"That's not how the story goes"

Chapter 19

The king held his chin as a knight wrapped it for him. Once he'd finished, the king stood up. He immediately left the room and went to the end of a hall.

He opened the door and walked down the stairs. He looked around the dark, dusty room. His eyes landed on a figure on the floor. He walked over.

Elijah laid on the floor, their arms behind their back held by chains. They were asleep. The king kicked them and they instantly woke up.

The king crouched down and looked at Elijah with an angered expression.

"The hallucinations are working well," He mumbled. He lifted his hand and a yellow haze covered it.

The image of Elijah flickered behind the king. "Oh. And your friend kicked me in the chin with a heel." The king touched the bandages on his face. He stood up and dug into his pocket. He pulled out the ring, necklace, and bracelet that allowed the others to talk to Elijah.

The king dropped the necklace and bracelet on the floor. He lifted his foot and crushed them.

He placed the ring back in his pocket and smiled.

"You won't be needing those." The king smirked. The sound of a door opening was heard. A knight came downstairs holding a piece of paper.

"I found this in one of their bags, sir." He said and handed the paper to the king. He took it and looked it over.

"A newspaper article huh? I thought I had burned all these." He crumpled up the paper and threw it aside. "I'll be back. I need to go take care of this." The king went up the stairs and walked around the palace.

He found the group sitting in the courtyard. He walked over to them with a smile. Sub looked at the king and moved closer to Denis.

"Do you like the flowers?" The king asked. Alex nodded.

"The roses are my favorite. I love how they wrap around the arch way."

"I'm glad you like it. I have people working here everyday to make it perfect." The king looked back at Denis and Sub sitting on the bench.

"May I speak to you alone," The king tilted his head slightly. "Sub." The others looked at each other. Alex walked over and stood in front of Sub.

"Whatever you have to tell him, you can tell us too." Alex said sternly. The king furrowed his eyebrows.

"Do you not trust me?" He uttered. Alex lightly shook his head.

"N-no. I-it's just-"

"I'm giving you a place to stay. A place for you to be safe. And you don't trust me?" Alex stayed silent, baffled by the king's reaction.

Denis stood up and stood next to Alex. "We trust you. But Sub isn't able to speak to you at the moment." The king rolled his eyes and left.

Alex turned to Denis. "That was strange." He mumbled.

"Why'd he get so defensive?" Denis sat down next to Sub. He remembered the bandages that were on the king's chin. "Sub-"

Sub turned to Denis. He was curled up and his attitude changed as soon as the king left. Denis looked back at Alex.

"I think we need to leave. Something about this is making me nervous." Denis mumbled. Alex nodded and began to leave the courtyard. Denis turned to Sub and held his hand out. Sub took his hand and stood up.

They began walking. Denis could feel Sub's hand shaking slightly.

"He was the one that hurt you, isn't he?" Denis whispered. Sub nodded lightly. He looked at Denis.

"He couldn't do much to me. I kicked him before it got too far. I'm fine. We need a place to stay for now. We can stay here."

"We're not staying. Don't make up excuses. Just because it didn't go that far doesn't mean it didn't happen. It also doesn't mean he won't try again. We're leaving and that's finally." The two stayed silent as they walked towards Alex's room.

Alex was in the hall, talking to the knight that had shown them all their rooms the other day. He was asking where Elijah's room was.

The knight walked down the hall and opened a door at the end. It was larger than the other rooms and a round bed sat on the floor with blankets and pillows scrambled on top of it.

"They left a few minutes ago. I don't know where they went." The knight said before leaving. The group went inside to look around.

As soon as the knight was out of sight, Alex spun around. "This isn't Elijah's room." He said. The others looked at him confused.

"Elijah hates leaving messes. They wouldn't leave their bed like that." Sub went over to the closet. There was nothing inside.

"Their outfit from last night isn't here." Denis quickly turned to leave but someone stood in the way.

"What a shame. I was planning to keep you here longer." The king muttered. He looked behind him at the knights. He nodded his head and they rushed in to grabbed them.

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