May Death Do Us Part

79 Chapter 79 : Aiden

When night fell, Ella, Adam and his men retired to bed. They spread out their furs around the fire to keep warm because the cave floor was cold and damp. Adam turned to look at Ella who was sleeping next to him, she was clutching her fur tightly and had little lines on her forehead, she was shivering slightly every couple of minutes and clutching the fur tighter.

The elven prince crawled closer to her and shared his fur with her, tucking it around her body securely. It was now late in the fall and the nights were growing colder and longer, Adam hoped they could reach Ervelon before winter came, he was worried about Ella, it might get too cold for her.

He reached for her face and gently brushed her cheek with his knuckles, her skin was so soft and silky, and the way her brows raised when his hand touched her made Adam smile. He partly still couldn’t believe that she was sleeping next to him. Sure it wasn’t exactly how he’d pictured it, but here she was, the love of his life, the woman of his dreams, laying asleep next to him.

The prince flinched when she brought her hand to her face and cupped his hand in hers. She muttered a few incoherent words and softened her expression, indicating that she was falling into a deeper sleep. Adam inched closer to her and planted a soft kiss on her forehead before his eyes trailed down to her lips that were slightly open as she slept. He chided himself for thinking of kissing her in her sleep, that would be very creepy and he didn’t want to wake his little sleeping beauty.

He kissed her forehead again and whispered to her, “I love you more than you know beautiful.”

“mmh.. love you too Adam,” Ella mumbled in her sleep making him smile. He wrapped his arms around her and gently stroked her hair.

“Rest, we have an early morning tomorrow,” he whispered to her. Her arm wrapped around his waist and she buried her face into his chest, Adam prayed that the thumping of his heart wouldn’t wake her up. He couldn’t wait to reach Ervelon and really treat Ella, this sleeping on moldy cave floors and eating stale food was not the life he wanted for her. She deserved the best food, the finest wines and the most exquisite clothes and jewelry, and Adam would make sure all of that would be at her disposal soon enough.

He kissed her forehead one more time before he drifted off to sleep.

When morning came, Adam groggily woke up and turned to look at the woman who was sleeping beside him but was shocked to find that she was gone. He abruptly sat up and inspected the cave frantically, “Ella!” The man whispered into the looming darkness of the early morning, but he couldn’t see her.

.....

The noise made the other men awaken from their slumber, they woke up and rubbed the sleep out of their eyes wondering what was going on.

“Your grace? Is anything the matter?” Roland asked the man who was now out of his fur and scanning the cave.

“Has anyone seen Ella?” Adam responded.

“Maybe she’s going to freshen up at the lake,” Ivan responded, “there’s nowhere else she could have gone this early.”

The men watched the prince walk briskly deeper into the cave towards the subterranean lake. They all flinched when they heard him scream her name from within the dark interior. After exchanging concerned glances, they got up and ran towards where Adam’s voice had come from.

When they reached the edge of the lake where Adam was standing, all their eyes immediately circled. They saw Ella slowly floating across the water to the other side. None of them had noticed before but there was another opening across the water where an eerie blue light was flashing.

“Ella!” Adam called out to her but received no response. He hurriedly moved forward but a hand grabbed him and pulled him back.

“Your grace calm yourself! You could drown!” Beric scolded the elven prince.

“But I need to get to her!” Adam responded, he turned back to look at the redhead who was inching closer to the opening where the blue light was coming from. “Ella!” Adam was confused, “why can’t she hear me?”

Adam hurriedly took his shoes off, folded his pants and took off his shirt.

“Wait, what are you doing?!” Zander questioned the prince. From what he knew, Adam was a terrible swimmer, so why was he looking like he was about to dive in head first into the water?

Before Zander could complete his line of thought, Adam dived into the water and started swimming towards Ella. Good lord why were men in love such morons! The blond elf turned to Ozias, “do you have rope?” He questioned the big rough looking man. Ozias nodded and handed Zander the rope which he tied around one of his bows tightly, the blond elf aimed his arrow towards the cave wall on the other side of the lake and shot it. The hard steel arrow plunged itself into the hard rock securely and Zander proceeded to tie the other end of the rope around a narrow rock.

He then stepped closer to the edge of the lake and called out to Adam who had already drunk a few cups of water while struggling to reach the woman. “My prince! Use the rope!”

Adam grabbed the rope which was overhead and used it to pull himself through the water towards Ella. He reached the other side just as Ella was about to enter the cavern that was twinkling blue and ran towards her. He jumped in front of her and grabbed her shoulders, but to Adam’s shock, her eyes were closed and her shallow breathing indicated that she was still asleep. What on earth was going on?

“Ella..” Adam rubbed her shoulders gently in an attempt to wake her up, “Ella come on wake up you’re sleep walking.”

Ella remained silent and Adam could feel that there was some sort of invisible force that was pulling her towards the blue light. He wrapped his arms around her to prevent her from going forward, he had a bad feeling at the pit of his stomach about that light, there was an ominous energy oozing from it that Adam could not explain.

He tightened his grip around the sleeping woman and began to move back towards the water where Zander and Ozias had swam across ready to help. Adam hesitantly handed Ella over to Ozias who was stronger in build and was the best swimmer so he could take her back across. And as Ozias carried her further away from the cavern, the blue light became dimmer and dimmer until it flickered off like the flame of a candle.

“What was that?” Zander questioned Adam. He had felt the magical energy in the direction of the light and it was insane. What ever was producing that light was of magical origin, but what or who was it? And what did they want with Ella?

“I don’t know,” Adam responded, his eyes trailing back to the cave where the light had been illuminating from, “but we should leave this cave, now. I get the feeling we’re not safe here anymore.”

*

Thoedora sighed and turned to face the man who had been standing behind her watching her every move like a hawk. She could vividly remember him warning her that she had not honed her magic enough to be able to create a summoning portal, but she had insisted on trying in an attempt to show off a little, but failed.

She pursed her ruby red lips and looked to the side as the man raised his brows condescendingly. He stared at her with his sapphire blue eyes.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Theodora sulked and crossed her arms over her chest. She walked past the man, swaying her full hips with an attitude.

“I told you that you were not ready,” the man spoke. His deep voice always managed to send tiny shivers down Theodora’s spine.

“Yes I am!” The woman retaliated, “it’s that elf Gareth, if it wasn’t for him I could have had her!” Theodora sat down on a chair, crossed her legs and continued to sulk, “well at the least now you know what she looks like, a thank you would be in order.”

“I think I would be able to recognize her without your help, but I know you won’t let me live this down so..” the man sat down on a chair opposite the woman and leaned his temple onto his folded hand, “thank you Theodora.”

“That’s better,” the woman responded with her nose up in the air.

“She looks exactly like them. A replica of Kaiser Stefan and queen Marceline,” the man spoke thoughtfully, “and that magical energy, even though still in its raw state, it’s like nothing I’ve ever sensed before, such power, its immaculate.”

Theodora got up and made her way towards the man. She sat down on his lap, her slitted dress exposing her legs completely as she rubbed them against his. She gently ran her fingers through his wavy reddish hair and smiled at him, “and all that power will be ours to control soon enough... won’t it Aiden?”