Ileus: The Dark Prince

"Etaya?" Siora asked as panic-laced frustration filled her. "What has your wife done? What revenge?" She was talking to herself and if anyone saw her right now, they would think she has gone mad. Sharing a body with a man and that too Seraph—she had never seen such terrible days. 

Her words came out in Seraph's voice. "That is none of your concern. But know this—if you want to reach the cave where you think are all the rebels, then trust me, there is no one better than me who knows the route to it." 

Siora felt as if her body was being pushed beyond her control. She found herself getting up, rolling her fur and tying it to her horse. "I don't want to go now. Can't you see the blizzard?" She forced herself to sit. It was like a struggle to control her body. Seraph was a powerful soul but she was no less. She was a demon queen and she wouldn't allow him to control her. "Do you think I am Iona, who you and your wife broke down mentally and the girl gave in? I saw her in Galahar and she is now married to my youngest son. All because of yours and your wife's miscalculations," she hissed. 

Seraph didn't let her sit. "Shut up," he hissed right back and forced her to move. Siora tried to cling to a rocky outcrop inside the cave to stop from leaving, but Seraph was too strong. He pulled her out of the cave in the blizzard. "Now ride," he said. "If you don't, I will drag this little body of yours up that cliff and drop it from there to its death!" 

Siora gulped. Confused and furious as hell, she did as he told her to. In that blizzard, she mounted her horse and started her journey north. It was so cold that she took the fur out and wrapped it around herself. Seraph guided the horse through the blizzard, as if on instinct. 

"The horse is going to die if we continue," she said. There were a thousand questions she wanted to ask him but first she needed to steer him to a safe place so that the horse survived the night. "I am going to get frostbite and it is possible that I will die too. Then how will you reach the cave?" 

Seraph only hissed at her but he didn't stop. They must have traveled for an hour, when the horse fell to the ground. She shrieked, letting at every vulgar curse at the spirit that possessed her. But the spirit was least interested. It made her abandon the horse and made her walk in the blizzard. Siora could feel that Seraph had gone mad in revenge. He was seeing no logic. Her skin was turning blue slowly. Traversing in a cold blizzard through the layers of snow on the ground was tiring. "Please, please," she begged. "Let us take a rest." 

"No!" Seraph growled and didn't let her rest. 

An hour later, Siora felt that she would die from cold, tiredness and hunger. But through all this her body was being pulled up the slope by Seraph. It was crazy torture—one she wasn't prepared for. 

In the end when she could take it no more, she decided to use her magic to cast out this man from her body. She wasn't using her magic earlier because she knew that it would eventually harm her body. But now this was getting too hard for her to handle. She wanted to survive to take revenge and for that she had to do something. So, using the last bit of her energy, Siora planted her feet wide and focused on her magic. She began pushing his soul out slowly, but in the process, her skin ruptured and it started bleeding. 

Seraph laughed. "If you push me out, you will end up getting killed!" 

--- 

Rolfe's men returned. The messenger relayed the information that Siora was nowhere in the kingdom or seen around the Mountain of Tibris. But some locals saw a woman by the description going towards Silver Vales. When they traced her path, they found that she stayed close to the borders of the Northern Mountains. No one saw her entering the kingdom though. 

When he listened to the message, Ileus immediately deployed his soldiers to the northern mountains. The next day he learned that there had been a heavy snowfall in the mountains. And that was a relief for him, because the snowfall would reduce her pace and it would be easy to catch her. 

The next day the elf king Theodir came to Draoidh along with his wife, Ilyana. Their visit was a secret. Other than Ileus and Anastasia, no one knew that they had come. Ileus and Anastasia had gone to meet Theordir. Though Anastasia didn't know what was going on, even she could sense the tension in the air. They had dinner together and the brothers weren't speaking with each other, nor were the women. Inyanga seemed extremely perturbed. 

Once the dinner was over, the men went to Haldir's study for a round of wine, while the women went to Ruvyn's room. 

Ileus was barely able to lash out at the dinner but kept his cool because of Inyanga. But now he lashed at Theodir. "What you are doing is not right, Theodir," he said in a sharp tone. "You can't take a three month old baby from his mother. Inyanga will be devastated if you snatch the kid from her. How can you put the laws of your kingdom above the love of a mother?" 

Theodir, who was sitting on a high chair, and swirling his wine, looked very calm and controlled. He looked at Ileus with his violet eyes that flickered with silver. "You are not a citizen of Evindal and you better not interfere in our laws." His words came as shards on their friendship. "Ruvyn is the royal heir of Evindal and no one can stop me from taking him. His destiny was written much before he was born." He stared at Haldir as if threatening him to challenge him. But Haldir sat in his place with his head lowered. He had barely touched his wine. 

"It's not the laws I am talking about, Theodir," Ileus countered. 

"And these are the laws I am talking about!" Theodir snapped. "That child is destined to be the ruler of Evindal. I am sure Haldir knew about it long before he even married his mate. In fact both he and Inyanga should be happy that they were blessed with a male heir who would be the elf king one day!" 

"You must be jesting Theodir!" Ileus said. "And when would he be the elf king? After how many years? How many years do the elves live?" 

A muscle in his jaw feathered and his grip on the glass tightened. "That is how it is in our world. And that is one of the reasons why births amongst us are so rare. And a royal heir—do you know how precious is that? Do you?" he snarled. "You can never figure it out!" 

"Royal heir? You forget that Inyanga is the queen of the witches in the south."