War of Faeries

Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

Alone, he left me standing there alone. Should I have stayed with him, I should be keeping an eye on him like Mrs. Cora asked. I should be doing a thousand different things, but instead I am standing in the hallway with no idea where to go.

"Um miss..." one of the guards from behind me says. I turn around to see the guard posted along the wall, cheeks red from embarrassment. He watched the whole thing. Great, someone to witness the way Henry overreacted.

"Yes?"

"I thought you might like this." He says holding out a handkerchief. I touch my cheeks and feel a few tears have slipped down. I didn't even realize I was crying. Maybe it's because I have let Cora down, or maybe it really is because of how humiliated I am to be left like that.

"Thank you." I take the handkerchief from him, quickly wiping away the few stray tears.

"I wouldn't take it too personally if I were you, Henry says a lot of things he doesn't mean." He says, looking down the hallway quickly. Knowing that if anyone heard him, he would be in trouble.

"What's your name?" I ask, and he looks down at the ground nervously.

"Gavin. My name is Gavin." His eyes flicker up to mine before back to the ground again.

I take in his cropped cut red hair, and light green eyes. He would be hard to forget, especially with a name that doesn't seem to match his appearance. "Well then Gavin, it's nice to meet you. I'm Val."

"Oh, I know that everyone around here knows that." He says taking my outstretched hand. "If I might add it's a beautiful name for a beautiful woman."

"I think you should get back to your post Gavin. Henry wouldn't like it if he found out you were flirting with Miss Valarie, while you are on duty. Don't even mention the fact that its rude to flirt with someone else's girlfriend." Alex says walking up behind me.

Gavin is startled, and before he returns back to his exact spot on the wall, he kisses the back of my hand. He smirks at Alex once he stands back up, "Maybe he should treat her better than, because she might just leave him for me." He winks at me.

There is absolutely no way Henry won't hear about this. He crossed the line with the back talk in the first place, but then winking at me. It's too bad because he is a sweet guy. A little out of place in the palace? Most definitely. But we all have our stations in life, and he is blessed with a station in the palace.

Alex gives Gavin a warning glance before offering his arm to me. I take it and we start down the hall. He glances over his shoulder to look at Gavin before saying anything. "Gavin doesn't mean anything with what he said or how you acted, just so you know. Sometimes he comes off as a creep."

"I didn't think he was being creepy."

"That's good. Last time I heard he was working on it."

"Attending some of Mrs. Cora's lessons?" I joke.

"Yeah. His grandmother thought it was important for him to act properly seeing she teaches everyone else how to act."

"You mean... you aren't saying Mrs. Cora is his grandmother."

"That is exactly what I am telling you."

I find that hard to believe, they look nothing alike. He has red hair where hers was once a chestnut brown- now grey. She has grey blue eyes, and he has light green ones. Their far skin is the only thing they have in common. It doesn't surprise me that she didn't tell me about her grandson though, there are somethings you just want to keep private.