Marked By The Unseelie

Chapter 21 Sealing Mark

But, just in case, I have a letter in my room that Jade will deliver to the unseelie fairies.

Faragon is in his office, the very same one where we first met him.

"Your highness, Lady Livia," Faragon looks surprise to see us walking into his office. He looks up from a batch of papers on top of his table with a quill pen in one hand that he places on its grip before getting up. "Do you need something?"

Zhier goes to close the door behind us before coming to join my side in front of Faragon's table.

"What's going on? You two look serious." Faragon sounds concerned, which makes me feel a little terrible that we are interrogating him like this. "Is something wrong?"

"Sorry for the sudden visit, Faragon, but it appears like Livia needs to talk with you." Zhier breaks the silence and gives me a nod of encouragement.

Thanks to Zhier breaking the ice, I finally got a little bit of courage. Before looking into Faragon's eyes, I take a deep breath. "Faragon, you know how I was kidnapped the other day?"

The elf nods. "I heard. Are you feeling better now? If you're here to ask me for a break on your studies, it's fine. Take as much time as you need."

"Thank you, Faragon, but what I want to ask you is about something else. It's about prince Klovis." I can hear the heavy tension in the room when I mention the name of the infamous Unseelie Prince. Zhie can't seem to decide where to look—to me or to Faragon. "When you told Zhier that the Unseelie Prince was missing, were you telling the truth?"

"What?" Zhier whispers, looking at Faragon, probably realizing that he is not bound to the rules of lying as he is not a fairy.

Faragon's expression caught me off-guard. Instead of feeling surprised, frightened, or guilty, he looks... relieved?
"Prince Klovis is missing." Faragon smiles warmly and looks at us with his eyes, as if he wants to say something with them. He starts to fix the collar on his neck. "He is not in the fairy or human realm."

"Faragon, I am sorry, but that's not what I was asking. I was asking you if you were lying when you told—"

"The Unseelie Prince," Faragon snaps, closing his eyes when he readjusted his collar a second time. "Is missing."

What is with him? He is acting rather strange.

I turn to Zhier, expecting him to say something that would straighten out Faragon and make him give us a straight answer, but as it turns out, he just kept staring at the Elf. His expression is starting to twist and contort.

I turn to the elf once more to get an answer from him. "Faragon, I—"

"Miss Livia," He cuts me off. "Do you need some assistance with your studies? Have you finished your homework that I gave you?" This is clearly his way of trying to avoid the conversation, but it is something that I do not like one bit.

"I haven't." I answer.

"I'll extend the deadline, but you should still practice your fairy language. Otherwise, it will get rusty." Faragon breaks eye contact just then and proceeds to arrange the papers on his desk. "Well, if that is what you all wish to ask me, I must apologize as I have more work to do."

I was about to open my mouth and ask him again, but Zhier places a hand on my shoulder, stopping me from asking further.

"Thank you for your time, Faragon. We'll get going then." Zhier starts to stir me out of the room. When I tried to resist, Zhier's grip became a little firm and he meets my gaze with a slow shake of his head.

"No problem. Take care on your way out." Faragon smiles pleasantly and waves us goodbye.

As soon as we are out of the house, I turn to Zhier, shugging off his hand off my shoulder.

"Why'd you do that? I still have more questions to ask him. You—"

"You tried to ask him because he is the only one in this palace aside fom you who can lie, right?" His cold question catches me off-guard.

"Y-yeah. That's the point." Is he upset that I did not give him a headsup? It's understandable, but to cut me off like that just when I want to press more questions to Faragon is not alright. I thought he wanted to find Klovis as much as I?

"That man, he has a sealing mark on his neck." He suddenly said that he is trying to justify his actions earlier. "As long as he has that mark, he cannot betray the person who places that seal on him."

Now that I think about it, Faragon seems to be adjusting his necktie a lot back there. Did he do it on purpose just so we could see it? Faragon showed it so discreetly that I did not even notice the purpose of his gesture. Without Zhier, I don't think that I would have ever noticed.

I guess that it is a good thing that I brought him with me.

"T-Then his mark, who do you think placed it on him? If we can find the person who placed it on him, maybe we can find Prince Klovis." I thought that by confronting Faragon, we would be able to rescue Klovis right away. This is a major setback for us, but you know what? Maybe we can still turn this situation around. I just hope that we can do it as soon as possible.

"I don't think you have to worry about that because that person—or faerie—is much closer to us than you think." Zhier laughs in a sinister way that makes me uneasy. There's something about his laughter that makes it hard for me to tell if it's threatening or sarcastic.

"W-Who?" I curiously inquired.

"The very person that he is working for." He says as his expression grows gloomier as he looks at me. "My mother."

*~*~*~*~*~END OF CHAPTER~*~*~*~*~*~*

Sorry if it is a little late. I thought that I clicked publish a while ago. Hehe. 

Merry Christmas!