Bound to the North {Complete!}

06| Silver and Pink

Serena POV

"Irene?" I called as I tapped on her chamber door. I hadn't seen her since this morning, and I'd seen most of the other people in the force. "Irene are you in there?" No answer.

"Serena," a voice boomed behind me. I turned around to face my father. I backed against the wall timidly. "Please don't hurt me," I whispered, avoiding his gaze.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something come across the king's face that looked almost like guilt. He recovered himself quickly. "Have you seen Irene?" he asked curtly.

"No sir," I said, staring at my feet.

"Well when you see her, tell her to come to my study." With that, he went around the corner and disappeared.

As soon as he left, I returned to my chamber. Just as I was closing the door behind me, guards and soldiers ran past, yelling something about an invasion. Soon after, alarm bells rang throughout the castle.

"My God!!" I groaned. "Can we ever get some peace around here?"

My father came sprinting down the corridor and stopped beside me. I could clearly see the wild panic in his eyes. "Leave!" he gasped in my direction.

"What?!" I stammered.

He grabbed my shoulder. "Serena, it's not safe for you here!" he panted. "Go to the silver woods. They're safe; you know where they are. You can protect yourself there."

I stared at him in shock. Did he actually care what happened to me?

"Go Serena! They're attacking the castle. You don't have much time!"

Without another word, I hurried out of the castle and into the silver woods. A Beast free place, the silver woods were where my mother used to take Irene and me to play. Fireflies enveloped the night sky with flickering lights, and the moon reflected off the bark of the trees that was literally made of silver. I hadn't been here in years, but it was as beautiful as I remembered.

I kept walking until I came across a patch of yellow flowers. I sat in a small clearing in the midst of them, and leaned back, relaxing. I then noticed that one of the flowers was different from the rest. It was glowing bright pink, and seemed to move its petals on its own accord.

I watched this flower, wondering at its uniqueness. I entered a state of peace until it was rudely interrupted by heavy footsteps. I stumbled wearily to my feet and ducked behind a silver tree. I peeked around the corner to see...Finn? I watched as he reached for the pink glowing flower.

What did he want with that flower? I made up my mind to stop him. He was trespassing, after all. As he started to leave the flower patch, I leaped from behind the tree and snatched the flower from his hands before he had time to react.

I sped to a stop in front of him. "Don't do this!" he groaned.

"Well it's good to see you too," I said casually. "You don't seem very surprised to see me."

"I knew you were there," he said. "You stick out like a flower in a patch of weeds."

"So you let me do that then?" I asked, pointing at the flower.

"Well..." he said, hesitating.

I snorted. "What do you want with the flower?" I demanded.

He looked surprised. "To heal our leader, of course."

"What's wrong with your leader?"

"You really don't know?" he asked disbelievingly.

"...no."

"Your princess broke into our castle and poisoned Lord Pelos...no healing rune is working."

"Irene?!" I gasped, dumbfounded.

"Yeah, yeah I think that was her name..."

"So where is she now?" I demanded warningly.

"In the dungeon." He smirked and drew his bow. Pointing an arrow at me, he said, "Now princess, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Hand over the flower or this arrow goes through your head."

White hot fury surged through me. I was done being the weak one. I positioned my hands on the flower like I was about to rip it. "Now Finn," I drawled calmly. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Hand over Princess Irene or I can rip this flower a whole lot faster than you can shoot me."

Finn stared at me, his eyes wide with shock. "Not such a damsel in distress anymore are you?"

"Nope," I said, raising my eyebrows. "So what'll it be, Finn?"