Chereads / The Swapped Bride / Chapter 38 - Revealing

Chapter 38 - Revealing

'I'm not always this reckless.' Yavanna thought, feeling humiliated and angry. Why? Why on earth had she ignored her guard? Ignored her senses? She wasn't an idiot.

She stood still amidst the trees, her heart beginning to pound as realization sank in. She was lost… in the middle of a Nothad forest. Why had she come out here in the first place? To practice magic. Right. How ridiculous.

She began to breathe easier when she remembered the last time she had been stuck in the woods, the creature had been there. And so far, there was no sign of it. Also, it was still daylight, if she simply turned around and walked straight back to where she and her knight had entered the woods, all would be well.

She sucked in a breath and marched back to where she believed her feet had walked. She wasn't sure how long she had been walking when she heard a sound. Then another. She couldn't quite place it. Her feet stopped of their own accord and began walking towards the alien noise. Another echoed through the mist and she ducked below a branch, only to come face to face with a sight she did not, and had not wanted to see.

A hot spring stretched out from beyond where she stood on the grassy bank, a different sort of mist rising from it and mingling with the other mists that hovered around it, wary of the heat and warmth the spring offered. She averted her eyes when she saw a glimpse of the sight she'd previously seen of the king sitting in the warm water, his upper chest revealed in the light.

Blood rushed to her ears and she struggled not to squeak or sprint away from there. But she felt trapped; she needed help out of the forest, but—the only help she saw was clearly nude and would certainly be a begrudging ally.

She wished she could magically find a way out of the infernal mists without relying on this king for help. He needed to understand that she wasn't weak, she was only weak in some areas. Her fingers unconsciously curled into fists as her anger at him began to burn through her veins. He was an infuriating person and she wished she had the guts to tell him everything she disliked about him; just as he had done to her.

In the blink of an eye she found her body pressed up against the king's beneath the water. Her hands instinctively grasped his arms to steady herself in the new, buoyant environment. She shrieked—a delayed response, but a response nonetheless—and it burned her delicate throat.

He jerked out of her touch, his blue eyes boring into her with a wrathful expression that caused all of her anger to fly out of her mind and be replaced by memories of him hurting her.

"What are you doing here?!" He bellowed, the cloudy water splashing as she stumbled back further. She looked down and a muffled shriek escaped her mouth when she saw that her dress was floating up to the water's surface instead of pulling her down. He growled in anger and she snapped her eyes back to his.

She clenched her hands into fists before splaying them. She began to push her stubborn skirt back beneath the water as she answered him and pointed to her throat, where the bruises were still evident. Her face—where Velio had struck her—was much worse.

"This is my private retreat." He spat out, "Now answer me. What are you doing here?"

She simply raised her chin in indifference. She couldn't speak, he knew this yet he ignored it. Her veil was dipping into the deep water along with her hair and her dress continuously bobbed up to the surface. She slapped it back down, 'Infernal dress!' She failed when it popped right back up.

He scoffed harshly, "I know you can speak, and I'm sure you'll want to when you hear the questions I have for you." She stilled. He was acting differently, more unstable, more like Velio. "I received a letter from a settlement north of here and do you want to know what it said?" He growled out.

She furrowed her brows, 'No, not really.' Why had she even gone outside? To practice magic. She tilted her head and thought back to how she'd "magically" appeared in the pool. Infernal magic. 'Well, let's try experimenting some more.' She thought to herself and began to look around, trying to come up with a way she could perhaps escape, when the king spoke,

"No? Oh, I think you'll find it quite interesting, Yavanna."

The forest stilled. The mists stilled. Even the waters stilled. But the two beings in the pool remained the most fixed in place. She tried to continue breathing, but her oxygen had been forcefully sucked from her. Yavanna…

"That is your name, is it not? The second princess of Viland. Engaged to Lord Dwelt of the Fen Region and if her sister happened to have a problem fulfilling her own engagements, the perfect replacement. I find it hard to believe that your sister would get it wrong, don't you?"

The sarcasm on his tongue dripped into the pool and climbed into her body, chilling her lethally until she saw her breath mist in the air. The king must've felt it as well because his nose tinged red. He snapped his eyes up and stormed towards her through the water, disturbing the eerie stillness that had overtaken it. "Stop that." He snapped and gripped her shoulders painfully.

She gasped and felt the atmosphere shift back into place. Had she done that? She blinked hard and forced her mind to refocus. How did he know her name? That letter. She brought her eyes to his, "How…" Her voice came out hoarse and breathless, "Do you know my name?"

"Like I said… your beloved sister told me." His voice held an element to it, besides the menacing tone, that caused her heart to strain. He seemed angry but something told her that it wasn't entirely directed at her.