The Other's

Chapter 58

Aiden

I can't hide the worry on my face, and Eric notices it quickly. 

"I'm sure everything is fine, maybe its just a very long, drawn out conversation..." he says, clearly not convinced himself. 

I watch as the king gets impatient, and stands going to the door of the throne room. He pushes the door open, and immediately shakes his head. I tense up, and notice Eric, and Ty both stiffen.

"I need all of the warriors of the castle to send out their guards, our guest has disappeared and so has my daughter.. I should have known she would do this, as soon as they told me they needed to speak with her I should have known that she would take whatever they said as a mission to do on her own.." The king runs a hand over his face, and his age is showing clearly.

"Sir, if you do not mind, I would like to help look for her.." I say, I hold his gaze as he looks between the three of us. 

His eyes stop on Ty, and his expression grows from worried, to angry, to exhausted.

"The three of you will accompany me to find her, and when we find her, we all must have a long discussion.. The recent knowledge I have acquired, complicates things tremendously, and therefore I would like to make things perfectly clear. But.. Until we find my daughter, you will all show your worth, Fatalia, I need you to keep an eye on the kingdom.. It is the least you can do since you allow your healers to show their links..."

I look between the king, and the Queen of the water, and notice the sadness in her eyes. The kings eyes soften, but he doesn't change his stance. I look beside me, and notice that there are unshed tears in Ty's eyes. Even though I wish I could tear him apart for touching Ava, something tells me, there is something far worse in store for him. 

Something inside me urges me to stand up to the king, and for a moment I stop myself. The feelings inside me I realize are coming from Ava. I let the emotion take over, and take a step forward, putting me between Ty and the king. 

"Why are the healers not allowed to show their links? and why has he just now, been allowed to link with Ava?" I ask, my voice far stronger than I feel.

"Aiden! you will do good to watch your tone with the king!" my father booms behind me.

"I do apologize, my King, But you must not forget, we feel the same emotions as your daughter. So it would be wise to treat her suitors with kindness, or else you will push her away." I say, and realize that the words I just spoke were fully mine. 

I begin to think he will lash out at me, but instead he turns, and walks away. I spare a glance at my family, my father gives me a disappointed look before we begin to follow the king.

"Why did you stand up for me?" I hear Ty whisper, I look at him sideways and his face is a mix of emotions. 

"Because Ava cares for you, I could feel her anger at your pain... But don't think for one second, that I have forgotten what you have done. Although I cant say that I haven't thought about it, i have refused to act on it for the simple fact of I wanted her to choose to do it. I didn't want to make her want it, I wanted her to want it on her own.." I can feel Ava's emotion as I say the words.

"I didn't intend for it to happen! I was only trying to heal her! It was mutual, and it happened as the link took over... I cant expect you to believe me, but I would never try to force her to do anything she did not want to do... I didn't want this to happen.. I was her safe place from the two of you! I could help her not feel so torn.. But now I am no better than either of you... Now I will only bring her pain.." Ty says, his voice cracking.

"Both of you shut up! we have to find Ava, so stop arguing over something none of us expected to happen, and none of us can control! There is a lot that needs to be said, but it can not happen until we find Ava, so shut up, and lets go." Eric's voice booms.

I look away from either of them, and quickly try to catch up with king. As we finally make our way outside of the castle, we notice the king on the back of one of the many woodland horses that the guards ride. I look at the green of the horses coat, and the mane of vines cascading down the back of it's neck. It's tail, is made up of a single braided vine. 

A guard walks three horses to us, and we quickly slide on to their backs. 

"A couple of our guards gave word that they saw a Nyx running away from the castle towards the forbidden swamps, it will take a few hours to get there, hopefully we will make it there in time." the King says, his words dripping with worry.

"Sir, isn't that the birth place of Scarlet?" I say, he eyes me carefully before nodding. 

He whispers something to the horse, and within a moment they are speeding through the courtyard and out into the forest of Terra. We quickly follow suit, and I watch as the sky begins to grow dark.

"What's going on? it isn't even night yet.." Eric says, suddenly we see all of us begin to glow. 

"Are you all using your Essence?" the king says, he brings his horse to a stop. 

"No... But it feels like we are..." I say, suddenly the sky goes back to normal. Our bodies slowly stop glowing. 

"She did it.." Ty says, we all turn to look at him. 

"What do you mean?" We all ask in unison.

"She used our links and borrowed our Essences..."