Xander

"What the hell just happened?" Kade asks the suddenly quiet room now that Cherish has been put asleep and no longer screaming in pain.

The king doesn't answer, his attention on Cherish's wrist.

"My Lord?" I ask.

His shoulders start shaking a second before a laugh spills out of his mouth. Elazer, the guys and I all exchange uneasy glances before Elazer steps forward to place his hand on the king's shoulder.

"Holy shit," Elazer says, shock clear in his voice.

Now I'm getting annoyed and it's clear in my tone when I ask, "Care to share with the rest of the class?"

The king would usually have reprimanded me for speaking like that but he's still laughing and shaking his head in disbelief.

"I knew she'd be powerful, just didn't expect that," the king says through his laughter.

"She's half human, though," Elazer says. "That shouldn't be possible. I don't understand."

My brow furrows and I glance at the guys to see them sporting the same expression.

"What's going on?" Andrei asks, stepping away from the wall and towards them.

The king gestures for us to come over and we oblige. My jaw drops when I see the king hold up Cherish's arm. There, in the middle of her wrist is a mutli-colored butterfly that almost like a tattoo.

That wasn't there before they started this so it could only have happened when her father unlocked her powers.

"She's been marked?" Kade asks, awe clear in his tone. It's understandable, since no one has been marked for hundreds of years. All marks are unique due to the individual that the mark has been placed.

Being marked is the highest blessings that an elf can receive from the gods. It usually shows up a few days after the birth of a highly powerful elf. Even when being marked happened, it didn't happen very often. Maybe one in five hundred elves were blessed.

In any case, the marks have never appeared on an elf with even the slightest amount of human blood in them.

The king nods. "I don't understand how, or why, but she's been marked." He looks up at us, meeting our eyes one at a time. "You know what that means, don't you? We need to hide the fact that she's been marked. You three need to tighten security around her without being too obvious about it."

Andrei, Kade, and I nod once. "Yes, sir."

"This does not leave the room, or mentioned to anybody. Not even her brothers."

"She'll have to use makeup to hide it. There's too many here that can see through all glamour easily," Andrei says softly, his gaze still glued to Cherish's wrist.

"Should we wake her up?" Kade asks, looking worried. "I mean, we'll have to explain this to her."

King Leander sighs and places his hand over her forehead. Within seconds Cherish's eyes flutter open and she moans softly.

"What happened?" She asks, her voice hoarse.

"Have you learned anything about marks, since you started learning about our culture?" The king asks after a moment of silence.

"I think I remember reading something that said it was rare and hasn't happened in a long time. I don't remember much else."

"What were you feeling when your powers were unlocked?" he asks.

"I started getting dizzy and felt like I was going to pass out," she answers slowly. "Out of nowhere my wrist felt like it was being carved into with a branding iron thing. It hurt. A lot."

Her eyes fall to her wrist and her eyes widen before looking around at each of us. "What's going on? I didn't have a tattoo before this."

"It would appear that after I unlocked your powers, the gods blessed you with a mark. Usually if an elf is marked it's a few days after their birth. You never received a mark, but I could feel an almost untamed energy begging to be let free. I always suspected that just meant that you would be a powerful half-breed. Being marked, means that you're more powerful than any of us could have possibly imagined. Let alone when you're half-human and most half-humans aren't usually that strong. There is a rare case where their magic is as strong as an average elf's, but I've never known of a half-human to be stronger than the average elf."

Cherish stares at him, blinking rapidly. When she doesn't say anything, I reach out and place my hand on her shoulder, snapping her out of it. "So," she says slowly, "pretty much what you're saying is that I'm defective?"

Kade and I snort a laugh and Andrei's lips curve slightly. Even Elazer has the ghost of a smile on his face. Leave it to Cherish to make a serious discussion lighthearted.

King Leander scowls at her. "You are not defective. Special," he corrects. "You're special."

"You say tomato," she mutters under her breath. The king raises a brow at her but before he can say anything she starts talking again. "I thought that being marked was a good thing. Why are you guys so tense?"

He hesitates before answering. "There aren't anymore elves that have marks. The ones who've been marked in the past became hunted because of the strength of their powers. Marked are more powerful than others, yes, but even a marked elf is vulnerable to power blockers. Usually power blockers are placed on cuffs, but there's been times that they've been placed on a weapon and if one is even nicked by said weapon, they're powerless for a minimum of a half hour. Plenty of time for one to lose their head."

Cherish's face pales and Kade brushes his hand over her hair, offering some comfort.

"Why though?" She asks carefully.

"Most rulers were intimidated by the marked. Deemed them as too powerful. As such, they sent out teams to eradicate them. Due to that, and the war our kingdom has been a part of, our numbers have dwindled at an alarming rate. Though all elves numbers have dropped significantly over the centuries, the fact that we've been at war for so long is dropping our numbers even quicker. There's some marked elves that have the ability to promote pregnancy and a healthy child birth. Not all have the ability to do that, but they were the first to go unfortunately."

"So, you're saying that I have to hide the mark. So that people don't see me as a threat and try to kill me?"

King Leander looks at her with a grave expression. "That's exactly what you have to do. You can't tell anyone about the mark, Cherish. Anyone outside this room is not to know."

* * *

I lean against the door to Cherish's room next to Kade. Andrei's looking outside the window, like he's in a trance and Cherish is sitting on her bed with her sketchbook and a pen, ignoring us completely.

Her eyes snap up, meeting mine from across the room and I give her a small smile. Her gaze flicks to Kade and Andrei before her focus goes back to the book in front of her. She does this multiple times and I'm not the only one who notices.

"What are you drawing?" Kade asks after a while, a smile in his voice.

"Shh," she mutters. "You're distracting me."

Kade snorts a laugh. Her eyes flick up to him and she rolls them before going back to her drawing.

Andrei looks at the watch on his wrist and sighs. "Cherish, you should probably get ready for dinner soon."

Her head snaps up and she stares at him. "Uh, what?"

Andrei's lip quirks. "Your father said he wanted you to join everyone else for dinner tonight."

Cherish's upper lip curls in disgust. "Seriously? I'd rather just eat in here."

"Cherish," Andrei says, giving her a pointed look.

She groans and sets her book and pen aside. "What? I don't want to go. Everyone here already considers me a freak. This," she holds her wrist up for us to look at, "just confirms what they think of me. I'd really rather not deal with all the looks today."

"Looks?" Andrei asks.

Understandable, really, since he's not normally the one who walks with her when she leaves to go for a walk or something. He usually leaves that for Kade or me.

Kade sighs and starts to explain. "Not everyone is thrilled with her presence here. She's half-human, even though she's their princess, they still don't feel like she should be here. Many of them are more than happy to show that."

Andrei scowls. "Why haven't you guys told me about this?"

Cherish picks at her fingers when Kade and I shoot her a look. "Um, because I told them not to tell you?" She shrugs guiltily, giving him an apologetic smile.

"Why?"

She sighs. "You guys are so overprotective and I already have Xander and Kade growling at anyone who gives me a funny look, I really didn't want you do to that too. I especially don't want my father knowing and punishing people just because of how they feel. You can't control how you feel and they shouldn't be forced to. To them, I'm an outsider. I don't belong. Yeah, the way they're acting doesn't help me feel good about being here but I'd rather know upfront who is and isn't okay with me. I don't like backstabbers."

"I understand that," Andrei concedes. "Your brothers arrive tonight, they've been gone for a few days and your dad wants you all to have dinner together."

She groans and throws herself back onto her pillows. "Fine. I guess I'll go. I won't keep my trap shut though. I'm not in the mood to deal with shit tonight."

Andrei chuckles. "Alright. That's the best I can hope for."

"Damn straight."