Raven

Chapter 10

I emerge from my room as the sun sets and follow an elf down the tree to the dining hall. Strangely, I haven't dined outside of my room the entire time I've been at the tree, until now. Inside there are a dozen long wooden tables. Chairs line each table and elves are beginning to take their places. At a table down the other end of the room sits Alethea, Alexander and William. I head over to them, seating myself next to Alexander, across from William. He glares at me and I ignore him. If he wants to be angry, he can be angry, I don't care.

We eat our soup silently until Alethea attempts a conversation. I almost feel sorry for her. She has no idea of what is going on with us, why we're all so quiet.

'Alethea, we do not wish to speak to one another or anyone at all. Don't make us,' I say. She looks a little hurt and the elf guards at the doors look startled that I have spoken to their queen in such a manner.

'I apologise,' is all she says.

I lift a spoonful of soup and put it in my mouth. Dinner continues on in an eerie silence, no one looks up from their bowls and no one speaks for the rest of the meal. When we are finished, elf servants take our dishes away and place a slice of chocolate cake before us. I pick up my fork and use it to take a delicate bite of the chocolaty goodness, closing my eyes and savouring the taste. Before anyone finishes eating, Alexander slams his fork on the table beside his plate causing everyone to look up. He glares at me angrily.

'Honestly I have no idea what is going on but it whatever it is doesn't excuse the way you spoke to my queen earlier, Raven.'

I meet his gaze completely unfazed. 'You know, you should be a little more worried about him,' I indicate towards William, 'than me at the moment.'

Alexander looks over at William, finally noticing how he watches him with pure hatred in his eyes. 'What's your problem? Do you think I'm stealing your lover?' He asks as my eyebrows shoot up in surprise in surprise. No one has ever assumed William and I to be lovers before or they haven't said anything about it to our faces at least.

William clenches his jaw. 'You killed them, all of them,' he begins, anger burning in his eyes. 'My brother and my friends were there but you didn't even look back after you murdered them. You just left without the slightest bit of guilt or regret.'

'Alexander? What is he talking about?' Alethea asks, rather puzzled.

William turns to her. 'When he stole Raven, he killed Zaraelian guards. I thought you'd know, seeing as he is your subject.'

Alethea glanced at Alexander, shocked.

I decide I've had enough of everyone's cluelessness. 'As interesting as this is, I must return to my rooms,' I stand, pushing my chair back. 'See you all in the morning,' I call over my shoulder as I walk away.

As soon as I enter my room, I pull my mother's murder's sword from under my mattress. I can't be left defenceless if Bronwen's men are out there. Next, I head over to the window and make sure no one is around outside before crawling through it. Spreading my wings, I jump and fly off into the night.

The stars are falling from the sky. The pinks and oranges of dawn paint the sky as the sun rises. Sunlight slowly spreads through the forest, shining through the gaps in the leaves and around giant tree trunks. The darkness fades away, replaced by the blue of the sky during the day.

I crawl through my open window, closing it behind me before leaping into my bed. I settle down under the covers and close my eyes so that if anyone peers into my room they'll assume I've been asleep the whole night. It would have worked if someone wasn't already in my room. It did take me a while of lying still to figure it out. The first thing I heard was breathing, louder than it should have been. Immediately I leap to the worst possible conclusion that an assassin was in my room. My mind goes to sword I left out under a tree root, I should have brought it back with me.

'Where have you been?' Alexander's voice came from the dark shadows, flooding me with relief.

Deciding to pretend I've been here the whole time, I sit up, rubbing my eyes. He might have just magicked himself into my room at this moment. 'What do you mean?' I mumble.

He walks up to my bed and stares down at me. 'Where have you been?' He repeats.

I drop the act. 'Fine. I was outside, I went out straight after returning here,' I still don't give him the whole truth.

'What were you doing out there?' He questions persistently.

'Why should I tell you?'

He grabs my wrist tightly, hauling me out of bed. 'Tell me,' he says, dangerous look in his dark eyes.

I do not let him faze me. 'No.'

Alexander narrows his eyes, staring at me for a moment before releasing me and walking out of the room without a word.

I frown as I watch him go before sitting down on my bed. I had wondered for a moment there if Alexander had been going to torture an answer out of me. He was capable of it and I'd be a fool to underestimate what he would do.

I look down. My clothes are dirty and a little torn. Sighing, I go into the bathroom, bringing a new dress with me. After cleaning myself and changing, I walk back into the bedroom and look in the mirror going from the ceiling to the floor. My skin is clean now and I have a clean red dress which is all in one piece. If anyone asks me what I did last night, they'll now believe me when I tell them I've been in my room since I left dinner. No one but Alexander knows I wasn't.

Trying not to show anyone just how tired I am, I leave my room and walk down through the tree to the dining hall for breakfast. When I enter I see that only Alethea and Alexander are inside. I take my seat, the same one as the night before. Plates of pastries are set before us, followed by plates of eggs, meats and more. I look at the food spread before my hungrily before serving myself and digging in. The food here is good, equal to the food back in the castle in Zaraeli.

William walks in when I'm almost finished. He avoids looking at anyone as he seats himself across from me again, serving himself and beginning to eat his food. He's not angry at me anymore, this I can tell from knowing him since we were young children. Instead, he has directed his hate toward Alexander and I know he's feeling a burning desire to kill him.

I finish eating and watch him, if only to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid while in the presence of a queen. I look to Alethea, to see how she's reacting to William's appearance at the table. She is watching both him and Alexander warily and it makes me wonder whether something happened between the two men after I left dinner last night.

'I do apologise for being late,' William says between mouthfuls. 'Queen Alethea, it was been requested that you go down to the throne room once you are finished here.'

Alethea rises from her seat immediately and leaves the table, looking back over her shoulder once as she exits the room.

Something definitely happened last night. Alethea started acting a little strange when William walked in the room, she kept looking from him to Alexander. Alexander was still avoiding eye contact with everyone but at least he hadn't said a word about my absence from my room last night.

'Alright, what happened?' I finally ask, breaking the long silence.

'There was... A bit of a disagreement last night. I may have acted irrationally,' William admits, looking up from his plate at me.

Alexander slams his hand on the table, making the even the guards at the entrance jump. 'May have? You full on attacked me!' He snarls.

William narrows his eyes at the other man.

'You just don't want your princess to view you badly. You want her to see you as a saint in hope that she will offer you a place at her side, to rule as a King when she is crowned Queen of Zaraeli,' Alexander continues. Before he can say any more, I open my wings out, hitting him in the side of the head, wondering when the guards will intervene.

'That's enough!' A shout comes from the doorway.

What do you think Raven was doing out at night? Vote and comment if you enjoyed :)