Essentia (8 page)

    "Thank you," I say in a small voice. Even though we just met, for some reason my heart says to trust them. He didn't say anything he just squeezed my hand again to reassure me. Once we arrive at what I suspect is their home. I notice two men standing outside by the door, both dressed in similar clothing. I hesitate to get out of the car.

    "No worries, they are our men My lady" Enre says, calming me down some. Our men? What kind of men are they? What have I gotten myself into? Who are they really? Thinking all of this over as we walk up to the two men at the door.  "Welcome back My Lord," One of the guards says. Again with the 'My Lord'.

    "Yan, the is Ms. Ogden. She will be staying with us. There has been some... Complications that the other guards will fill you in on. As of right now, you are to remain on high alert". Enre tells Yan. Yan then bows along with the other guard and in sync, they say "Yes My Lord, My Lady." What is with all the 'My lady' business. I ask myself, not sure what is going on.

    "This way My lady" one of the guards grabs the stuff we are carrying, except for Enre’s' book. I hold on to it myself, and they lead us to the loft. After setting the stuff down the guard bows and leaves. Enre locks the door behind us and goes and shuts the curtains. Afterward, he walks up to me and encircles me in his strong arms. It is at this time that I break down, the night’s events all hitting me at once. All I can do is cry, I whisper to him in a shaky voice "I-I’m s-sorry, c-can't stop c-crying."

    He picks me up in his arms and heads over to sit in a chair, situating me on his lap. His hand guiding my head to rest on his shoulder, then he leans his head on mine and says in a soothing voice "Shhh, My Lady. It is alright. I will take care of you. I am just glad that you were not there when they did this." His body started to shake a little. "I will do everything in my power to find who did this.  We will make them pay for causing you such grief and heartache." He kisses the top of my head.

    We sat there in the quiet room, Me still in his lap and him trying to soothe me. At some point, I had stopped crying. He was now more relaxed it seemed. After a bit of time had passed. I heard someone at the door and out of fear I jumped, but Enre said "It's my Brother My Lady, nothing can hurt you here. We have taken precautions to ensure our safety as well as yours."

    I calm down some, but I am still on edge as I say to him "I'm sorry" as I look down. Rubbing my hands together to get them to stop shaking.

    He put his hand under my chin and says "It is alright, no need to apologize, alright." He ran his finger across my face whipping away the tears that had started falling again. He kisses me on the forehead. Getting up, still holding me in his arms. He turns around and sits me back down in the chair. Then walks over to unlock the door for his brother.

    Thane and Aiden walk in and lock the door behind them. They both have their hands full of bags. After they sit them down, Thane says. "We gathered what we thought you might need from your house, My Lady. If there is anything else, please do not hesitate to ask, alright."

    I say to them "Thank you very much. I am so sorry for this" I almost start crying again. My eyes are getting moist. I hate that all of this has happened. Nobody deserves this. 

    Thane walks up to me and places a hand on my shoulder and says to me "This is no fault of yours, My lady. It is us that need to be apologizing to you." Taking a deep, breath, he continues. "You have been drug into our affairs, and I am truly sorry for what has happened If you still want to know the entire truth then I, I mean we, will tell you everything. But I will warn you, what you hear will be a shock and some of it, you will not believe. Do you still want to know My lady?"

    I look at him stunned into silence for a moment and then nod my head. I just had to know. How bad could it be? Enre came over to me and said "Can I have a moment My Lady."  I nod my head, and we walk over to the other side of the room. Thane and Aiden carry the bags to what I'm guessing is a bedroom, to give us some privacy.

    Enre then starts off with "My Lady, whatever we tell you will be nothing but the truth, I promise this with my whole heart." He has my hand in his, rubbing his thumb over fingers. "No matter how farfetched and crazy you think it is, it will be the truth." I nod my head. Deep down in my heart, I know he is telling me this to prepare me for what I am about to hear.  "Promise me that you won't run away, and you will not hate us after you have heard us out." His eyes were watery and saddened. He looks almost heartbroken at the thought of me running. I felt a pain in my chest. "Say something, My Lady," He said just above a whisper, his hands shaking.

    I look at him and put my hand on his cheek and say "I promise, I will not run away, and I will stay by your side no matter how farfetched what you tell me is. I trust you Enre. I don't know why I do. But my gut and my heart agree with me. My mind might take some convincing" I snicker at the last part and give him a smile.

    Instantly, he wraps me in his arms and holds me like he is never going to let me go. Really how bad can it be? What are they going to do? Tell me, that they are aliens or something. If so, they are the hottest aliens I have ever seen. Not that I have ever seen any that is. I almost laugh out loud, But I stifle it before it can surface. We walk back over to where the sitting area is and I sit in a big overstuffed chair that Enre and I were sitting in earlier. Enre is in the matching one.

    We wait for the other two guys to join us, they are in there getting us something to drink. When they come in and sit and hand us our drinks Thane says "So where do we begin?" Looking around at us all.

    Enre said "You might want to go with the big one, to start with Brother" The big one? Huh, I wonder what the big one is?

    Just as I think this, Thane says very bluntly "Enre is The Crown Prince of Aelmere." Nothing could have prepared me for what I just heard.

     With a look of shock apparent on my face, I say "What? A Prince? Really? Wait so you're a Prince too?" That would only make sense, Thane being one too. I mean they are brothers.

    Enre says "Well she took that unusually well. Yes, I am a Prince." Bowing his head to me. So I have been hanging out with a Prince. It's kinda hard to believe.

    "You're a Prince to right, since you are Brothers?" I ask Thane. Not really wrapping my mind around this situation yet.

    He looks at me for a minute and says "No My Lady. My real name is Thegan Erinhall Arthfael, and I am the King of Realm of Aelmere. My apologies for giving you a fake name." My jaw hit the floor. King? What? Mmm... Ok, I got this. It's not so bad. So that's why they talk like that and have unusually good manners. There just royalty... Don't freak out Terra, stay calm. I tell myself.

    "My lady? Are you ok?" Enre asked. No, I am most defiantly not ok. I am freaking out a little. I calm myself down some. I promised I would listen.

     "Oh, Yes I am ok." trying to sound collected. "So that's why everyone has been calling you 'My Lord.' And here I have been calling you guys by your first names" I put my hand on my forehead. "So My Lords, Your Highnesses. Whatever I am supposed to call you now?" Royal hot guys, pops in my head. I had to shake my head to get that thought to go away.

    They all laugh and Thegan answers my question "Just as you have been My lady." I don't know how I feel about that, knowing that they are Royalty now.

    Enre asks me "Are you not going to ask where Aelmere is My Lady?" Come to think of it. I don't think I have ever heard of Aelmere.

    "Ok Enre, where is Aelmere?" I ask him since he brought it up.

    He looks at me for a second, then starts to speak. "First, do you believe different dimensions can exist?". Hmm? I have never really thought about the possibility of other dimensions.

    "I guess it could be possible. Don't tell me you guys are aliens. It may take me a minute to process that one."

    They all laugh at my alien statement. Enre continues "We are not aliens in the way you are thinking My lady, but we do come from a different realm. Where my brother is, King and I am Prince." Waiting for a moment to judge my reaction. "What I say is the truth, My lady." A different realm? Well I mean, I guess it could be possible. I mean this can't be the only place that has life. My old college professor believed in alternate dimensions, so what they say may be true.

    I don't have a bad feeling about what they claim. So I say to him kinda bluntly. "Ok, so if you guys are from a different realm then why are you here?" There has to be a reason. Vacation maybe? Having to stop a laugh from escaping lips.

    "You believe us?" Thegan asks looking stunned. I honestly don't know for sure if I believe them or not, but what the hell. Why not.

    I turn to say to him, "Until you give me a reason to not believe you, I have no reason not to right." Hoping that I make the right decision.

    He looked relieved, his expression relaxing. He then says "Thank you for trying to understand this My lady. I know it may be hard.  I ensure you that what we are telling you is the truth".

    Enre then began to speak in a tone that was a little unsure "That part of our story is probably the easiest to explain. The next part you will have to see." Looking at me with pleading eyes. "Please don't be scared my lady" ok now he is starting to freak me out a little. "You go first Thegan," Enre says.

     "Alright, Brother. My lady, what you are about to see, cannot be spoken outside of this room. You have to promise to keep our secret till your dying breath. It's only for the safety of our family and our people that I ask this." What could he possibly be talking about?

    I look at him and say "Of course, I promise" I don't know what is coming, but my nerves are standing on end.

    Thegan then says "Alright watch carefully, My lady." He gave me a smile. He held his hand out and took a deep breath. Then in a flash, there was a tiny flame dancing up his arm. Flickering back and forth.

    "What the hell is that?" I bend closer to him, and it starts to dance around more. That's awesome, are you controlling it?" I ask. Watching it glide up and down his arm.

    "Yes, it is called Essence. It is a power our family has control over. We will explain more about that at another time My Lady" Thegan said.

    I look over at Enre, and he has a smile on his face "Can you control fire too?" Thinking to myself, I knew they was hot, but this is not what I had in mind.

    Instead of answering me he holds out his hand and a globe of water forms in his palm. He makes it change form, Turning it into a heart. He then grins at me and says "Not exactly, my power is over water." I smile really wide at him, and he winks at me.

    I look at Aiden, and he waves his hand in the air and all of a sudden a breeze flips my hair up and swirls it around. I grin at him and say "It is amazing that you guys can do that." The most amazing thing I have ever seen to be exact.

    Enre looks at me and says "You’re not scared of us?" looking surprised. I should be, but I'm not.

    "No, not at all, I was surprised at first, but I think it is fascinating" I gleam a bright smile at them all. You can tell they all relax some.

    Soon the smiles are gone, and Thane says, "Now to the hard part of our story" It takes a long time, but they did what they promised me. They told me the entire thing. About Ivar, the book, what happened to their family. The death and the state of the Realm.

    Tears drops start to slide down my cheeks, and Enre asks me "Are you alright My Lady?" No, I'm not. The thought of those people dying is hard to take.

    I look at all of them and say, "I am so sorry you all have had to endure such hardships and loss. It saddens my heart to think you all have been through so much" Enre then comes over and picks me up and sits me in his lap, he the wipes my tears away. And says "My lady, most of that is in the past, no need to shed tears over something that cannot be changed. I am just so relieved to know, that all this doesn't scare you away." It should scare me away. Not knowing what's going to happen next.  "I can assure you, My Lady, that we will make it right with you and save our people. I just pray that you will stay by my side. Even though I do not have the right to ask you to stay after what has happened."

    I know all of this is going to be hard, but in my heart, I believe that I am supposed to be here. That I have a role to play somehow. I was just thinking the other day that I needed an adventure. I guess I hit the jackpot on that. I mean, what do I have to lose? Time to take a chance. I say to myself, So I say to him, "I will stay by your side Enre and help you guys any way I can." I pray that I am making the right decision.

    He immediately let out a sigh of relief and hugged me tight to his chest. Whispering to me. His voice is shaking as though he is about to start crying, "Thank you, thank you so much for believing us, Believing in me My princess." He didn't let go of me for a few minutes. He held me tight, as to not let me slip away.

    Thegan said to him "Brother, take your princess to bed. She has had a very rough day. Come back and join us when she is settled. There are still things to discuss." He nodded at him and said "Thank you, Brother. I will be back soon” I looked over Enre’s shoulder while when he started to carry me to bed, and I mouthed the words "Thank you" to both of them. They both nodded back to me and smiled.