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I think it is one of the most real, relatable things you have ever said.

“I’m scared, too,” Thicket admitted, glancing up at Elian, smiling. “But you have to look for the things that make facing the scary things worth it.”

“Like what?”

“Like…” Her attention caught on the expanse of blue surrounding them. How long had it been since they had seen the sky? To her, the sky was a sign she was free. To these children, who had spent their entire lives boxed inside a wall, it must have seemed too vast to comprehend. She couldn’t help comparing it to how she felt when she first woke up. How her entire life had flipped upside down. New people. New world. New title and powers and responsibilities.

What had made everything just a little less daunting?

“Look.” Thicket glanced over to see Elian, sprawling out across the sun-warmed bricks. “You see the fluffy white clouds in the sky? Sometimes, they make funny shapes. Look at that one there.” He pointed to a wispy collection of clouds. “Doesn’t it sort of look like a heart? And that one there looks like a snake with wings!”

“That one looks like a turtle!” the curly haired boy said, jumping up and down.

“No it doesn’t,” the girl with the jet black hair said. “It looks like a rock.”

“Does not!”

“Does, too!”

More of the children gathered around Elian, heads pressed closed. Their excited voices resounded across the courtyard, brightening the tense atmosphere and filling it with laughter as even the adults glanced up at the sky to take in the shape of the clouds.

Thicket smiled at the sight, heart fluttering.

“Who is that?”

Thicket jumped as one of the children put his face directly in hers. He was the blond haired boy who stood on top of the fountain. “Who, Elian?”

The boy nodded. “Is he the prince from Dymree?”

“He is.”

“Then does that mean he is your fiancé?”

“Oh, um, I—I guess you could say that, yeah…”

Thicket wasn’t entirely sure that word accurately described what they were, yet it was too complicated to explain properly.

The boy nodded. Then he marched over to Elian and put his hands on his hips. “Hey prince. Do you love her?”

Thicket’s cheeks burned. Beside her, Bern buried her face in her hands and turned away. She did her best to hide it, but she couldn’t muffle her snort of laughter. Thicket was too stunned to call her out on it.

Elian’s lips parted, just as taken aback as she was. But then his jaw set. “I do.”

He had told her this before, yet it didn’t stop the heat from her cheeks from spreading across her entire body.

The boy wasn’t satisfied with that response, though. “Then why didn’t you give her True Love’s Kiss and wake her up sooner?”

Elian’s smile froze.

Thicket frowned. True Love’s Kiss. The King of Dymree had brought it up before. At the time she had chosen to ignore it, especially with the off handed way he had sneered, True Love’s Kiss, I presume. It fed into the fairytales she had grown up with.

The notorious True Love’s Kiss. Almost every fairytale she had grown up with talked about it. The most powerful kind of magic of all. Something completely and utterly unbreakable yet wholly unfeasible. However, with Elian’s reaction and this boy’s statement, she was starting to question whether King Artus had been serious and it was a very real, very plausible possibility.

She tried to catch Elian’s eye. To tell him she didn’t care. But he wouldn’t meet her gaze. “It isn’t always that simple. Besides, Thicket doesn’t need anyone to save her.”

The boy bounded back over to Thicket. “Let me see your magic!” He bounced up and down giddily. It was astonishing how quickly he had moved on to the next topic. Yet Thicket felt trapped in time, unable to move past it or look away from Elian, whose eyes hadn’t recovered their light. Its disappearance set her on edge. It was then she realized she relied on him too much, turning to him to give her hope when she had none herself. Yet she had done nothing to give him hope or reassurance.

She needed to stop taking shelter in his kindness and warmth and start finding it for herself. Then, when he was shadowed by clouds of doubt, she could be the one to pull him free.