White Roses

Chapter Eleven: She's A Prince

Blood dissolved into a pink hue when it hit the water. Cooper grunted and pulled back from me as Drake stepped between us and all I saw was his back. “I’m warning you boy, touch her again and I will kill you.” 

My face froze as I thought about throwing myself between them when I noticed the thin, nearly invisible thread fall onto the water. I sighed in relief. 

“I wouldn’t hurt her.” Cooper said as he stood up straighter, “I’d never hurt her. You, I’m not so sure about. She may not see you, but I do. And I-”

“Let’s save the real fun for the party, don’t you think?” 

I nearly jumped out of my skin when I saw the Huli Jing suddenly appear in front of Cooper. Am I the only one who has any decency in this place? It doesn’t really look all that comfortable to have boobs sticking out like that, but maybe she was trying to be sexy for Cooper? My stomach churned at the thought. 

“You should tell your human to stay near you if you don’t want any trouble,” Drake said as he took a few steps back, backing me against the wall which got on my nerves, but I could tell by the way his shoulders stiffened that it was a way to protect me from all angles. 

The Huli Jing smiled. Bitch. “I’m sorry, I guess he’s a little excited for the party.” Drake didn’t say anything. “We should go, honey.” 

ARGH! I felt my chest ache a little bit. 

“Tah, tah, little prince,” she said before she grabbed Cooper’s right arm and took him under the water fall. 

“Tah, tah, evil bitch from hell,” I muttered as Drake turned around and I remembered what Cooper said. He murdered his wife! 

Drake arched an eye brow. “Now, what’s with that look?” 

I looked at him and let my hands drop into the water before I took a step closer to him as I reached out to hold his face between my hands. I pulled him down to get a better look at him as Drake slouched. 

I knew Drake, right? I knew some parts of him and I doubted I knew everything, but still…But humans can lie, so Cooper may have lied to me about Drake and his wife. How could he have known? The only person who could’ve told him about her would’ve been the Huli Jing and since she’s a faerie, an evil one by the way, so she can’t lie either. 

“I don’t…I really…” I couldn’t find the right words and it really began hurting my stomach. 

Drake placed his hands over mine. “What are you trying to say? Spit it out already.” 

“No matter what you did, you’re still my protector.” It felt funny to admit that and I wasn’t sure how I should go about asking if he killed his wife, but I suck at this sort of thing anyway. Give me my dagger and I’ll kick so much butt, but tell me to formulate my thoughts into coherent conversations and I’m freaking screwed.  

Drake stared at me. Then silence. Then he blinked a few times. “Hmm, yes, that’s true, your point?” 

I sighed. 

“Did that boy say something to you?” 

Bingo, but there’s no way I was going to tell him that. “Yeah.” 

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t let such a stupid boy to get under your skin. He’s not worth the trouble or the time, but if that were the case we wouldn’t be here. We’d be back in the human world where you wouldn’t be starving and I wouldn’t be stressed.” Drake sighed and rubbed his temples. 

“He’s important to me.”

Drake nodded. “That’s all I need to hear, but remember, he is under the influence of the Huli Jing and he may have had some Faerie wine which probably doesn’t help his mental processing.” I nodded in agreement as he tilted his head. “Will you just tell me what’s wrong already? I’m not a fool, he obvious said something if you're being this quiet.”