Emilie de Ravin as Lillia
***
We both sit in silence, thinking about the fact that Gideon Lestrange, of all the fairies in all the world, is my mate. But why didn't he do something about it? He must know, since he has analysed me already, but the why did he still try to take me to the Prince? Does he not realise that now that we have had physical contact, I would die if I had children with another fairy? I sat, chewing my lip, worried for my life, and now for my mate's life too. If I die, then he would die too, and that would be awful. Is he really that devoted to the Prince?
"Hey, come here." Rafi says, holding his arms open. I lean onto him, cherishing the contact. It's my first hug in a long time. "It'll be okay. The Prince can't have you now, it's literally illegal for him to marry you now, since you've found your mate, hell, it's the most valued thing in our whole realm. The King would have to kill him if he tried to have you."
"No, he wouldn't. That's not how it works in the Dark court. The Prince chose me first, and now I have to have kids with him, and Gideon will die of having his soul damaged, and then I'll die after giving birth, and- and-"
"Ked, I'll take you with me to the Seelie court. You're safe there. You obey their laws too since you're a Mid, and Gideon can come with us and you can be together. Lillia and you can be friends and we can be a family."
"But what about when the Unseelie court are in power? How can the Lights protect me then? And Gideon can't come with me, he's Prince Corbin's PG. He's going to have to reject me. It's the only way for us to stay alive. We can't be together. Not that he wants to be with me. He made that pretty clear." I say with all the bravery and finality as I can, which isn't a lot, since I'm bawling my eyes out.
"Well well well, what do we have here?" Says I voice behind our huddled forms. Chills crawl up my spine. My heart aches at the fact I'm not in the arms of its source. I magic away my tears and stand up, whirling around to look at him. His perfect face and body and hair and voice and clothes and soul. I summon some electricity, my favourite form of defense since it acts as a stun gun, and say in a calm voice, "Can I help you, sir?"
He smirks at me. ""Oh I love it when you call me sir."
Hearing him say the word love makes my stomach flutter.
"Rafi, I figured I'd see you around. I wondered why it was so hard to find her. Protection spells cast by other people are always so much stronger."Gideon says to Rafi, still looking into my eyes, which are now a clear violet from nerves, with a hint of green, the colour of my mate's eyes.
"Yeah well, it's sort of fun making your life difficult. Like foiling your plan to kidnap my sister. Your's wouldn't be too proud of you."
"Don't you dare-"
"Oh I dare talk about my own mate. Which is better than I can say for you, since you've handed yours off to your boss."
Gideon lunges at Rafi, but hits a forcefield of air. He smacks into it, and then flies backwards. I wince at the sound of him getting hurt, and feel the need to rush over and cradle him in my arms, but I resist, since he'll probably try to stab me.
"Sorry Ked, it must be hard to watch this. One time Lillia was jokingly punched in the arm and then I punched them in the face." Rafi tells me, his eyes navy with sympathy.
"Is it okay if I check on him? Just to make sure he's not seriously harmed? Then we can go to the Seelie court."
Rafi looks aprehensive, but then nods to me.
I run over to Gideon, sinking to my knees. I pat him down, checking for broken bones, then I roll him onto his back to look at his face. There's a gash on his forehead, and he makes it look attractive. Damnit. I brush his hair off his face and trace his jawline, then his lips, then his neck, and then I stand up and walk back to Rafi. It was the hardest walk of my life.
"Okay, let's go." I tell him, wiping my eyes to get rid of my new tears.
Rafi takes my hand and we both head to the woods where the portal is, according to Rafi and surely enough, there it is, swirling white and smokey blue. He looks at me sadly, and then says "Ready to go home?"
I look at the portal, then back at him, I smile at him weakly. "Hell yeah."
We jump in, hand in hand, him placid, me screaming, the same as my last trip through a portal.
Time to go home.
