“I understand, and they were right. I’m glad you didn’t go. There was nothing you could have done, and truthfully, it would only have made things worse.”
“Was it so very bad?” he asked.
He reached out to hold my face then patted my shoulders and arms as if checking for damage.
“I know you wouldn’t have stayed away if you’d had a choice. Were you imprisoned?”
“Something like that,” I said. “I’ll tell it all to you in time. For now, you should go back to bed—we don’t want to wake the girls.”
Too late.I heard the scramble of both pairs of little feet overhead.
Looking up, I saw Tindra and Turi’s messy bed heads appear in the loft opening.
“Raewyn!” Turi screamed.
“You’re back,” Tindra said, and both of them came scrambling down the ladder.
“I knew I heard your voice,” Tindra said.
She threw her arms around me, and I noticed they were not nearly as scrawny as before. They’d continued to eat well then.
Turi launched her small body at me, and I picked her up, hugging her tightly. She had grown sturdier as well.
Something in me relaxed—they’d been alright without me. Sorcha had not caused the food to suddenly rot or rescinded her magical pain cure.
“I thought I was dreaming when I heard you,” Turi said, her cheek pressed to mine. “I’ve been dreaming of you all the time—almost every night. Why were you gone so long?”
“I was afraid you were never coming back,” Tindra said. “It’s been ever so long.”
I stroked her hair, pulling her closer. “I know, sweet girl. I am so sorry. I wanted to come home, I just couldn’t.”
“Did the wicked Elves hold you prisoner?” she asked.
I laughed, whether from the joy of the reunion or amusement at her unknowingly calling Stellon wicked, I wasn’t sure.
Once not that long ago, I had thought the same thing—about him and about his brother.
Stellon was the farthest thing from wicked.
Now I wasn’t so sure about Pharis either.
In spite of his annoyance at having to spend time with a human, he’d put himself at great risk to get me home and risked his own safety along the way to protect mine.
Maybe it was a price he’d been willing to pay to get me away from Stellon and prevent our “unsuitable” match. Whatever his reason, I was grateful to him for enabling this moment, surrounded by my family.
“I was detained,” I said in answer to Tindra’s question. “But they weren’t all bad. And I saw so many wonderful things. I’ll tell you all about it in the morning, but you must go back to bed now.”
“Awwwww,” both girls whined simultaneously.
“It is the middle of the night,” I said. “And growing girls need their rest. If you don’t get it, you’ll be too sleepy to pay attention to my stories of the ball and the palace.”
After a bit more grousing, the two of them climbed the ladder and settled again onto their sleeping pads. When I was sure they were asleep, I walked with my father over to his cot.
“You need your rest, too. We may have to travel soon.”
His furry gray eyebrows lifted. “Oh?”
“It’s a long story,” I said. “But our village may be too close to the royal city for comfort.”
