"What happened?" Will asked as he came toward where Azeph was still standing, "Where'd Elin go?" "She left," Azeph responded simply while he tried to contain his anger inside him and not snap at his friend.He had no idea how that conversation ended like that. He had never seen Elin bursting out like that, in fact, he had never seen her get emotional except when that kidnapper admitted to hurting Nathan’s sister openly.Before leaving, she when ordered them to throw his body out in the wood as she had promised him before he died.His respect for her rose in that particular moment. Some of the knights looked at her as if she was a heartless slaughterer, but he'd seen her as a born leader.Because only a true leader would be able to issue that kind of order without caring about what others might think of them. For the general good. To make an example of the man who dared do such shameless acts. And a message to his companion who wouln't have cooerated if he hadn't heard what his compan

Just as Elinor wanted to run away from the situation, Stella spoke up again."You're still worried about the late dress aren't you?" She asked and Elinor looked at her with grateful eyes. Stella may have noticed that Elinor didn't want to talk about any of that. In fact, she couldn't talk about it even though Stella knew most of what was happening before she left for Oreland, she couldn't tell her anything.In the end, Stella had only asked if she was okay now and if the girl, Nathan's sister was okay too."Can you wear something else to the ball?" Daisy asked"I can't. When my uncle heard about the ball, he told his seamstress and she got all excited preparing the dress for me. I can't disappoint them and not wear it,"And I can't skip the briefing session because they may be bringing news of my father's innocence' She thought.The three of them started heading out of the library slowly walking as they spoke. It was sunset outside and the weather was quite nice."You know there's no

Elinor was breathing heavily as she looked around the garden desperately. It was cold, and her dress was lighter than it was supposed to be in this weather outside. Sighing deeply and realizing that she was too late and that Azeph really wasn't there, she sat down on a bench facing the small pond at the center and stared at it."Elin? Is that you?" She heard behind her and stood up to look at the newcomer.Azeph was stepping toward her wearing a cloak and looking flushed as if he had been waiting in the cold for a long time. "You look... You look beautiful" he said as if it was the most natural thing in the world, "But you can't stay in the cold like this, you will catch your death,” he added as he removed his cloak throwing it around her shoulders.“Have you been waiting for me all this time?” She asked as the warmth of the cloak settled around her settling her panic down and helping her regain her equilibrium.“Knowing that you would be late I waited for a while before coming here.

"There are a few things I would like to discuss with you later. You should stp by my office after classes tomorrow," The headmaster told her after dropping his small social bomb on her.She ould hear whispers around them, people were reacting to the headmaster's ccomments. She needed to do something."I am saddened to tell you that your matchmaking attemosst have been fruitless, headmaster. Had you told me at first, I would have explained to you that the two of us are not compatible as a couple at all. We are good friends that is a fact, but that's all there is to it," She lied and looked at Azeph who smiled down at her and nodded.They'd agreed to keep their relationship a secret for now. per her request, And the headmaster's attempt to publicize it was ruining her plans."I see... A miscalculation on my part. for now..." He added and Elinor smiled at him“Absolutely not,” Elinor answered, Azeph chuckled.“I thought so,” he answered as Louis came toward them stoping when he was in fro

Elinor took a deep shuddering breath when she revealed the truth to him. Azeph pulled her to face him leaning down to look into her eyes with his blue ones. His gaze was serious as he looked at her and she looked back at him holding her breath and waiting for what he was going to say."Someone had been trying to kill you?" he asked"His majesty told me after the investigation that most of the people in the caste knew about his habit of drinking from my cup. It was something he started to do a few years ago and we bickered a lot about it. I hadn't taken a sip from that cup, if I had we would have both died. His Majesty said that there was a big possibility that the culprit knew about his habit and they poisoned my cup instead of his. Either they didn't care if I died with him or they just didn't think that far ahead," She explained."But you are still blaming yourself for not drinking first. Even if you did, Elin, you would have simply died both," Azeph said"No... We wouldn't have..."