Elven Oath

Chapter 2

Vevina

E veryone was acting strange, like they knew something I didn’t, and it gnawed at me. The pitying looks, the soft murmurs when I walked by, the way people would turn away the moment they saw me coming—it was maddening. I couldn’t figure it out. What had I done?

Did I smell bad? I’d check myself a hundred times a day in my chambers. Nothing. Not even a hint of anything off.

Maybe it was something else, some hidden gossip swirling around the court. But no one would tell me, no matter how many times I asked. They’d just give me that same sad, distant smile and scurry off as if being near me was suddenly dangerous.

Surely if I’d done something that I wasn’t supposed to, my father would have yelled at me by now.

He had a way of always making me feel like an unwanted daughter. The burden he must endure because he was unable to sire a son before my beautiful mother passed away.

Somehow, I know that he blamed me for that as well. She was always sick after my birth, never fully recovering. While I lost her when I was young, I still remember little things about her.

Tired of the walls closing in, of the whispers and the tension as I walk along the hall, I slip out of the castle through a side door when no one is looking.

My guards had been particularly jumpy, but I was tired of their watchful eyes. I needed a moment of freedom, a breath of fresh air without being followed around like some fragile thing about to break.

They never watched closely enough, anyway. Not when I really wanted to be gone. They always assumed I went back to my room.

Idiots.

The apple orchard was where I’d escape. I’d been slipping out to play there with the servants’ children for years. It was lonely being an only child.

They didn’t look at me like a noble or give me those uncomfortable stares. They just laughed and treated me like one of them.

And in the orchard, I didn’t have to worry about courtly expectations or whatever mystery was now making its way around the castle.

The children were already there, their voices rising in a chorus of giggles as they chased each other between the trees in a game of tag. Smiling, I join them, feeling lighter as the game continues.

The orchard was peaceful, filled with the sweet scent of ripe apples and the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze.

We played for what seemed like hours, laughing and running, feeling more alive than I had in days.

It was simple, pure, and free of the strange atmosphere that had seeped into the castle. Here, no one gave me those looks, no one whispered. It was just me, the children, and the wide-open sky.

But then we noticed the shadows.

At first, I thought it was just a cloud passing overhead, blocking the sun. But the shadows were too large, moving too quickly.

Glancing up, my heart freezes in my chest. Massive figures soar across the sky, dark and ominous against the pale blue. They were enormous with wings spread wide.

Dragons.

I’d never seen one before, not in real life, only a picture in our oldest texts. But there was no mistaking them.

The sleek, powerful shapes, the way they moved so gracefully despite their size. They were dragons. And they were heading toward the castle.

My breath catches in my throat as panic surges through me, but I can’t let the children see. I can’t let them be afraid.

"Go," I say quickly, my voice steady even though my heart is racing. "Back to the servants’ quarters, now. Run, and don’t stop until you’re inside."

The children look at me, wide-eyed and confused, but something in my tone must have convinced them to not argue.

Without another word, they turn and sprint back through the trees, their laughter replaced by the sound of quick, frightened footsteps.

I stand there for a moment, watching the dragons circle overhead, their wings beating slowly, almost lazily, as if they were in no hurry.

There were at least three of them, maybe more, but it was hard to tell from the ground. They weren’t attacking and they didn’t seem aggressive. But their presence sent a chill down my spine. Why were they here?

I didn’t wait to find out. The children were safe, and now I needed to get back to the castle.

Running through the orchard, my feet pound against the earth as I make my way back toward the castle gates.

The guards would be furious that I’d slipped away, but that didn’t matter now. There were dragons flying over our lands. Creatures we haven’t seen in our lands in generations.

The war was over, wasn’t it? The peace between our people and the Dragonkin had been fragile for years, but surely, surely, no one would be reckless enough to threaten it now?

I’m breathless by the time I reach the gate, my heart pounding in my chest. The guards are at the gate, their faces pale as they look to the skies.

They didn’t even seem to notice me slipping back in, their attention focused entirely on the massive creatures overhead.

I hurry through the corridors, my mind racing with questions. I need answers.

There was something happening, something bigger than I’d realized. And I was right in the middle of it somehow, whether I liked it or not.

Dragons over the castle. What in the name of the stars was going on?

My emotions are a tangled mess of fear, curiosity, and frustration. What had brought the dragons here? Why now?

The halls were buzzing with nervous energy. Servants rush past me, their faces pale, and no one spares me a glance.

The same tension that had been hanging in the air for days seemed thicker now. Something big was happening and it had to do with the dragons.

I make my way toward the main hall, where I know my father will be. He had been acting strange too, distracted and distant, brushing off my questions. But he couldn’t avoid me now. Not with dragons flying over our heads.

I push open the heavy doors of the main hall without hesitation, stepping inside before anyone can stop me.

My father stands at the head of the room, surrounded by council members and advisors, all of them with grim expressions.

But what catches my eye isn’t their faces. It’s the three unfamiliar men standing near the table. Huge men that look as if they were sculpted from clay.

They were strangers to me, and something about them set my nerves on edge. They most definitely were not Elfkin.

"Vevina," my father says, his voice stern as soon as he sees me. "This is a delicate matter. You shouldn’t be here."

I open my mouth to protest, to demand answers, but the hard look in his eyes stops me. There’s no warmth there, no understanding. Just a firm, unyielding resolve.

"Go clean yourself up," he says, his tone sharp, as if I were still a child playing in the dirt. "You are needed elsewhere."

I want to argue, to ask about the dragons and the men in the room that I didn’t know, but something in the way he spoke told me it would be pointless.

I was being dismissed, pushed away from whatever was happening in the room. Glancing at the strangers again, I feel their eyes on me, but they also say nothing.

With a slight bow to my father, I turn and leave the hall, my mind spinning yet again. Dragons flying over the castle, strangers in my home, and my father refusing to tell me anything. The air felt thick with secrets, and I was trapped in the middle of it.

As I walk back to my chambers, the questions gnaw at me. Why wouldn’t my father explain what was going on? Who were those men, and what did they have to do with the dragons? And why was I being kept in the dark?

I catch sight of myself in the mirror along the hallway and realize I am still covered in dirt from the orchard.

My hair is wild, covered in leaves and my clothes rumpled. My father had been right about one thing, I did need to clean up. But that didn’t change the fact that something was wrong.

My thoughts drift back to the main hall, to the tension in my father’s voice, and those strangers standing near the table.

Three men I had never seen before, each of them imposing in their own way. But one stood out against the rest. One whose presence lingered in my mind even now, like an imprint I couldn’t shake.

He was the tallest of the three, with sharp features that somehow seemed both regal and dangerous at the same time.

His skin was fair, though there was something more to it, a kind of warmth that glowed beneath the surface, like embers hidden beneath cool ash.

And his eyes... gods, his eyes.

Golden.

More vivid than any I had ever seen. They seemed to glow brighter than those of his companions, as though lit from within by some secret fire.

When he looked at me, just for a brief moment before I left the hall, it was like his gaze pierced right through me, as if he could see everything I was trying to hide.

It made my heart race, though I wasn’t sure why and wasn’t sure if I disliked it.

He was handsome in a way that felt almost unnatural, like a figure from ancient stories come to life.

His face was strong, angular, but with a kind of grace to it. Not soft, but refined. Even standing still, there was a power in the way he carried himself, a quiet confidence that made him seem more dangerous than anyone else in the room. His companions were intimidating, yes, but they faded into the background next to him.

I couldn’t stop thinking about him.

Who was he? Why had he come to our castle with dragons circling the sky?

There was something about him that felt important, even though I had no idea what his role in all this could be.

A part of me wanted to go back to the hall, to demand answers, not just from my father, but from him. Those golden eyes haunted me, burning into my memory.

And yet, even now, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had seen him before. Not in real life, but in the way you dream of something so vivid that it leaves a mark on you, even after you wake up.

I had never met him, and yet... It felt like he was someone I was meant to know.

Are the Gods playing a trick on me?