Evol's Type
2031 Words
"Please lock me up before I kill someone." Evol grumbled as she walked into Henry's workshop slamming the door behind her.
Inside, she saw Henry working on a locket. Erac sat on the other side of the table, a basket of food in front of her which she had brought to share lunch with her adopted brother.
When Henry arrived at Faelme, he had been adopted by Erac's mother, Claire. Her insistent matchmaking was the reason he and Queen Layla had both fallen in love with each other.
"Ugh,... do I even want to know?" Erac asked rolling her eyes at her best friend's over dramatic statement. "Who do we need to save from your wrath?"
"Prince Curtis. I'm so mad at him, I'd absolutely love to kick him in the gut. Maybe break every joint in his body and mess up his pretty face with a carving knife." Evol finished with a sinister smile on her face throwing herself on the bench beside her best friend.
Erac raised her eyebrows in amusement.
"Ahhhh... I'm so tired. Talking to that walking bundle of everything egoistical is so exhausting." She put her head on Erac's lean shoulders and let out a long yawn.
"That bad, Huh?" Erac asked patting her head soothingly.
"Really bad." Evol closed her eyes and let herself relax and relish the soothing touch of Erac's fingers. “I don't know what mother sees in that guy. He would make a horrible son-in-law, you know?" She huffed.
“Do you need me to talk to your mother about it?" Henry asked at the same time Erac asked
“What did he do?"
Evol sat up feeling a lot better than she did minutes ago thanks to her friend's magic.
“It's fine, Henry. It's nothing I can't handle. Plus, mother already has a lot on her plate. I can't run to her just because a guy is not my type."
Erac scoffed. “You have a type?" She scorned with her voice so full of disbelief that Henry burst into laughter before he could stop himself.
Evol turned to glare at her friend. “What do you mean I don't have a type? Of course I do, everybody does."
Erac clearly didn't believe what the other girl had said. “If you have a type," Hand quotes “How come you never had a crush growing up."
“Because I haven't met anyone that is my type." Evol shot back immediately feeling defensive.
“Uh-huh." Erac smirked enjoying teasing her friend a little too much that she should have but it wasn't everyday that Evol got defensive. “So... what is your type?"
Evol paused at that question. Of course she had a type, but she hadn't really ever thought of what her type was. Her future partner wasn't something she spent time dreaming about.
She had too much going on for her to think about mundane things like that. She kind of figured that she would cross that bridge when she got to it but without her realizing it, she got older and was almost twenty. An age when suitors would begin to ask that she court them.
So, who exactly was her type. How did she envision the person she would mate for life? Did physical properties count or just who they were inside?
According to the books she read in her spare time, there was supposed to be a physical attraction at first. That was something she didn't really have with anyone. Was that weird?
Whatever she wanted to go by, Prince Curtis definitely wasn't it.
“Yeah, that's what I thought" The sound of Erac's skeptical voice shook her out of her revrie. “You, my friend, do not even know what you want. How can you tell if someone is your type?"
Evol blinked at her friend. What she said did make sense. A whole lot of sense in fact.
How indeed could people choose their mates if they didn't know what they liked? That would be like an army of warriors choosing different type of weapons at random.
If some where lucky, they would end up with a weapon they could work with, the others would be doomed to awkwardly working their way around something they were not good with.
She intended to settle down with her mate at some point in her life, not necessarily soon, but she wasn't against it either. And if the books she read were to be believed, she would want to experience true love.
True mates were a bit of a stretch but someone she loved, was attracted to,could respect and that would do the same for her sounded really great. Which is why she had to figure out who that could be.
“What is your type, Erac." Evol asked.
Erac didn't even have to think about it before she began to count off on her fingers. “Simple, the golden four. Handsome, Rich, Caring and he has to love plants."
Evol knit her forehead in confusion. “Why does he have to love plants?"
“Because, I'm going to grow lots and lots of herbs and flowers at our home. I don't need anyone nagging at me at how much time I spend in my garden. It would be nice if we can spend time together there instead."
Evol nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. How about the handsome part?"
“I have to like him, duh.” Erac giggled
“And rich?" Henry asked pouting to tease his adoptive little sister. “What about we poor good guys?"
Erac rolled her eyes at him. “Hey, you are courting a queen. One rich person per family is okay. I'm a healer, someone has to provide for the family and build my dream house with the big garden."
Henry and Evol exchanged amused smiles seeing how quickly Erac was put on the defensive.
“But the most important thing is that he is caring. Oh, and he can't be the jealous type. I can't live with a man that gets jealous everytime I go to a client's house to treat them or check on them."
“That really makes sense. Henry, what of you? What is your type?"
“Obviously raven-haired, green eyed, beautiful, nice and elegant queens with adorable, spitfire daughters." Henry replied with a smile at both the mental image of Layla that came to mind. Because he was done with his work for that morning, He began to clear up the table so Erac could dish out the lunch she brought along.
Evol smilled at the compliment. “I guess I'm the only one that doesn't know her type yet. I should think about it." She turned to Erac “You don't happen to have a pen and notepad on you, do you?"
“You know I always carry my ideas jotter with me, everywhere." Erac reached in the basket to provide her friend with the said items.
“Come join us for lunch, Evol. Erac brought enough for all of us."
“I'm fine, you guys should go ahead." Evol replied putting the book on the table in front of her. “I might have a drink when I'm through with this, though."
The other two nodded and began to dish out their food.
Evol picked up the pencil and scribbled ‘My type' on it. Underneath it, she numbered it from one to seven since seven was her lucky number.
Evol paused to think of what she considered the most important thing to her. Apart from her friends and family, it had to be the kingdom that she was set to inherit.
Whoever she would end up with had be wise, brave and selfless to rule alongside the Elfin kingdom with her.
So... should she write all of that separately or together as 'an excellent leader?'
She shook her head. She also wanted the person to be all of that to her too personally, apart from being a good king. So she wrote those points from one to three.
What else? She thought. The second most important thing after the kingdom was her love for sparring. Her mate had to be a true fighter or at least, someone who wouldn't stand in the way of her passion.
She wrote 'respect' down.
Also, she wanted someone whom she would be able to communicate with easily. Someone she could let her guard down with. Someone she could share smiles with, someone that would have her back and she could have his.
Someone who treasured her and valued her opinions. Kind of like what her mother shared with Henry. Henry was the one that could turn her mother into a blushing stuttering mess, and she had often caught him staring at her with his heart in his eyes.
They were the reason she still believed in love. Oh, what she'd give to be adored by somebody like that.
Evol quickly wrote 'Love'.
That left her with two more points.
Evol stewed over it. What was left? Henry had described her mother's hair and eyes while Erac had mentioned good looks. Evol didn't really care about what the colour of his hair or eyes was. She did want to find the person attractive though.
She wanted to know how it felt like lose her breath at the sight of someone. To feel butterflies in her belly whenever they did something nice for her and to feel her heart race when they smiled.
'attractive'
She still had one thing to go but she was so proud of what she had written. She could figure out the last thing as she went.
She was in no rush.
********
Curtis couldn't keep the ridiculous smile off his face even as he got ready to go to the dining hall that evening.
He also couldn't get Evol's blushing face out of his mind and away from his thoughts.
She was so cute, she looked like a tiny warrior. A fiery Queen was what his mind had named her and the name suited her well.
The more he thought about their encounter during the day, the more he realized that he just might like her company way more than he had initially thought he would.
He did enjoy seeing her flustered.
When he had moved closer to her when they last met, she had looked so tiny compared to him, he felt he could snap her in half with one wrong move.
Other ladies including Maeve would have been a blushing mess by then or would have ran off, yet she held her own and didn't back away like he had expected.
She held his gaze and didn't let his bulk or nearness intimidate her. Curtis liked that more than he cared to admit.
When he had bent to whisper in her ears, he couldn't resist the temptation to brush his lips against her soft looking lobe. He had wanted to do way more than that but thankfully, he had restrained himself on time.
He had barely stopped himself from burying his nose in her orange silky soft hair from how good it looked around her face and how nice she smelled.
Her scent smelled so good, he was sure he could easily get addicted to that mixture of mint and lime with a slight metallic tinge. He had never thought it was possible but he found he loved that smell way more than vanilla.
Curtis took one last look in the mirror, liking what he saw. He could hardly wait to see the redhead princess tonight at dinner.
He planned to ask her to dance and maybe talk some more. This time without too much teasing. He fully intended to give her a fun night. And score himself some points in her good book.
Curtis fingered the bracelet on his wrist, just getting used to its unfamiliar weight on his hand.
When Coral had given him the bracelet and she had smiled up at him in a way that reminded of his younger sister....
Curtis had known in that moment.
Coral was not the one for him.
- Writer
