Heart desired

//Chapter 29//

The next day, I started to live in the Palace.

There was nothing to be taken from Lord Draken's mansion. Enhla wanted to come and live with me, but the king assigned me a new maid, Div, to replace her as soon as I requested it. It was as if the king wanted to strip me from everything my past held and make me a new person.

Not as if. That's what he wanted.

I sighed. I knew he had some grudge with me. After all, my mother had helped the Elves to hide the fact that his sister died. He was not able to even hold a proper burial for her. And besides, the last time I was here, I had been with Daniel. Now, the king of Rawen knew the structure of Elkelyn, which something they could use to advantage in case he decided to start a war. I had been the one to brought him here, despite Savin asking me not to.

Daniel. It was still hard to think about him without opening up a wound in my heart. I tried to stay busy with everything just so I could stop thinking about him.

"What are you thinking about?" Resh asked. We were in the middle of the palace garden. Resh was giving me a tour around the palace. I could see the glass light of my room from here. The garden lacked colour just as I remembered. That was one thing about Elkelyn that I was so curious about.

"Why are everything white, red and lilac?" I asked. "Even people doesn't wear colours. All of them wears the exact same thing, with different brooches."

Four guards were following us five feet behind, giving us privacy but still close to protect if anything happened. I had trained with Resh yesterday and knew he did not need any protection from the guards.

"It's just a tradition." Resh said. "Apparently, every king assign a new colour to the garden. So far, there has been only three kings."

"The founder Acepsin, second king Sadisen, who died from the attack that came from the window and the current king Droumer." I recited the history book I read last night. I decided to learn everything about Elkelyn if this is going to be my new home. After all, I had the eternity to spend here.

Resh looked proud. "Correct. Our uncle added lilac. It was Queen Requina's favourite colour. Sadisen added red. Acepsin only grew white flowers because it reminded him of Rawen, where at that time, every flower turned blue because of the influence of Angels." He bend over and grabbed a small worm from a plant. He watched it squirm around his thumb for a while before crushing it to a pulp with two fingers. I stared at the reddish gooey mess drip from his finger before he wiped it on a handkerchief. I made a mental note to never touch that handkerchief for any reason.

He continued while rubbing his fingers clean and examining his nails. "As for the black clothes and brooches, the same clothes means that everyone is equal. Brooches define the profession." He pointed at the golden brooch on his shoulder, identical to mine. A golden spiral decorated with maple leaves. "Gold for royalty, silver for political works, blue for scholars, red for warriors, black for criminals and so on. The king does not have a brooch for bearing the management of all the professions on his shoulders."

I thought about it silently as we walked. Though the system seemed simple at first, it was more complex than I thought.

"But I saw Naeoh wearing a silver brooch." I said.

"He is still a kid. Until he choose his own profession, we inherit the colour of our guardians." We stopped at in front of a building. It looked like it was made from the material exactly liked the bottles Kahlee was carrying on the previous day. It was about twenty feet tall. The most mysterious thing was that there was no door to be seen. Still, I could see six or so guards were positioned around it.

Resh chuckled. I looked at him in confusion. Did he say something funny? I was so immersed in looking at the building that I could not hear what he was saying.

I decided to be honest. "Did you say something? I could not hear you."

"No, it's nothing." He said. "Tell me, did you see this building before?"

Now that I think about it, this was the first time I was seeing this. Since it was all black and tall it was hard to miss. I looked around. Though I had passed this area, I did not recall seeing this before.

"This building is the main library of Elkelyn." Resh said, seeing my confusion. "When the first Elkelyn left Rawen with Acepsin, they robbed the libraries and laboratories from both Rawen and Mortal realms. Not any treasure. Just the books and inventions. This library has so much knowledge gathered in one place. For safety reasons, it is glamoured. Only someone with Angel blood in their veins can see it after they come five feet near the building."

I looked at it in awe. Wanting to test his theory, I took some steps back. Sure, it seemed like Resh was still in the middle of the garden. Not even a shadow of the building could be seen.

"This is awesome." I said, going back to where I could see it.

Resh grinned. "Do you want to go inside and take a look?"

I nodded eagerly. A small part of wall slid away when we came near it, as if sensing our presence. "Welcome, Prince and Princess of Elkelyn." A voice greeted us. I looked around to find out who said that. That voice was unisex and... ethereal.

"It's enchanted to our brooches." Resh said. "The door is alive. It announces you to the library so all the scholars inside know who has entered."

We entered. I was expecting for somebody to come and greet us, but there was nobody to be seen. There were stacks of books everywhere. on the walls, on the ceiling, on the walls of the staircases and some even on the floor. All was caged in transparent glass cases.

Library had total of four floors. I could see some doors in random places. There was a green smoke coming from one of the closed doors.

Resh looked at it. "Must be an experiment." He said.

"They do experiments in the library?" I asked. "What if the books catch on fire?"

"Thus, the fire proof, pressure proof glasses." Resh tapped his finger three times against a one. A small slot opened up on the glass, letting him access to the book where he tapped.

He grabbed the book. I looked at the title.

Sixteen ways to live as a frog.

As random as it was, I could not comment on it because that ethereal voice sounded through the library like a lazy song. "Welcome, Prince of Elkelyn."

Savin was here. I turned around to see him coming towards us, slow and relaxed. "Brother, father summons you."

Resh put the book back in the shelf after tapping it. "Okay, guide my sister through the palace till I come back." He said, hurrying away from us.

Savin and I stood face to face. Since the night I talked to him, there had been an awkward silence between us. For some reason, neither of us were able to maintain any eye contact. Every time I looked into his eyes, I felt like current run through me for no reason.

Savin cleared his throat. "Did you read the book I gave you?"

"Only halfway through." I said, turning to a shelf and reading the titles of the book. Rule like Acepsin, Sixteen ways to live as a frog, The runaway princess, Why witches should not carry brooms with them.

"I will give you more materials to study in the future. Make sure you read it all thoroughly. "

"I know how to be a princess, your highness." I said. "I spent fourteen years learning that. I had to learn how to read before I could even speak properly. So don't worry about that."

Savin sighed. "I am not worried." He said. "I am concerned." He came closer to me and placed a hand on my hip, sending hot electricity via his touch. I wanted to pull away, but I couldn't. My mind wad filled with his touch, that I became sort of paralyzed. "Look how thin you have become. You need to rest and read, not to train hard."

He brushed his thumb gently on my hip bone. My legs turned in to water. "Are you..." I swallowed. "Are you going to stop me from training?"

"No." He pulled me a little closer, just barely. "I will not stop you. But I will catch you if you fall from lack of strength like you did yesterday."