272 Chapter 272 : Shifting blame

Maxim poked the fire with a stick and sighed. The night was cold and quiet, allowing his thoughts to run wild yet again. He had been on the road to Gavaria for two days now, in another day, he would arrive in a small shire outside Lenora where he was to meet a friend of Ronda’s, an elf capable of teleportation who would teleport him directly to the capital of Gavaria where he was to meet the princess Eira.

Maxim was a handsome elf, even among his beautiful race he was still considered very good looking. He was tall and fairly muscular in build, he had long black hair and eyes as green as pools of emeralds. With a jawline curved by the gods and a smile sinfully beautiful, one would wonder how such a man had not already been swooped up by someone.

Ronda had emphasized that his looks would serve a great purpose to her plan, her plan of revenge. The elven woman did not give Maxim much detail on what exactly the Gavarian royal family had done to her for them to deserve such a thing, and he wasn’t the type to pry. But for an elven woman to reach a point of revenge, it must have been something horrible because generally, elves were a peaceful people, never harboring negative emotions like hate or anger.

‘She has been of great help to us for years now,’ Hana, his older sister had told him. ‘The least we can do is help her get even with the people who hurt her.’

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Maxim had never been able to say no to his older sister. Their mother died during the war with the humans, and their father succumbed to depression many years later. Wether the man died from sadness or the abuse of alcohol, Maxim didn’t know. But what he did know is losing one’s blood half did horrible things to people.

After their father died, Maxim and Hana were left with practically nothing. His sister stepped up and began to do odd jobs around Ervelon so they could get by, and when he learnt a few skills himself, he would help her. When Ronda came into the picture, Maxim and Hana were about to lose their home, she got Hana a job at the palace and paid off all the debt they had. It was understandable why Hana felt so indebted to Ronda, and Maxim could not question it.

He dug into the pocket of his cloak and pulled out a small vial that contained a dark liquid.

‘You need not to do much,” Ronda had instructed him before he left. ‘All you have to do is pour a little bit of this in her food or drink, and the potion will do the rest.’

‘But how will I get close enough to her to pour this in her food?’ Maxim had asked.

.....

‘That is where that handsome face of yours comes in honey, no woman can resist the charm of a good looking man like you.’

‘Is this poison? Will this kill her? I don’t know if I’m confortable in playing a part in the death of the princess’

‘It will not kill her,’ Ronda had assured Maxim. ‘It will merely put her in a deep death like slumber from which she will never awaken. Melissa will then know how it feels to love someone and not be able to show them your affection, for them to be so close yet so far away.’

Maxim placed the vial back into his pocket and leaned back on the tree under which he was sitting. “Eira, I am so sorry you have to suffer for the sins of your parents. But at least you will only be asleep and not dead.”

*

Zhelimir plopped to the floor after hearing Eira tell them what her mother had told her about Elric. How they were aquatinted, and why there was bad blood between them.

“I suspect that is why father and mother want to find a suitor as quick as possible,” Eira continued. “If indeed I really am Elric’s mate, maybe they suspected it from the beginning and are trying everything they possibly can so we don’t end up together.”

“But are you okay with that?” Zhelimir asked his cousin. “Ending up with him? I mean the man was your mother’s husband at a point in time, won’t that feel a little awkward?”

“Zhelimir stop it!” Isabella yelled. “The law of mates triumphs over all of that. From how I see it, Elric was just several years too early, he probably felt the connection was there, just to the wrong woman!”

“But still,” Zhelimir responded. “Uncle Gareth despises Elric because he almost took away his blood half, and you honestly think he’ll allow him

to take his daughter as well?!”

“Everyone was at fault,” Isabella spat back. “Maybe if she waited a little longer for her blood half, the queen wouldn’t have ended up with Elric. We can’t deny the fact that she too probably thought he was good for her at the time, because I don’t think she was forced to be his wife.”

Isabella stood up and walked towards Zhelimir, “put yourself in Elric’s shoes, imagine Janis agrees to be with you and even becomes your wife, and then all

of a sudden she decided to leave you for another man.”

Zhelimir got to his feet after being triggered by the mention of Janis. “This has nothing to do with her..”

“You see what I mean?” Isabella continued. “You don’t even know if Janis is your blood half or not,

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yet you’re fiercly territorial with her. How is it any different with Elric?”

“Both of you stop it!” Eira yelled and stood up. “You’re not helping with all your bickering!”

“But Eira,” Isabella responded with hopeful eyes. “You know I’m right, Elric is your blood half-”

“I don’t know that for certain,” Eira interrupted her friend. “I cant jump to conclusions without solid evidence. I mean how do you even know if someone is your blood half? For all we know we could just like each other. It’s impulsive decisions like these that put Elric and my parents in the mess they are in right now.”

The room went silent for a while, each of them lost in their own thoughts.

“So what are you going to do?” Leonard asked the red haired princess. “I mean now you have to find a husband in thirty days, then there’s the issue of you being Elric’s mate and the possibility of him being your blood half.”

Eira sat back down and cupped her face. “I don’t know...” she responded honestly. She looked up at her friends who were eyeing her in concern, and gave them a sad smile. “I suppose I will just let fate take its course. I’m quite tired of trying to do things the way I want and having people interfere.” Eira stood up and gave her friends a grateful smile. “Thank you all, for the presents and for cheering me up. I would like to be alone now if you don’t mind, besides, it’s getting late, I should rest after a long day of unexpected events.”

Zhelimir and Leonard were the first to leave after wishing Eira a good night. Isabella stayed back and observed her friend, a worried look in her eyes.

“Eira, if you feel you and Elric are meant to be together, you know I will support you right?” Isabella spoke softly. “No matter what anyone says, I’ll be in support.”

“Thank you Bella, I’ll keep that in mind...”

“Alright then, I’ll be leaving now.” Isabella walked slowly towards the door, and before closing it shut, she glanced at Eira one more time. “Good night, and happy birthday.”

When the door shut, the red haired princess walked to her bed and picked up the dagger Zhelimir had gifted her. “If this is the only way, I won’t let any man defeat me in battle but you.” She squeezed the blade in her palm before taking a deep breath. “But for now,” she spoke as she wrapped up the weapon, “I will grant your wish and keep my distance, the last thing I want is to bring you more trouble than I already have.”

*

Janis placed her now empty glass of wine on the small table beside her bed and crossed her legs as she watched Jacob pace her room continuosly. It was a cold night and her brother had just barged into her room mumbling incoherent nothings to himself while pacing around like a mad man.

“Jacob are you about finished with your madness? I need to get my beauty sleep. You think a face like this comes easy?”

Jacob stopped his pacing and turned to look at his sister. “Why would Eira do that? Why would she make such an outrageous royal decree?” He mumbled irritably. “When I announced my willingness to be a worthy suitor, she should have known it was a sign that we could take our relationship to the next level. There is no need for other suitors.”

The dark haired elf heard his sister chuckle which made him frown.

“And what is so funny?” He asked in an agitated tone.

“Relationship?” Janis responded. “What relationship do you and Eira have Jacob?”

“I asked her for courtship not too long ago, don’t you remember?”

“And she agreed she would think about it,” Janis pointed out. “Only after you backed her up into a corner.” The beautiful blue eyed woman stood up and tightened the ropes of her silk night robe. “I told you not to be rush when it came to Eira, I told you to wait for my instructions but what did you do? You ruined everything.”

Janis opened her bedroom door and turned to look at her brother. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to go to bed.”

“Aren’t you going to help me-”

“Eira has already made it clear how she wishes to choose a husband,” Janis cut her brother short. “All you can do now is do your best and hope you win in a fight against her. In the meantime, try not to be your usual annoying self so she can at the least select you for battle.”

Janis whipped her hand and a gush of wind pushed Jacob out the door. “That’s all you can do for now, good night Jacob.”

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