Princess Nymeria's Arc

Chapter 19 of 32

They danced for hours. Tobias held her lightly and asked her small questions. Where she came from. What she feared. Nymeria answered around the edges. She wanted to tell him everything. She wanted to say she was King Malachar's blood, hunted, marked, running. But every time she opened her mouth, fear closed it. If he knew the whole truth, he might recoil. He might call the guards. She swayed with him and kept the biggest words locked inside. "You're holding something back," Tobias said. He did not sound angry. "I can tell." Nymeria stopped moving. This was the moment. She made herself say it. "My father is a demon king. He exiled me. His hunters look for me still." Her voice shook. "If they find me here, they find you too." Tobias was quiet. Then a bell began to ring high in the towers. He looked up. His face changed. He stepped back from her, and his hands left her waist. "I have to go," he said. Nothing more. He turned and walked fast toward the doors, boots quick on the pale stone. He did not look back. Nymeria stood alone under the spires. She had done the brave thing. She had told the truth. And he had left. She walked out to the garden and sat on a stone bench by the river. The water carried the light of the blue roofs above. She pressed her hands to her face and did not cry. She had feared this exact thing, and it had come true. Boots crunched on the path. Lyra dropped onto the bench beside her, red braid over one shoulder. She had a half-eaten pastry in one hand. Lyra was the elf hunter who had taught Nymeria to skin a rabbit, given her a black horse, and never once fallen under her charm. She was the only friend Nymeria fully trusted. "So this is where the party moved," Lyra said. She looked at Nymeria's face and stopped chewing. "Okay. Who do I have to shoot?" "No one." Nymeria almost laughed. "I told the prince the truth. All of it. My father. The hunters." Lyra set the pastry down. "And?" "He ran off," Nymeria said, looking down. "He said he had to go." Lyra pushed herself up and grabbed Nymeria. "Let's ditch this place, go back to Madam Honeys and pack your things." Nymeria looked at Lyra; she was serious. "Why do I have to pack?" Nymeria asked her. Lyra shrugged. "I promise I'll tell you tomorrow morning. Let's go." And with that they left and went back to Madam Honeys and went right to bed.