The Beginning of The True Heir | Ongoing

Chapter 36: The Unobservant One

"Aha!" Aeslin grinned and walked over to the group of us who had been hunched over books for hours. "Demons." He sat down and stared at us, horrified, he looked sick. "Witches are the only ones who can conjure demons from the pits of hell."
Everyone was quiet. It felt like a lifetime as we stared at him, completely baffled. This was ridiculous and insane. Demons were conjured from the pits of hell?
"That must a witch is what? What is a witch doing conjuring up demons from the pits of hell?" Robin asked.
"They live within a creature with blood running through its streams." He spoke quietly. "So no demon can live within a vampire."
"But it can live within any other living being. So any of us could have a demon within us." Gardenia looked frightened.
Aeslin shook his head. "Demons leave a mark once they enter a body." He kept reading. "It is a small star within a hexagon. The books says it is on the back of the neck."
My eyes widened in fear and shock as Aeslin held the book up to show me. The memory of having seen that before was fresh in my mind. There was only one place I had seen it before and one someone. I can't believe I didn't put them together.
"Merek." I whispered.
Everyone turned to look at me.
"That, that whatever it is. Mark. I have seen it before. It was on Merek." I spoke softly.
"Really?" Tristan asked. "I was there with you that day and there was no mark on his neck."
I rolled my eyes at him. "You are so unobservant."
"Me? The unobservant one? I don't think so." He mumbled under his breath. But as I sat next to him, I heard him, loud and clear.
"Send a messenger to Estelle and George." I told my Queen's Guard. "Make sure they receive it only. Tell them to go with two guards that they trust to the dungeon to see Merek. I want to make sure I did see it and it is not me hallucinating."
Hope nodded and went off to write the scroll.
"Demons?" Conri asked. "Are we sure this is real and not fake."
"We live in a strange world." Gardenia shrugged. "Imagine a world without wolves, vampires, faeries, mermaids, witches and elementals." Her eyes widened.
"Now you are hallucinating." Chamania giggled, she grinned at Gardenia. "That is a strange world to live in."
"We need to attend class." Tristan announced. "We have Court first and I would like to know more about inter-kingdom affairs."
I nodded in agreement. "So would I."
All of us shut our books, leaving them on the ground for us to return to later. It was the best way for us to just leave and for a moment forget about it all. Just to be normal Academy students instead of worrying about demons and the Revolution. Had I done wrong by making them my council? Did they regret accepting my proposal?
We sat down together in Court at the front of the room.  The professor walked in and smiled at us all happily.
"Alright, this afternoon, we are very busy till the bell chimes. We are going to discuss our trades with the other kingdoms." He grinned and everyone groaned in class. "What is our biggest trade? Does anyone know?"
No one spoke. Not even me because I had no clue. And I was the Queen of this Kingdom and I had no clue! It was hitting me that, I was not a very good. Not even an adequate Queen.
"Our biggest trade has been changing over the course of decades. For some time it was slaves, the dwarves, that over two hundred years ago. It then changed to wood. Our trees were the finest to build ships. After that it changed to and still is our fish." He continued on and I drowned him out. I was really excited for this lesson but now realising how unprepared I am to be Queen made me regret going on the voyage during the Summer Season. The only upside was meeting William and even then, he's now in the Healers wing still recovering from Sultan's hit.
During the dinner break, I walked over to the healers wing to see him. He was sitting upright with Sultan sitting on a chair beside him.
"What are you doing here?" I growled. "GUARDS!"
Immediately they stormed in and saw Sultan and went for him.
"No, no, no. Wait!" William shouted. "He's healing me!"
"Stop." I told my Queen's Guard and they immediately froze, even Sultan stopped moving. I looked over to William and saw he had a mixture on his face.
"Look, he's given me a mixture of seaweed and coral and a few other things." He scooped some off his face and handed it to me.
It was soft and felt disgusting. How he stands this on his face, I do not know. Immediately I wiped it off and placed it in a towel. I looked over to Sultan and nodded to my Queen's Guard and they removed their arms from him but did not step away. "Thank you."
"It was the least I could do after injuring him." He bowed his head. "It's working but may take a while. Normally it's just used for mer-people."
I nodded. "Thank you, again and I apologise for the rash decision." I sat beside William on his bed and he took my hand in his.
Sultan saw the exchange and there was pain, visibly in his eyes. "I'll leave you to it. Thank you for forgiving me."
"There was nothing to apologise for." William nodded.
Sultan left William and I, to ourselves. The room was suddenly quiet and I had no idea what to say to William. My Queen's Guard realised this and left us as well. Which made things even more awkward between us.
"You are his soulmate?" William asked staring at the necklace I still wore. All I could do was shrug, I couldn't tell him the truth yet. "What are you thinking?"
I took a deep breath. "Well, I am not in love with him if that is what you are implying."
"No, I'm not implying that Gwendolyn. What I'm asking is what are you thinking?" He asked softly.
"Nothing. Since the incident I have not thought of it more. I've been a little pre-occupied by your safety, your health and wellbeing." I whispered. "Are you truly feeling better?"
He nodded. "Absolutely. My jaw still hurts a little but much better than the other night."
I nodded, as well. "Good. I was worried you'd be in more pain."
"Gwendolyn," He whispered. "if he is your soulmate you should be with him. Even if you are not in love with him just yet."
He was calling everything off. All we had, he wanted to call off and not be with me any longer. It was all because of this stupid necklace around my neck. He was not my soulmate. If anyone was my soulmate it was William Montreal. The one who laid in front of me now.
I shook my head. "He is not my soulmate. Please, William."
"Gwendolyn, he is. Everyone saw that necklace glow and I will not be the laughing stock of Pangaea. Please, you may be my Queen but all I would like to get out of this is my dignity." He whispered.
Slowly I nodded. His dignity was what I could and would let him leave with. That's all I could give him. I could no longer give him a crown, a kingdom and a life with me. The moment this necklace glowed, that was ruined. Even though I knew he was not my soulmate. I couldn't tell William everything yet.
With my broken heart I slowly pulled the ring off my finger. Tears dropped like a waterfall but there was nothing I could do. This is what he wanted and I needed to give it to him. As much as I wanted him to stay, he needed this. For him and for his family.
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