The Elven King's Consort

Chapter 18: Messengers

I spent all night fixing the shattered ballerina music box. The beautiful object was left in a mess of a thousand pieces at the bottom of the bag. In my frazzled attempt to collect all the pieces, the weapons and other items I collected from the market lay sprawled about the room. If someone walked in right now, they'd think I was planning for a battle. Well, I was, in a way. Although the music box was difficult to fix, I managed; however, during the late hours of the night and dim candlelight, the cracks didn't appear noticeable until the break of dawn, when the sun's rays beamed in the room, illuminating the item. And a thousand rainbows cascaded across the walls, the irregularly shaped cracks on the box's surface becoming extremely prominent. I sighed, feeling defeated.

Well, the thought counted, and if I explained it to her, she'd understand, right? Carefully, I picked up the box, my head rested on my arm on the table, and I leaned the beautifully damaged item back and forth, watching the rainbows jump about. It was fixed as best as it could be. And the glue didn't budge. Placing it back down, I slid out of the chair and grabbed the gift wrap I wanted to use. I'll still give it to Maylyn, but only because it was useful; however, when I return to the market, I'll pick up another more alluring gift as a replacement.

Amid the wrapping, Evadne came rushing in, startling me and causing the music box and table to wobble in a frightening state. My heart jumped in its cage as I steadied it, and I glared at her, which caused her to freeze and bow, apologizing. Being up all night had shot my sixth sense, and she caught me off guard. I didn't feel comfortable with that at all. What if it was an assassin? Although to attack during the day would be foolish, the possibility was still high.

"What was so important that you had to come in like that, Evadne?" I hissed at her. My emotions were looser than usual, and it was harder to control them.

"Please forgive my sudden intrusion, but as soon as I had gotten word of the messenger arriving, I came rushing to you."

"The messenger is here?"

"Yes," she paused to nod her head while still trying to catch her breath," they've requested to have an audience with Her Highness the Queen immediately, and from my understanding, she asked one of her maids to come and invite you to join them."

"Well done, Evadne. Do you know where they have gone to meet?"

"Yes, it is the main guest room in her Highnesses wing."

"Damn, it'll take us a while to get there. Take this gift to Maylyn's headmaid, and I'll make my way there."

Evadne rushed over, gently took the wrapped gift, and left while I rummaged through my belongings for the one thing I could use to get to that meeting in time where I wouldn't miss anything important. For all I knew, the messenger could be conjuring a plan to harm my sister, and I had too many questions that needed answers to allow this moment to pass me by. Within minutes, the room was in an even more chaotic state. Clothing of every type for every occasion was hung or thrown atop the furniture and floor in my state of hysteria. Apparently, the item I needed had been put in such a safe hidden spot that even I had forgotten, and I was the person who had hidden it.

Finally, I found it in the back of my closet, wrapped in dark cloth. It was the stone Demetri had given me to use for traveling to the Lycan Kingdom. But instead of using it to go to a place I had no intention of ever returning to, I'll use it today to make it to that meeting. My eyes shot to the clock. Only five minutes had been wasted. Even if I had left instead of searching for this stone, I'd have been fifteen minutes late. Closing my eyes, I began to think of how the doors to the main guest room looked while grazing my thumb across the stone's smooth surface. A cold shiver crawled down my spine, and when I opened my eyes, my room began to fade away, and the glow from the stone shone brightly. Maybe it was foolish to use such a scarce item for this occasion, my consciousness echoed. But it was too late now. And part of me somehow knew plenty of stones would be available for me to use.