ELVEN | K.TH

37

"The tea."

He gives me a look of such utter betrayal that I can't help the sob that bursts from my lips.

Forgive me. Forgive me, Tae. I sign, laying him tenderly on the grass. I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

His hand desperately clasps around mine just before his eyes lose focus and he falls unconscious. And my head slowly hangs forward, as ugly sobs escape my muted throat. I wrap both hands around his limp, pale one.

Forgive me.

Don't hate me when you wake up.

_____________________________

JUNGKOOK

"Arlen?"

I throw off my hood, shaking out my hair. Sweat runs down the side of my neck.

"I can't find anyone in the cotta—"

Then my eyes go wide when I catch her standing over a dark figure on the forest ground. I instantly yelp, rushing over with the words pouring out of my mouth.

"Oh my gosh. Please—Please don't tell me you knocked someone out."

Then I notice the figure looks vaguely familiar.

She raises a perfect brow in my direction.

"It's the Prince, Jungkook."

The...Prince?

"The elf." I breathe, recognizing Rinei's lover. His long, dark hair is unraveled messily amongst the leaves, his breaths hitched. His face is paler than I remember, with dark shadows underneath his closed eyes.

Panic squeezes me inside out.

"Someone—Someone got to them. They took Rinei."

"No."

Arlen shakes her head. Then she lowers herself down, her blue eyes fixed on the unconscious Prince. Her gaze narrows.

"He is alive and here. Lord Elven would've ordered for the both of them to be taken back if his guards got to them."

"It's your sister."

I blink.

"What?"

A tight smile ghosts on her lips.

"She is more reckless than I thought."

"Reckless?" I echo, twisting around on my feet. I look up at her with a desperate, wide look. "Can you stop talking in riddles and please tell me what's going on here? Where—"

Her expression turns tense.

She's gone to the City. By herself— I'm guessing that her goal is revenge. And the Prince would've never let her. He knows how risky it is, and it is a futile attempt."

She breathes.

"So I think she might have fed him something, to make him weak.  She must have learned that we elves cannot eat most things. It's one of our greatest weaknesses."

Rinei.

At the City, alone?

"But she doesn't even know the way there."

"Your sister is clever." Arlen whispers, her gaze steady. "And she's already been there once. She will find her way."

The blood drains from my face.

"Then she—"

A soft, quiet gasp cuts me off. My eyes instantly turn to where the weak sound has come from— the Elven Prince. Or Taehyung, as Rinei had called him.

He looks sick. Broken.

Broken, by my sister.

He raises himself to a sitting position, his fingertips slowly touching his lips before his hand falls back to the grass. The look in his eyes are haunting.

Arlen sighs quietly, before approaching his side.

"Your Majesty."

His eyes flicker slowly towards her. They take a long time to focus on her face, as if his mind is anywhere else but here.

He looks lost, until agony twists his expression apart.

"You're sick, Prince. You must rest." Arlen tells him, her voice more objective than concerned. It's almost like she's telling him a fact about the weather.

I shoot a glance at her.

Couldn't she at least try to sound more sympathetic than that?

The Prince ignores her. He gets to his feet, his eyes fixed into the depths of the Forest. His face is pale with strain, from just standing.

"She left for the City. For my father."

But even when he's this sick, the dark look in his eyes are so commanding and authoritative that it still freezes me to the ground.

"I need to get to her before it's too late."

Arlen squeezes her lips together.

"Look at yourself. You'll collapse on the way if you try to make the—"

"Come with me or do not."

The Elven Prince gives her a chilling look. The last time I remembered seeing him, he'd been so full of warmth and grace. But that had been with Rinei next to him.

Now he looks like darkness, come to life.

His voice echoes like the trace of ice on stone.

"I need to get to her before it's too late."