AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Chapter 41 – Wind-Blown
Luella
“Mother, I burned Ari,” I breathed, gasping for air in my mother’s study. With my avian lungs, it was a feat to get myself into a state.
“You did what?” she thundered, rising from her seat.
Several inches shorter than me, my mother still managed to be intimidating.
“I burned his f-face,” I stammered, pacing in the room while wringing my hand. I dreamed of the old days when I used to do this because I could not get the right jewelry for my dresses. What I would give to be back to those days – but that would also mean not having met Metheus.
“Why did you do that?”
“He tried to force himself on her,” Francilia said, her voice steadier than mine, but I had seen the tears on her cheeks and the fear in her eyes.
“W-well, he tried to kiss me,” I amended.
“It was what he was trying to do, Your Majesty, not knowing that I will be returning to you,” Francilia insisted.
“Is he dead?” my mother asked.
Her voice was still angry, but I could almost hear her mind whirring. It was just like when they found me with Thomas. She had been furious with me, but she was also planning ways to save me.
“N-no. I do not think so, Mother. But I have burned his cheek,” I said.
“We need to find him. I can heal his face, but he also needs to be punished for what he tried to do to you.”
“I am not staying here for another day more, Mother. I am leaving tonight.”
“So, you will leave the matter of Ari to us, then?” she asked, her voice and face hardening.
“I am sorry, Mother,” I cried, feeling weak and stupid.
“No. You should go,” she said after a loud exhale of breath.
“We can help find Ari first,” Francilia volunteered. “Or we can wait while the guards search for him. He cannot be too far away. He is a duke who depends too much on his men.”
I did not want to look for Ari, but perhaps we should.
It did not take long for the guards to find Ari. He was floundering about, in pain, trying to get his horses ready in the stables. His two men were there with him.
“Well?” my mother asked him after about an hour’s worth of search. We had waited for her in the study.
“Your daughter is a freak of nature! A monster! She burned me.”
My mother approached him, and Ari flinched. He probably thought he would be getting some sort of torture from her, and I wish she would give him just that. Instead, she placed her hand on the burned flesh. A glow came from her palm. Soon, his face was good as new.
“Your skin is back to normal, Duke Ari of Prozeus. We will detain you for two days and two nights for attacking my daughter. Then, we will have you escorted back to Arrowspear.”
“Attack your daughter? She was the one who attacked me!” Ari cried, his eyes looking crazed.
“You know what you did, Ari,” I said.
I was relieved that he was healed, though I could still spot traces of the scar it would have left on his face. It was barely visible. I believed I only saw them because I caused the blemish. For a vain and handsome man, Ari would notice the remnants of the burn the way I would have if it happened to me. In a different world, Ari and I were so much more alike. However, I would never attack people. I would never force anyone to do anything, and that was what he did to me.
“I thought you were interested in me,” he claimed.
“You should still have understood when someone tells you “no,” I said.
