Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 24 of 55

Three days passed since her mother's letter. Elodi stayed in her room with the door shut. Her ship would land soon. Elodi had no words ready. Her mother would ask why she ran, and Elodi feared she would sound like a spoiled girl, not a free woman. She sat on the floor with the otter in her lap and stroked its jeweled collar. She practiced sentences in her head and threw each one away. A knock came. The door opened. Damon stepped in. He was the prince who had flown her across the sea and given her this place with no locks. He looked at the shut curtains, the untouched food, the girl folded on the floor. "Elodi," he said. "Look at yourself. You are doing the very thing you ran from." His voice stayed low, but it cut. "You locked yourself in a room again. If you meet her like this, hiding, she will win. She will take you home, and somehow, someway, you will stay there." The words struck true. Elodi set the otter down and stood. She crossed the room and pressed her face into his chest. His arms came around her. She let herself shake for a moment. Then she stepped back and wiped her eyes. "You're right," she said. "I keep waiting for the perfect words. There aren't any." "Then don't prepare a speech," Damon said. "Just tell her the truth. That's what worked with my father." Elodi went to the window and pulled the curtains wide. Light filled the room. Pink blossoms spilled over the wall below. She watched the open gate at the far end of the courtyard, where people came and went as they pleased. "I'll meet her outside," she said. "Not in a hall. Not behind a door. In the courtyard, under the open sky. I want her to see the place I chose." Damon nodded slowly. "You'll face her there?" "I'll face her there." Elodi turned from the window. Her hands had stopped trembling. "I won't beg her to let me stay. I'll show her I already have. If she wants to drag me home, she'll have to do it in front of your parents, in a castle with no locks." She picked up the otter and set it on her shoulder. She smoothed her orange gown and pulled on her leather boots. For three days she had been a prisoner of her own fear. Now she walked to the door on her own. A horn sounded from the direction of the harbor. Long and low. A ship had come in. Elodi stopped at the threshold. Her breath caught. She looked at Damon. "That's her," she said. Her mother had arrived. There was no more time to prepare, and no more room to hide. Elodi stepped into the corridor and went to meet her.