A Light in the Shadows.

Killing a Murderer

I looked at Jelequi, smiling happily. "That will be $15!" The shop owner said. I pulled out the money from my bag, handing it to him. "Thank you!" The boy said, taking the money, pushing the pot towards them. I smiled and took it. We exited the shop. "It's a beautiful flower!" Jelequi smiled. "Yeah!" Seraphina agreed. "Should we head back to the shop?" Jelequi asked. "Mhn!" I agreed. We headed through the streets, back to the shop. we entered. Amharic looked over, "You got a... flower?" "isn't it pretty?" I asked happily. "It seems like Jelequi would have picked that since I think it would remind her of you." Would she really do that? Amharic just doesn't know what they're talking about... right? Amharic said. Jelequi's face went red, "Th-that's not why I picked it!!!" I blinked, my cheeks going slightly pink. "What, I'm not wrong, Jelequi. That is why you picked it, isn't it?" Amharic asked. "Well.. that might have been part of the reason I picked it..." Jelequi mumbled. I stayed quiet, though smiling slightly. "Let's just take it to my room, Seraphina!" Jelequi said happily. "Okay" I said, following Jelequi up the stairs. We entered Jelequi's room. Jelequi carefully took the flower pot from me, placing it on one of the shelves. "That looks good!" Jelequi said, "Oh, one thing to add." Jelequi grabbed something from another shelf, placing it next to the flower pot. It was the lightning flower. I smiled and said "mine still hasn't dried out." "I used a little plant magic to make it last much longer!" Jelequi mentioned. "Yeah..." Seraphina agreed. Jelequi smiled at me, "We should probably get back to the shop before Amharic gets annoyed." "Probably," I agreed laughing. Jelequi took my hand and we headed back down to the shop. "You back?" Amharic asked as we entered the shop. "Yep!" Jelequi replied. I nodded. "Alright! Well, Jelequi, can I take a break.." Amharic asked. "You don't need to ask." Jelequi mentioned, "I'm not forcing you to work." "yeah, amharic, we're kicking you out now so you can enjoy yourself." I added Amharic shrugged, "Alright. I'll go!" Amharic happily skipped out of the door. "It amazes me how happy they are all the time." I remarked. "Yeah... They are never upset." Jelequi said. "I honestly didn't think that level of happiness was possible all the time until amharic proved me wrong.." Jelequi laughed, "True." I sat down with a book. Jelequi smiled, standing behind the counter. We stayed in comfortable silence for a while.

we heard the bell from the door, seeing someone enter. Goldarn. Goldarn looked around, "Not the best time..." He muttered. I sighed and said, "listen. Get. out. And never. come. back." "But I need to show angel something." Goldarn said, grinning. "Oh yeah? Well 'angel' is going to see your blood if you don't get out." i hissed between my teeth. "Woah, harsh. Alright then. Bye Angel, I'll be back." Goldarn said, leaving. Jelequi hugged me, clearly scared. "Hey, hey. I'll take care of him now that I have his scent." I said gently, hugging Jelequi close. "A-alright.." Jelequi mumbled, "I just don't understand why he hates me so much..." "I don't either..." I said. "Actually that's a really good question..." Jelequi hugged me closer, resting her head on my shoulder. "I hate him." Seraphina muttered. "I hate how scared you are of him and I hate how arrogant he is, he seems to think he is invincible or something. I'll have a lot of fun proving him wrong..." I muttered darkly. "You know, lots of elves find ways to protect themselves. Like, Xentri keeps ice with her to use as protection. Most elves keep something they can control with their magic." Jelequi mentioned, "He probably keeps metal with him, like you saw when disarming him." "How high are his ears?" I asked. "Same as mine, medium." Jelequi replied. I nodded. I couldn't keep ignoring the fact that one day he might kill Jelequi. "You're planning on killing him, aren't you..?" Jelequi asked. I winced. "I'm sorry Jelequi" I said guiltily. "It's fine.. I just don't want you killing people just to protect me..." Jelequi said. "Do you feel guilty about their deaths?" I asked softly. "When you kill them for me, kind of..." Jelequi mumbled. I hugged her closer. "I'm also killing him because he could kill so many innocent people. Not just you. It's one death for many. From what I gather he's an assassin or some sort of thing." I said, trying to make her feel better. "And please don't think of me as heartless... they haunt me. All of the deaths. The things I couldn't even have stopped." I said and then, "I hate being queen." Jelequi hugged me, "It's alright... I don't think of you as heartless... And I understand that you hate your position as queen, but just think, if you weren't queen, we would have never met... If you weren't queen, you wouldn't have been told about the two elves in the forest." Jelequi said quietly. I rested my head on Jelequi's saying "true. And it's just, if I kill for you it's because I lost everything when my parents died. I have astra, but-" I stopped, my voice dangerously close to cracking, before saying "when my parents were killed i could have done something, but i didn't. I stood there and let it happen. If I had been stronger, faster, smarter. And now I am. Right then I swore that I would do anything for the people I care about. And now that includes you.." I told Jelequi. "Sadly, nobody can go back in time... Everyone has something they would have done differently..." Jelequi mumbled, "I know you only killed that man to protect me.. And it's the same with Goldarn..." "if you die... I'll break." I admitted, feeling so vulnerable. "I would never be able to live without you..." Jelequi replied quietly. I looked into Jelequi's eyes. Jelequi looked back. I could see tears in Jelequi's eyes that matched my own. "I'm sorry" I whispered again. Jelequi was about to answer, when the shop door opened, Zenial entering, "Sorry, bad timing?" Zenial asked.