Her eyes crack open, and she squints up at me, a faint, exhausted smile tugging at her lips. “I take it... this isn’t going to help with you hovering over me, My Grouchy Highness.”
A laugh escapes me, relief flooding my chest. Astoris lets out a low chuckle from the hallway. “There’s the good news you’ve been waiting for. I’ll let everyone know she’s back.”
I barely hear the door close, my attention locked on Eira.
She’s awake. She’s alive. She’s… trying to sit up.
“Lay back down. You need to rest,” I say, my voice soft but firm. “You’ve been through enough.”
“I’m fine,” she argues, her voice weak but full of that stubbornness I’ve come to expect. “But unless you want me to get up and walk around by myself, I suggest you tell me where we are.”
I sigh, running a hand through my hair. “We’re in a hidden town I built called Valdyria.”
An hour later,Eira is finishing her second bowl of soup, with more colour in her cheeks, and the hint of the usual sparkle in her eyes. She chews the last bite slowly, then opens her mouth wide, showing me she hasn’t hidden any of it.
“See?” she says, her voice stronger now. “Finished. I’m ready now,” she says, referring to the deal we’d made that if she finished her soup, I would let her take a walk around the town.
I shake my head, a smile tugging at my lips despite the worry still coiled in my chest. “You’re impossible.”
“What happened to‘she’s divinity herself, something mere mortal words could never capture?’” she teases, her eyes glinting with mischief.
I roll my eyes, taking the empty bowl from her. “Turns out Iwas wrong, there is one mere mortal word that could capture you.”
“Incomparable?”
“Exasperating.”
She grins. “I’ll take it. I like exasperating you. Better than being boring.”
“Boring is something you need never worry about being, Eirabella Kaye.”
I help her up slowly, careful with every movement, feeling a rush of relief every time she manages to take another step on her own. Together, we escape from the room in which we’ve both been stuck for the last two days, walking out into the fresh air. The village is quiet, with most of the children in school. As we walk, several familiar faces stop to greet us.
Gerath, town crier and occasional good-natured drunk, spots me from across the square. “Well, look who’s back! It’s been months. Thought you’d forsaken us, Ry.”
“Not a chance,” I reply, smirking. “I’d miss your bad jokes too much.”
He chuckles and looks at Eira. “Good to see you’re up and about, lass.”
Eira offers a weak smile, but her eyes are alert, focused on the village, taking in every detail.
A soft holler has us turning towards the bakery stall at the end of the town square, and I wave at Lena, the owner. “About time you showed up, Ry. Thought you could stay away and forget about paying the tab at the tavern?” she says as she walks over to us, pushing a newspaper-wrapped loaf into my hands.
I know better than to refuse, so I just give her a nod of thanks and hand it to Eirabella, who makes a big show of tearing it open and taking a deep breath, breathing in the fresh-baked scent. “Can’t say I didn’t think about trying that, Lena. Especially after last time I was here and Gerald made me buyeveryone a drink for his—what did you call it—‘I made it a whole day without having a drink’celebration?” I joke. “Don’t think it’ll work a second time!”
Lena walks away, laughing, the sound echoing through the town.
It’s strange, being here with Eira, this place that has been a sanctuary, a secret I’ve kept for so long. And now she’s seeing it, seeing me here, as I truly am.
“Wow. They treat you like family here,” Eira says softly as we continue walking. “Not like a prince.”
I nod, unsure of how to explain. “Well, here, I am just family. Just another one of them.”
“Do they even know you’re Prince Rylan?” she says, eyeing a young woman who passes, giving me a wink.
Godsdamned, she catches on fast. “Um, I think some have guessed. But if they do, they don’t act like it. And the rest probably don’t care.” She doesn’t say anything, just leans more heavily against me as she takes a shallow breath, hissing through a bout of pain. “Come on, let’s sit down for a minute.”
“I’m fine,Ry,” she says, glancing at me out of the side of her eye as if still trying to figure it all out.
