Inheritance

Part 2. Chapter 55: Twisted

Francis looked at the guard looming over Kori's shoulder with pursed lips—wishing he could speak with the waif in private. He took a sip of water without taking his eyes from the guard. "So... You saw the Antler, too, right?"

Kori nodded uneasily. "But we must have been hallucinating, right? Antlers aren't real; they're just fairytales."

Francis grinned. "I don't know. Antlers are said to appear to those who live lives fraught with misery and yet will have a hand in changing the world. I have a feeling we both fit the misery part of that description."

Kori's pointed ears drooped and twitched in annoyance. "What makes you think I'm miserable?"

"I think any woman who chooses to spend her free time loving a king who won't love her back and trying to make criminals functional members of society must be a miserable person, indeed." Francis said.

Kori and Francis were both quiet for a moment as they looked at each other's captors.

Their faces were eerily blank; their eyes didn't look like they were focused on anything. Francis and Kori were uncomfortable having a conversation as if their captors weren't there, and they wondered what things were, and were not safe to talk about in their presence.

Kori cleared her throat awkwardly. "And what of you, Francis? Why are you miserable? Does it have to do with your queen?"

"The queen's pleasure is my own. No, my misery comes from something else entirely." Francis admitted freely.

"Oh? Where?" Kori inquired somewhat sarcastically.

"From the rejection of my family." Francis explained broadly. "But let's get back to you, Kori. Your miseries, I'm sure, run even deeper than just your misfortunes with the king and your prisoners. Waifs live rather sheltered lives, don't they? Once they mate, they mate for life, right? You must have experienced the company of so few men. How very sad."

Kori sighed. "I will not speak of my old life in Trella. Speak of something else."

"Very well. Shall we acknowledge the fact that when an Antler appears to someone, it can often mean that they have found their soul mate?" Francis smirked.

Kori was not amused. "You just love trying to get a rise out of me, don't you? As much as you would like to be, I highly doubt that you are my soulmate." Kori returned with a wink of her own.

The waif changed the subject. "Mother told me the most chilling stories about Antlers when I was young... She told me that they lurk in the darkest recesses of our minds and are just waiting to claw their way out when our defenses have been weakened. Once they have clawed their way out, they stalk you around dark corners for the rest of your life."

Francis, who had been enticed by her wink, decided to continue needling her. "I'm sure you've also heard the tale about the lovers, then, who were stalked by the Antlers?"

Kori rubbed her temples. "You find our captors to be filthy savages because they're part human and part elf, and yet you like to flirt with me? We are not the same species either."

"That's different! A baby couldn't come of our union, and it would only be for one night! Besides, you, at least, have refined, pointed ears, unlike humans." Francis exclaimed.

Kori looked away from him, then, and gazed off into the distance sadly. "I could have married Laurence if it weren't for people like you..."

Francis sneezed. He asked, "why?"

"Laurence said that he couldn't marry me because no one would want another foreign queen on the throne—that they would be disgusted by our marriage... like you are of the elf-humans." Kori lamented.