She did not come to see him again, the human girl failed to keep her promise, Valerie noted as he sat down on that bore floor, still leaning against the wall. A day has gone since her last visit and silence has been his only companion. It was funny how fate worked because he had gone from being a predator to prey.
Valerie had not been able to sleep a wink since that night the human girl left him here to heal - or die. He was in no state to defend himself nor were there the usual guards to keep him safe. Being this close to the Divider made him very uncomfortable knowing that any creature could creep in and end his life, hence he refused to give in to sleep. At least awake, he could put up a good fight or find a way to escape.
He was a prince and couldn't die easily, that was the only explanation for how he had escaped the wraith. But now he was struggling for his life and dangerously low on his magic. However, he would not give up knowing his father must have known by now that he needed help. Even if the human girl does not help him, they would come for him.
However, Valerie longed to see her one more time. Most, if not all Fae creatures were impossibly beautiful and he was used to that, but that human girl had an inner beauty that captured him, and now he couldn't forget her face. It had been a risk coming to her for help knowing that her kind was greedy and betrayals. But it was to die alone or form an unlikely alliance.
He was a fool for sitting here and hoping that she returns when the human could betray him in the twinkle of an eye. While the war was over, both sides barely associated with one another and it was not uncommon to hear news of humans capturing a Fae for their amusement. After all, there were human slaves in Astaria as well. Both sides were not exactly innocent.
Now, Valerie was in a position where he could be captured too and would not be able to defend himself. If that were to happen, it would prompt another war and while his sorry ass would be rescued later, his brothers would never let him hear the end of it. In one word, he had to move from here.
But Valerie didn't. He would give it one more day and if she didn't come to see him, it was safe to say he had tried his best and fate didn't want the both of them together. Fae creatures were big believers in fate and nothing was a coincidence. The fact that the gods let the human come his way could mean that he wasn't meant to die yet and whatever herb she used on him was working. Valerie could feel himself healing albeit slowly.
Hence he gave in to the silence that has been his companion for days now when a twig broke and he sat upright at once, alert. Fae had heightened senses and judging from the weight that broke the twig, he could tell that it was a human. Someone was here. At first, his heart gladdened at the thought that it could be the girl coming for him, but whoever this was walked carefully as if he or she didn't want to be discovered.
Has the girl betrayed him?
His blood chilled and his spine stiffened as he raised his hand calling on the magic he could sense inside of him. His power was lower than usual and depending on the number of people he would have to defend himself against, he might end up doing himself more harm than good if he ended up getting draining. However, he refused to go down without a fight.
He tilted his ears to the side with his eyes closed to be able to concentrate. Valerie picked up the careful footsteps and it was closer than he thought, so the instant the human pushed the door open, he had thrown the ball of flame in his hands in the direction, the same moment he opened his eyes to realize that he just made a huge mistake.
It was her.
And her eyes were the size of a moon as she took in the magic aimed at her. Valerie panicked and wanted to call back the flame, to undo what he had done, but he was too weak to achieve that kind of feat and could only watch as he destroyed the only human that was ever kind to him.
She barely dodged on time as the flames flew past her head and ended up getting doused in the pile of snow outside. While the disaster was averted, Valerie could smell burnt hair and swallowed nervously, especially when she lifted her hand and felt her hair. Whether human or Fae, it was a known fact that women valued their curls and he just committed an offense by singeing it.
At this point, Valerie knew that If he didn't succumb to his injuries, the human was going to kill him. He could see the shock on her features and their eyes connected in the process. He expected her to lash out at him but she asked instead,
"Before you decide to turn me into roasted meat the next time, could you at least let me say my last prayer?"
Huh?
Valerie's features portrayed his shock as he stared at her, it was not the response he had been expecting from her. That was when it dawned on him that the human feared him.
"I-I…" He swallowed, searching for the words to use, "I would not hurt you."
"Well, I beg to differ, you just tossed your magical flame at me. I would have been a human spit-roast if I hadn't reacted on time." She did not believe him.
Valerie winced inwardly, he didn't know how to deal with a human. He had only been on a diplomatic visit to the human realm once and the human leader had been so insufferable he didn't bother hiding his disrespect. But this was a female human and one that saved his life, by their law, he owed her.
"It was a mistake," He explained, "I didn't know that it was you. You didn't come to see me yesterday as you promised and then I heard footsteps, it was different from yours and I thought you…." The rest of the words got stuck in his throat because he couldn't outrightly accuse his savior of betraying him.
"You think I would betray you?" She said and his eyes widened.
Oh no, he didn't want to make her angry.
Her confidence returned and she was striding towards him with a frown, clearly angry. Even at that, she looked beautiful, having taken care of her appearance, unlike the first time when she was smeared with dirt and the blood of the deer she had hunted. She was the most beautiful female human he had ever seen.
"Look at me, Valerie," She demanded and he was startled to discover that she was now in his space. Had he been spacing out?
She said, "I get that we both don't know each other enough to establish trust but I saved your life almost at the cost of mine. The only reason I wasn't able to see you was that I fell sick from the cold -"
"Sick?" His tone was suddenly filled with urgency, already thinking of the worst. Humans were weak, fragile and easily died from an illness. That was what he was told. Was she dying already? How much time does she have? And to think that it was because of him!
"Yes, but don't worry …."
Valerie pulled her forward, silencing whatever words she had intended to say. He took both of her hands and covered them with his bigger one watching as she swallowed nervously.
"I am deeply ashamed and guilty that you sacrificed your life for me. Know this, I will never forget the favor you did me till I sleep with my fathers…." He could have hugged her to show his appreciation but he didn't want to aggravate his wound so he held her hands instead.
"Urmm, Valerie…?" The fragile human blinked at him in confusion, "What is going on? I'm a bit lost here."
"Your name?" He asked instead.
Valerie needed to honor her by her name, not the pony title of "human"
"You're beginning to scare me, Valerie?"
He looked at her and true to her words, she was becoming wary of him. Oh, he must have come off as intense and overwhelmed her.
Valerie let go of her hands and grasped her shoulder instead. He asked, "You're sick because of me, right?"
There was a slight hesitation but
she nodded in the end, speechless.
"Humans die when they're sick and because of me, you're going to die too -"
"What?!"