Witt Will Not Save You (Adventure and Romance)

Part 23

After another half hour of training Harlen gives the order to the collectors to start moving. Maive's head swirls with thoughts of Harlen's words. Her heart and her head seem to be at war with one another. 

As they begin another long trek Maive over hears small conversations between collectors, but one particular conversation sticks out above the rest.

"The Queen is getting sicker by the minute" one of the collectors says casually.

Maive focuses in on the words.

"The Purists will lose their shit without a Kind AND a Queen, their will be much unrest in the kingdom, they'll be scrambling over each other to take her place." Another collector says in reply, his voice a bit less proper in the way he talks.

Maive turns her head over her shoulder to see the faces of the two collectors who were talking. The conversation between them immediately comes to a halt as they notice Maive's gaze, the one with the rougher voice looks over Maive's body with his eyes lingering on the sword at her side. His eyes glide back up as his face contorts into a disgusted look. Maive's brows scrunch and she un sheaths the sword, swings it once and while she sheaths it back in its place she gives another look at the collector over her shoulder and wickedly smirks before winking tauntingly in his direction. Before she can even fully turn her head back around she hears that angry whispering of the collectors. When her head is back facing forward she notices Harlen staring at her with a brow raised from where he walks beside her. 

"What?" she says innocently.

Harlen swivels his head to the two collector and Maive's lips curl up slightly at the crisp sound of silent fear their Superior has no doubt just instilled in them with one look.

"Do try not to rile them up, Wild One." he says as he turns his own head back.

"They have a duty, and your distracting them." 

"I don't know what your talking about, and i was not distracting them." Maive says as if she isn't still trying to hide a smile.

"Trust me, you can be very distracting." the last bit of his sentence is under his breath but Maive still hears it.  

"They were talking about our esteemed queen." Maive says with her usual sarcasm. 

Harlen tenses at the mention of the queen, Maive notices this and decides to continue talking against her better judgement. 

"Curious how they said she was sick, but I am sure that has nothing to do with me or the fact that my blood possesses these magical healing properties or anything."

Harlen sighs and for once isn't able to look Maive in the eyes.

"Do you know the story of the King?" he asks hoping she wont pick up the subtle conversation change.

"Of course, everyone knows, him and the Queen were madly in love and he would use his sorcery to keep them both young for hundreds of years until one day she decided to cheat on his magical ass, then when he found out she killed him in fear that he would kill her and her lover. Blah Blah Blah." 

Maive rattled off the shortest version she could remember from her village. Tales of how she killed him varied but it was always the same exaggerated message, love and lust are dangerous and trust is fragile. Safe to say the queen was not looked on favorably in the eyes of the village people or Maive.

"Something like that yeah." Harlen says.

"But what the hell does any of that have to do with me?" Maive says in a sharp tone.

She won't back down this time. Answers. she needs answers, she tells herself staring intently at him.

Harlen stiffens and after a pause he says,

"Looks like you already know the answer to that, Wild One."