May Death Do Us Part

231 Chapter 231 : Pretty little feet

Everyone was in shock after witnessing what had just happened, even Leonard and Isabella who had only just known the young hybrid boy Zhelimir were surprised that he was able to pin Jacob down. Back home in Ervelon he was untouchable when it came to things like this, be it hand to hand tackling or dueling with wooden swords, he would always come out on top. But to everyone’s utter shock, a timid boy like Zhelimir had him on both his hands and feet.

Zhelimir tossed his wooden sword aside and took a step away from the dark haired elf. He drew in a breath not believing he had actually managed to pin someone down for the first time in his life, and someone much bigger than him in build at that, it seemed his father’s dueling lessons had not landed on deaf ears after all.

The blonde boy gave his opponent one last glance before he turned around ready to leave the site of their ‘battle’, when Jacob got up and picked up the wooden sword that had been knocked out of his hand. Jacob jumped to his feet, tightened his grip on his wooden sword and prepared to attack the blond boy.

“Zhel!” Eira who had seen Jacob get up vanished from her place and appeared right in front of Zhelimir just as the wooden blade was swung forward. She closed her eyes and braced herself for the pain of its impact but to her surprise, the hard hit from Jacob’s sword never came. She opened her eyes slowly, trailed them up a large figure who had seemingly materialized out of thin air in front of her, and saw a tall red headed, blue eyed figure, and in his hand was the wooden blade Jacob had been wielding.

“Only cowards raise a weapon to an unarmed opponent. And only the lowest of the bunch attack an opponent from the back..”

Jacob gulped in unison with the snapping of the wooden blade that the man broke with one hand like a twig. “And you Jacob, just showed me that you are both. Quite disappointing.”

Damien then turned to look at Eira, his face emotionless as usual and creased down her red flowing hair. “Are you okay Eira?”

“Umm yes I’m okay cousin Damien, thank you..” the little princess muttered.

Eira had met her cousin Damien a total of three times in her life now, the first time was when she was really young and he had come to visit together with his parents. she could barely recall the details of that memory but she could still recall his red hair and purplish- bluish eyes, and even when he had left to return to Ervelon, she couldn’t forget how much people said she resembled him.

.....

The second time was on her fifth birthday, that was when Eira’s mind had registered that he was her much older cousin on her mother’s side, born almost a century before her conception. He was always brooding and showed very little emotions, and this in addition to his intimidating looks made him even more scary looking. But after hearing snippets of his story she somewhat understood why he was like that. Apparently he grew up a prisoner with his mother, and only knew his father much later in his life, that was a lot even for a seemingly strong man like Damien.

This meeting today, was the third time..

“You should be ashamed of yourself Jacob, what would your father say if he saw what you just did? I’m assuming he has his heart set on you becoming a knight one day, what kind of knight will you be with such behavior?” Damien tossed the broken wooden sword to Jacob’s feet, “do better, you have the potential.”

The dark haired elven boy pouted and looked away, who did this man think he was anyway? Lecturing him like this? Damn him! How dare this redhead embarrass him in front of Eira like this?!

Damien then turned to Zhelimir who was frozen in place, he still hadn’t gotten over the fact that Eira had almost been badly hurt trying to protect him, AGAIN. He was supposed to be proving himself not so timid anymore, but his cousins still had to come to the rescue even now, it was frustrating. Just one time he would like to be the one doing the saving and protecting, and not the other way around.

“You did great in the fight Zhelimir,” Damien spoke while gently patting his shoulder. “I can see you becoming a great swordsman one day, you have the strength of your mother and the agility of your father, very potent skills once used right. And after a few lessons with me, you will be almost unstoppable.”

“Lessons? What lessons?” The blonde boy asked in surprise.

“You and Eira will now be training under me as instructed by the king,” Damien crouched down and held both their shoulders. “I have a bit of experience dealing with our kind of abilities, you two are different, like me, and because of that you need someone who understands that difference so as to put your abilities to the test. If anyone can help harness your powers it’s me.”

*

Fast forward to ten years later, Eira peeked out into the palace parlor. Her vivid purple eyes moved from side to side while her pierced pointed ears twitched in response to the subtle sounds around.

After ensuring no one was close by, she clasped her dress and lifted it slightly to expose her bare feet, and glided across the parlor to the outside.

The elven princess, now sixteen years old took a deep breath and stifled an excited giggle before walking, or rather floating, across the courtyard to the training grounds that she knew were empty at this time of day. The knights trained early in the morning and late in the evening, while her and Zhelimir trained with Damien before lunch. It’s was a little over lunchtime so no one would see her sneaking out to the woods.

“Eira?..”

The redhead halted in her steps and cursed under her breath. Who in the world was calling out to her? There was supposed to be no one here. She turned around slowly and saw Jacob walking towards her, Eira sighed knowing her plans to go to the forest had practically been ruined, Jacob would never keep this a secret.

Jacob thrust his sword into the ground before jogging towards Eira. A few feet away from her he slowed down and walked so as to take in her beauty, because in all honesty, she had a lot of it.

Eira being sixteen had developed the body of a young woman, intricately curved just like her mother. Her hair was knee length and riddled in voluminous curls, her lips Cupid bow shaped, her skin warm and radiant, and her eyes slender and beautifully colored. There was not a man who had met Eira who had not commended her beauty, she was the perfect mix of gorgeous elf and sexy nosferatu.

“Good afternoon princess..” Jacob mumbled with a taunting bow. “I see you’re not wearing shoes again, are you perhaps planing on going to the forest that your father specifically said you should avoid?”

Eira rolled her eyes at Jacob, was he ever going to change? He was a great swordsman and archer, and to top it off he was incredibly smart, but his smug and arrogant ways tended to eclipse his awe worthy attributes.

Jacob had grown to look a lot like his father, lord Ivan, if anything he was a replica of him, inheriting everything from head to toe. The dark haired elf was a little older than Melissa, it turns out his mother conceived him during his father’s time in Ervelon before ‘the battle of the mages’ as it was now known. He was born a few months before Eira was, and he made sure to remind her that he was older every chance he got.

“What do you want Jacob? And what are you doing in the training grounds this time of day? Aren’t you supposed to be home resting?”

Jacob inched closer to Eira until they were a few inches apart, being the tall young man he was, he towered over her and enjoyed looking down at her petit heart shaped face. “I wasn’t tired after training so I stayed back. I’m glad I did because it let me meet you here. Now tell me princess, where were you off to with no shoes covering your pretty little feet?”

The purple eyed red head took a step backwards and folded her arms, “don’t tower over me like that Jacob, you and I are friends but I am a princess and you should treat me as such.”

Jacob’s face curved into an amused grin, that was another attribute he liked about Eira, she was feisty. He bowed playfully and with one eye closed looked up at Eira, “i beseech thee your grace, may I ask where you are off to this fine afternoon without shoes on thy royal feet?”

The princess rolled her eyes and pushed Jacob away. The elf burst into laughter before taking Eira’s hand and kissing it. “I will let you venture the forest Eira, but I’m coming with you, that is not a place a young princess should be waltzing into on her own.”