Page 4 of Elven Oath

Chapter 2

Vevina

Everyone was actingstrange, like they knew something I didn’t, and it gnawed at me. The pitying looks, the soft murmurs when I walked by, the way people would turn away the moment they saw me coming—it was maddening. I couldn’t figure it out. What had I done?

Did I smell bad? I’d check myself a hundred times a day in my chambers. Nothing. Not even a hint of anything off.

Maybe it was something else, some hidden gossip swirling around the court. But no one would tell me, no matter how many times I asked. They’d just give me that same sad, distant smile and scurry off as if being near me was suddenly dangerous.

Surely if I’d done something that I wasn’t supposed to, my father would have yelled at me by now.

He had a way of always making me feel like an unwanted daughter. The burden he must endure because he was unable to sire a son before my beautiful mother passed away.

Somehow, I know that he blamed me for that as well. She was always sick after my birth, never fully recovering. While I lost her when I was young, I still remember little things about her.

Tired of the walls closing in, of the whispers and the tension as I walk along the hall, I slip out of the castle through a side door when no one is looking.

My guards had been particularly jumpy, but I was tired of their watchful eyes. I needed a moment of freedom, a breath of fresh air without being followed around like some fragile thing about to break.

They never watched closely enough, anyway. Not when I really wanted to be gone. They always assumed I went back to my room.

Idiots.

The apple orchard was where I’d escape. I’d been slipping out to play there with the servants’ children for years. It was lonely being an only child.

They didn’t look at me like a noble or give me those uncomfortable stares. They just laughed and treated me like one of them.

And in the orchard, I didn’t have to worry about courtly expectations or whatever mystery was now making its way around the castle.

The children were already there, their voices rising in a chorus of giggles as they chased each other between the trees in a game of tag. Smiling, I join them, feeling lighter as the game continues.

The orchard was peaceful, filled with the sweet scent of ripe apples and the soft rustling of leaves in the breeze.

We played for what seemed like hours, laughing and running, feeling more alive than I had in days.

It was simple, pure, and free of the strange atmosphere that had seeped into the castle. Here, no one gave me those looks, no one whispered. It was just me, the children, and the wide-open sky.

But then we noticed the shadows.

At first, I thought it was just a cloud passing overhead, blocking the sun. But the shadows were too large, moving too quickly.

Glancing up, my heart freezes in my chest. Massive figures soar across the sky, dark and ominous against the pale blue. They were enormous with wings spread wide.

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