The Bad Fairy (girlxgirlxgirl)

27. Nocturnal

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"What are you doing here?"

Chepi's eyes are wide with surprise, but cold with anger. Nayan doesn't know what to say yet. His brain hasn't been given the chance to melt it. Chepi is in front of her, just like she was exactly five years ago, standing in his bedroom with her eyes wide and a little panicked. Nayan can't help but let himself travel back to that moment. The last time he saw her.

"I'm going to run away."

Standing in his doorway, one foot in his bedroom and one outside of it, Cherelle looks more grown up, and yet more childish than she ever has before. There might be some old tears glistening in her eyes, but it's hard to see. It's late in the evening and Nayan has just spent four hours being lectured by his uncles for not being at the front lines like he should be. The moon is high above the large trees of the wooden palace, and Nayan really doesn't have the energy for this.

He doesn't even know how Cherelle got in here. This part of the palace, a large and old tree with a tower built around it, is nothing but a long corridor for all the prince's of the fairy kingdom. That's Nayan, Cosmo and Astro on the highest and most important floor, and then all his unmarried first uncles and cousins on the lower floors. The palace is heavily guarded at night, as entrance and exit is strictly forbidden in such hours. And yet, despite that, Cherelle is standing in front of him, loudly proclaiming that she's going to 'run away', as she puts it.

"Aren't you going to say anything?"

Nayan stands up from his desk, and walks towards her. He can't really process what she is saying right now. Chepi walks inside fully and closes the wooden door behind them, but her hands are clearly shaking. Nayan holds back a sigh. Seriously, this is not a good time.

He hates most of his family members, with an exception for his own siblings. All his uncles do nothing but yell at him all day, while he has to take it with a smile and still respect them. All his cousins take pride whenever they beat him at something, bragging about it to his face. And when they are not succeeding, they are being psychopathic assholes to the citizens of the city down below, occasionally causing trouble that he has to sort out, because his father is too incompetent to do anything about it, and his uncles are too busy ignoring actual work to care about it.

"I'm tired, Cherelle. Please-"

And then, there's Cherelle. Probably the biggest burden on his shoulders, despite the fact that he still loves her as much as he loves his other siblings. She is kind, respectful, talented and genuinely fun to be around. She has the grace of her older sister, the courage and recklessness of Astro and the cunning of Cosmo, while simultaneously having none of her parent's bad traits. (Nayan sometimes wonders if she really is the daughter of a guard or a general, rather than the king, as the rumours say). But despite all of this, and despite having shown him nothing but kindness, she is also hated.

"I said I'm running away, Nayan! Can't you hear me?" Cherelle nearly yells, and Nayan is kind of starting to get it now. She's asking to leave. He closes his mouth.

She is hated by her father and her mother, who just happen to be the king and queen of the fairy kingdom. If they had been a part of any other family, perhaps a common one, then Nayan would've taken all of his siblings the day he became an adult and left his parents the moment he was able. But as fate has it, they are not a regular family. He is a crown prince, his father is the king and his mother is the queen. Cherelle is a princess, and his entire family is a part of a long and frankly quite destructive and psychopathic royal bloodline.