Whoever this woman was, delusional or sane, Elysia was grateful for her. The Princess had been one word away from married to Finnian. Any interruption in the ceremony would create concern of legitimacy. At this point, if the marriage did continue, they would have to start over.
To her surprise, Finnian finally stepped forward, as if to contradict this strange, mysterious woman. "You must be mistaken."
The woman shook her head, her dark eyes warning him. "I'm never wrong about these things. Late, yes, but never wrong."
"Who is Gabriel?" Elysia hadn't meant to ask the question aloud. She was only curious. The woman had said she was supposed to marry him instead. Naturally Elysia wanted to know who this person was. Rather than answer, the woman looked at someone in the crowd.
Everyone in the room turned their attention to Queen Lilith, who stood timidly from her pew.
"Gabriel was my son," Queen Lilith replied. Her hands trembled at her sides. The topic was obviously affecting her.
Elysia frowned. During their walk together, Queen Lilith said her son was gone. Had she meant 'died' or 'disappeared?' Upon first hearing of it, Elysia assumed the Queen meant her son was dead. Now, she wondered if something else entirely had happened to him.
The woman acknowledged Queen Lilith, curtsying slightly. "Nice to see you again, Queen Lilith."
Elysia had never seen Lilith look so full of rage. Her fists, which were once trembling, were now clenched at her sides. As if she were resisting the urge to lunge forward at the woman.
"Wish I could say the same, Destiny." Queen Lilith retorted.
Destiny? Was this woman one of the Three Fates? Elysia stepped forward, her dress shifting around her.
"What did you mean when you said I'm supposed to marry someone else?" Elysia asked. The Princess was too curious to be cautious.
If this was truly Destiny, she would be one of the most powerful beings on the planet. Capable of ending Elysia's life in a flash if she chose to. The Fates had a nasty tendency to completely annihilate anyone that annoyed them. While their purpose in life was to help people, they fought such purpose as often as they could. Mortals were their play toys, and they manipulated them for entertainment.
Destiny smiled at Elysia, her eyes mischievous. "It seems I came just in time, my dear. You were about to make a very tragic mistake marrying this buffoon next to you."
"I beg your pardon," Finnian stepped forward, clearly not thrilled with the term 'buffoon.'
"Oh hush," she silenced him instantly, his lips suddenly stuck together.
Elysia's eyes widened as she watched her fiance struggle to speak. He grew into a fit of panic before rushing out of the room.
Queen Lilith turned to face Elysia, her eyes full of emotion. "I haven't seen Gabriel since he was born." She pointed a finger at Destiny accusingly, a bold thing to do. "This woman stole him away from me the moment he was born."
Destiny rolled her eyes. "I told you, it was for your own good. For the good of your kingdom."
Lilith shook her head, disgusted. She endured years of grief, never able to know her own baby, or conceive more heirs.
"I thought you were going to bring him back to me. It's been years!" Lilith choked back tears. Elysia wanted to comfort her, but the distance was too great. Apart from that, she was still too confuddled to move.
Destiny stared at the Queen, suddenly looking bored. "Relax, you've already been reunited with him."
Lilith shook her head, "What are you talking about?"
"He's in this very room. Perhaps if you had any motherly instincts, you might have picked up on that." The statement was like a dagger to Lilith's heart. If it were true, her son was near, and she had been oblivious to it.
Whoever this Destiny person was, Elysia was no longer a fan. Such a rude remark was uncalled for, she didn't care who this person was. Queen Lilith was a gentle soul, her life full of misfortune and hardship. If the story were true, and Destiny truly took Queen Lilith's babe from her arms, never to return him, then such belligerent comments were uncalled for.
"How about you stop messing with everyone's heads and answer some questions? Starting with where Gabriel is," Elysia demanded.
Destiny blinked at her. Obviously this woman was unaccustomed to being spoken to in such a manner. Under the scrutiny of Destiny's gaze, Elysia found herself taking a step back. Shade moved closer to her, ready to keep her safe however necessary.
"You mortals are so impatient. No fun at all," Destiny sighed. "You don't have to look far, Princess. Gabriel is standing right beside you."
Elysia frowned, looking around. There was no one there, only Shade.
She froze.
Shade had never looked so lost before. He turned to Destiny, a question on his face.
"Yes, you in the cloak, I'm talking about you," Destiny confirmed. "You never knew your real parents did you?"
Shade stiffened. Before he could speak, King Alan stood and placed himself between Destiny and his daughter. "Enough of this. Let us go somewhere private and speak."
The guests looked disappointed, enjoying the free show. It wasn't every day one of the Fates paid a visit. And this visit was turning out to be quite the dramatic one. She was sure rumors would spread like wildfire.
Elysia's head was spinning as they moved to a private room. She gripped Shade's hand tightly, and to her surprise, he clung to hers in return. He was nervous. It scared Elysia senseless, for Shade to be worried. He was always the calm one.
Shade's identity was in question. She tried to understand how that must feel. To spend your entire life believing you are one person and find out suddenly you're someone else. That this entire time he had parents. He had a family, a name, a purpose.
None of Destiny's words were making sense. There was so much missing information. So many questions still unanswered.
As soon as her family left the chapel, it erupted into a roaring of voices, chorusing over one another with gossip. The guests were revelling in the drama of it all.
In the small room, her entire family, Shade, Queen Lilith, Finnian, and Destiny gathered to hash out the details of this chaos.
Each one of them had questions, and they all spoke them at once. Apparently Finnian's voice had returned to him, as he began arguing so loudly with everyone else his face turned red.
Destiny looked ready to leave. It seemed the pleasure of her initial announcement was gone. No doubt she hadn't thought so much explanation would be required.
"Stop your squawking," Destiny commanded them, silencing the room. She put a hand to her forehead, the true wrinkles of her age gone, replaced with a young, blemish free complexion. "I will explain what I can."
When she wasn't interrupted, she continued, addressing Queen Lilith first. "I took your son, Gabriel, the day he was born. His destiny was very specific. A moment couldn't be wasted. So I took him straight away to a place unknown by most maps. There I knew of a master guardian, a man who took orphaned babes and formed them into heartless assassins or, in Gabriel's case, skilled guardians."
Shade's hand slipped from Elysia's, his fists clenching at his sides. She watched as he listened intently to his life story, filling in the gaps of the life he never knew.
"But why?" Queen Lilith's voice was trembling still. Clearly she had yet to settle from the shock of such news. She could hardly look at Shade, as if too distraught to form connections.
"So he could protect Princess Elysia. Your son needed to be a guardian so he could be assigned to the Princess. Without him, she would be dead."
All eyes fell to Elysia. She shrunk underneath their gaze. Even Shade was looking at her strangely, as if evaluating whether or not any of this made sense.
It was hard to digest, hearing of her certain demise had Shade not been in her life. Would she truly be dead if it weren't for him? Sure, there were several instances he kept her safe, but would it really have happened?
"There are more reasons yet to come," Destiny explained vaguely. "For now, understand that Gabriel needed to live this way until this moment. Now he has a different destiny."
"What destiny is that?" Queen Lilith asked. She was growing weary, the emotion slowly tearing her away, piece by piece.
"Gabriel," she pointed at Shade, "And Elysia," she looked at the Princess, "need to be married. Today." She clapped her hands together, as if metaphorically merging the two together in matrimony.
Elysia suddenly felt very dizzy. Marry Shade? Today? This woman was deranged.
And yet...the idea did not displease her. In fact, she was having quite the opposite reaction. This could work. This could be the solution. She never wanted to marry Finnian, and she was so close to Shade. So close, she thought she might even love him. The thought of marrying her guardian didn't seem so bad.
With time, allowing their relationship to grow, Elysia was quite certain she would want this outcome anyway. She could picture herself with Shade. She could envision them together, ruling a kingdom.
Shade, however, looked unconvinced. "This is ridiculous," he said, finally speaking up.
Elysia frowned at him, his words pushing daggers into her heart. Did he not want to marry her?
Her guardian stepped forward, so aggressively it caused Destiny to falter backwards. "What gives you the right to come in here and ruin everything? Who gave you the authority to manipulate our lives and force us into your storylines?"
For once, Destiny seemed at loss for an answer.
Without objection, Shade continued. "You don't know me, you don't know who I am, or what I want. You took me from the only family I had, without asking anyone's opinion. You assumed you knew what was best. You made me another pawn in your twisted game. And maybe I was supposed to find the Princess, and protect her. Maybe I was supposed to save her life. But what gives you the right to come here now, after all these years, and make these demands? You can't force us to marry each other. You can't force me to be someone I'm not."
"My son--" Queen Lilith stepped forward, her hand outstretched toward him.
Shade shook his head, cutting her off. "I don't even know you. I'm not some lost Prince. I'm a guardian. I protect and I kill when necessary. But I'm no Prince. You have the wrong person."
While the others looked around for a solution, Shade slipped out of the room. Elysia was the only one that noticed. She followed his path, finding him out in the hallway, his breathing unusually fast. He looked both confused and enraged.
Seeing him in such a state was making Elysia more nervous. But she took a deep breath, forcing herself to relax. One of them needed to be calm. Normally it was Shade. Today, it would be Elysia. She needed to be there for him as he had been for her all those times.
Rather than talk to him, she grabbed his hand and led him away. He needed distance, that much was obvious. At first, she thought he might pull away and resist her. But he gave in, allowing her to guide him, trusting she had a plan.
The only place she could think that would provide privacy and a place to let off steam, was outside on the upper balcony. Nobody would disturb them there.
She let him pace around for a while, before asking, "Do you want to talk about it?"
"No," his voice was firm. Then he softened. "Maybe."
Remaining where she was, Shade continued walking back and forth, his pace unrelenting.
"Do you believe it?" Asked Elysia. "That you're the long lost Prince?"
Shade yanked his hood back and ran a hand through his messy hair. "It's completely possible. I know I was given up at birth. My master never asked where we came from. So it is feasible."
"Would it be so bad?" Elysia asked. "If you were?"
He stopped pacing and stared at her. "Yes."
"Why?" Was it so awful to discover you were a Prince? Was he only upset because he would now be forced to marry her? Did he not love her?
"Because it's not who I am. I don't know how to be that person. I shouldn't be expected to be him now. If everyone thought he died, let's leave it at that."
"You don't want to reunite with your family?" Surely he had always wondered about them. Who is parents were, why they abandoned him? Now he had answers. He had closure. He could get to know them, build a relationship with them. How could he not want that?
"They're strangers to me," he explained. "What if you suddenly found out that someone else was your mother? Would you pursue a relationship with her?"
Elysia shook her head, knowing the answer already. "Of course not, but I already have a mother."
Shade shrugged. "And I had a master. I had someone to look up to, someone to learn from. I don't need parents, especially not now, not at my age."
For the first time, Elysia was starting to understand how he was feeling. It would be odd, to be expected to love two strangers, just because someone told you to. To Shade, the King and Queen of Susurrus were just two people passing by. He had no connection to them, no emotional ties.
"But you're a Prince," Elysia sputtered. "You could make a difference in the world."
"I have no desire to," he stepped closer to her, his eyes pleading for her to understand. "My life has been devoted to protecting others. This, right here, is the only thing I know how to do. I don't know how to rule a kingdom, and I don't want to."
"But one day when you become King, you could still protect people. You could use your knowledge and skills to help protect your people."
"I have no people," Shade spoke slowly, deliberately. He was getting frustrated again. "You aren't understanding me. You grew up with this life. You were raised with the knowledge that one day you would marry, and most likely help your husband run his kingdom or land. I was raised completely different. I learned how to kill someone without a weapon. I became a weapon. I'm no prince. And I certainly will never be a good king."
His frustration was melting into her. "Then do it for me!"
He frowned. "What do you mean?"
"Nobody is going to force you to love your parents. And no one can make you rule a kingdom when you have no desire to do it. But I thought you might at least want one thing Destiny demanded of you."
"And what is that?"
She stared at him. "Me. I thought you might at least want me. Would it really be so bad? For us to marry and live together? Isn't that what we both wanted? Or at least," her voice grew to a whisper, "it's what I wanted."
His eyes, which had just been full of anger and confusion, softened. He hesitated before answering, as if wanting to make sure he formed the right words. "How could you ever question my feelings for you? When I've made myself perfectly clear."
He stepped forward, pulling her into him, and kissed her, with a passion so fierce, she thought she might be swept away in it. His touch ignited the familiar fire within her. The burning to be closer, closer, until there was nothing left. She wanted to be with him, to marry him. She wanted to be his.
When they parted, it was only enough for them to breathe. He still held her close, her body pinned to his. "What do we do?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I don't know."