Chapter 11: To Evergreen

Patrick’s chest rose and fell steadily as he looked down on Larissa who was on her knees, her head down, her hair all over her face with the tip of his sword over her neck.She looked disheaveled, but Patrick did not look any better. There were light bruises over his face and body

“So what’s it going to be princess, do we keep on fighting or do you yield?”

“Hah!” Larissa laughed and then looked up at him “this is the gentlest your voice has been since we met, why, do I seem more feminine now that I’ve been defeated?”

“Shut up!”

“Why, I think I like you even more now” she asserted as she shakily stood up “I yield”

At that, Patrick turned around and began to walk away. Larissa breath out a disappointed sigh“Is that it, you’re just going to walk away?”

“What are you doing right now? make haste, we leave at dawn tomorrow” He walked away, leaving a very pleased and smiling Larissa who looked up at the sky and lets out a small laugh

“See that head priestess, I get to live in the world like a normal person, as someone’s wife too” She turned and leapt over to her father, Melissa yelped in fright and almost fell over if George hadn’t caught her“Father” she curtsied, “I will be leaving you soon like every maiden someday does to live with their husbands

“Marriage is not an easy task Larissa, especially one that comes with the role of queen”

“Don’t worry father, in all the book I’ve read, they all live happily ever after” she smiles softly to herself, her cheeks flaming “even after seeing me like that, he still intends to go on with the wedding, even though I’m a monster”

“You’re not a monster my love” Obed said even though she had murmured the last part so no one heard, he did and he made sure that like he always does, he reminds her that she is not and will never be a monster, even though like every other time like right now, people fainted or look frightened at the power she exhibited. The audiences at the arena were exactly like that

“I know that father, I am a princess and a queen to be, and by my books, things should go well from here on”

“Books and reality are not the same, but I pray for your happiness everyday and I’ll keep praying” The king’s eyes were emotional as he pulled her into a hug “it was my dying queen’s wish”

“I don’t ever intend to be sad either, thank you father for everything”.

The next morning, the Evergreen kingdom small troops of men gathered and arranged themselves in front of the palace with Patrick in front of them, his right hand man by his side. Facing them was King Collins with George by his side and his people scattered everywhere.

“I never thought that King Jonas’ son would one day come to claim his promised bride, but I could never be gladder that it was you King Patrick, and so I’ll ask this of you as king to king, man to man and father to his son” the king nodded, “Please protect my daughter…”

“Husband!” Larissa voice came from a distance and everyone turned to see her in a peach colored flowery gown, her hair laid back in a single braid, a smile on her face as she ran towards them. “What do you think?” she twirled once she reached them “they said my wedding gown is going to be even prettier, I’m going to look even more beautiful”

“We will be leaving now” Patrick announced and turned to leave, his men giving way for him to go through “about what you said, I doubt I’d need to do anything, she’s more than capable on her own”

“Who are you talking about?” Larissa asked, but instead of answering, Collins pulled her into a hug shortly and pulled away to hold her at arms length

“Be safe now my dear”

“You too father” she said as she pulls away to walk away while waving at the people goodbye “see you some other time”So following the path Patrick had walked through, she too walked in the held open carriage, which sets off once the door closed after her.

“Is it just me or is the young king way calmer and approachable than when he came, he even showed much respect today than he did in the past days he was here” Collins shook his head and lets out a small laugh

“It actually started from the very moment he saw her” he nods “Larissa may only know how to control demon spirits and energies, but she knows a good heart when she sees one” he turned to face George “if young king Patrick wasn’t worth her while, she would have never agreed to a marriage even if she lost that fight, no, she wouldn’t have allowed it to get to that in the first place” he turned around and began to walk back into the palace “I guess you can say it was love at first sight for both of them”

George sighed, the king had been a step ahead. He knew exactly what he was doing right from the beginning and knew that Larissa was a perfect match for Patrick in strength, savagery and even intellectual wise. Any other maiden would never had been good enough, the king killed two birds with a  stone; settled the marriage agreement of long ago and made his daughter happy.

“On that note, I still need someone to keep an eye on Larissa for me in Evergreen, someone who can send information to us without being caught”

“Then it can not be a man father” Melissa said before George could even reply as she comes out from behind a pillar and bowed her head gently “we should send her female assistant to her, one who’s already good at infiltration and is smart and strong too”

“Not a bad idea, George see to it that you find one suitable for the job from our elite female unit”

“Yes my lord” George answered and they walked past herOnce they were out of sight, a figure stepped out from behind a pillar and knelt before her

“At your service mi lady” the feminine voice said making the slender princess sigh

“You report everything to me before it gets to my father, understand?”

“Yes princess”

"If she did not exist, I would be the one becoming the queen of such powerful nation tomorrow. An inhumane beast like you…” flashback of Larissa’s fight with the king ran across her mind and she shook her head as if to get rid of them “should not be allowed to rule by his side, I’ll see to it that this error is corrected”

~} {~

“A carriage, really?” Larissa looked boredly at Patrick who was sitting opposite her, he returned the look with greater boredom.

“Why, have a problem with it?” he asked back, and she nods and sits up to gesture at the entire thing with her hands

“A lot actually, it’s so slow and slow is unbearable, can we not go on horses instead?”

“As queen you would have to learn how to appreciate slowness, rash behaviors are simply not condoned in a palace where you’re queen”

“I refuse”

“What?” Patrick glared at her, no one had ever dared to refuse his order until today

“Don’t rope me in with your lame version of princesses or women you know” Larissa said s she folds her hands over her chest and sits upright “you already have an idea what I can do”

“So?” Patrick asked as he leans over towards her, an amused look on his face “it does not make a difference to me, you’re still a woman”

“Yet you had a hard time winning against me, I could feel your fear deep down within your excitement”

“That was only so because I was careful not to leave a mark on your feminine body”

“Oh should I be grateful to you then? You were clearly wielding your sword against me”

“Against the demons yes, but not you” Larissa’s eyes widen at that and her defiant smile disappeared into a serious look

“You do not even see them”

“I feel them princess, heavy on you like a pregnant cloud ready to deliver it thunder storms and wreck havoc” he placed his rough large hand on the side of her head and ran it down. A few strands run through his fingers as he did “but these storms mean nothing to me now princess, I have seen worse, so if you think you scare me, think again…”He circles his long fingers around her nape and pulled her forward so their faces were half an inch apart“You should be the one who’s scared” and with that he connected their lips in a kiss.

Larissa’s green eyes widen and her heartbeat skyrocketed. Her carefully arranged words of retort that were sitting at the tip of her tongue, flew off the roof of the carriage as he deepened the kiss.

Patrick smirks as he pulled away and leans back satisfied at the awestruck silence that followed. He was beginning to unravel her, she wasn’t an uneasy stone to crack after all, was what he thought as he watched her stare into space as the slow journey continued on.

-} {-

“Finally the time has come” A figure loomed in the woods, along the path where the carriage carrying Patrick and Larissa followed as they stare after it“She has left that hideous mountain and the kingdom of Windfall” they say as they disappear back into the darkness “now it begins”