262 Chapter 262 : Let me help you

Melissa pushed the door of her daughters room open and peaked inside. “Eira! Eira are you in here?!” She left the room, pulled up her dress and began running down the hallway in a panic. “Gods Eira, I really hope you have not let that man manipulate you...”

Back in the ballroom, Zhelimir noticed the tension that was wafting around the air. Had someone spilled the beans about Eira leaving the party with Elric?

The blonde hybrid got to his feet ready to go and investigate what was going on, when Janis grabbed his wrist. “What’s the matter? Where are you going?”

“Have you seen your brother anywhere?” Zhelimir asked the blue eyed elf while keeping his own eyes on his uncle, who seemed to be giving orders to some guards.

“No I have not,” Janis responded. “He said something about going to look for Eira remember?”

“Could it be a possibility that Jacob may have tipped off the king on Eira’s whereabouts?”

Janis also got to her feet, “why do you ask?”

The blonde pointed towards the adults at the front of the ballroom who now seemed to be in a bit of a frenzy. With their masks now off, and worry painting some of their faces, it was apparent that something had stirred them up, and that something must have something to do with the princess.

“I need to find my father and figure out what in the world is going on,” Zhelimir spoke as he pushed back the chair he was sitting on.

.....

“I will go find Jacob,” Janis replied. “That idiot, if he is the cause of all of this I will turn him into a tree stump!”

Zhelimir gave Janis a nod before glancing at Isabella and Leonard who were affectionately swaying to the music on the dance floor.

It wouldn’t amount to anything if he disrupted their dance, it was better to let them be.

The blonde rushed through the crowds of the ballroom towards his father who was standing next to the king. As he got closer, he could hear the conversation that was happening between King Gareth and his father, Zander.

“You don’t think she has run off with him do you?” Zander asked Gareth. “Eira may be a little na?ve, but she’s certainly not stupid.”

Gareth drew in a deep breath before running his hand over his face and frustration. “The thing is... Eira doesn’t know what occurred between Elric and us.”

Zander looked at his friend with a confused stare, “what do you mean she doesn’t know what occurred between you and Elric? I thought you had already told her, especially after the incident that happened in the forest.”

“I did,” Gareth responded. “Though I was very vague about it at the time. My plan was to tell her today on her birthday. That’s why I invited all these people here.”

Zander face palmed and threw his head backwards. “Well I guess now it’s too late for that, isn’t it? Your daughter is God knows where, frolicking with a crazy man who almost ruined your life! And who’s to say he doesn’t want to use her to enact his revenge on you?! I knew keeping all of this a secret from the children was a bad idea from the start.”

“This is no time to lecture me,” King Gareth responded. “You thought Elric died a long time ago as well. There was no need to bring up such a demeaning past with my daughter if the man involved was gone.”

“What?...”

The two men turned around, and found Zhelimir standing behind them with a look of trepidation on his face. “is...? Are you saying the man that Eira was with... Are you trying to tell me that he is crazy?!”

Gareth made his way to the young blonde man and grabbed both his shoulders, “you know of him? How did you know about Elric?”

“Is he going to hurt her?” Zhelimir turned to his father, a pleading look in his eyes. “father, is Elric planning to hurt Eira?”

Zander walked towards his son and looked him sternly in the eyes. “Listen to me son, nothing is going to happen to Eira if you tell us everything you know about the man that she was dancing with. Anything at all could be of great help right now, where he dwells, where she first met him, anything at all!”

Zhelimir was feeling a little lightheaded, he should’ve trusted his gut and never let Eira get close to that man. Whatever connection she had believed existed between the two of them, was most likely him manipulating her into thinking so. And now, Eira was in danger, and Zhelimir had let it happen.

The young blonde felt his father shake his shoulder a bit, bringing him back to reality. “Zhelimir concentrate! Is there anything you know about this man?!”

historical

The young blonde racked his brain for answers, “I... I’m not sure if I know exactly where he lives. But I think Eira mentioned something about him living in the uncharted parts of the forest.”

Immediately, Gareth turned to the head guard and gave him a nod. “Send as many men as you possibly can,” The Elven king commanded. “Scoure every inch of the forest and find my daughter. It would be better you did not return at all, than to return without her.”

The man in armor gulped before bowing respectfully to the king. “As you command your majesty.”

“Gareth you should go out there as well,” Tauriel spoke to her son. “I will not allow you to sit here while my granddaughter is out there with that psychopathic monster.”

“We both shall go,” Zander spoke. “We will have her back at the Palace safe and sound before you know it.”

“I am coming too,” Zhelimir proclaimed.

“No son, I need you, Jacob and some of the other knights to stay here at the palace in case Elric returns.” Zander drew a small dagger from his belt and handed it to his son. “Elric is a crazed man who would do almost anything to have his way. We cannot leave this place unprotected, I trust you son. Good luck.”

*

“What are you doing here?...” The silver haired lycan’s voice was as icy snow. “Are you here to lead your people to me? Has that always been your goal? Did they send you to find me?”

The red haired princess gulped, trying her best not to move. Because if she moved even an inch, Elric’s razor sharp claws would dig into the flesh of her neck.

“No one sent me here,” Eira quivered. “I came here hoping to speak to you, that’s all. I may not know what happened between my parents and you, but what I do know is the way that they are treating you right now is wrong.”

“I know how your kind can be manipulative Nosferatu,” Elric spoke with venom in his tone. “I have been lied to and fooled before, you cannot fool me again.”

“In the little time that I have known you Elric,” the princess mumbled, “I have gotten to know that you have good in you. I don’t know which party was wrong in the past, but I do know that all you want now is to live a life of peace. Let me help you achieve that, let me be your voice to my parents, and to everyone who doubts your intentions.”

Elric listened carefully to what the princess was saying, if she indeed was trying to manipulate him, she was doing a very good job of it. He was about to retract his claws and step back, when sounds of shouting men far off into the forest reached his ears.

“You led them here!” The lycan growled in fury, “I knew it! They sent you here didn’t they?!”

Eira turned around abruptly to face the lycan, and his claws grazed her neck slightly. “I did not lead them here,” she spoke to the man desperately. “at least not intentionally.”

She tried to reach for his hand, but Elric moved back and avoided her grasp.

“Let me help you,” The princess spoke, trickles of blood running down her neck and staining her beautiful gown. “I can teleport you out of here. I know you do not trust me but please listen, before they get here and find you!”

“Why... Why would you want to help me? Haven’t they told you what I did? Haven’t they told you that I’m nothing but a psychotic monster?”

Eira took a step forward and stretched out her arm towards the silver-haired lycan. “If we all based our perception of people on what we have heard from others, then you would’ve thought I was a monster as well. A red haired, purple eyed woman with the fangs of a Nosferatu and the ears of an elf. A woman who does not leave the confines of the palace, locked away behind doors for no one to see. ‘She is probably a hybrid freak, A little red haired witch who turns you into stone if you gaze upon her’... that is what the the towns people say about me.”

The lycan looked down at Eira’s open palm, he felt incredibly stupid for considering trusting her. This was the daughter of the two people who had led him into exile, and yet here he was about to accept her offer to help.