Forced into Fantasy

Adomis;

I am staring down at Ivy currently surrounded by members of the Moonlit Guild, after those fuckers managed to kidnap her right from under my nose!

Fury is boiling over within me as I fight the urge to reign fire down upon them all.

Especially now that I have sighted an old ‘friend’ seated amongst them.

It’s him, I know it!

The one seated next to her, if it is who I believe him to be is one of the most notoriously infamous and deadly warriors known within the Moonlit Guild and one of my greatest enemies to date.

The leader of their entire faction.

His name is Ronaar and he is the crowned Prince of the Moonlit Guild.

But I was certain that he was dead!

This wasn’t possible.

Why was he here?

And more importantly, why did he kidnap Ivy from me?

What were his intentions with her?

“My lord, isn’t that-” Zarkin begins but I cut him off mid-sentence.

“-Yes, I believe it is… Prince Ronaar in the flesh.”

“But there were rumours of his demise?” Khalan adds with confusion.

“Obviously nothing but that, Captain, rumours.” I explain, all the while watching as he turns and speaks to Ivy with a sly smile.

She smiles back at him and my top lip curves upward.

I can feel as my blood continues to boil with such incredible anger and jealousy, my gloved fist clenches down beside me as my right hand clutches at the handle of my sword, squeezing extremely tightly.

My teeth are grinding as my dark eyes narrow at his obvious display of affection towards her.

‘That slimey little snake!’

A snarl escapes my lips, alerting the others to my feelings towards this asshole.

“What should we do?” the Captain asks, turning to face me with question in his eyes.

“Their village is heavily surrounded by guarding soldiers, there’s no way we’d make it in to retrieve her successfully with our numbers.” I explain, never once blinking as I stare at them.

“What we need is a way to lure her out of there. To separate her from him so we can retrieve her without doing Ivy any harm.”

The Captain seems confused as to why this woman is so important to me, that I would risk all of their lives to simply retrieve her safely.

I realise now that I haven’t told him the truth about who she really is, that we are bonded for life and about the marking on her back.

The dress she is wearing happens to cover her marking at the moment, though I think nothing of it.

I’ve already seen it with my own two eyes, I know it exists.

Zarkin who also knows who Ivy truly is, nods his head in agreeance and looks upward at the canopy of trees shielding the majority of the sunlight from above.

He appears to think silently for a moment before finally speaking his suggested idea aloud.

“I know something that may work, Overlord.” he announces hesitantly.

“But it will require that we wait until nightfall to go ahead with it.”

I look from him back down at them and my stomach feels unsettled.

The less time she spends with him, the better.

But Zarkin always has the best ideas for forming a distraction and I know he is loyal to my cause.

I must trust him in this instance, as much as it pains me to wait so long.

“Very well… We wait here until nightfall.” I command sternly.

“And then, on my signal, we attack!”

Ivy;

I spend the entire day with the handsome Ronaar exploring the village, meeting his people and seeing the sights.

I kind of felt like Royalty, the way I was being treated by everyone around me.

I have to admit, I am enjoying myself for the first time since being magically transported into this strange world.

I guess you could say that I feel I belong here.

Maybe I’m just jumping to conclusions but this feels right somehow.

After dinner Ronaar escorted me back to my hut to ensure that I arrived there safely.

As if anything would happen to me here.

Everyone seems so nice and friendly.

I think that was an excuse to spend more time with me honestly as nothing here even looks slightly dangerous or concerning.

And I don’t mind spending more time with him.

After all, we appear to get along quite well.

We are now standing inside of my small hut when he begins to suddenly act strangely, as if something is eating away at him.

As if he is for some reason unsure of how to express his feelings.

I decide to help him out a little with opening up.

“Ronaar, is everything... ok?” I ask innocently.

He lets out a soft sigh before he finally begins to explain.

“Ivy, I haven’t been entirely honest with you about something.” he admits, causing me to immediately feel concern.

“What do you mean?”

“There is something I have failed to share with you, an important fact actually and I’d rather you hear it from me than from someone else.”

I brace for terrible news, sitting down on the edge of the table as he stands before me.

“What is it?” I dare ask.

“Years ago your parents and mine were great allies and they had organised to seal that allegiance through the bonds of marriage.”

“Marriage?”

My frown comes immediately as I continue to listen to him.

“O...k?”

“It was arranged that when you came of age you would be expected to marry the first-born heir of my Kingdom. Thus sealing the bond and creating an unbreakable allegiance between our people.”

He seemed to swallow nervously before delivering the final blow.

“It would seem that I am that first-born heir, Ivy, and you… the first-born of yours.”

I look down at the ground, afraid to hear the words but also needing him to confirm what I think he is trying to tell me.

“Are you saying… what I think you’re saying?” I enquire as my eyes dart upward to meet his.

“Yes Ivy.” he replies softly.

“You and I… we are betrothed to one another. We have been since the day you were born.”

‘Oh… my… god…’

I open my mouth to say something, anything, but nothing comes out as shock appears to take over.

It’s not that I’m upset by this news, he’s certainly a catch as far as I’m concerned, but I feel a little cornered.

Rushed perhaps.

I'm far from ready to marry someone!

Ronaar stands waiting for me to say something and I can see the uncertainty in his eyes as he sighs and instead walks across towards a table.

He begins to pour a goblet of what looks like red wine, then turns to me and asks.

“Would you like one?”

“Sure, why not.” I reply with a shrug, pushing off of the table and making my way across to join him.

Once he has poured me a goblet of the crimson liquid he hands it to me and I accept it with a smile.

As the goblet exchanges hands I feel his bare fingers brush up against my hand and he grins at our skin-to-skin touch.

I only then realise he has removed his gloves, but I don’t think too much into it with everything going on.

His eyes are on mine as our fingers touch, as if he is waiting for something... a reaction from me perhaps?

Pulling my drink up to meet my lips I take a small sip and I’m surprised at how smooth it goes down.

It’s definitely not red wine, but tastes more like lemonade and raspberry only without the bubbles.

“This is nice.” I say shyly, taking another sip as he does the same.

“Try not to have too much at once.” he warns.

“This stuff can really hit you hard if you have too much. Especially if you're not from around here.”

I proceed to skull the entire goblet right in front of him and his eyes widen to the size of saucers as he watches me do it.

Trust a man to tell a woman how to drink!

After I finish I wipe my mouth and hand him the goblet back with a smile.

“I can handle my drink.” I announce confidently.

He takes my goblet and sets it down on the table, grinning.

“So I see…”

We are suddenly interrupted as several soldiers come in through the doorway, bowing their heads toward us and then continuing to approach Ronaar.

One leans in to whisper something into his ear and I wait silently beside him for what was said to be shared.

My brows are furrowed with confusion as Ronaar nods his head and the soldier in turn bows once more before leaving with the others.

“What’s going on?” I ask him.

“Intruders, they’ve been located at the village border.” he explains vaguely.

He then lifts his goblet up to his lips and sips casually at the crimson liquid, as if he didn’t seem to have a care in the world.

I need to know more… anything more. I hate being left in the dark.

“Intruders? Isn’t that dangerous?” I interrogate him.

“Should you be a little more... worried?”

He quickly turns to me with a warm smile as he places the goblet down beside mine.

Both of his now gloveless hands suddenly reach out to take each of mine as he looks deeply into my eyes and he speaks calm.

“No Ivy. We have nothing to worry about... you are safe here, within the protection of our village.” he assures me calmly; smoothly.

“I will not allow anything to harm you. You have my word.”

And strangely enough, I believe him.