4 Princes

XXVII

Rook
"And just like that, you left," I heard as my shadow stretched up the wall.

"What?" I heard Elaina question. She sounded confused.

"Ah, your royal highness," Madame Tremaine widened her eyes and bowed with her words.

Elaina turned around and saw me, her mouth parted slightly open and her eyes were scared. I wasn't sure why she was in here, and as angry as I had become on the walk over here, I was still going to take care of her.

"Elaina, what are you doing here?" I asked, staring down at her stepmother.

"Confronting her," she declared, but it seemed like she was lying. For some reason, that just made my mood even sourer.

I tilted my head at her. "Go, Elaina,"

She hung her head down and started walking towards me. She was so scared, so uneasy. "Why did you hurt her her whole life?" I snapped.

Even hurt and angry with her, I would always stand up for her. No stars could change that, no order from my father, not even God himself could change that.

She started to turn around but I grabbed her chin and turned her head so she couldn't look at her stepmother. If Tremaine couldn't see Elaina, maybe she wouldn't lie. A part of me felt like I was stalling, and perhaps I was, but I also thoroughly enjoyed watching the nervous and terrified energy around Tremaine.

Tremaine tapped the counter behind her with her long nails. "Jealousy," she muttered, a disgusting look on her face. I could hear the honesty in her voice.

Through the corner of my eyes, I could see Elaina straighten her back out and frown. She almost looked surprised. I wasn't, that thought had gone through my head millions of times. Who wouldn't be jealous of Elaina? She was beautiful, calming, kind, and smart. She was a Heaven's day, but also a liar. She wasn't perfect, I just had to figure out if her positives outweighed her negatives.

I had a feeling they always would.

I turned around and angrily grabbed her arm. I tugged her out of the room, slamming the doors shut behind me. I didn't want to be angry, but no matter how far down I shoved it, it only made sense that she was lying to me again.

I pulled and she scratched at my hand trying to get me to release it but it was useless. I needed her to listen, to follow me to somewhere private.

I pulled her into the hallway leading out of the kitchen, and into the side tunnel.

I was out of breath when I finally let go of her arm. I wasn't out of shape, I was just... confused. I was out of breath because everything was overwhelming. I was staring at Elaina, trying to decipher what she was thinking, it looked like she knew she had done something wrong. She couldn't meet my eyes.

A huge part of me believed a huge part of her knew what I was going to ask. "Do you know who killed my mom?" I asked, my voice nearly cracking.

She snapped her eyes to me. I was stoic, unshowing of the true sadness beneath my skin.

Elaina hesitated. "Erik,"

I caught that hesitation, I caught the small flicker in her eye. "So you do, and it wasn't Erik."

She shut her eyes, almost as if trying to block me out of her mind. It wouldn't work like that. "Elaina!" I yelled in anger.

She started crying, her eyes swelling up with the buckets of lies she was probably holding against me. "I can't..." she cried out. "I can't tell you," she scrambled out. Her breathing was erratic, with short bursts followed by deep breaths.