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Noah shrugged and finally met my gaze. “There were moments I questioned myself, but there was too much at stake.” He stopped abruptly, his lips parting as I slowly breathed in, feeling the invisible tension tug at us. Not continuing his thoughts, he took a step away from me, putting his hands in his pockets again. “Try to rest, Coraline. It’ll be dinner soon and you can eat. But for now, rest.”
He moved away, out of the bathroom, and left the room without another glance behind him.
That lonely feeling of his sudden departure was too familiar, but I brushed it aside. Awkward moments were going to happen after a prince kissed his feeder, of course. But he had kissed me. Cared for me. Something of the boundaries and walls between us had come down enough that…well enough that we were in a different place now.
I quickly got out of the ragged clothes that had been through hell with me, tossing them in the garbage can in the bathroom. I refused to look at them again.
I stepped slowly into the warmth of the saltwater bath. It wrapped me up like an embrace I’d been desperate for my whole life. The salt seemed to swirl around spots of my body that were wounded, further solidifying the healing that Noah had already done.
I kept my injured wrist raised out of the water and thought back to how gingerly Noah had wrapped it up. The wrist felt incredible. As though there’d been no injury at all.
I scrubbed at myself, harder in a few spots than others. I turned my body, and the water rushed around me, freezing me in place. My heart thudded and stomach dropped. The movement made me feel like I had in the darkness. With the water crushing me.
You’re safe.
You’re safe.
I chanted to myself a few moments as the terror welled and then subsided. Subsided or got stuffed down deep enough where I didn’t have to deal with what had happened. Not yet.
I grounded myself and continued my efforts to eliminate the grit and grime that had built up the past few days. My thoughts wandered back to the kiss Noah and I shared. Our interactions afterward put my alert signals up a bit more. I couldn’t let my walls down at the risk of feeling too much. And yet I was struggling to push my wandering thoughts of those moments of lingering kisses aside. They were special. But that was just for me. Who knew what they meant to him.
Regardless of those intimate moments, there were other things at hand. Things I would fight for Noah for. Like who the spies were. After they’d hurt the few people I could genuinely call friends, my mission was to eliminate those threats. For good. I’d need a lot more training, and obviously some knowledge of magic and what its powers were here.
I moaned as the water dropped slightly in temperature. A quick reminder that I shouldn’t stay put much longer. My growling stomach gave me another reason to get out. It had been too long since I’d eaten something of substance.
By the time I rose, standing in the now tepid water, I felt new. Whole and refreshed once more. And ready to take down the spies in whatever way I could. Even if they were the royal guard themselves. Or at least a faction of them.
As I was dressing, a light tap at the door broke my concentration and I fumbled with the string to tie my dress off in the back. Ms. Trapsbury’s head popped in and I relaxed. “Dinner is ready and everyone is gathering in the hall,” she said. “I’ll escort you personally, when you’re ready.”
She bowed her head and reclosed my door, giving me privacy. If she knew what had happened to me, she didn’t let on. Her voice was as even as it normally was. Though I was sure she knew if she was being sent as my escort.
For a brief moment, I wondered where Noah was and why he wouldn’t be the one to go to the hall with me. But only briefly. The prince would have massive amounts of work to do now, cleaning up the mess, searching for how things got so bad, finding the spies. He was busy as it was, and with this on top of it, he was most likely about to be consumed more than ever before.
I was grateful for the bath I’d taken as my skin felt fresh under the clean clothes. I opened the door, leaving my bedroom and smiling at Ms. Trapsbury as my stomach gurgled once again.
She gave me a tentative smile. “The prince has been called away for duties at the moment but wished you to have someone to accompany you nonetheless.”
“Thank you,” I said as I nodded.
We traveled the castle hallways in silence. Tension hung in the air, but not enough to make me uncomfortable. Not anymore. This was dissipating. The calm after an ugly storm.
The doors to the dining hall opened and my heart lurched, not in fear but in knowing that I was okay again, returning to something normal. Fewer fae than usual were gathered, but there were more staff present. Perhaps no one wanted to be alone after what so many of us had been through in those cells deep beneath the castle halls.
Ms. Trapsbury left my side silently and I moved closer to the staff tables. I scanned the room, and when my eyes locked on Nicole’s mid-mouthful, her fork clattered to the plate. In a very un-Nicole-like display, she jumped up and ran toward me. Her arms wrapped around me in an embrace as I stifled tears of relief.
Right there, in the middle of the hall, I knew eyes were on us. But if anyone knew our story, they’d understand. And if anyone didn’t, the gossip mill would do its thing. Ultimately, I didn’t care, and it wasn’t for them.
Tears pooled in my eyes as I hugged her back. When she finally pulled away, seeming to realize how unnatural her behavior was for her for a moment, she cleared her throat. Nicole patted my shoulder twice before a smile spread over her face. “I’ve never almost died with someone.” She bumped into me as we made our way to the table she’d been sitting at. “Guess that means we’ll be besties forever, huh?”
I couldn’t help the laugh that welled from down in the depths of my gut. I tilted my head back letting it out, at listening to Nicole use the word besties. That was the most normal thing I’d heard since being forced into this world.
“Besties, forever.”
We ate and not a single person bothered us to recount the horrors of what we’d endured. Not a single soul. They let us be, and even though I didn’t think that would last, especially with Brigette sitting across from us biting her lip like she was desperately trying to hold back her questions. I was grateful.
A few tables away I saw Aleita and gave her a warm smile. She nodded at me, returning the gesture.
For tonight, we laughed a little louder than we normally did. Smiled wider, and I knew it was because we were all thankful for life. For freedom. And for the spell that had plagued this castle being broken, allowing us to reunite safely.
I left the dining hall that night refreshed and shockingly happy. We’d almost been gone, and yet hope remained. We had overcome. With the help of some others in the castle of course, some others who could very well become friends. If I could just let my guard down and let them in—and if they could do the same.
I crawled into bed with a new hope stirring in my gut. Not just for what life could be like here, like this, but for what a life with Noah could mean.
I waited.
For three hours I waited for a sign he was coming to see me. To check on me. To tell me any information he’d found.
But Noah didn’t come. A slight pang of disappointment reared its ugly head in my soul. I lay in bed, tossing and turning, trapped in a state of desperation to know something, anything. And as time continued to pass, so did my hope for an answer.
