“What happens if your parents decide I’m not worth having around and get rid of me? What happens if you are fully healed and don’t remember me?” My voice cracked, the sound mimicking how my heart felt. “This feels like a goodbye.” I broke down in sobs.
Forrest leaned in and gave me a soft, warm kiss on the lips. “I promise this is not goodbye, Aurelia. I love you. Nothing could ever change that.” He wrapped both his arms around me, pulling me close.
Our kiss deepened into the darkest depths of the realm, completely cutting us off from all that was around us.
A guardian cleared his throat loudly. “I apologize, Your Highness, but we do need to be on our way,” he said, with not one hint of regret in his voice.
Several moments later Forrest pulled away, his lips slightly swollen. “I could never forget this,” he said, his forehead resting gently on mine.
We broke apart and exited the throne room, each escorted by a guardian. We made our way past Thalos, who was leaning against one of the tables in the hallway, with a giant grin on his face. My mind went blank, and my body went numb as I marched toward what felt like the end of everything.
Chapter 17
The walk down the grand hallway leading away from the throne room felt like a death march. The guardian escorting me to my room was pained to acknowledge my existence when I asked where he was taking me. After several attempts of trying to speak to the silent guardian, I gave up. It was obvious that he was not going to tell me anything. I tried to pay attention to where we were going, but I became lost after we left the grand hallway and made several left and right turns. Maybe that was the point: to disorient me so I couldn’t run off on them. The joke was on them, though. I had nowhere to go, so they were stuck with me for the time being.
We started walking up steep, winding steps to what I assumed was one of the towers I had seen from the road. The steps were much taller and wider than anything I was used to back home, which wasn’t more than a few small wooden steps. I quickly fell behind the moody guardian leading the way.
“Is there a problem, human?” a voice bellowed from above.
I looked up to see that the guardian was several floors ahead of me. Beads of sweat had started rolling down my back and pooling in the curve above my bottom. I wiped my arm across my damp forehead, trying to level my heavy breathing. “No problem. Just a bit out of shape, I guess,” I responded between huffed breaths.
Not long after, I heard a snap, and I was suddenly right in front of a large wooden door. I looked around and saw the guardian coming up from below. My head started to spin, and I felt like I was going to be sick.
“What the Eternal Night just happened?” My question was barely above a mouse’s squeak.
“I don’t have all evening to stand in this tower and watch you struggle,” the guardian responded curtly.
“Why didn’t you just do that to begin with and save us both the hassle?” I whined.
“I thought humans could manage stairs. I didn’t think using arcana was necessary—but I was wrong.” Just then he arrived on the step I was on and pushed me aside.
The thick wooden door opened, and my face was met with a soft, warm orange glow. Once my eyes adjusted, I looked around and realized where we were. We were standing before one of the delicate floating bridges I had seen earlier. Squinting, I tried to make out what was on the other side. The sun was making it incredibly difficult to do so.
“Your room is this way, human.” The guardian continued ahead of me, not bothering to see if I was following. After a few seconds, he must have realized that I had not moved a step, and he turned around. “What is the problem now?” Exasperation was evident in his tone.
“Why do I have to stay in a sky prison? Is there not something available closer to the ground?” I said as I took a tiny step backward, trying to grab hold of the building behind me.
Even though I had grown up on a mountain, I had never been in a situation where such exaggerated heights were involved. So it was news to me that I was terrified of them.
“This is not a prison. It is one of our finer guest rooms. Consider yourself lucky that you’re being given the privilege of staying in one of them instead of sleeping with the horses in the barn, where you belong.”
Hostility noted.
I decided it would be best if I channelled my inner Magda andrefrained from upsetting the already prickly guardian any further. I slowly shuffled my way over to the bridge. Ivy branches were hanging delicately on either side of a clear crystal walkway.
“Today, human!” the guardian roared.
“Can’t you just do that thing with your arcana where you move me to the other side?” I pleaded.
The look the guardian threw my way contained nothing but disgust for the pathetic creature he had the misfortune of being burdened with at this moment. I heard another snap and found myself on the other side of the crystal walkway. Bracing my hands on my thighs, I bent over and closed my eyes in an effort to stop the realm from spinning around me.
Once everything stopped moving, I turned to the guardian. “Thank you. I really appreciate your help. I didn’t know that I was scared of heights.” I sounded as small and weak as I felt.
“I don’t need your gratitude. I want this to be over with so I can leave,” he said as he stormed on toward the small, flower-covered building ahead of us.
We finally reached the room as the sun was setting. The guardian opened the door, revealing a deceptively enormous chamber. I looked around at the building and through the doorway.
“I don’t understand. This building isn’t very large. How is the room this big?”
