TAEHYUNG
My fingers flash angrily.
You said there was two!
Jimin peers over the corner again, looking at the four guards that are chatting to each other in front of the only entrance. He turns back with a mischievous half-smile.
Sorry. I don't know what those other two dimwits are doing over there.
Go distract them. I'll slip in.
I can't, He signs back. One of the guards is the Captain Guard. He's going to know that I'm up to something— he'll never leave the post even if I tell him there's a fire at the King's Chambers.
Usually I'd think more calmly for a solution.
But the image of Rinei's sorrowful face fills my mind, and I can't find myself thinking of anything else. I had to get that flower.
But how? Even if Jimin and I could knock all of them unconscious, there was too high of a chance that one of them would recognize us.
And the Captain Guard was a good fighter. He was also loyal to my father, and would report me the moment he woke up.
Jimin gives me short glances. I know he's waiting for me to come up with something, but right now my mind is too blank.
Then his eyes flash in wild surprise over my shoulder.
I whip around, after his widened eyes.
An elf stands there, ice-blue eyes fixed on the two of us with a steady, calm gaze.
Lady Arlen.
How is she...?
Jimin and I both tense. But she just looks at us quietly, before shifting her gaze to the talking guards. Then she signs, her fingers swift.
Do you need distraction, Your Highness?
And I can't help my expression tightening in distrust. Half of me expected her to walk right up to the guards and turn the both of us in.
She tilts her head, a smile flickering on her lips.
You do not trust me. But my Prince, you don't seem to have a lot of options in hand if you want those flowers.
I sign stiffly. When had she realized?
Aren't you loyal to my father? Help me here, and you go against him.
Her blue eyes seem to glow.
I am loyal to those who benefit me. So will you accept my help?
Under what, Lady Arlen?
Her smile widens.
One favor. I won't name it right here, but you must promise me a favor in the future. That you will help me, just like I've helped you.
A favor?
My lips purse.
Very well.
The moment I sign my agreement, she turns the corner. And then she heads straight for the guards, the sapphire fabric of her dress billowing behind her.
I notice something around her ankle.
A strip of cloth? I'd heard of anklets among elven ladies, but never an uneven strip of fabric wrapped around an ankle like that.
The guards stop talking the moment they see her.
"I'm sorry to interrupt," She says, her hands folding over her front. "But please. Could I just have a little bit of help, gentlemen?"
The eyes of all four guards instantly focus on Arlen. Her voice is silky— almost hypnotizing as she presses her lips together in a faked distress.
"I can help you, my lady." One of the guards pipe up. But then the Captain Guard narrows his eyes at him, stepping before her and bowing his head slightly.
"I will assist you. What do you need help with?"
"My scarf. I lost it in the wind outside and can't seem to find it." She says. And then I catch her brush a secret fingertip against the arm of another guard.
He instantly turns his head up to her, before looking back and forth between the Captain Guard and his other two companions.
But while she'd grazed her hand on him, she'd given the fourth guard a seductive, meaningful look.
"Damn." Jimin whispers next to me.
"She's good. Like, really good."
"You mean dangerous." I murmur back as she easily leads all four men out from their post. And the moment they disappear around the corner, I slip into my father's garden.
Rows and rows of arlen line the small chamber. There's so much of it that it takes me aback, and I quickly pick a few flowers off their stems to tuck into my cloak.
So this is what she needed.
Would she smile once I gave these to her?
There's a soft tap against the door.
Jimin, telling me that the guards were coming back.
And with the flowers nestled into the folds of my cloak, I slip back out of the room. I hear the heavy footfalls of the guards as they return, their voices filling the halls.
"She left, just like that."
"Who found her the scarf?"
"I think she found it herself. What a fool she's made out of all of us."
But I can recognize the hidden hopes under all their voices. Lady Arlen was one of the most beautiful noble ladies in the Elven Palace, and she had charmed all of them tonight with a single light touch, a single glance full of meaning.
And the way she had bargained with me for a favor.
I look down at the flower clasped between my fingertips.
She wasn't someone to be trusted.
_______________________________
RINEI
I jerk up at the rustle of leaves.
But it's just a squirrel. And I look back down on my lap, continuing the counting in my head. I'd counted three hundred seconds since I'd come out here at midnight.
321.
332.
349—
"Hi."
I nearly have a heart attack then and there.
His eyes widen when I stumble backwards on the porch, a hand clasped against my heart. I hadn't heard the tiniest thing. When had he come right next to me?
"I'm sorry." He says. "Did I scare you?"
I nod furiously, fixing a glare at him. I try to act angry, but I can't keep up the act for a single bit looking into his face.
Why did he have to be just so beautiful?
He smiles when I whip my head around, trying to hide the smile forcing its way up on my lips.
"I'm irresistible, aren't I?"
Be quiet.
"But I am, aren't I?"
He sounds so close. And I turn back around in surprise, only to realize my mistake.
His face is only inches from mine. He's so close to me that I can see the specks of gray in his dark eyes, how long his lashes are. I can see the moles on his tanned skin.
Too close, too close, too close.
I pull myself back, eyes squeezed together.
And I hear his deep laughter as he grazes the top of my head with his hand. He smells like the forest after rain, and I feel my cheeks heat.
He notices.
"How shy you are still, Rinei."
Who wouldn't be? I sign, fixing him a look. You can't— You can't just do that to people, okay? You can't just get so close and expect them to not...to not...
I quickly close my fist.
"To not what?"
Never mind.
"Tell me."
Now he's just teasing me. He'd seen it all— the blush on my neck, the way my eyes had gone wide with surprise. He'd seen it all already.
No.
Then he draws out a small pouch from his cloak. My eyes instantly flit to it, and he opens the top to show me what's inside.
Arlen.
White, petaled flowers fill the pouch. There's so much of it, and I look back up at him with a look of disbelief.
He closes the pouch. Then he rests it gently into my hand, with a sweet smile.
"Even with this, you won't tell me?"
This was more than enough.
And before I know it, my arms are wrapped around his broad shoulders. I tackle him in a fierce hug, toppling him to the floor of the porch and squeezing his body with a grateful noise.
Now everything was going to be okay.
Everything was going to be—
Then there's an awkward, confused cough.
"Rinei...?"
That's not Tae's voice.
That's...
And I look up at my older brother like a deer caught in headlights as he stares back down at me. I'm still on top of Tae, basically pinning him to the floor with my arms wrapped tightly around his upper body.
Who, in my brother's eyes, is a complete stranger.
Under me, Tae silently turns his head towards the Forests with a quiet sigh.