, did she speak, "The story of the existence of Elemental Faes coming to an end is indeed true but as for the rest of the Seelie races, not every one of them disappeared. They just retracted to the very bottom of the Seelie realm to stay hidden from the darkness that had killed every elemental fae in existence."
Annalise listened silently, all the information so new and contrasting to what she had been told and learning all these years.
"The empire that your cousin rules, it’s not even included in the actual map of the real Seelie Realm. The real realm of the light lays beyond the protective magical barriers guarded by some of the most powerful and ancient runes, creatures, and objects, one of them being this castle." Pristine continued.
"This castle?" Annalise asked, her excitement and curiosity getting the best out of her after listening to all this new information that made her picture her world in a completely different manner.