Chapter 278: Chapter 278

278 Chapter 278 : The meadow

Jacob walked in front of his mirror and paused to look at himself for the hundredth time that morning. The day had finally come, today was the day she was going to meet princess Eira, and prove to her that he was a suitor worthy of her hand. Not all these other posers who had absolutely nothing as compared to him.

The dark haired elf sleeked back his hair and tightened his ponytail before fixing his collar and dusting off the sleeves of his shirt. He needed to look perfect, he needed to smell perfect, he needed everything to be perfect for this day. Absolutely nothing could go wrong.

“By the end of today,” Jacob mumbled to himself as she admired his reflection in the mirror. “Eira will be mine. I will enchant her so, that she will think of no other man but me. And then finally when the thirty days elapse, I will be the man standing at the end of the isle she will be walking down.”

A faint knock at the door drew Jacob from his slightly crazed reverie. Ivan walked into his son’s room and arched his eyebrows when he caught glimpse of how his son was all dressed up.

“Well well,” Ivan smirked. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you this dressed up before.” The man sniffed the air around and arched his eyebrows even more. “And you’re wearing musk, you are really playing all the cards today aren’t you.”

“This means a lot to me father,” Jacob stated while sleeking down his hair yet again. He turned to look at Ivan, a strong sense of determination in his eyes. “I have loved princess Eira since we were children, and she is finally ready to have a husband, who better suited to wed her but me? A man who has known her longer than any other suitor who will come her way. Nothing can ruin this for me.”

Ivan pursed his lips before clearing his throat. “Love you say..?”

Jacob paused fixing his hair and turned to his father, “yes love, I’m pretty sure I did not stutter.”

“Love is such a strong word son,” Ivan spoke gently, controlling his tone so as not to anger Jacob. He knew how hot headed his son could get when it came to his feelings towards Eira, and in all honesty it was a little worrying. “I’d like to believe you’re very fond of Eira, that would be a more accurate way of putting it.”

.....

The elven man walked to his son and fixed his collar. “So with that said, I wish you luck. But remember Jacob, even if things don’t go exactly as you wish, it won’t be the end of the world.”

Jacob took a step back and gave his father an unsettled look. “You are talking as if there is a possibility Eira might reject me, but that would be ridiculous, who else could she possibly choose. Of all the men coming to woo her, I know her best and she can trust me. She isn’t going to choose a random stranger over me.”

“Jacob didn’t you ever wonder why the king all of a sudden decided his daughter should be married?” Ivan asked his son, his eyes watching Jacob’s every expression. “I mean just a few weeks ago Gareth didn’t want Eira to even as much as look at a man, and now he wants her to find a husband in thirty days?”

“I thought it was because you and the other council members have been pestering him for an heir,” Jacob commented. “It’s either he has a son, or Eira marries is it not? Maybe having a son proved difficult and he decided the latter would be the solution.”

“It’s true,” Ivan admitted. “Some of the other counilmen have been pushing the king for an heir, but he always said he would never force his daughter into marriage for the sake of the throne. As a matter of fact, king Gareth stated that he would personally teach Eira all he knew and prepare her to take the throne if anything ever happened to him. That’s how firmly Gareth stood his ground on the idea of Eira marrying.”

“So what is it you’re trying to say?”

“All I’m saying is don’t get your hopes so high up,” Ivan responded. “You are not the only candidate Eira knows so well, just take whatever comes, it will be easier that way.”

Ivan turned around and began walking towards the door, before he exited his son’s room he gave him one last small smile. “I still wish you the best of luck today, chin up, you’re my son, if done properly you may stand a chance.”

When Ivan left and closed the door. The only emotion that Jacob was left with was anxiety. Was there someone who Eira already had her eyes on? Is whoever he was the reason she was suddenly ready to be married? Who was this person?! And why hadn’t Jacob ever heard of him before?!

Wait... that man. The silver haired lycan from the party and from the ball. Was that him? Was that who Eira was hoping to be with?!

Jacob looked down to his feet and noticed he was tearing away the floor beneath him with his magic. He took a deep breath and calmed himself down. No, he was not going to let Eira be with anyone else but him. They were perfect together, why couldn’t she see that?! Jacob would just have to make her realize that there was no one else better suited for her than him.

*

Elric wrapped his arms around his body and shivered violently. He had experienced many winters before but this one seemed to be getting more and more intense as they moved further down the road.

Suddenly, a fur coat landed in his lap, tossed to him by his father.

“Those fancy woolen and leather coats will do you no good here, the winters are long and harsh, why do you think we call it the snowlands?”

Elric picked up the coat and threw it on without hesitation. He had heard that snow was an all year round thing in the snowlands, but he had completely underestimated how cold it would be.

“You will get used to it in time,” Edron told his son. “You’re a silver lycan, the snow is your home. The colder it gets means we are drawing nearer to our destination.”

“Why would I want to get used to my testicals crawling up my stomach for warmth?” Elric muttered while rubbing his hands together.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

His father chuckled in response, “a few days here and they will hang low like a lycan’s should. In the meantime, try and get some rest, you have been awake for days and honestly your constant twitching is starting to annoy me.”

Elric really didn’t know why he was twitching so much, but he had a feeling it had something to do with Eira.

“You’re probably right,” Elric admitted. “Some sleep might do me some good.”

The lycan shut his eyes and almost immediately, drifted away into a deep slumber. And for the first time in seventeen years, Elric had a dream. The entire time he had been living in his cabin back in the forests of Gavaria, he had not had a single dream, all his nights were spent just laying there looking at the back of his eyes.

In the dream, Elric awoke in a lash green meadow covered in flowers with a small creek flowing with sparkling blue water not too far from him.

He got to his feet and looked around him, and almost instantly he recognized the place. This was the very meadow from his dreams seventeen years ago, the meadow where he would see Eira standing on the other side of the creek staring at him. Gods, all those had been signs, signs that if he heeded to, being with her would not have been so difficult.

The silver haired lycan began walking towards the creek, wondering why his dreams had brought him here a second time.

“Took you long enough to figure it out,” a voice spoke from behind him.

Elric turned around and found a tall man in a white hooded cloak looking down at him. He took several steps back and instinctively started looking around him for anything he could use as a weapon.

“You’ve always been as feisty as you are stubborn lycan,” the man spoke with a hint of amusement in his voice. “I thought that by now life would have shimmered you down.”

“Who are you?” Elric demanded.

“I am but a guide,” the man spoke, “a guide who has been watching over all of you.”

Elric was still uneasy around the man, but he couldn’t help but feel he had seen him somewhere before.

“I cannot say much right now,” the hooded man spoke. “But you need to know that soon, the curse that had befallen you, will find its way to the one you love..” the man took one step forward, vanished, and reappeared behind Elric. “And just as it was broken by love the last time, so it shall be broken in the future.”

Elric leapt away from the man, “what do you mean? What curse?!”

“You will soon know son of Edron...” the man spoke as he faded away. “You will soon know...”