A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes

Chapter 8

He looked over and I quickly hid behind a tree, but it was useless.

“Princess Ellia?” he called. I could hear him move closer as his shoes crunched over some leaves. My heart hammered in my chest and I tried to make sense of what I had seen.

“Do not move another inch!” I yelled back in a shaky voice. The crunching of leaves stopped.

“I promise, I mean you no harm,” he responded in a familiar soft voice. Hearing him speak only made it worse. I was so confused and my heart was aching, but at the same time I felt like I could punch him.

“You sent your solders to capture me. How can I trust you after that?” I challenged, still staying hidden from his view.

He spoke again; this time astounded and angry. “I did no such thing!”

Rage began to take over and I ignored his words. “Is that why you wanted to meet me here? To capture me if your solders could not?”

“I never sent anyone after you, Princess. I wouldn’t do that if I wanted to end this as much as you did.”

“Then tell me why you wanted me here… alone!” I demanded.

I could hear his sigh and it sounded closer than it should have. I straightened my back and quickly teleported behind another tree.

“Please stop hiding from me,” he begged, sounding on the edge of defeat.

“Not until you explain,” I replied stubbornly.

“My advisor doesn’t wish for the rivalry to end. I just found out of his actions this morning. I promise that I had no part in it.” There was a pause before he continued. “I asked to meet you here because of him. I didn’t want him to know about any of this. He has spying devices all over my palace. I didn’t want him overhearing what I had to say to you. I knew it was safe to come here because he is restricted from coming to the island. The fairies won’t let him in.”

I tried to separate my anger from confusion and took a moment to listen to my instincts. I had a gut feeling to trust him, even if my mind said not to. I had to remind myself that he had never touched me in a harmful way when we were in the mortal world. He was always so tender and caring when he made any physical contact with me. The sweet memories gave me the strength to make my next move.

“One more questions,” I began. I took a step from behind the tree and asked, “Why did you not tell me?”

Dilan’s face was in shock, but after a second, his slack jaw turned into a large grin. He rushed toward me with open arms, ready to embrace me, but I teleported behind him.

“Tell me King Damien,” I shot out bitterly when he turned around. His face fell and his frowned turned into a sneer.

“How could I have known you were immortal? Besides, you didn’t tell me either! So don’t point fingers.”

“I didn’t know about any of this until you broke up with me,” I yelled back. I could feel my eyes start to water and I struggled to keep the tears from falling, but it was futile. “I accidently teleported here!”

His face instantly softened and he rushed toward me. I didn’t make an attempt to move this time as he wrapped his arms around me just like he used to when I had a terrible experience with my mom.

“Madders, I am so sorry,” he whispered. “If I had known, I wouldn’t have left you. I tried to stay as long as I could, but after my father passed, I didn’t have a choice. Please understand why I had to.”

Of course I understood. If it had been the other way, I would’ve had to do the same thing, but that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt any less. Four years of memories were hard to get rid of.

I nodded against his chest and he held me tighter, rubbing the small of my back. I practically melted into him. I couldn’t help it even if I wanted to.

We stood like that for few minutes more, before he pulled away just enough to lift my face to meet his gaze. He wiped away a stray tear with a sad smile.

“Forgive me?” he asked and I smiled back. There wasn’t a day that I wouldn’t.

If Trixie had seen this she would’ve thought I was being stupid and I felt like I was too, but I couldn’t stop it. Until this moment, I didn’t know how much I had missed him and even though I was willing to move on before, I wasn’t anymore.

“Now what do we do?” I asked.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I should call your father and apologize on behalf of my solders.”

“And what about the treaty?”

“I suppose I’ll talk to him about that too,” he replied as if it was a side note.

“And us?” I asked getting to the part I dreaded the most. Obviously, things couldn’t be the same like they were in the mortal world, especially if we were supposed to be enemies.

He looked away from my hopeful gaze and looked behind me as if thinking of something before returning to meet my eyes. “I honestly don’t know how we’re gonna pull this off.” I looked down at his dress shoes in a disappointed manner. They were almost spotless from any dirt, whereas my flats were almost covered from all the walking and tripping. “But that doesn’t mean I’m not willing to try,” he added. I looked back up with a small smile.

“That’s good, because I would hate to have a reason to kick your ass with my new awesome abilities!” I joked, relieved to hear that.

“You were already scary without them. I wouldn’t want to see you with them,” he teased with a light chuckle. I went to playfully slap his arm, but he quickly stopped me before I could touch him. “Now none of that,” he laughed. “Don’t want the fairies to attack us.” He suddenly became a little bit more serious. “They are already on edge.”

I raised my brow. “How can you tell?”

“My eye sight is more advanced than yours, you know, being a demon and all,” he replied nonchalantly. “They’re all hiding in the woods just outside the clearing. One small hint of violence will provoke them.”

A sly grin made its way to my lips. “How really? I guess we’ll just have to show them that we aren’t going to murder each other.”

He looked at me curiously. “Oh…” he exclaimed once he realized what I meant. I leaned up on my tip-toes and gave him a slow chaste kiss before leaning back and meeting his eyes once more.

“Are they convinced?” I asked, hoping he would say no, but unfortunately he didn’t have time as my name was called in the distance. I recognized it as Xavior’s voice and alarmed, I jumped and looked behind Dilan – I mean Damien. He moved back and turned around. When we both saw that there wasn’t someone within seeing distance, he turned back to me with a sad smile.

“I have to go,” I said regretfully. He only nodded and kissed my cheek.

“Meet me back here tomorrow?” he asked when he pulled back.

“Same time?”

“Try not to me late this time,” he joked just before my name was called again, this time louder. With one last kiss, I turned away and began walking back the way I came. Before I left the clearing, I snuck a glance back at Damien just as he was surrounded in black smoke, which vanished a second later. A shiver went down my spine as reality hit me.

Dilan, the only person I knew inside and out, was a demon, a creature that was born of darkness and evil.