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Maybe it was naive of me, but I couldn’t help but hope that Uncle had lied, or at the very least, that he had been mistaken. That maybe this queen was… my mother. My real mother.Maybe I still have a family, after all.
“No,” Gentian argued. “All of Ellaria deserves to know about her first.”
My heart continued to hammer within my chest with the possibility of meeting the woman I’d seen in Uncle’s memories.
“There is no sense in raising undue alarm,” Oren responded, quietly.
“Did you intend to ask if I wanted to come with you, or were you planning to force me?” I spat out.
Their full attention was on me. I swallowed hard, feeling completely unprepared for whatever would happen next.
“Forgive us, My Lady. My name is Oren, and this is Gentian.” The one with green hair told me what I had already guessed. “We assumed you had come in search of Ellaria, and as sentries for the Kingdom, we would be honored to escort you there.”
I felt dizzy. This was all happening so fast. And none of it was going according to plan.
And then there was Maggie. Tears pricked at my eyes as I thought of my best friend. She had taken off in the commotion, and while I knew she would find her way back here, that was another goodbye that I hadn’t planned on giving. I had expected that she would be with me until the end, and that we would do this together.
I darted a glance around the field, flying higher to see if I could make out her form scurrying through the flowers.
“But, my hedgehog—” I started, emotion choking my voice.
The two men looked at each other, puzzled, until Gentian spoke up.
“We need to return before night closes in, if we expect to make it within the gates before dawn.”
“I’m sorry,” Oren added. “But he’s right.
I looked around, again, thinking maybe she would come back, maybe I would get to say goodbye or convince them to let me bring her. But I knew that wasn’t likely.And haven’t I come all this way to see Ellaria? To find answers?
After a moment, I nodded, and Oren smiled.
And maybe it was because I couldn’t imagine having come all this way, of being this close, and not finding out the truth of where I came from or who I was.
Or maybe it was the million questions running wild through my mind, or the fact that sticking around and actually saying goodbye to the three most important beings in my life would probably break me that made me do it.
Either way, I had come too far to go back now.
Besides, I was just being dramatic. It’s not like I would be trapped there forever. I could go back to the farm if I wanted, or I could send word later.
The next thing I knew, I was placing my hand in Oren’s—he was clearly the more trustworthy of the two—and flying toward a home I had no memory of.
It was all I could do to hope this wasn’t the biggest mistake of my life.
32
Edrich
My vision gradually became clearer, but my reality still seemed to be wrong. Everything was dark, and panic was slowly ebbing in—so cloying it felt like a centaur was sitting on my chest. I struggled to catch my breath, and that’s when I realized it wasn’t just panic.
There actually is something crushing me.
My eyes popped open, and all I could make out was a small shaft of light coming through what looked like a tent seam.But I hadn’t made camp tonight.There shouldn’t be a tent, certainly not one as heavy as this that seemed to be supported by nothing.
I willed myself not to give in to this claustrophobic feeling, taking air in slowly.There.I could breathe and focus enough to realize that the fabric wasn’t actually heavy enough to restrict my movements.
I squirmed around a bit to get a better vantage point on the light, until I could see that it wasn’t only a seam, but what looked like… a buttonhole. And what was making the fabric feel so heavy was a giant wooden button, nearly the size of my entire head.
Who makes a tent with a giant button and no sticks?
