Living a Secret Life

Found

                                                 Song for Chapter: Kiss it Better by He is We
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It's been 3 days, and it gets colder by the second. Wandering through the mountains, we try to find the Ice Elves' castle.

"Calem, there's a blizzard heading this way. We have to take shelter." Juniper shouts over the rising wind. Suddenly, we are surrounded by a group of elves.

"Come." One says. I look to Juniper, and she shrugs. The group of elves leads us into a hidden cave, and we emerge into a cavern filled to the brim with crystals, and a large fortress in the middle of it all.

"Calem, why would Raven be here?" Juniper whispers. I stay quiet, knowing the elves can hear everything.

"This is the Ice Elf fortress. Arthion is expecting you." A silver-haired elf states. All of the elves I've seen have light colored hair, whether it's pale blonde, white, or silver. But Raven has dark colored hair. While she's shorter and curvier, the Ice Elves are colossal and lanky.

The elves lead us into the palace, and we dismount our horses.

"Who of you is leader here?" A woman asks. I begin to introduce myself but Juniper intercedes.

"I'm in charge. My name is Juniper, friend of Ithilwen." She quickly tells them.

"Ah, you know the princess. Her father has known of your arrival, come." The woman leads us into a large chamber. To our left is a spiraling staircase, that seems to go up forever. On our right is a group of elves playing instruments, no doubt here to entertain the King.

"Ah, Prince Calem. How nice to see you again." Arthion tilts his head and I look to him.

"The pleasure is mine, your majesty. With me are a group of Ithilwen's friends, and they would like to see her." I give a small bow.

"Of course. Ithilwen!" He shouts. I turn and see her descending the spiral staircase. As she comes closer, I have to stifle my horror. Her wrists are in shackles, and her eyes, once deep turquoise, now dull and glazed over.

"Ithilwen fights every time I take the charm off of her, and since I can't keep using my energy to keep it up, I infused the spell into those cuffs and it feeds off of her energy. She is finally obedient." He explains smugly. I bite my tongue to keep from shouting any obscenity I can think of at him.

"I've come to speak with you about a possible marriage." I say to him. He nods, knowing full well of my intentions.

"Yes, but I've had another come for the same thing. He may be no prince, but I feel that he might be better suited to keep her in check." The words stung. A man walks out of a door on the side, and Juniper gasps in horror.

"Viper!?" She cries out. Dragon and Zephyr look at each other, eyes wide.

"Good to see you all. This must be the new reject Alpha Team." Viper sneers. Sky steps forward.

"Why are you here." She stares him down. Juniper leans over to me.

"Sky is the only one who has ever been brave enough to face down Viper other than Raven." She mutters.

"I want to marry Ithilwen. She needs a firm hand to guide her." He grins wickedly.

"Why can't she choose for herself?" Sky returns.

"Because I am her father and I know what's best for her. She's young for an elf, and I will not have her become a disgrace." Arthion stands. "My daughter trusts too easily and thinks like a human. She is an elf." The way he emphasizes the last word makes everything click into place.

"Her mother was a human, wasn't she? That's why you're afraid of letting her be herself, because she won't live as long as an elf should." I claim.

"How do you know that?" Her father narrows his eyes.

"Raven has dark hair, while everyone here has light colored hair. All of you are about 6 and a half feet tall, while she's a little over 5 feet. You are incredibly skinny, but she's more filled out, and has a figure. The physical differences, as well as your previous statement enforce this. You hate that she's part human, and you are trying to force her to be an elf." I stand my ground, ready to fight anyone that dares attack me.

"She. Is. Not. Human." Her father grits through his teeth. I walk over to Raven and remove the shackles from her. As her eye brighten and come back into focus, she storms over to her father.

"How dare you! You told me mom left! You said that she hated that I was different! But now it makes sense. She died a long time ago, because she was human. You lied to me! That's why I can't use powerful magic. That's why I can feel emotions." Tears begin to fall down her face. A sword suddenly protrudes from her father's chest, and the other elves scatter, only to be murdered. Her father crumples to the ground and Viper stands over him, gloating.

"Boys, let's end this." He shouts, and a group of men seem to materialize around us. I draw my sword to fight them off. As they advance, Viper grabs Raven and drags her away while she struggles against him. In my moment of distraction, one of Viper's goons disarms me and holds his sword to my throat.

"If you don't stop fighting, I'll kill the prince." Viper slaps her, and the sound reverberates around the room. I fight against my captor. I have to protect Raven.

~Raven's POV~

My cheek stings as Viper drags me through the castle. He finds a room and throws open the door, and shoves me inside.

"Hello again little elf." A raspy voice sounds from behind a chair. A figure stands, and I recognize the wizard that tried to kill Calem.

"You again." I hiss. He cackles with glee and mutters something under his breath, and I become frozen, unable to move from where I'm standing.

"You got away last time, but this time, I know exactly how to get what I want." He smiles innocently and comes closer to me. I keep struggling to move but it's futile.

"Now now Raven. This will all be over soon." Viper whispers in my ear.

Everything goes black.