ELVEN | K.TH

19

My lips are too dry to answer.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've put you in here?" He says, staring into my hollow eyes. "Two weeks. And do you remember how long I put you in here the last time I caught you with an outsider?"

Two...weeks.

He had come to set me free.

I nod weakly.

But my eyes widen, when his voice deepens with malice.

"I thought you learned from your mistakes then. But again, you disobeyed me and went out of the borders for a single, useless human."

"Look at me."

He isn't going to set me free.

Despair settles in my chest. I can't breathe— can't even stay awake. But with exhaustion shadowing my eyes, I turn my head the slightest bit upwards to face him.

His eyes are cold. Even as he looks at his own son, chained and starved and nearly half-dead.

"And I had a feeling last night. That no matter how long I put you through this, you will always go back to her. You just can't help it, can you?"

His fingers clasp around my throat, voice dripping with hatred.

"Because you love her, son. You love a human."

He's going to kill me.

But he doesn't. Instead he steps back, chuckling in disbelief when I confirm his guess with just the look in my eyes. I can't conceal it— I can barely see straight.

"Unbelievable."

"You will stay here for another week." He spits, letting go of my throat. I cough, jerking my head to the side. The shadows deepen.

"And I will kill this outsider you love so dearly. Kill the girl, kill her entire family. They have brought the Elven Prince into ruins."

...what?

"...father." I whisper. Every word I speak breaks in all the syllables. "Father, don't. She didn't do anything wrong. It's me. It's all me who..."

He turns away.

And I scream.

"Father!"

He stops. Then he looks back at me again, with all the disappointment and scorn in the world. But I don't care. I don't care about that.

Tears fill my eyes.

And for a second I just stare at him. When I finally whisper, my voice is full of pain and desperation.

"She doesn't even love me the way I love her."

Don't do this. Don't kill her.

She already lost so much for me. Because of me.

"Then you're even more pathetic than I thought you were." He says, and my heart shatters as he sweeps out the door. "If you can't even charm the love of a mere outsider."