Chapter 91: Gifts: Part One
Evanna halted her steps as she and the prince stared at each other. The princess tried to read his facial expression, body language, anything to tell her if he saw what happened. But as per usual, he was like a statue, unreadable. Until he nodded his head for her to come to him.
As she tentatively walked towards him, her clasped hands tightened together while she started to think more about the root that sprouted from the ground. When Evanna first saw it, she believed it might have been her doing; her flying emotions and reasoning to cause such a thing made sense. Maybe she had some unknown powers. She did, after all, have this sixth sense that nobody else had.
Plus, there was the time that the vine unwrapped itself and saved her from near death. But now, as Evanna approached the prince, she wondered if it was him. He did have the gift of ice, and she had a feeling, no, her senses were telling her that he had other powers not yet used in front of her.
Could he work all of the elements? It made sense, he was also there when she fell from the balcony, and now it appeared he had been watching the she-elves interact with her, where they suddenly tripped on an uplifted root.
Once she was near him, he reached his hand out and grabbed her by the wrist, gently pulling her towards his chest; she blinked as her head banged into his solid form and widened her eyes when she felt his lips on the top of her head.
Arawn tenderly kissed the top of Evanna’s head. His gaze was in the direction of the two lady’s now gawking at his public display of affection. A smirk formed on his lips as he watched them recoil from his glare and the sudden dark mist that erupted from the ground and around them, cocooning them from his vision. He was lost in the feeling of what his dark power could do, but the sudden touch of Evanna pushing against his chest snapped him out of his daze.
The mist dispersed, and the she-elves were left on the ground cowering, their hands out, grovelling on their knees to the prince as they gasped, catching their breaths. All the nobles in the palace knew not to get on his bad side. They had seen him use his sword, but if he used his abilities, then people suddenly disappeared from view as he allows the darkness to flow out of him when his rage was beyond repair. He became relentless, unforgiving like the power surging through the deathly mist that caused its prey to suffocate to death.
But Evanna’s presence both stirred him to continue with his punishment, for it was her who was near to tears by their vulgar words or to let them go so he could make sure she was okay. The latter won. He snapped his fingers to the women on the ground, and guards nearby rushed towards them and took them from their sight. Although Evanna was still hidden in his chest, she was unaware of what was happening.
Once they were gone, he pulled away from her but as soon as Evanna looked up at him, her scowl formed into worry filling her doe-like eyes as she searched his expressionless features. Though, he watched her glance at their surroundings as she tried to pull further back from his grasp.
Arawn released her wrist as he muttered, "*You will always be their prisoner if you care what they think about you.*" He sighed and tilted his head slightly when he saw her look at him and nod her head slightly with a frown in response to his words. This little action was unnoticeable to Garrett, who still stood guard by them, but the prince noticed everything about her.
He narrowed his eyes subtly, without her noticing as she pursed her lips and muttered back, "Your highness, please stop touching me inappropriately in public. I am still a Lady and you a Prince, both unmarried. Although I am not from here, I would prefer not being called a bed warmer.."