Rowans Choice

Chapter Eleven- The switch

"Who was that" she asks, reaching for my hand.

I brush her hand away, tucking the bottle into my pocket inconspicuously and standing.

"No idea" I lie.

"Find them" she instructs the guard as she notes my bloody lip. She takes my jaw and turns it side to side inspecting me before I push her away. "Are you okay" she asks me.

"You know I would have been a lot less vulnerable with my magic intact" I accuse.

She takes my wrist and turns it over "where is it" she asks me, searching the forest floor.

"That beautiful piece of jewellery you bestowed me on our engagement night?" I ask sarcastically.

"How did you get it off" she asks me curiously.

"If I told you I was shown more compassion from an assassin... than my soon to be mate...would you believe me?"

"Andy it's not like that" she pleads "An assassin" she asks, hearing that piece of information in delay.

She turns to Jay, her personal guard "Thistle have breached the veil... alert my father and the armed guard"

Jay sends his messenger ahead of him. The little bird flits away from his shoulder and soared up into the lofty branches of the oak to the counsel chambers.

Rowan turned back to me "what did she want" she asks me. "Was she alone. How many are there"

"To kill me of course..." I lie. "And she was solo from what I can tell. They don't usually go as a pack"

She shakes her head and holds her hand to her temple, massaging the stress away "I'm sorry I put you in danger ... you must believe me I don't want this for you... and if I thought with my head and not my heart I could have foreseen this and not taken you at all... not as a mate and not as a friend... I should have left you in that school when we were little and stayed clear of you"

The most unusual sensation washes over me as her words leave her... I am sad to hear her abandon me in that way... like I should never have existed to her. Whether she meant she would want to spare me from this fate or not... truth was it still hurt. Rowan had always wanted me... but what if she didn't?! What if she had stopped like I had... I honestly realised that I couldn't bear that thought. How selfish of me... to hate her but want her to love me... and for her to never stop. Perhaps I wanted her to love me for eternity, so that she would suffer for it. Childish. It was more like I wanted to punish her, for leaving me there that night, and the only way I knew how...was to take away the one thing she loved most... me!

"Perhaps you should have done. I think both of our lives would have been spared a hell of a lot of heartache if you hadn't have picked me that day the in the classroom. But we can't go back Rowan. And now you've picked me out again...So where do you want me now? Back in my jail cell with iron clad bracelet reattached" I ask angrily.

Her nostrils flare and her cheeks redden "for now... yes" she admits frustratedly "It's the safest place for you"

I shake my head and grimace at her "I would be safer in Thistle" I argue, and I turn and walk back to the Oak. Leaving her behind me.

Sycamore passes me on the path "You've always been trouble" he mutters as he goes.

Four guards flank me either side, walking me back toward my cell. The cold of the bottle in my pocket against my thigh... reminds me that I've made a terrible mistake. Never make a deal with a Fae.

***
Sycamore comes to my side and we watch as Andy is escorted back to the oak. The sun rises through the forest, bathing it in a glorious light. The light beams shoot through the trees like magic being cast all around us. Nature truly had its own. If you looked for it... at dawn and dusk, you will surely find it, the veil lifted then, as humans peek into a world so beautiful they stop and stare in awe until it passes.

"Did she take the bottle" he asks me.

We both focus on Andy, as she disappeared back into the Oak with the guards.

"She did" I return disappointedly.

"Then we have our answer... what should we do now" he asks me.

I lift my chin to the light above and close my eyes as the morning light bathed me in its warmth. I take a deep intake of breath.

"I'll make the switch" I say finally, looking back to him.

"And what of her... she can't be trusted ... we know that now"

I begin to walk away from him, back down the path to the Oak. He scurried after me "Princess this cannot be ignored"

"Leave her to me..."