Between the Willow Trees [NaNoWriMo 2013] (Editing)

Chapter 16: Regretful Decisions

Chapter 16: Regretful Decisions

"Okay, just give me the chance to explain. I promise you that it's really not what it looks like."

I walk around the other side of the desk so that I'm facing Thorne. He's got his eyes closed tight and his fists clenched in anger. I try to take hold of his hands, wanting to calm him down but he takes them away from me. His eyes fly open and I'm met with the blood red eyes that come with his rage. I force myself not to react in shock. It's not the first time I've seen these eyes so I can't react the way I did the first time I saw them. I take a deep breath and tell myself that I need to remain calm. If I seem scared then he might see straight through my lies.

"At first when Levi helped me back on earth he seemed as though he was on our side but since he came to Elethoria he has been trying to turn me against you. He says that you're not the rightful king of Elethoria and that he wants to get Queen Eletha back on the throne. I never wanted to follow his plan but I'm scared of him. I'm just a feeble human and he's so strong. He threatened me, if I don't join him then obviously I'm against him and he'll kill me. I started to pretend as though I was on his side because I fear him. He asked me to get information about you, to try to discover your weakness or a way to kill you and I fed him lies which he gratefully took," I explain.

"If you were scared of him then you should have come straight to me. I could have him killed or locked away so that you will never have to see him again."

He's loosening up a little. He's beginning to believe my lies. Thorne relaxes his muscles. His eyes fade back to green.

"I was going to go straight to you but you were still distant, always spending time away from me. I feared that you wouldn't give me the chance to fully explain the situation and that you'd just kill him on the spot. That would have been a bad idea. It's obvious that he has a plan. He needs to be locked away, possibly tortured so that you can get information out of him. There's clearly a plan in motion to stop you and if you killed him then you'd never learn of this plot. I only kept this all to myself to protect you."

"I believe you," he says. That's when I walk back around the desk and fling my arms around his back, pulling him into a tight hug.

"I never meant to upset you and I didn't want you to find out about it like this. I'm sorry," I say.

"It is fine," he whispers.

"You're the one that I love. The only one that I will ever love. It's always been you and always will be. I shall never leave you for someone else, especially not a traitor like Levi."

That's it. Thorne trusts me once again but now I've thrown Levi right in front of the dagger. I've used him like a shield to deflect the danger from myself and onto him. How will I ever get him to forgive me now?

Thorne takes a step back, loosening my tight hold around him. I let my arms drop back to my sides. He lifts a hand up to my face and wipes away the tears that I hadn't even noticed. 

"Do you want to go back to the party?" Thorne offers and I nod. "Are you sure, I do not mind if you just want to be alone after I unnecessarily shouted at you."

"It's okay, I'm alright. We should go back to the party because I think you shocked a few people back there. We should show them that everything's alright between us or else they'll start gossiping. Plus I was having fun dancing with you before you left me standing there alone."

Thorne smiles and leads the way back into the main hall. We practically sneak through the door to avoid being noticed and then merge back into the crowd with ease. I tell Thorne that I'm just going to go to the bathroom and he lets me go. I take the pocket watch off of my neck and discretely slip it into a plant pot. I immediately begin to search for Levi in the crowds of people because I need to warn him. I find him standing right next to the food where I left him earlier. He looks surprised to see me returning to me.

"What happened? Your makeup looks smudged as though you've been crying."  He looks down at me, his face full of concern. It's not me he needs to be worrying about though. 

"We don't have time to talk. Someone told Thorne about the conversation we had in my bedroom earlier. I had to lie myself out of it but unfortunately I've blown your cover. He knows you're working against him now so you need to leave right away. Get out of the castle and keep on running," I explain. Levi's mouth drops open in shock but he makes no attempt to move. "You need to get out of now Levi."

"Right, okay, I'm going," he replies. I watch as he pushes through the crowd and exits through one of the side doors.

I look down at my reflection in one of the silver dishes on the food table and wipe away the smudges of mascara under my eyes. Then I make my way back over to Thorne, rescuing the pocket watch from the plant pot on the way. Thorne's holding two champagne glasses. He hands one to me when I reach him.

"I am really sorry about before, I promise to find a way to make it up to you," he says as he takes hold of my hand.

"It's honestly fine Thorne. I completely understand why you reacted like that. I probably would have done the same thing if the situation were reversed. Let's just try to forget about it now, okay?" 

He nods and I reach up to pull his face down slightly to kiss him on the cheek.

"May I have this dance?" I ask him and he agrees. We spend the rest of the evening dancing into the early hours of the morning as I worry about whether Levi managed to get out of the castle safely.