Queen of Rosewood Forest (On Hold)

Chapter 46

After Eben's mom leaves, I rush to the library. As I scour the pages I take note of every slight discrepancy. Whoever created these new stories did a great job at making sure there were no changes between accounts. It's going to be really hard to convince the people here that this is all fake, so that leaves me with a lot of work to do.

I become so absorbed in my work that I don't notice Alun is in the room with me until a drop of water hits the book in front of me. I turn around in shock to find him minding his own business pursuing the shelves for a book to read. "Don't mind me. I know you prefer not to be bothered."

"Did Aaden send you to keep tabs on me?" I say not attempting to mask my anger.

"No," he shook his head, "he thought you would run off to the castle again so him and Neven went there to wait for you." Small droplets of water fall from the ceiling onto the floor around him.

"And you let them?" I ask while raising my eyebrow at him. I look at him suspiciously, "If you thought I would be there and you know why I'm so pissed off at all of you then why would you let them follow me around like that?"

"I didn't think you would run off again," He says matter of factly. I could see him trying not to smirk and that just irritated me even more.

"Really?" I say, my voice laced with sarcasm.

He nodded, "I knew you would be avoiding us. But you know that the castle would be the first place any of us would look so," he walks over to the table and sits down next to me, "I figured if I'd let those two run off on their wild goose chase it would give you some time to calm down."

I think for a minute. Alun isn't trying to convince me to forgive them or explain their perspective. He's just trying to give me space. I guess I could appreciate that but I was still pissed. "Thank you," I murmur, "but I'm still mad at you."

"I know," he nodded as he opened his book. I glance at him before sighing and going back to my notes that I was writing down. The water stops dripping and we sit in silence.

I finish going through the book in front of me and stand to leave. I get to the door and pause not knowing what I should do. I could do all of this on my own and reveal the truth without them, but no one would have a reason to listen to me without substantial proof. I could force them to help me, but that would mean making permanent enemies of my only friends here. I may be mad at them but I don't want to hurt them. I turn back around and walk over to Alun.

"Do you need something?" he says as he looks up at me. His eyes held patience and hope at the same time.

"Aaden told me you all planned to tell the village about the true history of the people." I can't look in his eyes. I can't just get over the fact that they all kept this from me, but I can't help but want to forgive them.

"We did," he says as he puts down his book. "I never felt comfortable keeping their secrets, and neither did any of the others." I finally meet his gaze and see his blue eyes pleading with me to listen. "When we found out we were furious. Our entire lives felt like a lie. Imagine telling the whole village. Do you really think they would listen to us? Even if they did it would cause chaos. We couldn't risk it."

"You could have at least told me," I say less angry than before. I feel more defeated than anything. I was so torn on what to do.

"Aaden wanted to. Neven wanted to get to know you first, though I'll admit his methods were inappropriate."

"No shit," The anger seeps back into my voice a bit.

"Eben didn't even know until you were already here and when I realized you had no idea about the prophecy I didn't want to scare you away," he still sounds like he's begging me to understand.

I sigh, "I guess that's a good point."

Alun stands and closes the space between us. He places his hand on my shoulder and speaks quietly. His voice is soft and comforting, "We never meant to hurt you, Evette. I can't speak for the others, but the only reason I didn't tell you was to buy a little more time to plan all of this out."

"So do you have a plan?" I say as I move back a little.

He stiffens up a bit, "Yes, but I need you to be ready for what comes next."