Chapter 75: Finally.
The eastern quarter of the Elven Kingdom had become considerably more troublesome than either Saline or Lilian remembered.
The two young women stood partially hidden behind the broad trunk of an ancient oak, peering toward the narrow stone pathway leading to the hidden cave. What had once been a quiet route used only by wandering scouts had transformed into one of the most heavily watched passages within the kingdom.
Four guards.
Saline counted them silently.
No...
Six.
Two more emerged from the opposite side of the trail, exchanging greetings with those already stationed there before continuing their patrol.
Lilian let out a defeated sigh.
"I blame you."
Saline looked at her with obvious disbelief.
"Me?"
"Yes, you."
Lilian folded her arms. "The last time we came here there were only two guards. Now look at this."
She gestured dramatically toward the patrol.
"I feel personally insulted."
Saline couldn’t help laughing.
"I don’t think the guards were increased just to inconvenience you."
"They absolutely were."
"They weren’t."
"Commander Kaelion heard we left the kingdom and doubled security."
Saline smiled despite herself.
"You think rather highly of yourself."
"I do."
Lilian nodded solemnly as she continued,
"I’ve always believed in my own importance."
Saline shook her head, trying to suppress another laugh before looking back toward the pathway.
The amusement quickly faded.
The guards truly had increased.
Not only were there more of them, but they had also established rotating patrols. Two remained near the cave while the others continuously circled the surrounding forest, ensuring that no one approached unnoticed.
Queen Calista had said nothing after the previous incident.
Yet her actions had spoken louder than any lecture.
She had quietly reinforced the kingdom’s borders.
Saline lowered her eyes.
Guilt pricked at her chest.
Perhaps...
Perhaps they had worried everyone far more than she had realized.
For a brief moment, she considered turning back.They could always find another gift for Florence.
Something within the palace.
Something that didn’t require sneaking beyond the kingdom again.
"...We should leave."
The words escaped quietly.
Lilian immediately turned toward her.
"What?"
"We’ve already caused enough trouble."
Saline tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"If we get caught this time..."
She didn’t finish.
She didn’t need to.
Both of them knew the consequences would be far worse.
Lilian remained silent for several moments.
Then...
She smiled.
Not mischievously.
Softly.
"You’ve been thinking about him again."
Saline blinked.
"...Who?"
"The grey-eyed guy of course."
"I haven’t."
"You have."
"I haven’t."
"You looked guilty before I even asked."
Saline looked away.
"I was thinking about Florence."
"Oh?"
"And Commander Kaelion."
"I see."
Lilian nodded thoughtfully.
"So..."
She leaned closer.
"What do Commander Kaelion and a grey-eyed stranger have in common?"
Saline’s eyes widened.
"I never said..."
"You didn’t need to."
Lilian laughed.
"I’ve known you too long."
Heat immediately rushed into Saline’s cheeks.
"I am not thinking about him."
"No?"
"No."
"Then why are you blushing?"
"I’m not."
"You are."
"The weather is warm."
Lilian slowly looked upward.
Clouds drifted lazily across the sky while a cool breeze danced through the trees.
"It’s barely cool enough to call this warm."
Saline sighed dramatically.
"I’ve changed my mind."
"About what?"
"I shouldn’t have brought you."
"You love me."
"I truly question that sometimes."
Lilian grinned triumphantly.
"There she is."
Saline stared.
"The girl who argues."
"I always argue."
"Exactly."
The laughter between them gradually faded as both looked toward the guarded pathway once more.
Silence settled beneath the trees.
Only birdsong disturbed the morning air.
Finally, Lilian crouched lower.
"They change shifts every fifteen minutes."
Saline looked at her.
"You’ve been watching?"
"For twenty minutes."
"You counted?"
"I counted."
"...Why?"
"Because unlike somebody..."
She nudged Saline gently.
"...I actually planned this trip."
Saline opened her mouth.
Then closed it again.
Lilian wasn’t wrong since arriving, she’d been distracted.
Far too distracted. She hated admitting it.
Every time she tried convincing herself today’s journey was about Florence’s wedding gift...
Another face quietly surfaced within her thoughts.
Grey eyes.
Annoyingly confident smile.
The irritating habit of speaking as though he always knew something she didn’t.
She still couldn’t decide whether she wanted to argue with him...
Or simply ask who he truly was.
The realization made her sigh.
She barely knew the man.
Why did she keep wondering about him?
Curiosity.
That had to be all it was.
Nothing more.
Absolutely nothing more.
...
Far beyond the hidden borders of the Elven Kingdom...
Someone else’s patience had begun wearing dangerously thin.
Several weeks.
Twenty-three days.
Xandros knew the exact number.
Not because he had intentionally counted but because somewhere along the way...He simply had.
He stood beneath the familiar tree overlooking the silent cave entrance, his expression unreadable as another uneventful evening settled across the forest.
Nothing.
AGAIN!
The breeze carried countless scents through the woodland.
Pine, Rain-soaked earth, Wildflowers and Animals.
Everything except the one scent he sought.
His jaw tightened.
"This is becoming ridiculous."
The quiet words disappeared into the forest.
No answer came.
Only silence.
He pushed himself away from the tree before turning toward the distant vampire capital.
Enough.
He had wasted enough evenings.
Tomorrow would be different.
He would stop coming.
The decision should have brought relief.
Instead...
It left him strangely irritated.
---
"You’re late."
Adrian didn’t bother looking up from the report spread across the table.
Xandros walked past him without answering.
"I assume civilization survived your mysterious evening walk?"
Silence.
Adrian finally lifted his eyes.
Then frowned.
Xandros removed his coat with considerably more force than necessary before dropping it across the nearest chair.
The chair nearly tipped over.
Interesting.
"You look annoyed."
"I am."
"I noticed."
Xandros poured himself a glass of wine.
He rarely drank.
Tonight he finished the entire glass without tasting it.
Adrian quietly watched.
Then...
"You went back."
Xandros didn’t answer.
"You’ve been going back every evening."
Still nothing.
Adrian leaned back.
"At first I thought it was another one of your impulsive adventures."
No response.
"Then I thought perhaps you were investigating something."
Still silence.
"Now..."
He folded his arms.
"...I’m beginning to think you’re waiting."
Xandros finally looked at him.
"I don’t wait."
Adrian raised one eyebrow.
"No?"
"No."
"So you’ve simply developed an intense fascination with standing beside the same cave every evening."
"I was observing."
"For three weeks." Adrian raised a brown at him.
"There was much to observe."
"The rock?" Adrian questioned.
"The surroundings."
"The identical surroundings."
Xandros looked away.
Adrian sighed.
He had known Xandros long enough to recognize the signs.
Something had changed.
Subtly.
The change appeared in small things.
Xandros finished council meetings before sunset.
He declined invitations to hunt.
He abandoned conversations halfway through.
Twice...
He had forgotten to insult Adrian.
That, more than anything else, convinced Adrian something was terribly wrong.
He rested his elbows on the table.
"You’re looking for the girl."
Xandros’s expression remained perfectly composed.
"So?"
Adrian stared at him for several long seconds before letting out a slow breath.
"So?"
He repeated the words as though tasting how ridiculous they sounded.
"You’ve spent nearly a month disappearing every evening, You’ve become increasingly irritable, You’ve nearly frightened one of your own captains simply because he asked whether you’d be attending training."
A faint crease appeared between Adrian’s brows.
"And now you’re asking me... so?"
Xandros leaned casually against the table, swirling the remaining wine inside his glass.
"I fail to see the problem."
"You fail to see many things."
"I see perfectly well." Xandros eyed the white haired guy in front of him.
"No."Adrian shook his head.
"You don’t."
Silence settled between them.
Outside, crimson lanterns had begun illuminating the streets of the vampire capital. Music drifted faintly through the open windows while distant laughter echoed from the taverns below.
Usually, Xandros would have commented on it.
Tonight...
He seemed distracted.
Adrian noticed.
He always noticed.
"You’ve changed."
The words were quiet.
Matter-of-fact.
Xandros chuckled.
"I sincerely hope so."
"I’m serious."
"So am I."
Adrian rose from his chair and walked toward the window.
His reflection stared back at him through the glass.
"When Jamie died..."
His voice remained calm.
"...I assumed the matter was over."
"So did I."
"And yet..."
He turned.
"...you’re still chasing the same girl."
"I’m not chasing anyone."
"No?"
"No."
"I see."
Adrian folded his arms.
"Then explain why you’ve memorized the patrol rotations near the southern border."
Xandros blinked.
"I haven’t."
"You have."
"I haven’t."
"You corrected me yesterday."
Xandros frowned.
"When?"
"I said the patrol changed every thirty minutes."
Adrian watched realization slowly dawn across his friend’s face.
"You corrected me."
"’Twenty-seven minutes,’ you said."
A pause.
"’They changed it last week.’"
Another pause.
"You even sounded annoyed."
For perhaps the first time that evening...
Xandros found himself without an immediate answer.
Had he really said that?
He searched his memory.
Unfortunately...
Adrian wasn’t lying.
He had.
Without thinking.
A faint irritation settled beneath his ribs.
Not because Adrian had noticed.
Because...
He hadn’t realized it himself.
Adrian watched the silence stretch.
Then asked quietly,
"What exactly are you hoping to find?"
Xandros looked down at the wine in his hand.
Green eyes.
That infuriating girl who looked at him as though he were simply another irritating man standing in her way.
His lips curved very slightly.
"I don’t know."
It was the first completely honest answer he’d given all evening.
Adrian’s expression softened.
"You don’t even know her."
"I know enough."
"You know nothing."
"I know she likes to argue."
Adrian blinked.
"...That’s your standard now?"
"I know she doesn’t frighten easily."
"Neither do drunk villagers."
Xandros ignored him.
"I know she smiles before she realizes she’s smiling."
The room became quiet.
Adrian stared.
"You remember that?"
Xandros frowned slightly.
"Of course."
"You met her..."Adrian counted silently.
"...once."
"I have an excellent memory."
"You remembered how she smiled."
"I remember many things, Adrian."
Adrian studied him carefully.
Then sighed.
Very slowly.
"Oh..."
It wasn’t surprise anymore.
It was understanding because this wasn’t curiosity.
Curiosity faded.
This hadn’t.
It had only grown stronger.
"You’ve become attached."
Xandros laughed.
The sound lacked conviction.
"I don’t become attached."
"No?"
"No."
"You killed Jamie because he threatened to find her."
Grey eyes lifted.
Cold.
Dangerously cold.
"He threatened to expose something he shouldn’t."
"That’s not what you said."
"I don’t recall."
"I do."
Adrian’s voice remained steady.
"’No one is having the girl.’"
He repeated the sentence exactly.
"’No one.’"
Silence.
"’Especially not my father.’"
The words echoed quietly through the room.
For the first time...
Xandros’s smile disappeared completely.
His fingers tightened around the crystal glass.
A sharp crack spread across its surface.
Neither of them looked down.
"I meant..."
His voice was unusually calm.
"...that she’s connected to something bigger."
Adrian didn’t answer.
Because he knew that wasn’t the truth.
Not entirely.
The room remained silent until...
Crack.
The wine glass shattered inside Xandros’s hand.
Dark red liquid mixed with blood before dripping lazily onto the polished floor.
Xandros looked down at his bleeding hand as though only just noticing it.
"...Annoying."
Adrian stepped forward.
"You’re bleeding."
"It’ll heal."
"You crushed solid crystal."
"It was poorly made."
"It wasn’t."
Another uncomfortable silence followed.
Eventually Adrian picked up a clean cloth from the nearby cabinet and tossed it toward him.
Xandros caught it effortlessly.
He wrapped it around his palm without much care.
Adrian watched him for a long moment.
Then smiled faintly.
"You know..."
"What?"
"I think you’re lying to yourself."
Xandros looked up.
"I don’t lie."
"You do."
"No."
"You’ve convinced yourself you’re investigating."
"I am."
"You’ve convinced yourself you’re curious."
"I am doing exactly that."
"You’ve convinced yourself you’re only returning because the cave is strange."
"It is."
Adrian nodded.
"It is."
Then he met Xandros’s eyes.
"But if another cave had appeared..."
"...you wouldn’t have spent twenty-three evenings waiting beside it."
Xandros said nothing.
Because...
There was no argument.
Only silence.
...
Meanwhile...
Hidden far beyond the magical barrier...
Lilian’s eyes followed the patrol one final time.
"They’re changing."
Saline immediately straightened.
The guards nearest the cave began walking toward the eastern path while another pair approached from the western side.
For the briefest moment...
No one stood directly before the cave.
Lilian grabbed Saline’s wrist.
"Now."
The two girls darted from behind the ancient tree.
Neither spoke.
Soft footsteps barely disturbed the grass beneath them as they slipped between flowering shrubs and crossed the narrow pathway.
One guard laughed at something another had said.
Neither looked their way.
Almost there.
Saline’s heart pounded.
She could already see the cave entrance.
Just a little farther....
"Who’s there?"
Both girls froze.
A guard had turned.
His eyes swept toward the bushes where movement had caught his attention.
Lilian reacted instantly.
She snatched a loose stone from the ground before throwing it deep into the opposite side of the forest.
Crack!
Branches rustled violently.
The guard immediately turned.
"What was that?"
"Probably another fox."
"No..."
Two guards headed toward the sound.
Lilian didn’t wait.
She tugged Saline forward again.
"Hurry."
They slipped inside the cave just as the remaining guards turned their attention elsewhere.
Darkness swallowed them whole.
Neither girl slowed until the magical tunnel finally carried them toward the human world.
Behind them...
The illusion closed once more.
Completely unaware...
That somewhere beyond the trees...
Someone had just inhaled sharply.
And smiled.The smile appeared so suddenly that even Xandros himself seemed unaware of it.
For nearly a month, the forest had mocked his patience.
Every evening he had stood before the silent cave, staring at an entrance that refused to surrender its secret. Every night he had returned to the vampire capital with the same answer.
Nothing.
Tonight...
Something had changed.
The wind shifted.
It was subtle.
So subtle that a human would never have noticed.
Even most vampires would have dismissed it as nothing more than another current drifting lazily through the trees.
But Xandros wasn’t most vampires.
He closed his eyes.
The scent reached him almost immediately.
Rain.
Fresh grass.
And beneath everything else...Her.
His eyes opened.
There was no uncertainty.
No hesitation.
Only absolute certainty.
A low laugh escaped him.
"So..."
The word barely rose above a whisper.
"...you’ve finally decided to come out."
Without another thought, he disappeared.
His figure dissolved into the darkness so quickly that the tree beneath which he had been standing continued swaying for several moments after he had already gone.
The heavy silence surrounding them slowly gave way to birdsong drifting in from outside.
Golden sunlight spilled through the mouth of the cave, illuminating tiny particles of dust dancing through the air.
Lilian stepped out first.
She stretched both arms above her head before taking an exaggerated breath.
"I’ve missed this."
Saline followed a moment later.
The human forest greeted them with its familiar warmth.
Unlike the enchanted beauty of the Elven Kingdom, this forest possessed an untamed charm. Towering oaks spread thick branches overhead while sunlight filtered through countless emerald leaves, painting shifting patterns across the ground.
Somewhere nearby, a stream flowed gently over smooth stones.
Birds called to one another from hidden nests.
The world felt...
Alive.
Saline smiled unconsciously.
"It really is beautiful."
Lilian nodded.
"It is."
She turned toward her friend.
"But this time we’re actually buying the gift."
Saline laughed.
"Yes."
"No wandering."
"I know."
"No mysterious strangers."
Saline nearly stumbled over absolutely nothing.
"I wasn’t looking for anyone."
Lilian folded her arms.
"I didn’t say you were."
"I know."
"So why are you defending yourself?"
"...Because you’re implying things."
"I am?"
"You are."
Lilian’s grin widened.
"I merely said no mysterious strangers."
Saline looked away.
"I don’t know why you’re teasing me."
"Because it’s fun."
"I’ve noticed."
Lilian hooked her arm through Saline’s.
"Come on."
"The village should still be another fifteen minutes."
The two girls began walking along the narrow forest path, completely unaware that another pair of footsteps had appeared behind them.
Far enough away to remain hidden and close enough not to lose them.
High among the branches...
He watched quietly.
Xandros moved without making a sound.
Every leap from one tree to another was smooth, controlled and impossibly silent.
His attention never left the young woman walking below.
She looked exactly as he remembered.
Perhaps...Even prettier.
Her dark hair caught the morning sunlight, giving it an almost golden glow as it swayed gently with every step. She wore a simple pale dress embroidered with delicate green vines, nothing extravagant, yet somehow it suited her perfectly.
He found himself studying details he had never intended to notice.
The way she looked around with open curiosity.
How she occasionally brushed leaves away so Lilian wouldn’t walk into them.
The quiet laugh that escaped whenever her friend exaggerated a story.
His lips curved almost imperceptibly.
There it was again.
That laugh.
He had remembered it correctly.
Below, Saline suddenly stopped causing Lilian to looked back.
"What is it?"
Saline frowned slightly.
"I..."She glanced over her shoulder, "...I thought I heard something."
The forest had become strangely quiet.
Not silent.
Just...Different.
She studied the trees for several moments.
Nothing.
Only branches swaying gently beneath the breeze.
Lilian followed her gaze.
"I don’t see anything."
"...Neither do I."
After another moment, Saline shook her head.
"Perhaps I imagined it."
They continued walking.
Above them, Xandros remained perfectly still.
He hadn’t moved.
He hadn’t breathed.
Even the leaves around him remained undisturbed.
Only after the girls disappeared farther along the path did he continue following.
His movements became even more careful.
He wasn’t worried about being discovered.
He simply...
Didn’t want to frighten her.
The realization came unexpectedly.
His steps faltered for the briefest moment.
He frowned.
Strange.
Ordinarily, startling someone meant very little to him.
Yet the thought of seeing fear in those green eyes...
He found that he disliked it.
Very much.
He clicked his tongue softly.
"Annoying."
His gaze returned to the girl ahead.
Very annoying.
The village gradually came into view.
Smoke curled lazily from stone chimneys while merchants arranged colorful goods outside their shops. Children raced through the streets chasing one another with wooden swords, their laughter echoing between the cottages.
Life unfolded peacefully.
Saline’s eyes brightened immediately.
"I remember that bakery."
This comment made Lilian held Saline’s hand immediately and dragged her away they had only one mission and she wasn’t going to bust it making Saline laugh.
Hidden among the rooftops overlooking the village...
Xandros watched them disappear into the crowd.
For weeks...
He had wondered whether waiting had been worth it.
Now, as he watched her disappear between the bustling market stalls...
He realized something.
He wasn’t relieved.
He wasn’t merely satisfied.
He was looking forward...To seeing where she would go next.
And for the first time in a very long while...Waiting no longer felt like the hardest part.
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