Shadow of the Moon [A Dragon Prince Fanfic]

Chapter 3 | Moonrise

Y/N's footsteps echoed around the empty halls of the castle, growing in volume as she approached the staircase that would lead her down to the courtyard. She had to speak with the king. She owed him this much. She was sentencing him to death by not telling him, or the other guards, that she had found the Moonshadow elves in the woods. 

She pushed open the doors to the throne room and bit her lip when she saw Harrow being suited up in his armour. He knew what was coming tonight. They all did.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Your Majesty," Y/N said with a bow, "But I need to speak with you in private."

Harrow nodded almost immediately and the guards left the room. Most likely, they would wait in the corridor outside until Harrow ordered them to return.

"What is it, Y/N," Harrow asked, his eyes lingering as he watched the doors to the throne room shut. The guards were gone, and they knew better than to listen in on what would no doubt be a private conversation. As the handle to the door settled against the oaken wood, he turned his attention back to the young woman standing before him. 

Y/N shuffled nervously for a moment. One of her feet scratched the back of her other ankle. How was she supposed to tell the king that she had betrayed him? This was treason at its finest. She had the opportunity to save this man's life, and she had thrown away her chance. She would be killed if she was discovered, and here she was, handing over her life to her king. He could have her beheaded as one last command. 

"Y/N?" 

The young woman jumped at the sound of Harrow's voice, and the feeling of his hand resting on her shoulder. She did not deserve this. Not when her kin was waiting and biding their time in the woods, waiting for the moment when they would be able to slip in undetected. She took a deep breath and glanced up at Harrow. She hated the concern in his eyes. She had been deceiving not only him but the entirety of Katolis for the past ten years as she lived in the borders of the town. And ever since Avizandum had fallen at Harrow's hand, she had grown closer to him as a spy. 

Y/N couldn't hold herself back and fell to her knees before the man, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes. "I have deceived you," she blurted, trying not to shout it loud enough that the guards would hear. Unfortunately, this room was not soundproof, unlike the more private chambers. "I have lied to you and you have given me all of your trust!" A tear spilt from her eye and trailed down her cheek, falling to the floor as it kissed her jaw. 

Harrow frowned and knelt before Y/N, placing his hand on her shoulder once more. He doubted that anything she had done could be so terrible that she would react like this, but in the time that he had known her, even before she had come to live in the castle, he had never witnessed her break down as she was now. 

"Y/N, I doubt anything you have done deserves this reaction." But there was a pit of doubt in his stomach, slowly worming its way up to his throat. Why was she acting like this? What had she done that was so terrible? A simple lie? What had she lied about? Harrow had more questions than he had answers, and he didn't like it. 

Y/N sniffed and raised her gaze from the floor. Her eyes were dripping ugly tears, her lips trembling as she tried to hold back her sobs, and her entire body shook as she forced herself to look at the king. She wiped her nose on the sleeve of her dress and lowered her gaze again. "T-this is a lie t-that I deserve to be killed for," she wept. 

"What do you mean?"

Y/N gritted her teeth and spat out her answer. It felt like poison on her tongue as she confessed. "I found the elves in the woods. I know where they are. But I cannot tell anyone, because they are my kin."

Harrow had felt anger when he heard Y/N's first confession. She knew where his enemies were, and she had told no one. She had lied and said that she hadn't been able to find anything. But as Harrow listened to her second confession, he felt his anger melt away into shock. The elves were here kin?