Elvi

Unexpected Guests

Elvi gasped as the press conference ended. She watched as the King walked up the stairs, followed by his top men. By his behaviour, he may as well have told the world about them. Her breathing became more rapid. She did not want to see him. She wasn’t ready to see him. Her promise of appearing daily would be broken, and when he realised she wasn’t coming, his anger would be fierce. Morana’s hand rested on Elvi’s knee.

“Breathe Elvi. Breathe” she said in a soothing voice.

“I can’t see him tomorrow. I just can’t. Why did I tell him I would see him daily.”

“You don’t have to see him if you don’t want to,” Haydeon exclaimed. “What is he going to do if you don’t go out there, huh? Like he can get through the dome. That is the point of it.”

“But what if he rescinds the law?” Elvi said panicked.

“He won’t. Not now he has made it public. His word is binding law. Not even he can break it” Morana soothed.

*

Rowan walked into the clearing, surprised to find it occupied, but not by anyone he would expect. He closed the gap, eyeing the older woman suspiciously. She remained silent, watching him in turn.

“Who are you?” Rowan finally asked, coming to a stop.

“My kind call me Priestess” she answered confidently, raising her chin slightly. “This is Arryn,” she continued, as a man walked through the barrier behind her.

“Where is she?” Rowan asked, his voice low and dangerous as he eyed Arryn with hatred.

So this is the man she compared him to. The one trying to ruin her life, she had called him. Just like himself. She hadn’t explained how this man was attempting to ruin her life, but he guessed it didn’t really matter. He took in his arrogant posture and mocking expression and decided on the spot that he didn’t trust this man with every breath in his body.

“She is where she has always been. Surrounded in the comfort and safety of her Coven. Hiding from you, where you couldn’t possibly ever get to her.”

Priestess had eyes of fire and destain, Rowan decided. She seemed to hate him as much as he hated the man in front of him. She appeared annoyed that his attention was directed to the man behind her. He knew that Priestess was the one who ran the Coven, but right now, the threat to his mate was staring right at him, and it was hard for him to divert his attention from that.

“Priestess” he started, in a would be calm voice, a slight shake giving him away. “I mean no disrespect to you by saying this, but you will not keep her from me. And if this man doesn’t stop staring at me, when I know that he is the biggest threat to my mate inside of that dome, I will break my own law, and kill him.”

“Arryn, leave” Priestess ordered, not removing her eyes from the shifter in front of her.

Arryn smirked at Rowan, lingering for longer than was wise, before winking at him and turning towards the dome. A wide smile spread over his face at the low growl that was coming from the King. He wanted to antagonise the King and he was doing an excellent job of it.

“Wow, Elvi, the Norns sure know how to choose one for you don’t they” he said loudly as he walked through the barrier.

Rowan's head snapped towards the barrier. Elvi. She was watching him right now. Just out of his reach. Behind that stupid charm that kept them apart. He took a step forward but stopped at the Priestess's voice.

“You will stay where you are, Slayer King. I don’t know if it escaped your notice, but you terrified her. I have never seen someone so petrified in my life, and I have been living through your families g******e of my people my entire life. Do you even care?”

Rowan stared at the fields that he knew to be the dome. Was she watching him right now? Was he making eye contact with her, not knowing. He felt frantic within himself. Unable to calm his breathing, his chest rose and fell rapidly. He had terrified her. He knew that their meeting hadn’t ended well, but terrifying her.

“Of course I care,” he said, trying to find a small scerick of Elvi in those fields. His energy was rising out of control. He would involuntarily shift if he wasn’t careful.

“I’m glad,” Priestess started. “Because that means, when you never see her again, it will be a greater loss to you,” she finished disappearing on the spot.

“NO!” Rowan shouted.

He ran to the barrier and started banging his fist hard against it. He cared very little to watch the magick ripple this time. The important thing was to get to her. He refused to spend his life away from her. He hadn’t even had time to get to know her.

“Elvi” he bellowed, his frantic punches rapidly splitting his hand, smearing the charm with blood. “Elvi” he called hysterically. “Elvi. Elvi. Elvi.”

An hour later, the King sat on his knees, his head pressed into the charm, smacking his hand into the barrier. He had lost most of the force but he refused to give up. “Elvi” he said quietly, with every beat of his fist. He heard the footsteps behind him but did not stop or turn around.

“This needs to stop, My Lord,” Alarik told his King. “She isn’t coming out. I have been watching you for twenty minutes. You are more likely scaring her by continuing your actions.”

“Elvi” Rowan said, his voice strained and tired with overuse, smacking his fist, ignoring his second.

“My Lord.” Alarik attempted again to reach his King, “There were reporters heading this way when I entered the forest. Luckily, I don’t think they have ever been here, and don’t really know where to look.”

Rowan stopped beating his fist. Reporters. How he hated them. He was told they were a necessary evil, but sometimes he wasn’t so sure. He listened to Alarik’s carefully approaching footsteps, and closed his eyes as his hand gently held onto his shoulder.

“I’m not leaving Alarik.”

Alarik gasped, making Rowan raise his eyes. Elvi’s brother had just appeared from the dome. He looked ready to burn down the whole forest just to get rid of them. Walking purposefully to the King, he punched him hard in the face, knocking him sideways. Alarik stepped in between, pushing the man backwards.

“I swear to the gods, if you don’t leave my sister alone, I will make you meet them,” Haydeon said aggressively, spitting in the King’s direction. “She doesn’t want to spend her life with a psycho like you.”

“You will not talk to the King that way” Alarik interjected.

“He is no King to me. He is just the man terrorising my sister. You really think she wants to see you after what you said to her? Genuine question” Haydeon said, looking around the man between them.

Alarik watched the King over his shoulder out of the corner of his eye. What had happened between him and Elvi to elicit such a strong reaction from her brother? The King had seemed in a mood recently, but he had assumed it was because he had to stay away from Elvi to release her law.

“What did you do?” Alarik asked Rowan, turning to face him properly now. Haydeon started laughing.

“Didn’t tell him huh. Your King, told his mate, while staring at her right in her eyes, that his views on Magick has not changed, and that he will continue to pursue all other witches. He is going to continue his g******e. She is going to lose her entire kind at the hand of the man who is destined for her. And he boasted about it to her face. He is a sick bastard and she is terrified of him.”

Alarik stood in silence, looking between the men, Haydeon, who was staring holes into the King, who in turn, sat motionless on the ground, eyes unfocused on the farming land in front of him. Alarik wasn’t stupid, he knew that the King wasn’t going to change his view on Magick overnight, but to say that to his mate. He had seen the King do some stupid things over the years, but this had to take the top spot. The King stood, turning to face Haydeon slowly.

“She will always be mine. It is fate. She was designed for me” the King finished stubbornly, raising his chin.

Haydeon teleported to the King, punching him again. They fell to the ground grappling. Alarik stepped back letting them get it out of their system. Rowan overpowered the witch, holding him down and growling in his face, his canines extending. Haydeon attempted teleportation, momentarily happy to find himself inside the dome, before, with complete horror, realising the King was splayed out of the ground beside him.