Chapter Twenty-seven: “Leaving”
“Oh, come now, Adora.” Draco smiled, taking the girl’s hand. “Your father doesn’t need to know.”
The girl sighed, “Draco, I really do care about you, but I am not going to come away with you.”
“Why do you let your father control you like this?”
“He saved me and took care of me.” Adora smiled. “I can’t just leave like that.”
After months of meeting with Draco, the two young people had grown very close, and Adora seemed to think that she was in love. But, now Draco wanted her to go away with him in marriage and live apart from her father. She was not ready for this, but her mind did think about it.
“Just think about it, Adora.” Draco kissed her cheek. “And, don’t tell your father.”
“I won’t, but I am almost certain that he knows everything, so it wouldn’t matter.” The two laughed as Adora mounted Una. The horse shied away from Draco, stomping nervously. “Well, I will return tomorrow, Draco.”
“See you tomorrow, my love!”
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“Adora,” Isa stood at the door as the girl returned, he had a melancholy look on his face, and she knew why.
“Hello, Isa.”
“Seeing, Draco again?”
The girl looked away. “So what if I was? I like him, and he is very kind to me.”
“Father has warned you about him.”
“But there is nothing bad about him.” Adora cried. “He’s kind, gentle, and wonderful.”
Isa shook his head. “He does not follow our kingdom. He is a servant of the world and not of our father. You should not be with him; he will pull you away from father.”
“I am being careful, Isa. Why can’t you just leave me alone!?” The girl stormed off to her room.
Why were Isa and her father being like this? Did they not care about what she wanted? Why should she listen to them if they wouldn’t listen to her?
✧✧✧✧
The next morning, Adora mounted her horse, steeling herself for what she was planning to do. While she wasn’t going to leave for good, not yet at least, she was going to tell Draco that she was going to really consider it. She wanted to see where he was going to take her.
What small cottage did he have picked out? What small farm for a peaceful life had he found?
“Are you serious?”
“Yes, Draco,” she smiled. “While I am not ready to go with you yet, I would like to see the life that you want to make for us.”
The boy kissed her cheek. “Of course! I will get my stallion.” He ran to the stables; Una would be fine in the stables for now. Draco came back with a large black stallion, wild and barely tamed. “Come along, my dear.” Taking her hand, he pulled her into the saddle behind him.
They rode out of the city, the grass becoming coarse as they rode along. She could see a small cottage coming up on a hill.
“Is that the place?”
“Why yes, it is!” He rode the horse up to the house and dismounted, helping the girl down after him. “Go on inside and take a look.”
Adora ran for the door, throwing it open. Inside was a small empty house, not at all clean as the outside looked. It was dirty, covered in cobwebs; rats skittered across the floor. The girl sighed; perhaps this place could be nice, if it was cleaned up a little bit. She stepped further inside, and the door slammed shut behind her.
“Well, here you are, Adora.”
The girl turned around to see Draco standing beside a familiar face: Gryphon. “Draco! Look out!”
“Why?” He looked at the other man. “I see no one to run from…. Oh, you must mean my teacher, Sir Gryphon.”
“Teacher!?” All the warnings from the king and Isa flooded back into her mind. They were right. Adora turned, fleeing into the house, trying to find another door or open a window so she could escape. She ran into the bedroom, only to find the last window to be far too small for her to fit through. As she turned to run out, Gryphon stood behind her.
Moving so fast, she could not comprehend what was happening, the man drew back his fist and punched her in the face. Adora hit the floor, her eyesight filling with black spots. Someone pulled her hands behind her back and bound them.
She could hear Draco’s voice, and she heard no concern in it. “Is she alright?”
“Of course.”
“Good, Master Dolum wanted her alive.” Draco was working for Dolum? Then, all of this… all he had said, was just a ruse to catch her.
As Gryphon slung her limp body over his shoulder, Adora began to sob. She wished she’d listened to her father… more than anything, she wanted to be back in his arms, safe once more.
[Next Chapter: Adora is in trouble and she hopes that her father will send rescue.]