The Royal Fae- Astra (book 1)

Too much

Chapter 5

The Present

Astra’s POV

Loni had been talking for little while and I could see that he was reliving the past because his eyes were glazed over and had changed to a stormy grey colour. I sat listening patiently and took the opportunity to study him while he wasn’t looking at me, I couldn’t think straight when he was looking at me.

He truly was beautiful which I know is not the way you would normally describe a man, but he really was. He has jet black wavy hair that flops over to one side, stunning sea blue eyes that seem to change colour with his moods so far, I’ve seen 3 or 4 different colours. He must be about 6 foot tall, slender but obviously strong and a pale complexion, he’s literally flawless.

“wait what? You think I’m part fairy?” I shouldn’t have got distracted! Loni looked shocked that I was stood in front of him, but he shook it off quickly. He smiled a comforting smile he must realise that I’m getting agitated again.

“yes, it is a possibility and it does make sense if we think about it enough. The way I feel about you and the fact that you can see me as an adult is proof that you are not a typical human"

“But I couldn’t see you that summer though and I certainly haven’t seen any fairies since I was a child. Well until now that is, and I’m still not totally convinced that this isn’t a dream".

I need fresh air I feel claustrophobic and I find myself pacing the room while trying to stop myself from hyperventilating.

Loni stands up and walks over to me, he’s so graceful he barely seems to touch the floor as he walks, it’s more like he glides over the surface. He holds out his hand and pulls me to the door and out into a hallway. When I say hallway I say this loosely as in reality is was like nothing I’d ever seen, as we walk past the walls seem to flutter like leaves in the breeze I can’t see any doors and when I turn back the one we came out of has disappeared. Loni continues to guide me through the hall and then up some stairs that are branches from a tree arranged perfectly to climb up, as we reach the top the walls disappear and we walk out onto a balcony area looking out over the trees. I move towards the edge and look down, but it looks like my garden how is this possible? I turn to Loni and he points me to the other side of the balcony and a view of my house, but it seems so much bigger than it should be. Loni comes to my side and takes my hand in his.

“Do you know where we are Astra?”

I shiver the way he says my name sends shock waves through my body.

“Loni how is that my house?”

“Astra we are in the oak tree, didn’t you ever wonder why we were always here, always around the oak tree? It is our home and we have lived here for hundreds of years.”

“But how am I inside the oak tree?”

“when you fell you were knocked out and I panicked I needed to get you seen by a medic, so I used a little fairy magic and shrunk you to our size...”

“You did what?! Magic?”

Before I can even think my body and mind give out on me and I feel myself falling and my vision turns to black.

Lonis pov

After Lily informed me that creatures had been sighted nearby, we decided it that it was too much of a coincidence that Astra turns up and then soon after creatures are found nearby. I needed to bring her up to date with everything she deserved to know before anything happened. I instruct Lily to heighten security and ensure that scouts keep the creatures under surveillance.

I had to bring Astra out to see I couldn’t keep it in any longer so I led her out to my favourite place so that she could see. I knew she was finding it all too hard to understand and without seeing this it would be harder to explain.

The look on her face as she realised where she was, I could see the colour drain from her face and her body seemed to give out on her. I rushed to catch her as she blacked out, I picked her up and rushed her back to her room and made sure to send for the medic.

As the medic checked her over, I paced back and forwards, I can’t lose her now I’ve found her again I couldn’t bear to be away from her ever again, but could she live with all of this.

The medic informs me that Astra is ok, but her body has gone into shock and shut down, he isn’t sure when she will wake back up but for now, she isn’t in any danger. He also tells me that he believes that whatever was keeping the memories at bay seems to have stopped working, which is why she keeps blacking out, her body is trying to protect her mind.

I sit by her side and rest my head on her hands, what am I supposed to do. I decide to call Hawthorn and find out if he’s had anymore leads about Astra’s past maybe it will help her feel less lost.

“Loni! I was just about to call you I’ve found out some more information for you but you’re really not going to like it!”

Hawthorns Pov

Loni has been pretty desperate for me to find some information out about Astra and now that I’ve found something big I can’t bring myself to tell him, I’m sure there’s more to why he’s getting me to look into her but he’s not letting on yet.

2 days ago...

“Loni good morning I haven’t got any more news for you yet, but I have a possible lead that I’m following up!”

“morning Hawthorn thank you for letting me know, I need more information as soon as possible. She’s here and I’m not sure what is going to happen"

“Who’s here? Ast....” argh okay well I guess I better get to work.

It’s not a big lead but it’s something, I was going through some of Astra’s parents’ old financials and came across some unusual payments around the time of the princess’s disappearance. It could be nothing, but the timing is too much of a coincidence to ignore.

The present...

 Another couple of days digging and I find a link with the payments to an account of a known accomplice of a witch. The witch in question has been an enemy of the far for over a millennia and is known to be seeking a way to destroy the royal line. This isn’t good, how do I tell Loni without him freaking out?

“Loni! I was just about to call you I’ve found out some more information for you but you’re really not going to like it!”

“tell me Hawthorn, whatever it is I need to tell Astra she deserves to know"

“is she here in the oak tree? How did that come about?”

“No time Hawthorn please get to the news"

“I’m sorry! A couple of days ago I found some payments in Astra’s parents account that came in around the time the princess disappeared. I had to dig really deep for a couple of days but the account the payments came from belong to a human that has been known to associate with Cassandra”

“Cassandra!! Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’ve double checked all the information and its definitely right. But I don’t know why as I haven’t found anything else to link them to her. She’s covered her tracks very well; it does explain the weird circumstances around the attack on the sky fae. There are some interesting stories about unusual explosions that came out of nowhere and then just like that they stopped. There was no sign of anyone attacking apart from the explosions and then once it had all settled down they realised that the queen had been knocked out and the princess had been taken, she was only a couple of months old at the time.”

“is there anyway of confirming whether or not Astra is the missing princess? I don’t want to get this wrong!”

“the details given out at the time described her as blonde, fair skinned and with green eyes, she should have the birthmark of the sky fae royals behind her right ear in the shape of a star. She probably wouldn’t even realise she had it”.

“ok thank you Hawthorn, keep looking we need to know why this all happen”.

Looking back at Astra’s peaceful face it’s hard to believe that there is so much going on inside her head at the moment, I just wish there was something I could do to help her.

Suddenly there is a huge bang and the entire tree shakes, I throw myself over Astra to protect her from falling debris as I call the guard and tell him to find out what is happening. There is no way I am leaving Astra now that I have her but I need to get her to the safety of the command centre, this is the centre of the tree and the most protected as it holds all of our history files and everything that helps us run our city. I decide my only option is to carry Astra there so I put her over my shoulder and take out my sword,  I just need to get down 4 levels and we would have the added protection of the command centre. As I run the guard catches up to me and informs me that we are under attack from an unknown source, no one has eyes on the assailant.

Lily comes running up to us “let me take her Loni”

“I’m fine Lily, I need you to take all the women and children down to the underground passage and follow through with the evacuation plans. Also get word to my father and mother they need to get back here as soon as possible”

“guard, run ahead and inform the command centre that I am on my way, and that they need to have a comfortable chair ready for Astra”

Another explosion causes me to lose balance and fall into the wall, just two more levels to go im running as fast as I can while avoiding debris and other fairies running, stopping briefly to make sure Astra is ok a shiver runs down my spine and that’s when I hear her voice.

“come out, come out wherever you are…come out now Astra and we can leave this hell hole, no one else needs to get hurt!”