Page 71 of One Last Promise
“Darce.What a strange name.”Luz scrunched her nose, making the rose plant on my dresser come back to life.“You need to remember to water your plants.”
“She’s been a bit busy getting mixed up with a weirdly attractive Noxlin,” Noor snorted, raising her one eyebrow at me.“I thought all Noxlin were meant to be beastly?”
“Yousawhim?”Luz clapped her hands, lying on my bed.“What does he look like?Does he have fangs?”
“Fangs?Seriously?”I chuckled, trying to not think about Darce’s beautiful face.He killed my mother.Still having these feelings for him felt wrong.“He looks just like us, but with darker hair and eyes.Noxlin aren’t the beastly figures our kind likes us to believe.”
“We’ve never been allowed close enough in battle to look at them, but the destruction they are capable of...”Nell closed her eyes, fighting a memory away.“Are you sure this Noxlin wasn’t glamouring you?”
“I know exactly who and what he is.”
“You haven’t fallen for him, have you?”Nell’s eyes widened, watching me.“Uri’s vision was very clear.You will find the entrance to Eallarim, allowing us to attack and destroy the city.You pierce Darce’s heart with your own blade.You will bring balance to the Afterlight Veil.”
“You think I could fall for an evil creature like that?He’s a Noxlin that trained me well, that is all.I simply used him to gain what I wanted.We became kind of...friends.”
“Friends?”Nell scowled.“Alora, he killed your mother!”
“I didn’t know that at the time.”Enyo slumped down by my feet.“His betrayal has hit me hard.I need to do this to take my revenge.Holy Ether made our paths cross for that purpose.”Trust Darce.That was what she had truly told me, but how could I trust the creature that had taken my mother from me?
“Noxlin are tricksters.Surely you remember that from the books I made you read,” Nell pointed out, watching me cautiously.“Do youtrustthis Noxlin?Will he protect you against his own race?Especially now you know he’s the one you’ve been looking for?Doesn’t that change your friendship?”Darce was a lot of things, but how he felt about me was something I never had to doubt.He’d spent the last four hundred years protecting me.He wasn’t going to stop when I suddenly dropped into his world.I was sure of it.
“Yes.He would never allow anything to happen to me.Uri’s version makes perfect sense.I’ll be able to gain his trust easily if I hear him out about Duska’s death and pretend to forgive him.”
“And you can hide your feelings knowing that he killed your mother?”I wasn’t too sure about that.All I could do was try.“Alora, do you have any idea how dangerous this is going to be?”
“Stop frightening her, Nell!”Luz spoke up for me.“Alora had the courage to meet a Noxlin over and over for over four hundred years so she could train in battle.You need to give her some credit.”
“The Noxlin did appear to be quite taken with her,” Noor interjected.“I watched him use his shadows to protect her from a noc beast.We ended up both using our powers at the same time, and sent the beast soaring up into the air.”Remembering that moment, I grinned at her.“I don’t think he’s going to hurt her.He had the chance when he found out she was the princess.”
“You two think Alora should do this?”Nell crossed her arms, glaring between all of us.“We’re meant to beprotectingher!”
“Did you watch her out there, Nell?”Noor questioned, motioning towards me.“She doesn’t need our help anymore.Alora can clearly look after herself, and once her power manifests, she’ll be unstoppable.We need to make sure Xavier doesn’t get his hands on her before that moment.We can’t allow him to erase all that she has learnt.If he wants to bond with her, Xavier will have to get through me first!”Tears were streaming down my face.Noor finally understood my struggles.“Maybe her destiny is to take down the entire Noxlin race, maybe it’s not, but I’m behind her in whatever she chooses.”
“Thank you, my friend,” I whispered, taking her hand in mine.
“I’m with Noor on this,” Luz chimed in.“Whatever you decide, I stand by you, Alora.”It seemed like a dream, having two friends that would stand against my father and Xavier if they had to.Nell watched us all closely as we sat on my bed, arms linked, showing our unity.
“I can’t be seen taking sides,” she started, moving her gaze to my balcony.
“I’m not asking you to,” I replied.She worked closely with Uri.Her mind wouldn’t be safe.
“Let me finish!”she stressed.Oh, there was more?“I might not beableto take sides, but Icaninform you if any bonding ceremony has been organised so you could make your preparations, should you need to.”
“You would do that for me?”I gasped.
“Watching the ordeal with Uri checking your purity, and how Xavier seemed to get off on it, I understand your concerns.You should be in control of your own fate.If you bring down the entire Noxlin race, you’ll be more powerful than the general.Your father will listen to you.I’m sure of it.”
Destroying the Noxlin race was the key to my freedom?Why did my heart feel so heavy at that concept?
Please, Holy Ether!There has to be another way.
