The Seelie's Mirror

Chapter 2 Underground Garden

Chapter 2 

Wherever Klovis intends to take me, I feel a little confident knowing that Jade has recently joined us on our way to the palace's basement. It's my first time being here, and it's also the first time that I have heard that they have a basement. I don't think that I need to tell anyone this, but it is really dark in here, and I have to rely on Jade and Klovis to help me get down the stairs.

"I may not be able to see, but if I hear a rodent-like creature down there, I am bolting out of here—or crawl." I vaguely see Klovis looking at me through the small torch that he's carrying. When I see him open his mouth, I add, "If you try to scare me by pretending you saw one, I swear I will push you. You know I'm not kidding, right?"

Klovis looks like he is carefully choosing his actions in that moment and has decided that it is not worth scaring me for amusement.

I can finally see a bit of light at the end of the spiral staircase. When we arrive, we find ourselves in a basement garden, which strangely has sun and skies down here. Not only that, but it seems like this garden stretches out for eternity, and I have completely forgotten that we're even in the basement.

"Well, that's it. I have seen everything." I stare at the sky, feeling so done with the whole magic mambo jumbo of this place. If Jade had not nudged me to move forward, I don't think that I might have moved from my spot.

There are abundant flowers everywhere, all of different shapes and colors. Most of them are even changing colors every second. They are so beautiful. These are flowers that I haven't seen before. There's no doubt in my mind that none of these can be found in the human realm. It's hard not to keep my eyes strained toward them because Klovis has to take my hand and drag me behind him as soon as I am lagging.

"I never thought that I would be so jealous of flowers..."

"What did you say?" I hear Klovis muttering something too low for me to hear. "Were you just cursing me in fairy language?"
"Really? Out of all the guesses, you came up with that?" He looks like he is pouting, and I almost made fun of him for that if I had not noticed the majestic flower bud at the center of the garden. It's glowing more than the rest, which is making me worried because all pretty things are dangerous here.

"It's not carnivorous, is it?" I look at the bud suspiciously.

Klovis lets out a laugh. "You've been in the Seelie kingdom for a long time, and I recon that you know that it is really the Unseelie Palace."

"Yeah, of course. Thanks for reminding me. How about you remind me of something else? Like, why did you bring us here?" I watch Klovis carefully, and I slowly begin to arch my brow the moment I see him curling his lips.

"For answers." He ushers me in until the two of us are now standing before the glowing flower bud. "This is a magic bud that synchronizes with those of the royal family to answer their questions."

"If you had this, then why didn't you use it before?"

"That's because it only answers questions that are asked with pure intentions. And also..." Klovis shyly looks away. "...the idea kind of slipped my mind. Ehe."

"Don't 'Ehe' me." Now I know why Grignel is often so stressed when dealing with Klovis. "What happens if you ask the bud a question with no pure intentions?"
"It sets you up in flames like one of those witch trials." His response made me look at him while I waited for him to tell me that he was joking. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like he is.

"You're serious?!"

"I wish I were." He shrugs, like the idea of being burned alive doesn't faze him.

"Klovis, this is dangerous!" I start to pull on his arm in an attempt to drag him away from the living magical torch.

Instead of coming along with me, this nutjob decides to laugh. "Geez, Livia. Do you think that I have impure intentions? I have to say that I am extremely offended." He gently pulls his arm away from me and gives me a light pat on the head. "Don't worry. Just trust me on this, and I will get some answers."

"If you burn, I have Jade here as my witness that I did not kill you."

Klovis just lets out a lighthearted laugh before proceeding to head closer to the magical flower bud.

Seriously, does this guy fear nothing?
The faerie prince stares intently at the blossom and reaches out to touch it. He had not even put his finger on the bud before he let out a piercing cry. I, too, screamed in terror before yanking him back. The moment I did, I heard his scream transform into a chuckle. I gave him a thorough examination and noticed that he was not even on fire. He's even looking at me and laughing his head off.

"I was kidding. You're too tense!" He cackles. "Still, it's nice to see that you care for me." He teases.

I give him a deadpan look before pulling his pointed ear. "Can you take this seriously?! If you keep fooling around, you will really be set in flames like in a witch trial that you are so obsessed about."

"Ow! Alright." Despite expressing pain, the curl in his lips isn't really enough to convince me. "I'll be serious. I promise."

I look at him sternly before releasing my grip on his ear. I made sure to keep some distance between myself and Klovis by standing by Jade this time. Klovis just smiles and gives me a thumbs up before finally pressing his palm to the bud. I braced myself, hoping against hope that the naive prince would not end up in ashes after this.

The bud begins to glow so brightly that I have to cover my eyes. When it finally calms down, I see that the bud has expanded and the top part has opened. It looks like Klovis is glowing as well, which initially alarmed me because I feared he would be set ablaze and reduced to ashes. Thankfully, this new light appears to be of a different variety. The dark purple skin on his right arm gradually becomes encircled by glowing blue veins. I notice that the glow veins on his arm are beginning to form fairy words, as if they were permanently searing themselves onto his skin.

It took a while, but the bud finally started to shrink and is now shining as brightly as it did when we first arrived. The veins also appear to have stopped marking Klovis's arm as he finally drew his hands back. He stumbles a bit, and Jade has to move behind him for support.

Klovis rubs his eyes with his left hand before meeting me with a weak smile. "That certainly gave me a headache."

"At least you didn't get roasted. How are you feeling?" I take several steps closer to him.

"Like I need to be cuddled?" He gives a feeble attempt at a smile and blinks.

"Klovis."

"Yeah, sorry. Bad joke." He chuckles before righting himself up. "The good news is, I know how to fix your...situation. Bad news, we need to fix the mirror." He suddenly winces and glances down at his right arm, like he is just noticing the marks left on it.

"Well, would you look at that?" He mutters and lightly trails his fingers over the fresh tattoo on his arm.

"What is it? What does it say?" I ask. I could read the words, but Klovis is raising his arm so he could read them himself.

"Instructions."

"Instructions for what?" Now I am beginning to be more and more curious that I am thinking of peering over his shoulder to read the markings instead.

Klovis lowers his arm, giving me the most smug grin that I have ever seen him wear. "Instructions on fixing the mirror."

*~*~*~*~END OF CHAPTER~*~*~*~*

I feel like Livia is more stressed with Klovis...but for a different reason. 😂