Peeking through a bush, camouflaged in the darkness of the night, I waited with bated breath.
I shouldn't have come, I knew, of course. But now that I was knee-deep into a swamp, I wanted to touch the bottom, sink in it and drown. Maybe, that's how a person goes insane.
My pupils now adjusted to the night's shadow, registered a figure emerging from a small pathway, diagonally opposite from where I stood. My dumb brain had no clue from where that path had come from. I'd need a map to understand or a Serena to explain the routes to me.
I remembered being lost on the way to home from school once. It had been almost sunset when father found me, crying under a tree. Since then, he tried his best to make my sense of direction better, he taught me easy tricks to remember my way back home. My chest became heavy as I thought of his beautiful light brown eyes, with specks a bright red making themselves visible under the sunshine.
Bringing my attention back to the problem at hand, I calmed my scared heart and tiptoed out of my hiding place to get closer to the mysterious man who had summoned me here. I took cover behind a thick tree, watching the man, with his broad shoulders and shiny dark hair. Not Prince Nova then.
And right then, the man turned to face where I stood and the moon illuminated his unmistakably remarkable features.
Lord Ralph.
Just like that, my fear vanquished and before I knew it, I stepped out in the open, sheathing my daggers back inside the belt on my waist.
His posture stiffened as he looked at me approaching him. I sensed a foul smell but couldn't place it.
"What's with the black cloak again?" he asked in his gruff voice, surprising me. Right, that's what I was wearing at the Winter palace when I collided into him and unlocked the phase two of my nightmarish life.
"I have started liking it now," I said, squaring my shoulders.
He simply nodded, adding into the subtle awkwardness of our situation.
I scratched my head before asking the obvious question, "Why did you call me here? It was you, right?"
"Of course, it was me. Were you expecting it to be someone else?" he asked with a tilt of his chin, his red eyes scrutinizing my face.
I gulped. "It's good to be safe, that's all."
I watched him crossing his hands across his chest as he asked, "Why did you come to meet Nova in his study that day?"
The bluntness of his question took me by surprise.
He added, "Are you two...?"
As the implication of his question became clear, a shrill laugh escaped my throat.
"You could not be more wrong."
"Then why?" he asked rubbing his hands together, almost like he was cold.
"Are you cold?" I asked, a wayward thought striking me.
"Always. Damn this Realm," he said with a sigh.
I nodded. I was always cold too, and it was embarrassing since Serena and others never complained as much as I did.
"Even though you are a Fire Elemental?" I asked.
"Especially because I am a Fire Elemental. The cold affects us more than it affects others. And the excess heat that our bodies produce to even out the coldness, just tires us more..." he stopped, understanding flickering in.
"Did you not know that?" he asked in a gentle tone.
"No." I answered not meeting his eyes. I had never spared a single thought to my other power.
The crickets chirped loudly, having a midnight feast somewhere close; an owl hooted from a tree and the leaves rustled; punctuating the silence of the night. A distant roar of a dragon was audible and the Defensor at my side cleared his throat.
"There's a fountain a little distance away. Do you want to go, uh, Eleni, right?" he asked not looking at me.
He was asking me. There was no way I'd have said a no. But something about him was different today, he swaggered a little.
"Sure."
We walked side by side and I noticed him shortening his strides to match mine.
"You still haven't answered me, why were you at Nova's?"
Every cell in my body screamed at me to tell him the truth. But somehow, after tons of encounters with tons of royals, I knew not whom to trust.
"I work for him."
"But how, he knows about you being a ..."
His hesitation to speak the foul word, made me turn to look at him.
"Yes, he knows I am a Luesha," I said.
"Then what is the work that you do for him? If he has a... a person born of Two Realms, he might've told the committee..."
Lord Ralph suddenly stopped both mid-sentence and mid-step. His eyes wide, clutching his head as if he were in pain.
I watched his face clearly, the darkness of his eyes prominent, calculating something.
"Heavens, Eleni. I think I know."
"Know what?"
He hesitated and my curiosity doubled up. I urged him to speak, gesturing with my eyebrows. I understood what he was thinking. He was recalling Prince Nova's words from the Winter palace about executing Lueshas.
But he suddenly shook his head and waved a hand. "Naah. It's Nova, he'd never do that. He is a good lad."
A huge bubble of hope that had inflated in my heart, went off with a huge 'pop.' No one would believe. I wanted to laugh loudly, and spill all the dirty secrets of the two-faced glorious prince, but I simply pursed my lips, clenched my fists and nodded.
Lord Ralph walked ahead and held a thick bunch of branches that formed a green curtain in our path. Moving them aside, he gestured me to walk through the gap.
As I stepped into the clearing, a gorgeous fountain came into view. The moon shining up above it, the water glistened like pearls. The stones of the fountain were of the color of a morning sky. The water pooled in a circle, as it drizzled down in an artistic arch.
"Like what you see?" I heard Lord Ralph's voice but my eyes were stuck at the wonderous structure in the middle of nowhere.
He sat on the stony circular base around the fountain as he spoke, "We are lucky that I managed to remember the exact location or I just forget about a place after visiting once." He smiled his crooked smile.
I looked at him, my heart tender all of a sudden, "You have a poor sense of direction?"
"Very poor," he chuckled embarrassedly.
"So do I."
His eyes met mine and we knew it was time to address the dragon in the room.
I sat at a comfortable distance from him and knew not when I started speaking, "Father taught me some tricks so that I won't get lost."
He said unable to hide his excitement and leaned forward, "I know, remembering the landmarks?"
"Counting the turns."
"Memorizing the shops."
"Actually, remembering the colors of shops," I said with a snap of my fingers.
"But now that we can read, we can just remember their names," he grinned, causing a deep dimple to appear on his left cheek.
"Father had a dimple, too," I said, staring at it.
Consciously, he touched it, and leaned back a little, "Yes, he did."
None of us spoke as the weight of our relationship hung high between us.
"Was he happy?"
I looked at him with questions in my eyes.
"Was my father happy when he was with your family?" He asked with a grave voice.
Lord Ralph was drawing a line of sorts between us.
"He was sometimes. He was actually my teacher - I was home-schooled, you see. And he always talked about the hidden places of the Four Realms, but now that I think about it, it was mostly about Summer Realm. He missed his home."
The Lord's face serene and quiet, hid many thoughts. A nerve near his eye twitched. He nursed his head again, as if he had headache.
"Your...Highness," I stuttered, "I am sorry if that is not what you wanted to hear as an answer."
"He left my mother and me. And had a different family. I know my mother could be difficult, but did he ever miss me? Did he not think before abandoning me?"
I cut in, "He always told me stories about a boy who kept losing his way and now I know who he was talking about."
He nodded gravely, as though this bit didn't have any effect on him. Turning the ring of his index finger absentmindedly, he spoke, "Was it so important to have an affair? And look what happened. What did he get out of it?"
"An abomination." I prompted.
He turned to look at me, "That's... that's not what I meant," and shifted a little closer. "He abandoned you too, didn't he?"
Not meeting his eyes, I blinked back the threatening tears.
He did.
We sat in silence, our sorrow mingling into each other's.
"Why were you home-schooled?" He asked in a gentle voice.
"I...I was a Vacuusha then," I answered, for the first time, not humiliated as I said the word. "My parents never told me about my mix powers, and of course I couldn't do Air magic."
He nodded in understanding. "But Vacants also go to school, don't they in Spring Realm?"
"They do. But they have to face a lot of bullying."
I suddenly felt a hand encircling my right elbow, making me turn to look at him. "You were bullied?"
I stared into his intense eyes, and a tear slipped down my cheek.
He had my father's eyes.
I took a shuddering breath as my calm returned to me.
He squeezed his fingers around my elbow slightly before speaking, "Well, look at you now. Two powers instead of none."
A sudden laugh escaped from me and he smiled. A cocoon of warmth encircling us both.
Letting go off his hold over my arm, his smile waned a little and a shadow of seriousness flashed across his face.
"The other royals are..." I said, "are so known to others. Attending balls and staying in limelight. Why aren't you?"
He gave a soft smile, nursing his temple, "Too many people."
With the closeness between us, I could whiff the smell of something. Something like... Liquor. That fact should scare me. Should make me move away from him, but he... he was here, wanting to talk to a girl, who was supposedly his half-sister, the reason his father had abandoned him. This must be harder for him, than it was for me.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" he asked, his voice heavy.
"What makes you think so?"
"I just do."
"Well, um, your phoenix likes me," I grinned.
"What? You met Ruby?" His brows shot up.
"Ruby? What's with you royals and the weird names?"
"You say as if you know many royals," he narrowed his eyes at me a little.
"I am a Corresponder, I know stuff. I am a Calligrapher actually, so yes, I write everything that you know."
"Aah. Makes sense," he nodded before adding, "But how did you meet her?"
"Well, she found me," I said, making a note to keep Doran's name out of the tale, "And she quite liked me."
"That's strange... and amazing," he chuckled in his deep voice. I smiled at the sight.
He continued, "She definitely recognizes you as one of our own."
I felt my breath hitch in my throat. We both looked at each other at the same time, our eyes speaking volumes.
"Are you not?" he asks with a soft smile on his lips.
I couldn't speak. What does one say in situations like this? He really did not hate me?
Not knowing what to say, I repeated my distracting trick that I had used on Una earlier that day, "You know the voting results are going to be out soon?"
"They are, really?" his eyes widened and I giggled.
"Wish me luck, then. I might become the Summer King if people have chosen me. And if you want you can be the-"
My eyes flew open at his words and so did his. I shook my head at him, and he dared not to acknowledge the fact that he was going to say.
"Eleni."
"Y-Your H-Highn-"
"Please just call me Ralph, will you?"
I stood up. "No, I won't," my voice peaked, echoing around the silent place, "That changes things. Too many things are changing, I don't want it. I just want to go home to my sister and be normal." Real hot tears cascaded down my cheeks.
Lord Ralph was taken aback. I could see that he was a good person, wanting to help me. But he was bringing in a whole new world with him, my father's world, the one that had crowns and palaces - something that I didn't want. Didn't have the strength to bear.
I screamed louder. "Why are you being so good to me? How can you just accept all this? You know who I am, what I am. What I am to you! Aren't you supposed to hate me or something?"
I watched him shedding his skin of politeness and standing up. His face contorted with fury, he shouted back, "It's not easy to accept this. But I am finally getting the answers that I wanted since I was a kid. And I am mad, alright. So mad that I want to just..." he cracked his knuckles closing his eyes.
"I am not okay." He continued, the veins in his neck pulsing blue, "My father left and you say he is no more. He left me for you. For another child. This is all that I am thinking since the day I have met you. My father's other daughter. But I can't blame you for this, can I? It is tempting, believe me - to put all the blame on you, but this is all his fault. It's my mother's fault for always giving him a hard time, it's your mother's fault who came into his life and it's our father's fault that he left everyone." Lord Ralph spoke and took a step back from me, swaying a hand through his dark hair.
He continued staring into my eyes, "I have given this a long thought, Eleni and believe me, you are a victim of this mess just as I am. I, at least had a mother but you were an orphan. How can I blame you? They knew what they were getting into and look at you - a rare..." He trailed off. His face writhing in anger, fists clenched.
All that my mind registered in the heat of the moment was that he did not swear at me. All through his outburst, he had not hurt me. Not uttered the wretched word.
My eyes glistened with tears as he continued to speak, this time in low voice, "And how can I not be good to you? You are my..." he paused, looking at my pleading eyes, which begged him to not say it. Not to acknowledge the relationship we shared.
He sighed, "my father's daughter."
I shuddered with cold.
What was wrong with me? Why had I shouted at him? I had made him lose his control. I hugged my body, replaying his words. He did not hate me. Did not blame me. He had accepted me so, why couldn't I do it too?
"Heat up, you are cold," he said not meeting my eyes.
I looked at the ground, my sobs receding and humiliation making way.
"Light up your fire, Eleni." He said in a tired voice.
I still did not look up.
He took a step closer to me and inflamed his palms. The warmth spread around me and the flames danced in a mocking stance.
"Your turn," he said leaning his tall body down.
"I can't," I admitted in an inaudible voice.
"You can't or you haven't yet?" He said in a whisper.
His question made me look at him. The red of his eyes would scare others, but not me - for me they were the most familiar thing in this strange place. He had a secret, I could feel it. But he'd not hurt me. Maybe, I could trust him.
If only I had found him sooner.
"Try."
I trembled vehemently.
He doused his fire and took both my hands into his, raising them up - palms facing to the sky.
"Try."
I closed my eyes, tugging at my core. But all there was, was the familiar earthy smell.
His callous hands did not leave mine and I tried once again - imagining fire burning the entire Gemini palace down.
Something in me shifted, a faint hum tingled in the nerves of my palms.
"Your hands are getting hot, try harder," Lord Ralph urged.
And like a tankard of water splashed over a burning stove, I heard a hissing noise in my body and the fire went away.
I opened my eyes and he squeezed my palms with his and let go.
"It's okay, Eleni. Maybe next time."
I shook my head, a feeling of helplessness washing over me.
"Thank you, Your-"
He frowned.
I gritted my teeth, "Thank you, Ralph."
He smiled his dimple smile, "Now was that so hard?"
I frowned at him and he raised a brow.
"By the way, your handwriting sucks." I said, wiping the tears off my face and eyelashes.
"Hey! Just because you are a calligrapher, doesn't mean you can show off." He smirked. And I smiled at him. A smile that I had forgotten I was capable of.
"You are from the Summer Realm, Eleni. Light up your fire," he said in a clear authoritative voice. As if he had entered my head and placed a spell.
His red eyes communicated a different kind of comfort to me and with a heart full of warmth I nodded at him.
I will.
***
Author's Note: This is my favorite chapter that I have ever written. Even when everyone was picking sides over Doran and Nova, I knew this guy would shake things up when he comes. I am so happy he is finally here in all his shining glory. Well he is Eleni's brother, not mine...so Imma simp hard. Lol.
You liked this chapter, right? Also I am open to suggestions for changing the Phoenix's name. If you have any better, let me know.
~Happy Reading❤✨~