Elemental | KTH | ✔️

| FIFTY - EIGHT |

We started slowly walking back towards the party, and I was happy in accepting the phone. I didn't want to seem rude for one, and two, it really was nice to have somewhere where I knew I was understood and I could relate to others. But the pang in my stomach made me remember that it probably wouldn't be a good idea to come here because I didn't want to encourage anything with Castor, because I didn't want to seem rude either, since I couldn't explain why I had zero interest in him. I felt Tae's happiness as he caught eyes with me, as he was stood with Lily, Hazel and her two other brothers. There were a few other men that looked around Zack's age, that glanced over to us as well.

Hazel was grinning at me, and as we got closer to them she handed me this orange drink with ice in. I took a sip as I put my other empty glass down on the table next to me, and raised my eyebrows. That was really nice. It wasn't bitter or overly sweet.

She nodded give me a smile when she saw my positive reaction, "I made sure they put half of the amount of alcohol in it. Tae knows the drink whenever you want another"

"Verity, these are Zack's friends. Henry and Jacob" Castor said as I turned my attention to them.

Both of the men smiled, and I noted how they also slightly bowed their heads at me. How strange. While I knew I was classed as being very magically powerful, I certainly wasn't any sort of royalty.

I smiled back at them, standing next to Tae, "nice to meet you"

"And you, Verity. We've heard about your stories, and it's really interesting" the one on the right said, smiling at me.

"Thank you" I said, not really knowing what else to say.

As we drank, they all got into a group conversation when I saw the King making his rounds around the end of the room. You could see how the people filtered around him, all wanting to say hello as he went past.

"Ah, excuse me my lords, I've got to go check on how much my sons are drinking" King Orlan breathed out as he got close enough to us.

Castor heard that, and laughed. He took the drink out of Zack's hand quickly, and replaced it with a water with ice in that was beside him.

"I saw that, son" King Orlan grinned, tapping Zack on his shoulders as he looked at Castor.

"I'm fine, not that drunk" Zack muttered back.

"Yes, and Fairies can fly" King Orlan breathed out.

We all chuckled lightly, Tae had even smiled at that.

"I'm going to steal Verity, keep our other guests comfortable please" King Orlan said, smiling at me.

I took that as the signal to follow him as he walked away, as he slowed down so I could walk beside him.

"Oh, I see that Hazel has made you try her orange drink, it's nice isn't it? Her Mother used to drink that one as well" he muttered as we slowly made our way outside, the people bowing along the way.

"Yeah, it's really nice, Your Highness" I smiled.

"You are welcome to call me Orlan, Verity. I appreciate that you have respect for the monarchy, but I want you to feel comfortable around all of us" Orlan said as we slowly made our way around the gardens.

"Castor told me about the present. Thank you, it's really thoughtful" I smiled.

Orlan nodded, giving me a small smile, "I feel responsible for you Verity. I don't know if it's because you are my children's age, or if it's because you are an Elemental. But I want to be able to offer guidance to you, because I know you haven't had it. And that really tugs at me, because I have no idea why I didn't know about you sooner. I could have helped you sooner"