Princess Elodi's Arc

Chapter 46 of 55

A servant led Elodi to a room high in the gray castle. The bed was wide and piled with wool blankets. Damon set their pack down and pulled off his boots. Elodi's otter climbed the covers and curled into a ball, its jeweled collar catching the last light. She lay down and Damon wrapped his arms around her from behind. "Tomorrow you'll ask him to come home," Damon said softly. "Think of Bloomspire. The wool stall waiting for you. The market. Our own life." He kissed the back of her neck. "That's what waits when this is done." Elodi turned and kissed his cheek. "I love you, my prince. The life we'll have is the best life I could ever picture." She closed her eyes. Sleep took her fast, deeper than any she had known in a month at sea. She woke to gray light and the cry of a bird. Damon's black hawk sat on the window ledge, green eyes fixed on the water below. The otter stretched. Elodi's arms and legs no longer ached. For the first time in weeks, the floor felt steady under her feet. She dressed and went to find her father. She followed the sound of a fire to a hall where King Erik sat alone at a long table. He rose when he saw her. In daylight his gray-streaked beard and thin face looked older than they had on the beach. "You slept," he said. "Good. The sea takes it out of you." Elodi sat across from him. She had crossed an ocean for this moment. She would not waste it on small talk. "I came to bring you home," she said. "To Avalonia. Mother thinks you're dead. She grieves you still. I have a ship and a crew and a captain who owes you her life. We can sail when the crew is rested." Erik's hands went flat on the table. He looked at the fire for a long moment. "I cannot leave," he said. "Not yet." Elodi's chest tightened. "Why not?" "My sister is here this is her life." He met her eyes. "I found her by accident, as I set out to do. She has a daughter she is ten, my sister’s husband died a couple years ago leaving this castle to her”. “I would like to meet my aunt” Elodi takes King Eriks hand “It would be an honor to meet her and my niece”