Adeline and the Ovunque's Key || Ongoing

034

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟑𝟒 — 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐲

When I finally regained consciousness, I feel like I was placed on someone's shoulder as they walked. My body bounces lightly on the person's hard shoulder at every step they made. I tried to look at the person and around me, trying to find Pierre.

The person was breathing heavily; heaving their breath in and out as they carried me. They wore a wooden masks over their face. From the build and looks that I can manage a glimpse of, the person had the build of a man. A man with flamingly red hair. He must have noticed me moving because he turned his head in my direction and stared at me. Not quite saying anything. He just mainly stares as he walked. I couldn't see his face. His expression was hidden behind a wooden mask. Still, I can feel a spark of black ink squirting out of him as it entered me, making me shudder. Wordlessly, I kept staring for I couldn't bring myself to turn away.

"Addie! Where is she?" I heard Pierre shout. Immediately I broke contact with the man and looked around for the source. I couldn't see him. I can hear him but I couldn't see him.

"I'm alright, Pierre! Where are you?" I shouted back at him.

"Addie! Oh, I thought I lose you!"

"I'm being carried by what seems like a man," As I said it, I turned to the man who is still carrying me with his gaze locked on me. "And he just won't look away from me."

"I can understand you, very clearly, twig."

Never have I ever felt so weirdly offended by a weird nickname. I scoffed as I huffed at the man, my eyes narrowed as I glared daggers into the wood hiding his face from my sight. "How am I a twig?"

He didn't say anything and now he just turned away and look up front. I opened my mouth to talk to him again, but I stopped when I hear chatter and voices coming from a distance.

I turned to look at the way of the flowing active chatters and turned back to him, "Are we almost there? Are you really taking us to the town?"

"Yes. Ceadan had knocked you two out and decided to drag me into this. All for the sake of the chief's daughter." I didn't need to see his face to know that he rolled his eyes in annoyance at the last sentences.

"Chief's daughter?"

"I heard you were friends with her."

"Odell is the chief's daughter?" I asked in a whisper-shout tone. Shocked at my newly earned input.

He suddenly stopped walking and once again turned to me. He stares again, almost as if trying to read me. "How come you didn't know that?"

"Odell doesn't like talking about her life in there," I said, nodding my head into the town.

"How can I be certain that I can trust you?"

"You had to ask me now? After walking me all the way here, on your shoulder?"

"Yes."

Feys and their lack of trust. Almost made me shake my head and rolled my eyes.

"What's your name?"

"Elrond."

"Elrond, you can put me down now. I can walk on my own." He made no sudden movement. He stopped moving all at once. Almost as if paused by an invisible force. "Elrond, please," I tried again.

His muscle twitched lightly at my request. Slowly, he placed me down and kept his stare at me before he pulled the mask off him. Violet eyes stare my way intensely. I gasped lightly at the colour of his eyes. To which he responded with a raise of his eyebrow.

"What?"

"Your eyes. It's purple."

Immediately, he brought his arm over his eyes in an attempt to close them from my sight. "It's hideous. But I never asked for your opinion."

"What are you talking about? It's beautiful."

"It's not my fault–" he paused so suddenly, arm lowered by a few inches. "What did you say?"

"I said, It's beautiful."

For what felt like an eternity, his stares at me were incredulously filled with confusion and horror. His eyes grew a fraction and crimson decorated his cheeks, smearing it with a mild red on his pasty white skin.

I broke him.

What did I do this time? I was just complimenting him. How is that wrong?

"Addie," I hear Pierre call out. Turning to the source, I can see him running my way. My eyes narrowed as my lips curved upward at the sight of him. As soon as he reached me, he pulled me into a tight embrace; one that could possibly crush my bone if he hugged me tighter.

I coughed at the impact, patting his back lightly in an attempt to calm him down. "Pierre, I can't breathe."

"Oh." Immediately he lets me go. He pulled away and let his eyes watch every side of me. He's checking me out for injuries. Just as he always did.

"I'm alright," I laughed.

"You better have no wound on you when I check you later," he warns, not in an intimidating and mean manner but just in a very friendly and caring Pierre manner.

I grinned and was about to comment when a throat clearing was heard beside us. Both our heads turned to face the man. His head, turned away, not sparing any glances towards either of us. And slowly he walked ahead into the feys' hidden town. "I thought you both are coming here to meet the chief's daughter. Are you coming or not?"

"Addie, was he just as much a pain to you as the other guy was to me?" Pierre asked as we both walked up to follow him.

I turned to Pierre, laughing lightly at his comment, "You had a rough time with Caedan?"

"Caedan?"

"The guy who talked to us before we passed out, that's Caedan."

"Oh. Yeah. He's a blabbering pain."

I had never seen Pierre so annoyed before. How bad can Caedan be? A flicker of intrigue filled my eyes as I was about to make a comment, a grin plastered wide on my face. "I'm sure he's not that bad. I mean, Elrond was fine."

"Lucky you, Addie. I just had to be carried by the bad egg between the two."

"Hey, I heard that!" I heard another voice say. A man with brown hair, sheep ears and yellow eyes approach us. "The least you can do after I carried you here, you silly oak, is listen to me talk."

"Caedan! Elrond!" Another voice cried. This one came from the village. A little girl with long hair and antlers on her head came running to the two and gave them a hug. This girl fits the description the knight gave almost identically.

"Annalise–" Odell's voice came from the opening and was cut short when her eyes met our figure. She kept staring at us. Her mouth gaping open as she took in the sight, "What are you two doing here?"