Thorns and Promises

An Asset

{Arlarian’s POV}

After my brother and I talked, I realized he was right about everything. She saved one of our best fighters.. she has been nothing but kind and helpful since she got here, and perhaps I’ve been more than a little cruel to not only her, but Adriel as well.

What I didn’t expect to find was our younger sister here. They were alone in her bedroom, The Princess was leaning in the window looking outside, while my sister stood behind her with her arms crossed. “Brother.” She said coldly when I entered the room.

“Anora, what are you doing here? Didn’t I specifically tell you to stay away from her until we’ve gotten a chance to talk with her properly?” I seethed through gritted teeth.

The princess flinched behind my sister as I shouted, it was a small movement, but I caught it. She was terrified of me. “Didn’t I tell you that I’m not one of your subjects, you can’t just boss me around!” My sister shot back.

Princess Lilliana turned wide eyed staring at my sister. I saw her hands down at her side gripping into her robe that was tied tightly around her. She looked terrified before closing her eyes and snapping back to a cold, and reserved look. “Just.. leave, I need to have a word with the Princess.” I said, shooting my sister a glare.

“Be nice, or I will make your life even more miserable than I already do!” My sister chuckled as she walked past me.

After she left it was just Princess Lilliana and I, she stared at the floor, her hands gripping her robe. She was uncomfortable, and I understood why. “I heard you saved one of our best fighters from a trap in your kingdom. Why would you do such a thing? Do you have no sense of self preservation?” I shot at her.

She flinched once again, closing her eyes. She was trying to remain composed, unbothered, but the shaking of her shoulders told the real story. “I couldn’t just leave him there.. my father, he’d have tortured him.. killed him. I couldn’t just let him be tormented and killed.”

“Why would you care? He isn’t even one of your subjects, he was there spying on your father, gathering intel to bring back to me.” I shouted, this time her frame bent slightly as she shook.

“No one deserved to be tortured for doing what they’re told!” She shouted back, before her eyes went wide and her hands covered her mouth. “I-I’m sorry.. I didn’t mean to raise my voice..” when she looked at me I saw genuine fear in her eyes, she was mortified. Her whole body trembled as she held her hands over her mouth. “I-I promise I won’t shout again.. it w-was an accident!”

I moved before I realized what was happening, crossing the room to reach her. Her arms went up to protect herself, and I watched her wince, and grip her ribs. “I’m not going to hurt you for standing up for yourself..” I muttered, looking down at her side. I began to see blood pooling from under her robe, not a lot, but enough to know she has some kind of injury there. “What happened to your ribs?” She froze, shaking her head.

“I-It’s nothing.. just got it caught on a branch.. I’m fine.” She whimpered.

I looked over her, not buying her story even for a second. “A branch? When? Where?” I questioned her.

“U-Um.. it was.. I-it was..” she muttered, looking to the ground. “It’s nothing, can we please forget about this? I’m very tired.. I’d like to rest if I could..”

I walked closer, reaching down between us and pressing across her ribs. I felt something.. raised skin, stitching. “What kind of injury is this?” I asked. “Has our healer looked at it?”

She shook her head. “N-No.. he doesn’t need to.. I’ve had these kind of injuries before.. I know what to do to heal it properly.. it’ll heal soon.”

“You’ve had these kind of injuries before? Ones that have to be stitched? Strange for a princess to have been injured to this extent.” I replied, gently brushing my fingers across her ribs again. I watched her suck in her breath and bite her lip. A sudden urge hit me to pull her bottom lip from her teeth with my own.. but I quickly shook the thought away backing up. “Fine.. keep hiding things from me, and see how far it gets you here.” I finished, turning and making my way back outside. My head was swirling with information, and imagination. She was kind.. selfless.. terrified but trying very hard to pretend she isn’t.. she’s quiet, reserved, and is trying hard to appear completely put together. I could tell that she’s hiding quite a lot from me.. but she’s also being honest about anything to do with taking down her father’s kingdom. She doesn’t condone his way of thinking, and I could use that to my advantage. Even if I never find out her secrets, I think she’d gladly tell me all of her fathers. It almost seems as though she hates him more than I do. I paused for a moment.. she’s injured, has been, multiple times.. she knows her father would torture others.. she is terrified of being anything but cold, and dignified. Did he do this to her? Is he the reason why she’s so afraid.. is he the one that injured her to this extent?

I sighed, walking out of Hettie’s house, seeing my sister, and my brother both standing outside. They were talking amongst themselves and didn’t notice me.

“Flawless?” My brother asked, looking down to my sister. “The one that I saw said “Soft-Spoken!””

“So she has more than one..” my sister winced. “Who would do something like that? You know that it had to hurt..”

I walked over with a sigh. “I’m not sure what you two are talking about, but if it’s something to do with Princess Lilliana, I believe that it was her father’s doing. She seems terrified of him.. of everything really.”

Hettie walked over last, looking up to all of us. “When she first got here.. she thought that her father was here.. she became frantic, telling me that I had to tell him that she didn’t do anything wrong. She told me that she was only wanting to make sure he didn’t worry..” she whimpered.

“Aelarian.. we need to talk about what we saw.. and we need to find out for sure what happened to Lilliana.” Anora sighed. “If I’m right, she may be an even better asset to us than you think.”