"You are seriously asking me if I am well? After you saved everyone's arses and risked your life." I rolled my eyes and then sighed. "I am glad you are safe and well."
"Mor. Of course I am. You saved me. I sometimes wish I was as strong as you. To protect you and everyone else I care about." He frowned and clenched his fists.
My heart squeezed at his confession. "You are," I spoke gently. "But it will be hard to get to an arena warrior level of course," I teased.
This made him smile and then laugh. "If I were exactly like you, I'd have to fight off a lovesick Ezra and a panting royal prince." I gave Red a weak shove and shadowed my quick frown when he mentioned Ezra. I decided to ignore the pain of missing my family.
"How are things around here?" I might as well ask considering I've been out for nearly two days.
"The prince finally has Litara under Apollo's command. Since there is no lord, there are Apollon banners and flags spread throughout the land." I feigned surprise as Red enthusiastically made gestures. I figured as much the prince would have used this opportunity to make Litara his.
"Everyone had woken much later than the prince. I guess since he is royalty, the drug must have worn off much faster on him than on us because when we awoke all we saw was him walking through the blasted entrance doors with you in his arms." I froze as Red continued to explain. "By the heavens, Mor, I thought you were dead. There was so much blood on you. I couldn't come visit you much, even if I tried. The prince was here most of the time." I then recalled the prince taking his cloak from the couch in the room.
He had been here in my room. A lot.
"The wives of the lord. They changed. Some of them are back with their families. Some of them no longer had homes to go to... but the prince had told them that the manor was their home to stay in if they wished. They don't look very happy, Mor." The horrors and trauma are a haunting they will live out.
I answered him immediately, "It's the scars, Red. They remember it all. And now they need time to heal. Although, some might not heal at all even with an eternity of time given for what they had been through." Red looked solemnly to the ground and then gave me a sad smile.
During that afternoon, Red began to talk about how Hulin and Akiel had shown him how to track and hunt. How he had sparred with Inanov and wanted to spar with me next. We spoke until light had become night, when he fell asleep mid-sentence on the couch opposite me.
The prince didn't retire to his room that night because I waited and listened. And neither did he visit the next morning either.
The prince that healed my broken bone.
Chapter 31
Green Gemstone
The air smelled fresh. The decay and rot from these lands were slowly receding, that disturbing gut feeling I once felt was only a mere memory. Two days had passed since I had awoken, and today the Apollons were packing up to leave. I was glad to finally be outside, not cooped up in the manor's haunting walls. To feel the sun and walk freely. Well, at least try to walk. The prince had indeed healed my broken knee bone but there was still that annoying limp that had not worn off.
Word had been sent out to the Kingdom of Apollo to call in a minister to govern Litara until they appoint a new lord. The minister, grey haired with no smile, had arrived early this morning and with this done, we could finally leave. I limped towhere the horses were now stationed. My hands roamed across my torso, feeling my fire blades around me to make sure all were strapped in tight to the armour I wore.
Gold and white filled my view. White flags with golden sun sigils were spread across the land and were mounted on stands across the village. Some soldiers held some up while on their horses. "Goodness, I do hope the next land is more civilised than what we have witnessed," an oily voice complained. I didn't dare look at Colfe, worried that if he noticed my glare he might take it as an invite to talk to me. It was a shame he survived. Luckily enough for me, he got into the golden carriage and shut the door. I gently patted Fluffcake and stared at the dark box attached to his side where the violin was kept.
It was as if the pain in my leg was reignited and the shadows in my heart cried out to hear the music. I grit my teeth and covered the box with the saddle. I cleared my mind of any dark thoughts and looked to the bright sky. Studying the clouds, it looked like soft floating cotton, no longer dark and thunderous. With no scent of rain in the air.
A light tap on my shoulder had me jerking away and grabbing at my nearest fire blade until I noticed it washer.The innkeeper's daughter stood in front of me, eyes widened as she eyed the blade I was about to swipe out. I felt like a fool for scaring her after all she had already been through. I steered my hands away from my blade and gave her a friendly smile. "Elle, right?" It was only then I noticed the innkeeper and her husband standing a few feet away. They gave a firm nod in thanks.
"Yes, Your Highness." It was my turn for my eyes to widen. The shadows inside me purred at the title.
"No, that's not—" I stumbled over my words and then finally said, "You may call me Mor."
"I apologise. I assumed you and the prince were... together." She looked down and didn't meet my eyes. Her fingers twiddling against her long blue sun dress.
"No, no of course not. I'm his bodyguard," I corrected her softly. It was like trying to not scare off a wounded bird.
"You're a bodyguard? You're just a girl, like me." She looked up to me. Her eyes glittered—something like hope seemed to spark in them.
"You can be anything you want. Don't let the past determine what is to come for your future," I told the pretty lie convincingly because Nocturna knows that I do not follow my own advice. My heart ached when I saw her pale eyes nod in understanding. "You also do not need to thank me either, if that's why you're here," I said and got up my stallion.
"Yes. No. Well, I did come to give my thanks. But I need to give you something else." She spoke so fast in that accent of hers that I could barely comprehend her. She pocketed something out of her dress and handed it over to me. The hair on my arms stood up as I held it—the shadows and voices inside me began to rumble. My jaw clenched as I squeezed onto something bright and solid—a twinkling green stone of some sort. It sparkled even without the sun's rays shinning upon it. "The-the monster. That had trapped us. He used this to help enhance his magic. It was in the cellar. I thought... I thought maybe— "
"It would be safer with me?" I answered for her and eyed the green jewel, it had looked painstakingly similar to the red jewel the vampyre king had owned.
Elle just nodded and then looked at her parents. "I hope to see you again, Your Highness. Thank you, for everything." Giving a quick curtsy to me.
"It's Mor," I said to myself as she now ran to her parents who hugged her and made their way down to their inn. I frowned at the jewel in my hand and took out one of the flags posted nearme to wrap the jewel around it. I pocketed the jewel, wincing slightly as I dug my heel softly into the stallion to follow the soldiers.
