He looked at me in disbelief, no one had ever dared disobey him. Or even contradict the King. Giving me one last chance, shock and disgust now claiming the entirety of his features, he barely spoke. “Don’t be a disappointment, Ansgar…” he pronounced my name with a warning tone.
“But I already am, Father. Isn’t that what you told Damaris?” The memory I kept suppressed for so long resurfaced. “That I am too soft for war? That I can’t fuck anyone because of my stupid little trauma? That you are disappointed by my soft heart?” I accused.
His pupils showed a glance of surprise, it barely shone through his anger. I continued, “I am done! Done doing your bidding. Done living the way you ask me to, like a little saint who can’t do anything else but obey you. I have found my mate. I will be with her. And there is nothing you or anyone can do to keep me from her. You have no authority in this!”
As soon as I finished speaking, I felt Father's wrath upon my cheek, his hand remaining still in the air after striking me. His face shook, the gesture dominated by instinct rather than hatred.
Still he had done it. In front of the staff and the family.
I looked at him as I felt my cheek turning red. His face remained surprised, regretful, hand shaking, but it was too late.
“As you command, my King,” I managed to say as tears clouded my vision and I turned to exit the dining room.
“Ansgar,” Vikram grabbed my wrist to stop me but I pulled away, continuing my journey out of the room. As I passed my mother, I forced my gaze away, not wanting to look at her, though I sensed her pain radiating across the room.
I only let myself shed the tears once I was back in my chambers, door locked and windows barred, making sure no one disturbed my pain. I sat on the bed, the replica of the one back at the cave. Images of my childhood, of my life came flushing through my eyes. I was no longer to be a Prince of the Earth Kingdom, the king had made that clear. I did not know what I expected, but it was not this.
Even though Father had always been proper and sometimes cruel for our benefit, I had not expected him to disown me. That’s what he had done. Striking a child in public meant banishment from the family. I could still return to the kingdom, but how was I supposed to come back where I no longer belonged. When my father, the person who saw me grow up, who encouraged my training, the one that I fought alongside for the peace of the realm had made the decision to renounce a son rather than give a human a chance?
Hard knocks shook the door into tremors, someone forced the entrance to my chambers, trying to get in.
“Ansgar, open up!” Vikram’s voice echoed from the other side.
“Mother and Damaris are talking to him right now, please come back, we will make him reconsider,” he raised his voice to make himself audible, though I did not care anymore. I was not a member of this family. The thought, barely out of my head, made pain ripple through me as I made myself walk towards the door and open it. As soon as I did, Vikram’s arms jolted around me, hugging me tightly in the embrace I did not think I needed but once I got, made my knees buckle.
“Brother,” I mumbled into his shoulder, squeezing him as tight as he did me.
“It’ll be okay, you’ll see, just give him a minute, he will reconsider and come and apologise,” Vikram padded my back
“It is over,” I stopped hugging my older brother, the pain of the slap across my face waking me back to reality. “I must go.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Going to bed without using Ansgar’s chest as a pillow turned out to be harder than I thought. I got so used to his presence in the past month, craved his touch every single hour of the day and I found myself thinking about him in the weirdest most uncommon situations. Since I gave him a key, he had spent most nights with me, either watching movies and kissing on the couch or skipping dinner all together and enjoying each other in the bedroom, though not in all the ways I would have wanted.
It felt like we lived in a bubble, we even had breakfast together some days, then I would meet him somewhere in the forest for lunch and in the evenings, I found myself cooking dinner for when my fae man returned from his duties, whatever they were on that day. I even made a few acquaintances of my own from the faerie lands, even though it proved difficult at first to get over Faelar’s mossy hair and elongated ears. She was a great conversationalist and listened to everything I had to share from the ‘Realm’, as they called it, with major interest.
She was the first to come out of hiding when Ansgar took me to the Northern side of the district and showed me how to cross the river. He built an entire bridge for me out of nothing, with the power of his mind and a flick of the hand, but that was the least of the shocks I experienced that day.
Hundreds of faeries popped out of thin air, they blended so well within the surroundings that, if they hadn't moved to greet me or nodded in my direction, I would have passed them by without a second thought. Not all showed excitement towards the meeting, but the younger ones came by Ansgar’s side and introduced themselves, some carrying flowers or small offers for the human friend. The most amusing ones were the twins, Phyrra and Rennyn, always coming around the mansion to ask for new kinds of food and bringing me some of theirs in exchange. Their skin was hard and shaped like tree barks, so they loved playing pranks on me, calling me to a place and then disguising themselves, giggling as I searched for them for longer than I wanted to. A creaking of the front door made my entire body shiver with anticipation, feeling Ansgar’s steps heading towards the bedroom. Darkness still lingered outside and when I looked at the alarm clock I confirmed quarter past four in the morning.
Even though I felt happy with his prompt return, I also knew that he wanted to talk about something important with his family and I feared it may not have been successful if he returned home so quickly.
‘Home,’ it sounded weird to say it, especially since I was due to leave in three months and had absolutely no idea what would happen with us, nor did I have the courage to ask him. I felt terrified that the smallest dangling of air could rip our bubble open and cause everything to break. So, today, I would call this mansion home, alongside the man that made my heart trepidate with every closing step.
I felt him sneak into bed and wrap his arms around me, pulling me closer to him and straight into a tight embrace.
“Mmmmh,” I slowly moaned with pleasure when our skin connected.
“Miss me?” he asked while planting a kiss on my neck.
“Mm-hmm,” I approved and extended my neck so his lips had a better reach. I felt him smirk as he continued down my skin and moved onto my shoulder.
“How was your evening?” I asked, still enjoying the soft trail his kisses left on me, forming tiny goose bumps.
“Eventful, but that’s a conversation for another day.”
I turned to him abruptly, he had been excited to visit his parents, we had talked about our families many times and we both confessed how much we missed them, so as soon as he said the words, I knew something had gone wrong.
