Disenchanted

"Six days?" I asked dryly, looking up and over my shoulder at Harris. We had been on the horse for nearly an hour already and I still wasn't used to having him so close. I dropped my voice as I glanced to my left at Aya. He had been frowning the entire time and I had a feeling the rest of the trip wasn't going to be that pleasant either. Not with him around. "And how long to find my mother?"
"That we're not sure of," Harris told me. "No one has ever come out of the Disenchanted forest alive before, so no one knows where her lair is."
"'Lair'?" Marlen asked, her tiny nose wrinkling. "Why does everyone think that just because you're not human, you can't live in a house?"
I ignored her--there was no point answering her anyway when I was the only that she let hear her. "So we're just going to walk around until we stumble upon it?" I frowned. "Sounds like a dumb plan."
"That forest is huge, too," Lippen agreed, nodding. "It will take weeks just to cover half of it."
"You got a better idea?" Aya snapped, his eyes narrowing as he looked over at Lippen.
I had a feeling those two were never going to get along. Actually, I had a feeling that Aya wasn't going to get along with anyone, not if he could help it. If that were true, he could just leave and make it easier on all of us. I glared at him. "No one asked you to come along."
Aya turned those glaring eyes on me, but they looked more defensive than offensive. His mouth parted slightly before drawing into a thin line. He faced forward again and I saw him swallow. "I realize that, but someone has to make sure that if you fail, you die."
His words sounded forced, but the truth behind them was still there. My eyes narrowed on him, hatred seeping from them as I sat straighter. "And I'm sure that you'll take great joy in being the one to make sure of that."
Aya's head whipped around a second time and his expression showed a mixture of disbelief and hurt. He opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by Panelle. "I know someone who's been in the forest before." We all turned to look at her. She was on our right, lying comfortably on the horse's back. She had taken the saddle off a long time ago, leaving it on some tree and using the saddlebags as a pillow. She looked comfortable and I envied her ease. Her brows were high and her eyes innocent as she looked at us. "What?"
"You know someone who's been to the Disenchanted Forest?" I asked in shock.
"Someone who's still living?" Lippen pressed, eying her.
Panelle sat up, crossing her legs under her. "Yeah. He's super old and funny, but he's been in the Forest a long time ago. He never shuts up about it." She smiled at something only she found amusing. "It's great."
"Panelle," Lippen started slowly, his words precise. "Where is this friend?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah." She pointed her thumb back towards the towns. "He's in the next town over. Shouldn't take long to find him. Maybe a day or so just to get there."
Harris pulled on the reins, halting the horse. He rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing. "This information would have been nice to know a few hours ago."
Panelle shrugged and I couldn't help but smile. "You never asked."
I caught Lippen's fond, but martyred smile as he joined Aya in turning their horses. Harris put his arms back around me and I blushed as he put his mouth near my ear, whispering, "Hold on." I grabbed the saddle horn as the horse jerked, swinging around in a fluid motion and a rattle of the reins. Harris's hand covered mine and I looked up to see him smiling. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
I looked away, my face red. "N-No."
"You know," he told me. I could feel his voice rumble up through his chest as he leaned against my back. It was a pleasant, new sensation that made me shiver. "I liked your hair long, but it looks just as beautiful short. Why did you cut it?"
My jaw tightened fractionally before I sighed bitterly. "Because it's red."
I felt him jerk straight, obviously surprised. "I'm sorry, Raven. I didn't mean to make you recall something unpleasant."
"It's okay." The thing was, I had never really minded my hair color before Aya. I hadn't really worried about anything before Aya. I had never cared that I was different in appearance. I had only cared that I was shut away from everyone and stuck in the same place with no escape. If I had never met Aya, that was all there would have been to my distress. Of course, I had met Aya and now I hated things I didn't know I could hate.
Harris was quiet for a moment and I listened absently to the chatter of the others, trying to get my mind out of my bleak thoughts. Even Marlen had flown away to go and talk to Panelle in order to give me some semblance of privacy. Besides, she didn't want to hear my complaining again. It was just me and Harris in our own little world. On a horse. . . Not really romantic, but, then again, I guess I wasn't looking for romance and it was Harris after all. He was probably just being nice.
"Will you grow it out again?" he asked after a while.
I looked up, squinting against the sun as I stared at the clouds. "I don't know." I had to admit, I already missed my long hair, but the constant reminder it had been was a little too much for me right now. "Maybe someday."
"Was it Aya?" he pressed, his voice dropping and turning angry. "Was he the reason you cut it?"
I turned my attention back to the road in front of us. There were no carriages, but it was worn from use and old age. "Does it matter?"
Harris shuffled the reins into one hand and used his newly freed one to turn my head back to look him in the eye. "It does. Tell me."
My cheeks flamed, but I couldn't pull away--he had my chin in his hand, after all. Instead, I looked away. "It-- It might be his fault. . . A little."
Harris's eyes narrowed and he looked like he was going to say something but an annoyed and very loud clearing of someones throat stopped him. I turned my head--still in his hand--to see a put-out-looking Aya right next to us. "And just what are you two over here whispering about?"
Harris let go of my chin, looking away as he tried to hold in a laugh. "That is none of your business," I said hotly.
I watched him sputter out a response, obviously shocked at my flat rejection to comply to his every whim. "Not my-- It is so! You. . You're my--" He searched for the right word.
"What?" I snapped. "You're what? Your fiancee?" I gritted my teeth. "Like hell. You shot an arrow through my chest. An arrow! If that isn't a cause to break off an engagement then I don't know what is."
"Definitely a sign," Panelle nodded, wisdom in her voice.
"And we're not friends for the same damn reason," I finished, crossing my arms.
"I only shot you to see if you would die!" he exclaimed desperately. As soon as the words were out, I could tell that Aya regretted them, but what was done was done. Even Marlen sucked in a shocked breath.
My eyes were wide when I spoke next, utter disbelief filling me as I tried not to let tears well up. I was surprised to find that he could still hurt me. "So you shot me to test my immortality? Who the hell do you think you are?!"
His expression turned defensive and his horse started to kick under him. Harris also tightened his grip on the reins. "You survived, didn't you?!"
"That's not the point!"
"Then what is?!" His horse bucked, but Aya stayed atop him easily, his attention on me. I wished the horse would send him flying, but Aya was too skilled to be thrown.
"You shot at me without even caring if I would wake up the next morning!" I shouted. I was so frustrated that tears leaked from my eyes, stinging them. I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of wiping them away. "Is that clear enough for you? Do you get it now, your Highness? Your blatant disregard for my life is the problem. The fact that you parade around thinking it doesn't hurt me when you say that it's so easy for you to kill me without a second thought is the problem. That my whole existence seeming to be the worst possible thing for you to endure is the damn problem!"
He opened his mouth and then closed it, and opened it a second time just to close it again. Finally, he settled with a quiet and defensive, "It's not the worst possible thing."
I was furious, my eyes narrowing to slits. "Then what is?"
His mouth snapped shut and he swallowed. After a few seconds, he looked away, his face red and ashamed. "I can't tell you."
"Oh, but I have to tell you everything?" I scoffed. My nose wrinkled in derision and I faced forward. "Yeah. I understand. How about this, your Highness? You keep to your business, I'll keep to mine, and we'll try to stay out of each others way?" Angry, hurt and obviously upset, I leaned back into the comfort Harris was offering me as he kicked the horse into a trot, going to the head of our group. I was happy to have that comfort and I was grateful that he didn't ask any questions or press me for information. Instead, he just let me lean against him and compose myself before I had to face anyone else. No doubt, they had heard everything and facing them now or even in an hour was going to be hard, but facing Aya again was going to be the worst thing yet.



It was late into the night when we finally made it to the town. We were all exhausted, and considering I hadn't ever ridden a horse in my life, I was the worst. When Harris finally helped me off the horse, my legs felt like the animal was still between them and I could barely hold myself up. Harris was kind enough to lend me an arm and help me gain my footing while guiding the horse. Panelle was asleep on the back of her own horse, having fallen asleep hours ago with Lippen holding her reins. How she could do that without falling off was beyond me, but it was funny to watch her mumble about food and drool in her sleep.
"How do you get used to this?" I asked, holding tight to Harris's arm. "My legs feel awful."
Harris smiled knowingly. "It's always like that at first. Give it a few days and you'll be a little more used to it."
"A few more days of this and I'll be so numb it won't even matter," I muttered.
He laughed, which made me smile. That, in turn, earned us both a glare from Aya, who walked ahead of us in the streets. "Come on," he gritted. "There's an inn over there."
I glanced at Panelle nervously. "Should we wake her up?" We all looked at Panelle, who rolled over on her horse as we tied the reins to the pole outside.
"Don't," Lippen ordered. He leaned against the corral and crossed his arms. "It's not pretty. She gets hungry when she wakes up and there's nothing to stop her from getting food, which can lead to disaster."
I tried to contain my surprised smile. "Really? That sounds like something I want to see, to be honest."
Lippen smiled, his head down. "I know what you mean, but really. This isn't something you want to see."
"All right," Aya frowned, obviously pissed. He stomped his way up the wood steps and glared at Harris. "We'll go get the rooms. Though it's unlikely that anyone will be on the streets, don't tell anyone who we are or what we're doing." Without another word, he disappeared into the inn, a splash of light filtering out of the doorway as it opened and shut behind him.
Harris sighed, but he was smiling as he turned to me. "I guess he doesn't want us to be alone together. He's a very jealous person."
I gave him a disbelieving look, crossing my arms. "I think it goes beyond jealousy."
Harris laid a comforting hand on my shoulder. "I think there's more to him than you're willing to believe."
"He tried to kill me," I pointed out flatly.
Harris winced. "Right." He glanced at the inn door. "I can see where that would drive a wedge between you two. However, I have a feeling that he's hurting as much as you are."
I scoffed stubbornly. "Good. Let him hurt. Maybe it will feel like an arrow going through his chest."
Harris gave a small sigh, turning to walk up the stairs and join his brother in the inn. Marlen floated after him, disappearing behind the prince. Maybe he was right on some level, but I didn't care anymore. I couldn't care. I honestly couldn't. Not anymore. Not after that night. He had tried to wipe my existent from the planet. That alone was enough for me to hate him, but that he had seduced me on top of that, knowing what he did about my past--about who I was--was the worst betrayal. He had shattered every dream I ever made, taken away my innocence and optimism and shown me that the world I lived in was one where I couldn't trust those who were supposed to have cared for me. And I wasn't going to. Not ever again. All I had was Marlen, and she was all I needed. Anyone else was either after something or after me, and I no longer had the heart to deal with those kind of people anymore.
"So. . ." I started, breaking the silence that had fallen over our small group in the dimly lit darkness. "How did you two meet Marlen?"
Lippen shifted his tall frame to a more comfortable position. "It was a long time ago, when we were kids. Our village was small and Panelle was always running off some place she wasn't supposed to go."
"Was she always getting into trouble?"
Lippen let out a small laugh. "Yeah. She has no sense of danger. That's exactly how we got to the lake." He glanced at Panelle, his dark eyes unreadable in the dim light. "The lake we went to get water from was full of demons--water syrens, to be exact. Marlen was one of them, but she wasn't like the others. She didn't want to sing the men of our village to their deaths. Panelle befriended her, somehow understanding what no one else could. Of course, they got along great. Panelle was outcast for her clumsiness and Marlen for her refusal to conform."
The thought that Marlen had had such a life made my heart ache, but it was obvious that Lippen wasn't finished with his tale yet.
"We were able to continue to visit Marlen for maybe a year or so before anyone found out," he continued. "The problem wasn't that we were careless. It just seemed that the village had finally had enough of Marlen's sisters drowning our men. When the attack started, the three of us tried to stop it, but there was nothing we could do. The village was set on driving out the syrens and the syrens were bent on keeping their home rather than finding a new one. It was a lose-lose situation that ended in a massacre. The women were the ones who did the fighting and the casualties were too many to count on both sides. When it was over, the three of us ran away. We've never gone back and we don't want to." He looked at me, his eyes understanding and piercing. "After a few years, she left us to go with you, claiming that she had found someone who made her urge to sing almost disappear. I can only assume that she meant you." He looked back out into the street. "She'd visit every day, of course, but she spent most of her time with you."
I stayed silent for a minute, absorbing the information. I hadn't known that Marlen was a water syren. She had never told me--never even mentioned it. She had also never told me about Lippen or Panelle. The reasoning behind that one was rather obvious, though. I would have felt guilty for keeping her away and she would have known that in an instant. It also explained where she had disappeared to day after day, and why she was so secretive. No one wanted to admit they were a monster.
"Do you hate me Lippen?" I asked, suddenly realizing that my existence had kept him from having a family. "For taking Marlen?"
His brows rose. "No. Not for me. Panelle needed her more than I did, but we were fine without her around all the time. Besides, I know that she left to keep me safe. If she had stayed any longer, she would have killed me whether she had wanted to or not."
I looked down at the ground, kicking the dirt and creating a cloud. "I'm sorry Lippen."
He shrugged. "Not your fault. Even if it was, there's nothing that you could have done to change what happened or what is. Marlen is doing the best she can and so are we. There's nothing more I could ask for."
The best we could do. . . Yeah, that sounded about right. We were all dealing with the extreme circumstances of our lives. The fact that Lippen, Panelle and Marlen had already gone through so much just made me realize that my life wasn't the only one that was insane. There were worse things, and I at least had Marlen to help me through what was going on. Lippen had had Panelle and they had had Marlen. I had Marlen too, and now them and Harris. Even if Aya was out to kill me still, these people would help me stop him. They would protect me, because I was worth it to them somehow.
The inn door opened and a put-out, stomping Aya came out followed by an annoyed Harris and Marlen zipped to my shoulder, satisfaction in her posture.
"The girls are in one room and the boys are in another," Harris informed us. He and Aya started untying the horses and Lippen followed their example with Panelle and his own. "Aya here is not exactly happy about that."
"It would be smarter to sleep together," he said sourly.
"Yes, it would, but I insisted," Marlen argued happily.
Aya glared at my shoulder where she stood, her light reflecting in his eyes. "Yes. You did. You wouldn't shut up about it."
Harris finally smiled, watching as Aya walked his horse towards the back of the inn, muttering under his breath. "She was very insistent that it was unethical for unmarried men and women to share a room."
"Especially when one wants to kill her," Marlen put in.
I ignored the sharp pain in my chest at the reminder and took Lippen's horse from him, earning myself a smile that made my heart skip and my face heat. I cleared my throat. "So. . . Um, I guess we're going to start looking for this person Panelle was talking about tomorrow?"
Harris nodded. "Yes. It wouldn't be prudent to do it at night. I know we're on a time-sensitive mission, but we'd be wandering around blind at night in a town we don't know and with the one person who knows who we're looking for sleeping." He grinned, winking at me. "That's just asking for trouble."
I smiled. "Yup. Trouble."



"Would you stop muttering?" Harris snapped at Aya, dropping his bags onto the floor by one of the two beds. No doubt the little prince-ling would want one of the beds to himself, but that was fine. Harris had no problem sharing a bed, and Lippen was a decent man. But Aya. . . . Aya was getting on his nerves. "The rooms are paid for and it's not as if you've ever slept under the same blankets as Raven anyway."
Aya turned angry eyes on his brother. Lippen was busy making sure that Panelle was sleeping soundly in the room with Raven, so that meant Aya had at least a few minutes to tear into his brother's sense of superiority. "Where do you get off doing that?"
Harris's expression went blank, surprise and slight confusion crossing his features. "Doing what?" He sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed to take off his boots. "What have I done now?"
As Aya watched his brother struggle to pull off his first boot, he seethed in his own. "You kissed her!" His voice was hushed, but the anger and jealousy was still there. He had always disliked Harris, but his brother's blatant disregard for his feelings just made him hate the flirtatious man.
Harris rolled his eyes, letting his boot thump to the floor and beginning to work off his other one. "I kissed her hand, Aya. It's common courtesy when seeing a lady off to bed." If Panelle had been awake and Marlen a human's size, he would have kissed their hands too, but Aya didn't need to know that.
"It doesn't matter!" Aya snapped, his voice rising. Harris didn't even pause, shucking his other boot and stretching his legs out, wiggling his toes in comfort. It pissed Aya off. "You're not to touch her!"
"Who?" Harris asked innocently, standing to shrug off his jacket and beginning to untie his shirt. "Oh. Raven, you mean."
Aya hissed. "Yes, Raven. She's my fiancee and I don't want you flirting with her!"
Harris pulled his shirt over his head, saying calmly, "She doesn't seem to agree with you on that."
Aya slammed his hand on Harris's shoulder, turning him around to face him. Aya glared as hard as he could. "She's mine, Harris."
Finally, Harris felt the first twinges of anger circling through his system. He grabbed his brother's hand and firmly took it off his shoulder, frowning. "Raven is not an object, Aya. You need to grow up and realize that everything you do has consequences. What you did to her--what you're still threatening to do to her not only broke her heart, it shattered it. You've crushed her, Aya. She's not going to turn to you anymore for comfort. She needs someone else to support her."
"And you're going to be that person?" Aya snapped. "What makes you think you're good enough for her?"
Harris smirked. "I'm better for her than you are. I won't hurt her."
Aya sucked in a breath, hurt at the truth of his words. Harris was right, and as he turned back to pull the covers down on his bed, Aya tried his best to swallow down his pride and anguish. "Do you think I wanted to do all of this? Do you think I had a choice?"
"There is always a choice, Aya," Harris told him easily. He sat on the bed, reclining with his hands behind his head on the pillow. "It doesn't matter if you wanted to do it or not, the fact remains that you tried. You don't understand that your actions have dire consequences. Because of this, you are unfit to stay at her side."
Aya closed his eyes, his lips forming a hard wince. "I know," he whispered. "I know. . . But just let me. I can't be without her, Harris. Whether she hates me or not, it doesn't matter. As long as she's with me."
"And what will you do when the day comes to let her go?" Harris countered. "Because that day will come, Aya. If she doesn't kill her mother, then by royal order, we must kill her. If she does succeed, then you'll have to let her go anyway. She won't stay with you." He pinned him with serious eyes. "So what do you plan to do?"
Aya gave his brother those same, serious eyes. "I will keep my promise to her and take her from this world."
Harris's eyes bugged out of his head in surprised disbelief. "You mean you still plan to kill her? Why?"
"Because I can't live knowing that she's walking this earth and I can't be there beside her." Aya had pegged Harris with the force of his gaze and Harris finally understood just how much his little brother was hurting. There, in the depths of those blue eyes, behind the jealousy and the pain and the hatred for what he knew Raven was and couldn't change, was the unyielding love that had been pushed down. He was forcing himself to do what he thought he needed to do. Whether it was right or wrong didn't matter to him anymore. He was so far gone that he would do anything he needed to to keep Raven from leaving him--no matter what. Harris didn't know if that was more frightening or sad.