RINEI
Tae.
How...?
"You lied to me." He murmurs. For the first time, his voice is darker—colder. He has never used this tone on me before.
His eyes flicker up.
"I can't let you leave, Rinei."
Won't...let me leave?
He tilts his head when I tighten my grip on the silver curve of the bow, raising it in front of me. Hurt crosses his expression when he sees mine harden.
"You're going to fight me?"
Please let me leave, Tae.
His eyes shadow.
"You don't understand, love."
And in a second, he's on me. He sweeps me off my feet, and I tumble down helplessly on the grass, my back crashing against the ground with him on top of me. All the breath in my chest is completely knocked out.
I stutter out a gasp, eyes wide.
He'd come so fast.
Had the sugar not taken effect on him? How had he...
My eyes flutter in panic as I sign.
Tae, please—
"You don't understand!" He roars, silencing me in less than a second. His hands wrapped around my shoulders are trembling wildly.
"Why, Rinei?"
"Why are you trying to get yourself killed? Why are you trying to go back, when we've risked both our lives to get out in the first place?"
His dark locks hang over his eyes as he grips the neckline of his shirt. Then he pulls the material harshly to the side, showing the scars and faded bruises that run past his neck, down his shoulder and upper arm.
I let out a shaky breath.
"He will do worse than this if he gets his hands on you." He whispers. "You don't know him like I do. He's my father."
"He will make you wish that you've never been born. Why can't you just stop this? Why can't you just let it go?"
His eyes glaze with tears.
"Just let it go, Rinei. Just let it all go."
"I'll do anything."
And I lie there, my eyes turned up to the skies as I hear him cry. His entire body shakes with it, and a part of me just wants to listen to him. Make him happy.
My eyes squeeze together.
But now it's too late.
And then I feel him jerk, like someone had struck him.
His rough breaths cut off with a sharp gasp. And his beautiful eyes are terribly vulnerable as he looks up at me, his hand clasped over his chest. His skin is deathly pale, with a light sheen of sweat.
The sugar is taking effect.
"Rinei...?"
I'm sorry.
He shivers, his lips tinged with a slight blue. And I rush to wrap my arms around him when he collapses to the side, his body too weak to hold himself up. His eyes are wide with realization.
"The tea."
He gives me a look of such utter betrayal that I can't help the sob that bursts from my lips.
Forgive me. Forgive me, Tae. I sign, laying him tenderly on the grass. I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
His hand desperately clasps around mine just before his eyes lose focus and he falls unconscious. And my head slowly hangs forward, as ugly sobs escape my muted throat. I wrap both hands around his limp, pale one.
Forgive me.
Don't hate me when you wake up.
_____________________________
JUNGKOOK
"Arlen?"
I throw off my hood, shaking out my hair. Sweat runs down the side of my neck.
"I can't find anyone in the cotta—"
Then my eyes go wide when I catch her standing over a dark figure on the forest ground. I instantly yelp, rushing over with the words pouring out of my mouth.
"Oh my gosh. Please—Please don't tell me you knocked someone out."
Then I notice the figure looks vaguely familiar.
She raises a perfect brow in my direction.
"It's the Prince, Jungkook."
The...Prince?
"The elf." I breathe, recognizing Rinei's lover. His long, dark hair is unraveled messily amongst the leaves, his breaths hitched. His face is paler than I remember, with dark shadows underneath his closed eyes.
Panic squeezes me inside out.
"Someone—Someone got to them. They took Rinei."
"No."
Arlen shakes her head. Then she lowers herself down, her blue eyes fixed on the unconscious Prince. Her gaze narrows.
"He is alive and here. Lord Elven would've ordered for the both of them to be taken back if his guards got to them."
"It's your sister."
I blink.
"What?"
A tight smile ghosts on her lips.
"She is more reckless than I thought."
"Reckless?" I echo, twisting around on my feet. I look up at her with a desperate, wide look. "Can you stop talking in riddles and please tell me what's going on here? Where—"
Her expression turns tense.
She's gone to the City. By herself— I'm guessing that her goal is revenge. And the Prince would've never let her. He knows how risky it is, and it is a futile attempt."
She breathes.
"So I think she might have fed him something, to make him weak. She must have learned that we elves cannot eat most things. It's one of our greatest weaknesses."
Rinei.
At the City, alone?
"But she doesn't even know the way there."
"Your sister is clever." Arlen whispers, her gaze steady. "And she's already been there once. She will find her way."
The blood drains from my face.
"Then she—"
A soft, quiet gasp cuts me off. My eyes instantly turn to where the weak sound has come from— the Elven Prince. Or Taehyung, as Rinei had called him.
He looks sick. Broken.
Broken, by my sister.
He raises himself to a sitting position, his fingertips slowly touching his lips before his hand falls back to the grass. The look in his eyes are haunting.
Arlen sighs quietly, before approaching his side.
"Your Majesty."
His eyes flicker slowly towards her. They take a long time to focus on her face, as if his mind is anywhere else but here.
He looks lost, until agony twists his expression apart.
"You're sick, Prince. You must rest." Arlen tells him, her voice more objective than concerned. It's almost like she's telling him a fact about the weather.
I shoot a glance at her.
Couldn't she at least try to sound more sympathetic than that?
The Prince ignores her. He gets to his feet, his eyes fixed into the depths of the Forest. His face is pale with strain, from just standing.
"She left for the City. For my father."
But even when he's this sick, the dark look in his eyes are so commanding and authoritative that it still freezes me to the ground.
"I need to get to her before it's too late."
Arlen squeezes her lips together.
"Look at yourself. You'll collapse on the way if you try to make the—"
"Come with me or do not."
The Elven Prince gives her a chilling look. The last time I remembered seeing him, he'd been so full of warmth and grace. But that had been with Rinei next to him.
Now he looks like darkness, come to life.
His voice echoes like the trace of ice on stone.
"I need to get to her before it's too late."