Immediately afterward, I worried about what kind of bargain he must have had to strike to do so.
My final memory of the Randalin brothers was Stellon’s distraught face—and Pharis’ detached, smug expression as he stood on the royal family’s viewing platform, casually waiting to watch me hang to death.
After all the things he’d said to me during our “romantic” picnic beside the waterfall in Havendor, after his passionate pleas and declarations—and the way he’d kissed and touched me—I’d found out in the cruelest manner he’d never meant a word of it.
His interest in me and concern for my well-being was all a lie. He wasoh so goodat those.
Pharis had betrayed meandhis brother, currying favor with their evil father and apparently not caring at all if the price of ingratiating himself to the King was breaking Stellon’s heart and ending my “mere human” life.
My greatest hope, beyond seeing Stellon soon, was that I’d never lay eyes on Pharis Randalin again.
The door opened, and a woman I’d never seen before entered the room.
She was middle-aged with dark hair that was wrapped up in a bun on the back of her head. Judging from her height, she was most likely Elven.
When she spotted me sitting up in bed, her eyelids flew wide.
“Oh, you’re awake,” she said then slapped a hand over her mouth, turned and fled the room.
Minutes later, a much younger woman around my age appeared holding a tray of food. She didn’t speak but beamed at me, coming to the bedside and placing the tray atop the coverlet beside me.
“Thank you,” I said. “What is your name? Can you tell me where I am and how I got here?”
The girl didn’t answer, just nodded toward the tray and pushed it a little closer to me before turning and scurrying from the room, shutting the door behind her.
Okay then…
If I’d had any lingering doubt about whether I was still in this world or the next, it disappeared when I smelled the food. My stomach let out a long, loud growl, and I experienced a very mortal sensation—intense hunger.
Just how long had I been asleep?
Hurriedly, I picked up a buttered roll from the plate and jammed it into my mouth.
The flavor burst across my tongue, driving my hunger to even greater levels. I devoured the various meats and fruits and several more rolls.
Within minutes I’d cleaned the plate.
Once the hollowness of my belly had been alleviated, I turned my attention to the teapot and cup that had been delivered along with the food. Then I drained the full water goblet provided to me—it was not ordinary well water but saol water.
Whomever my host was, he or she was definitely Elven.
Ithadto be Stellon. The tray had contained all of my favorite foods, and my room was decorated to perfection, down to my favorite flowers.
Only he would be so kind and gracious a host, and only he would care enough to snatch me from the jaws of death and deliver me to heaven on earth.
How long would I have to wait to see him?
Now that my hunger and thirst were appeased, I was impatient to get out of bed and go find him, to thank him for saving my life. Would I find the door to my room locked, as it was when he’d hidden me from his father at the palace?
Trying again to swing my legs to the side of the bed, I winced and let out a gasp then collapsed back to my pillow.
The pain of movement was too great. Besides, the effort of sitting up and eating had apparently been a strain. I felt exhausted already, though I’d been awake no more than an hour.
Closing my eyes, I smiled and let myself relax. I was full, safe, and warm.
My mind’s eye filled with visions of Stellon, smiling, handsome, kind and brave. Soon I would see my savior, my true love, in person.
I drifted in and out of sleep throughout the day.
