May Death Do Us Part

243 Chapter 243 : A savage

Jacob took the painted portrait from the painter and studied it closely.

“Is that him? Is that the man who took Eira?” Janis asked her brother eagerly.

The man in the portrait had long rugged white hair, a dark rugged beard, glowing reddish eyes and an angry badly scarred face.

“Yes, this is definitely him,” Jacob responded as he rolled up the parchment with the man’s face on it. “I can’t forget that menacing face.”

Janis gasped and covered her mouth in terror, the man looked like a beast, only the gods knew what kind of terrifying and horrid things he was doing to Eira. “We need find her quickly Jacob, she could be in danger!”

“Who could be in danger?”

Jacob and Janis turned around and both froze when they saw Eira at the door observing them.

“Eira!” Janis ran towards the redhead and wrapped her arms around her, “thank the gods you’re okay!” Tears streamed from her eyes as she hugged the woman.

“Of course I’m okay Janis why wouldn’t I be?” Eira responded in surprise as she watched her friend sob hysterically.

.....

“Jacob said some savage kidnapped you at the party...” Janis sobbed, “we thought he would do horrible things to you.. I should have never made you go to that party Eira I’m so sorry!”

“A savage?” Eira looked at Jacob who was stashing away a parchment in his pocket. Had Jacob seen the man who had saved her? But in all honesty he was far from a savage, he was actually very suave if anything. Or maybe Jacob had seen the man who had tried to take advantage of her, the one who her silver haired savior had saved her from.

The redhead held Janis’ shoulders and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m alright Janis calm down, as you can see nothing happened to me.”

Jacob walked towards Melissa not quite understanding what was going on. Had she escaped from her captor? She didn’t look like someone who had though, as a matter of fact she looked refreshed and calm, what exactly had happened?

“Eira are you okay?” Jacob asked, he failed to believe that after what had happened the night of the party Eira could be so relaxed and unbothered. Had the white haired beast done something to her? Threatened her? Hypnotized her maybe? Because none of this made any sense.

“Of course I’m okay Jacob,” she responded with a smile, “you have nothing to worry about.

Jacob didn’t buy it, as a matter of fact, now he was even more sure that Eira’s kidnapper had done something to her, there was no way anyone would be this calm.

“Where were you last night?” Jacob asked the princess as he closed the gap between them. “Janis and I were worried sick about you, we thought something had happened to you. One minute you’re passed out and drunk and the next i can’t find you anywhere.” Jacob stopped in front of Eira and gently grabbed her arms. “And now you just show up here saying you’re okay like it’s nothing? Can you see why I find that hard to believe?”

Eira took a step back to allow Jacob’s hand to slip off her arms. “Like I said, I’m fine. I don’t really recall what happened after I blacked out but I can assure I was not hurt in anyway whatsoever, I’m fine.”

“Alright that’s swell and dandy but where were you all night Eira?” Jacob asked again, this time he was a bit more forthcoming about it, almost like he was demanding some sort of explanation. “Where did you sleep? Because clearly you were not home last night!”

“Jacob please!” Janis pushed her brother back and stood between him and Eira, “the important thing is that she is here now and she is safe. Who cares about the details.” Janis took Melissa’s hand and started leading her out of her brother’s room. “Come one Eira, Isabella is on her way here for some tea and chit chat, we all need a breather after last night.”

Jacob watched the two young women walk out the door and disappear into the passage before he sighed in frustration. His sister was right of course, the details really didn’t matter as long as Eira was safe and back home, but Jacob couldn’t help but get the nagging feeling that there was something the hybrid princess was not telling him, something she wanted to keep hidden, and he wanted to know what it was and why. But Jacob had a feeling it had to do with the events that occurred while Eira was missing, something had definitely happened that she didn’t want to share.

*

Elric groaned and cupped his face with hands feeling angry with himself about what he was doing. He had been clearing his room and spreading the bed Eira had been laying in when he caught a whiff of her scent on his sheets. It was a subtle scent of lavender and cream that made him grab the sheets and inhale deeply, before he knew it, he was laying in the bed, the sheet wrapped around him while he took in her scent shamelessly.

What was wrong with him? He barely knew this woman and now he was imprinting her scent on him, for all he knew she could be a sorceress here to ruin the calm and quiet life that he had built himself, he couldn’t allow that to happen.

The silver haired man got up and threw the sheet aside, he still was very curious about the woman regardless. He wanted to know why he used to see her long before he met her, he wanted to know what and who she was. Now that Elric thought about it, she didn’t even know his name and neither had she bothered to ask for it.

Elric shook his head, so what what if she didn’t ask for his name?! Why did he even care?! The man got up and walked out of his bed chambers towards the door leading outside, he needed some air, maybe a hunt would help him clear his mind and help him forget of the mystery of a woman called Eira.

*

The entire time during the tea party Eira was completely out of it, her mind was filled with so many questions. First about what her father and mother had said, she wondered who this person was that her parents worried so much about to the point that they feared he or she might harm Eira, what had they done to provoke such rage?

Secondly, for some unknown abominable reason, she couldn’t stop thinking about her silver haired rescuer. She had many questions for him too, what was he talking about really when he said he had been seeing her? Was he delusional or was there some sort of strange unknown connection between them even from before Eira was born.

“Eira...”

The princess awoke from her deep state of musing and turned to Janis end Isabella who were looking at her with concern.

“Are you okay, you look like your mind is so far away,” Janis asked her friend.

“Oh sorry Janis I’m here,” Eira responded nervously, “just drifted away a little, it’s nothing.”

“I hear you had a little secret night out of the palace yesterday princess,” Isabella mumbled in a taunting tone with a sly smile tugging her lips. “Come on Eira, you’ve been absent minded today, tell us, was he devilishly handsome? Did he ravish you till you had no choice but to fall in love? Is it a forbidden relationship?”

Eira gasped and lit up like a stop sign, trying very hard not to choke on the cold tea she had just sipped.

“Isabella don’t be ridiculous!” Janis yelled, “Eira had a traumatic experience and you’re bringing in your fantasy nonsense into this.”

Eira put down the cup of unfinished tea and got to her feet. Suddenly she was feeling hot and embarrassed, for a brief moment she had pictured her silver haired knight in shining armor ravishing her, but quickly pushed the image to the back of her mind.

“Umm actually I just remembered I have something very important to do,” she pushed her chair back and chuckled nervously. “Mother needed some help with the garden and it completely slipped my mind.. silly me.”

Isabella and Janis watched Eira teleport out of the room before turning to look at each other in confusion.

“You see!” Isabella shrieking, “the blush on her face, the high pitch of her voice, she totally had something happen with this mysterious captor of hers. Oh my gods this is so exciting!”

Janis pursed her lips and drowned in thought, Isabella was right, the way Eira was acting was almost like a girl who had a crush. But that couldn’t be could it? Jacob had said Eira had been kidnapped, and if that picture of her captor was right, then it either meant her friend had a very strange taste in men or the man who had kidnapped her had done something to the princess.