* ILAYNA LILITH ECHETHIER *

Prince Ira wasn't anything like I imagined him to be.

Back in the days, when I was training and learning about elemental powers with my little group of Ezèrian friends, I had heard many rumours, assumptions and speculations about him.

He was known as the expressionless prince, the stoic, ruthless prince who didn't shed a single tear when his mother died. He was known for his immaculate skills in swordsmanship - the best swordsman to ever exist in Elysia. He was known for his dedication towards the king, he was known as the 'mature one' among his brothers despite being the youngest.

But among these all speculations, he was mostly known for his renèi Possession.

His pure white wings.

He was known as the angel of Elysia.

Whenever him and the king would make a public appearance, I would watch him from afar as he would release his renèi Possession, his white wings in display and commoners, including me would be enchanted just by seeing a glimpse of it. It was magical, beautiful and unlike anything I'd ever seen.

Because of him, for a moment, I would stop hating the renèi Possessor.

I had never seen a renèi Possession as ethereal as his and the fact there was only him in the whole Elysia who was a White Wing Possessor was enough mystical.

I had expected his personality to be cranky, moody, entitled, upset for no reason, spoiled because of all the attention and admiration he gets continuously and the stories I had heard from Ember; and truth be told, I had thought I was right about his personality when he threw a bag full of gold at my face but I was proven wrong when he fainted out of nowhere.

At that time, when he had fallen like that and closed his eyes, he'd looked so distressed and in pain, that for a moment, I didn't see an angel - I didn't see the best swordsman that Elysia has ever had nor did I see a prince - I simple saw a boy in pain.

I was proven wrong when he had flinched upon my touch, as if too scared - scared I might hurt him but then he was at ease. I was proven wrong when he had looked at me with hope.

I was proven wrong about my shameless assumption about him when he didn't dehumanise me, when he didn't blame me for the sins of my ancestors, when he didn't blame me for the Great Massacre that had occurred twenty-five years ago, when he didn't tell me I shouldn't live just like the palace maids had told me when they found me for healing him or when he didn't push himself away from me because of my monstrous powers like my friends who were renèi Possessors did.

He didn't do any of the things I was expecting him to do.

Hell, I had even prepared myself more well and practiced Water Magic just in case he decided to hurt me, or decided to hand me over to the people who were trafficking or hand me to an anti-Ezèrian organisation.

Maybe, maybe he isn't like the king. Maybe I won't regret making the decision of being his knight.

"Miss Echethier," he took a pause, tilted his head. "What do you mean by you have the perfect place for me?"

We continued walking front. We were outside the palace but it'd take us some time to see the hustling and bustling Elysia as it was a little far away from the grand entrance and since we were outside the grand entrance, away from the guards as well, we wanted anything but to be seen.

So, quickly, we walked towards the back of the palace while hiding ourselves and when we finally reached the back, I stopped in my tracks. Behind me, stood the Elisora Palace and squinting my eyes, I could see Ember's balcony, the very balcony from where Keith and I would sneak in and out of.

I couldn't help but smile. It'd been long since I last saw Ember or my cousin Keith. The last time I had seen them was when Ember finally found the girl, I had helped her change her clothes and waited for her to gain consciousness but when she didn't, I got impatient and said I would come back later again after venturing a little.

I never came back. I was abducted - to heal the king of the Eirlys Empire. When I finally escaped from that hell hole after nearly drowning the whole palace, I rushed here and was searching for shelter but found none. But when a pair of maids came rushing to me and asked to heal the third prince of Elysia, I didn't think twice and accepted their offer as I was in need of protection.

And then, here I was.

"So, the back of the palace is the perfect place for me?" he asked, quirking his eyebrows.

"No, look behind," I said and he did so.

"There's a forest there, Miss Echethier," he said, bored, expressionless.

I took a deep breath. "And, in that little forest, there is a glade and before that little glade, there is something that you are going to love," I grinned and gestured him to follow me.

The long dark green shrubs were like a door to the forest, hanging and dangling as I pushed them and went through them, gesturing prince Ira to follow me. He seemed to hesitate at first, then sighed and came along.

Stepping into the little forest was like as if I was revisiting my childhood, when Keith and I would use this forest to sneak into the palace, when we would hide ourselves in the shrubs, when we would teach Ember how to sneak out because he didn't like it here.

Though we had grown up, the forest just seemed like it was the same as it was years ago - full of greenery. My eyes landed on the willow tree where Keith, Ember and I used to climb up, and would plan our sinister schemes to defeat the king.

Looking at the lake just across the willow tree, I grinned pridefully.

"I made that," I pointed towards it as prince Ira glanced at it.

"The lake? You made that?"

I nodded vigorously.

"The Ezèrian are not allowed to use their power, you know?" he said, while I groaned mentally.

"You are one to talk after telling me to use my Ezèrian power on you to heal you," I said smugly.

"The glade - are we there yet?" he asked, changing the subject.

"We are currently walking through the glade," I realised, surprised how fast the time went.

"What is there, before the glade?"

"You will see." I grinned.

***

He was bewildered - no, flabbergasted.

He looked around the meadow like he had never seen anything more beautiful than this, his eyes roamed around the bright wildflowers like he could watch them forever and though the meadow was the one blooming, his face seemed to bloom the most - or maybe, I was just thinking that.

How can someone like him hurt Ember?

Prince Ira gazed down, the flowers beneath him attracting his attention. He then looked at me and I could swore the corner of his lips lifted, only for it to last for a mere second of time before he went back to his usual facial expression.

Wind blew around us, the wildflowers shook against the force of the wind and the nature tried its best to make me look at it, observe it like it always does but this time my eyes only remained on Prince Ira as the black curls of his chin-length hair spread on his serene face. I almost had the urge to tuck the lock of hair behind his pierced ear.

"Miss Echethier," he said, his voice quiet and numb. "What. . . what is this stupendous place?" he was still having a hard time to believe what he was witnessing.

He again looked around, his expression softening, maybe finding the peace he deserved.

"Now this," I began. "Your Highness, is what we call a meadow," I bowed lightly.

He raised his eyebrows and bobbed his head. "So mother used to talk about this place?" there were two things that I noticed in his eyes: relief and anger.

"She didn't talk about it with me though, she always talked about it with my brother and I would just listen to her tales about this meadow from far away," he explained and continued.

I knew who he was talking about - Ember.

Ember had told us a lot about this meadow, and his mother - the former Queen was the teller. It seemed beautiful back then - a mother telling her son stories about the meadow she loved but he never mentioned the fact that there was someone else, too, who wanted to hear the tales.

"I have visited every parts of Elysia - except for this one," then, he let his head fall, his hair falling as well. "I always wanted to avoid it, why I don't know," his head remained like that and sun rays fell on his cheek, the other side shadowed.

"Maybe because I always wanted to hear about it from my mother but never got any chance?" it seemed like he was talking to himself rather than talking with me.

"And despite wanting to avoid it," he paused, looking over his shoulders and locking his eyes with mine.

"Look where you led me to." And that was it. The corners of his lips lifted up, and this time it lasted long, long enough for me to see the little dimple that formed in his right cheek, long enough for me to see how his eyes held an emotion that seemed like an enigma to me.

He seemed like a poetry to me - an enigmatic poetry.

And just like that, before I even knew it, I was smiling too - why I didn't know. But I told myself that some things are just better left unknown.

"Do you regret it? Finding this place?" I asked.

"I regret not finding it earlier because of my childish anger towards my brother," he said, referring to Ember. "I thought I didn't deserve to know about this place because mother always talked about it with my brother,"

I sighed. Him and Ember had a lot of things between them that needed to be cleared.

"It's a meadow, Your Highness. You don't need worth to be here," I told him sincerely. "I'm always here - whenever I'm having a bad day or a good day - it has become a part of me, this meadow."

"Does that help you? Being here and doing nothing?" he asked, confused.

"It doesn't - but it does make me realise that our problems are so insignificant," I told him. "And that puts me at ease."

He was about to say something, even opened his mouth but stopped midway when I noticed his back twitching and him making a face. His hand reached his back but dropped it immediately when he realised I was watching him.

It's his back. His back needs healing.

It was hard to realise all along because he was good at hiding but now it was evident to me - his back was hurt and that was the reason why I was here.

"You Highness," I began. "Let's begin healing you," I stepped towards him.

He rose his eyebrows. "But you aren't my bodyguard yet," he pointed out.

"Seems like I can wait a bit longer for that," I said.

"But-"

"I want to help you, Your Highness," I smiled softly.

He was taken aback by my words, the bewildered expression said it all and it made me chuckle amusingly.

He looked away instantly, muttered something under his breath and then looked at me again.

"How does healing in a meadow sound to you?" I asked, tilting my head a little.

"Already sounds healing to me."

••••

a/n: just realised ira hasn't smiled a single time throughout the whole story so here u go <3

also, the glade that ira and ilayna went thru is also the same glade where *cough cough* ember and amber met first time (mentioned in chapter 19) and the meadow is also the same place where *cough cough*-

i'll not spoil that for you. XD the prequel that i'm currently writing will have the answer hehe

how was ilayna's pov? would love to know your opinion about her uwu

thank you so much for reading <3