Allegiance

Chapter 33

Making her way through the hallways of the floating castle, it didn't take long for Tessia to reach the door to her family suite. She took hold of the knob to open the door when it suddenly opened inward from the other side. Startled, Tessia gasped and stepped back a little while.

Standing on the other side of the doorway, Merial looked at her daughter with raised brows, surprised to see her, and she smiled in amusement, seeing she frightened Tessia a little. "Oh, hello, sweetie," Merial said as she stepped to the side to let Tessia into the suite. "We didn't expect you back so soon."

Composing herself, Tessia returned her mother's smile and entered the room, "Well, I wanted to get changed out of my workout attire." Walking into the room, her eyes flicked to the left, noticing Virion and Alduin approaching the door, and they both smiled at her. Behind Alduin and Virion were Alea and Aya, who casually nodded to Tessia. Tessia's eyes settled on Virion and scoldingly narrowed on him, "You know since my workout this morning was interrupted."

"Now, now," Virion said simply, waving away Tessia's rebuke with his hand. "Don't be mad, little one. I don't want to be on either yours or Arthur's bad side."

"Arthur isn't mad, for your information," Tessia said as she crossed her arms. Virion and Merial smiled contently, hearing Arthur held no animosity toward Virion. Alduin, however, stood there blankly, listening about Arthur, not sure what to make of him yet. Tessia let out a frustrated huff, "I, on the other hand, am perfectly upset. Seriously, Grandpa, you could've gotten seriously hurt. You should've just asked me about Arthur."

"Wait," Alduin began, and all eyes flicked to him as he curiously looked at Tessia. "When you ran out of the room this morning, you were worried about your grandfather getting hurt and not Arthur?"

Tessia's eyes widened slightly, and she mentally slapped herself, realizing her slip-up. She couldn't blame her father for being suspicious since everyone in the room knew Virion was a well-trained seasoned warrior with a high silver core and a beast will.

Tessia awkwardly cleared her throat and slowly nodded, seeing there was no way of getting out of this one, "Y-Yes."

"Tessia, did you know Arthur was a white core?" Alduin inquired, looking at his daughter intently.

Tessia steeled herself, mentally preparing for her father's reaction, nodded, and confidently answered, "Yes. I did."

"Just how much do you know about this, Arthur?" Alduin asked, and his eyes flicked to the floor. With a more concerning question coming to mind, he looked back to his daughter. "And, does he know about your core status?"

At that question, Merial and Virion looked at Tessia curiously since they knew she wouldn't tell just anyone that information as it could cause chaos within the council because the power struggle would be in the Elves' favor.

"I know quite a bit about him," Tessia said and swallowed hard as she prepared for her following answer, knowing her father was about to be upset. After all, her core status was a well-guarded secret only known to the royal family and elven lances. Tessia took a deep, steeling breath, "And yes. He does know my core status."

Merial and Virion looked at Tessia, surprised. They both had their own conclusions that Arthur and Tessia had feelings for each other, but they didn't know her trust for Arthur had run so deep.

Alduin's brows furrowed, and he immediately became upset, "What?!" Tessia's eyes widened, and she flinched a little in surprise, hearing her father raise his voice at her. "Tessia," Alduin said scoldingly and gestured to her. "How could you be so naive to trust this human with this information?! For all we know, he could be telling Blaine about you!"