Cherish

I bite my lip to stop myself from laughing at my "tutor."

The woman's so fucking uptight. She looks like she's about to explode. Her cheeks are flushed a dark red, her jaw and fists are clenched tight.

Today's lesson is all about how to use utensils. Forks, knives, spoons. What spoons are for what, what forks are for what. How to place the silverware when they're not in use. It's a seriously ridiculous lesson that I see absolutely no point in.

"I am trying to help you, your highness," she grinds out through clenched teeth.

I roll my eyes. "I already know how to eat, I really don't see how this is all necessary." I wave my hands at the ridiculous amount of silverware in front of me.

Kade snickers by the door, and Andrei elbows him to shut him up.

Adelheid shoots a glare in their direction before taking a deep breath. "Your highness–"

I hold my hand up. "Can you please stop calling me that?"

She narrows her eyes at me. "But, you're the princess."

I cross my arms across my chest and sigh. "Adelheid, there's something you and everyone else around here, aren't getting. I did not grow up with titles. I'm just Cherish. Hearing the 'your highness' crap makes me feel weird and like a fake."

"Your father won't like it," she says, her tone haughty.

"Then go bitch to him. He doesn't control me anymore than you do." I really didn't think it was possible but her face grows redder as she literally stomps her foot and storms out of the room.

"Cherish," Andrei admonishes gently, expression soft. "She really is only trying to help, disa."

I stand up from the table I'm seated at and shoot him a look. "What the fuck does it matter how I eat food? I eat in my room, not around everyone else."

"That's going to have to change, eventually. Your father will insist on it."

I groan. "Then give me one of each silverware, and I can eat the way I want to. I'm not like everyone else here, Andrei. I highly doubt they expect me to be just like them. They all know I'm different, and you know as well as I do that so many of them are so fucking thrilled that I'm walking around in ignorance. For the most part, I don't give a shit. The one thing I do give a shit about is changing to make others happy. That won't make me happy."

Ever since I came here after my family's death, my temper has been worse than before, and I have absolutely no tolerance for shit that annoys me. Most of these lessons are annoying and pointless, in my opinion, anyway.

It really doesn’t help my attitude that so many of the elves around here don’t hide their disdain around me for being part human. I quickly realized that I’m one of the very few half-humans here. Adelheid is one of those that look down on me for being half-human. She hides it well, but it’s definitely there.

The door to the room opens, and my father enters with Elazer on his heels. I’ve only been able to see and talk to him at the funeral we had for my family. He’s been too busy to really have anything to do with me.

Kade and Andrei bow their head respectfully at him, but he ignores their presence and instead raises a brow at me. “Adelheid says that you’re giving her problems again?”

I inwardly roll my eyes. “If by ‘problems’, you mean me telling her that I’ll eat the way I want to eat, then yes.”

He snorts a laugh. “Ah, you sounded like your mother when you said that.” His expression nostalgic he says, “She was never thrilled with being told how to act or what to do either.”

“It’s a human thing,” I say dryly, before correcting myself. “Actually, it’s an independent human thing for those of us that have our own minds.” From the corner of my eye, I see Andrei and Kade fighting a smile.

He chuckles. “But, you’re not all human, my dear,” he reminds me gently. “I’m sorry I haven’t been able to be here for you more since you’ve arrived. I’ve been neck deep in meetings with my advisors on the best ways to end this war.”

“It’s fine.”

“No, it’s not. You’re my daughter, I should have spent this time getting to know you, not locked in a damn war room.”

I raise a brow at him. “You have a war room? Seriously?”

He snickers. “Yes, we do. On another note, I came in here for a reason.”

“Because Adelheid’s a snitch?” I ask with utter sincerity.

I hear Kade’s chuckle echo around the room while I watch my father fight his smile. “Actually, no. She stopped me while I was on my way in here to tell me what’s wrong.”

“Wrong?”

“With your tutoring,” he explains. “She’s worried that you aren’t taking it seriously.”

I rub my temples and groan. “She bitches even when I do what she wants me to. I’m not going to go out of my way to please her.’

His mouth curves into a smile. “Even so, that’s not why I came. I have some time, and I want to take the spell off of you that I had placed on you when you were a baby.”

I freeze, and my eyes dart to Kade and Andrei, only noticing just then that Xander had come in while we were talking. They all nod their heads once in encouragement. I bite my lip. “I, uh, okay?”

My father looks like he wants to laugh, but is holding it in. “Okay?”

“Yeah,” I say quickly before I run out of the itsy bit of courage I have left right now. “How exactly are we going to do this?”

He tilts his head to the couch off to the side of the room. “Go lay down on the couch.”

I bite the inside of my cheek while I stand up. "Okay." Doing as he says I lay flat on my back on the couch and watch him curiously. He pulls a seriously gaudy amulet from around his neck while Elazer hands him a small dagger. "What's that for?"

"I had to use blood magic to conceal your powers well enough and to ensure that the spell wouldn't fade for many years. I had to use my blood to seal it and a small amount of your blood, from pricking your finger, for the spell to actually work for you."

The 'pricking your finger' bit of that speech automatically has me thinking about the disney movie Sleeping Beauty I used to be obsessed with growing up.

He moves over to me and places the amulet on my chest. "Give me your hand," he says softly.

I swallow hard and place my hand in his. He flips my hand over, palm up and I jerk slightly, then still when he pushes the tip of the dagger into my palm, not enough to go through, but enough that a good amount of blood pools to the surface.

"I wouldn't have gotten enough blood by poking your finger, and if I were to slice into your palm there'd be too much. Since you're so much older than you were when the spell was placed on you it's essentially embedded itself into you, so I need a little bit more of your blood to break it." While talking he takes the dagger and slices his hand right down the middle of his palm. He holds his hand over the amulet laying on my chest and lets the blood flow from his hand to the necklace. Unfortunately, some got on my shirt.

Gross.

The coppery scent of blood fills my nostrils as he places my hand directly over the amulet in the air. I flinch when he squeezes my hand to get a little more blood to flow out of the small wound in my palm. I don't know what is supposed to be happening but the room starts spinning and darkness starts pulling at me.

Suddenly, my right wrist starts burning, gradually getting hotter and hotter. I cry out in pain as it feels like I stuck my wrist on a hot metal pan that just came out of the oven and just left it there. I distinctly register the feel hands reaching for me and feel someone twist my arm slightly, almost like they're looking at the thing that suddenly caused me so much pain.

"Shh," my father's voice says, though it sounds a little distorted. "It'll get better. Sleep, daughter."

Thankfully, darkness comes, pulling me in deep and away from the pain of whatever the fuck just happened.