Anya

Chapter Twenty-Five

Chapter Twenty-Five

  

Hiding behind some trees, Dimitri could hear Anya and Darya not far in front of him. Anya’s voice was very strained and she sounded stressed which made Dimitri feel awful in himself because he knew – or he at least hoped – that it was because of his stupid letter.

   He only hoped a little because it meant that he had affected her just as much as she him. She made him doubt the whole world he was brought up in and although he did not like it one bit, he could not imagine a future where he did not at least get to speak to her on a daily basis.

   She had intruded on his life and become everything to him. It had happened so unexpectedly that he did not even realise he needed her until now.

   He had been hiding behind the trees as he followed her now for about fifteen minutes. He had not seen any demons about so for now he could afford to keep a low profile. If he told them, it may alarm them further and that was something that could not happen.

   He was surprised he found them in one piece, after he had passed through that village, all that kept flashing through his mind as he ran down the beaten path was Anya laying in a pool of her own blood as a demon stood over her, his red eyes flashing at Dimitri with a glint in his eyes.

   By that point he had already been desperate to find them but when that image popped up, he suddenly found some inner speed and was able to run even faster despite his lack of sleep and his energy levels being low.

   “I would have thought we would have caught up to Dimitri by now,” Darya grumbled in front of him as she kicked a stone.

   “Like I told you, he doesn’t know where the palace is exactly, he is probably half way on his way to the coast. He doesn’t live here remember. He didn’t have the test when he was sixteen to prove he knew his faction.” Anya explained with a huff.

   “I still find it hard to believe that he was born in Anceps or that he is from that family you said he was from.”

   Dimitri frowned at her words. Does that mean that Anya does know his family? He was a little in shock and he also felt an enormous amount of pride. He knew that his family was influential in Anceps but did not know they were famous enough for a Princess to know who they were.

   “He is, his family is riddled with people who managed to break boundaries, Dimitri is the same. His father killed a fairy, nobody else has done that! Dimitri is after my family and I am not going to allow it.”

   His gut dropped, she knew. He didn’t even put it in the letter and she knew what she wanted. How in the hell did she know that? She didn’t even know the full him, she only covered a scratch on his history and yet she knew straight away that I would be after her grandfather and family.

   He didn’t even want to kill her family – not anymore anyway. He cared about Anya too much to do that to her. However, he needed to kill the King, he would spend the rest of his life apologising to her but he needed to do it. He was obviously the main instigator in all of this and he may be able to get his son to convince him otherwise. Or he hoped so.

   He shuffled away from behind one tree and started to make his way to stand behind another when he heard several sticks snap. He turned around fast, his eyes darting between the trees to see what caused the noise when he noticed the black shadow shoot through them.

   He kicked into action instantly, running onto the path he shouted at Anya, “Run!” He yelled.

      Anya turned around at his voice with a puzzled expression so he repeated himself. “Run! There are demons around!” His heart was beating a mile a minute as Anya stood rooted to the spot, not moving anywhere.