"You said that I will have a daughter," Tella said.
"Your daughter will be born with a very powerful gift. But this child will have one fatal weakness."
-Finale by Stephanie Garber
This is a fanfiction! Please read both the Caraval trilogy and the O...
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The path we walk down is full of flowers and smells of honey. An interesting but sweet combination. The longer we walk, the more I'm certain that I should be refusing this pink haired menace's request to take me somewhere. There must be more to this, but all he does is glare at me then smile like an idiot and threaten me.
We walk in silence for a while, but eventually he asks me, "Do you miss living in Valenda?"
"I thought you were going to tell me about how you know all my secrets," I say.
"I will later. Just answer the question."
"Then, no. I don't miss Valenda."
I peer up at him and I swear there is sadness in his expression.
We continue up the path and he breaks the continued silence by commenting, "My father knew your father."
"What?"
"I said, my father knew your father."
"I know. It's just that it was just so incredibly random. You saying that, I mean," I pout.
He looks over at me for a minute, and I see his eyes crinkle as he smiles. Then he laughs. He laughs, and laughs, and laughs.
"Will you stop laughing at everything I say?" I frown.
"Why? Do you not like my dimples, treasure?" he drawls, still half giggling.
I ignore his question with one of my own, "Can you continue to tell me about our fathers?"
He looks at me, still smiling and says, "Our fathers hated each other. So that's why-"
"Why did they hate each other?"
"Oh, be quiet and listen," he says as he rolls his eyes jokingly. "So that's why my dad found out that Legend had a daughter. Not that he really cared, but he was going on about how he feels bad for you because your mother is Donatella."
Now it's my turn to laugh. "She isn't that bad," I reply. "Who is your-"
My sentence is cut off by my thoughts when I see where we are. Merrywood Manor.
Eli doesn't continue the conversation as he leads us to the side of the manor. He opens a door with a heart shaped key, gesturing for me to head inside.
My jaw drops at what I see. Hundreds and hundreds of art pieces. Paintings, sculptures, and other sketches are everywhere. "What is this place?" I ask.
"Take a look inside."
I do as he says and excitedly step inside the room. The room itself is nothing special. It looks like it was supposed to be some sort of storage room, but the masterpieces inside say a different story.
"Do you like it?" I hear him ask.
"Of course I do," I giggle in response. Paintings of lovers holding hands, landscapes of animals running in the fields, sculptures of birds and flowers.
"Did you make all of these?" I ask.
"I did."
My braid comes fully undone when I spin around and face him. He's an artist.
Eli smiles with his dimples at my expression, but when he hears a voice from outside, his happy smile is gone. He runs over and grabs my hand as he leads me over to a closet-looking door. "Hide," he says firmly.
"Wait-"
He locks eyes with me before pushing me inside and locking the door.
↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ-
I need to get out of here.
It has been over at least one hour, and I am very impatient. He was being so kind, and then just shoves me into a dark room. God, I really thought he was trying to be nice to me because of our deal.
I take a look around the dim room, and realize that it really isn't just any random space. It looks like a room full of a bunch of failed paintings and broken easels.
My eye catches on one certain canvas with a painting of a girl in a white dress. She's facing the ocean with her feet in the water, and her long brown hair is flowing with the wind. I wonder why Eli threw this painting in here. It looks so alive. When I lean in to get a closer look, I see the title of the painting underneath.
