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Wren only nodded, feeling numb inside. Sophie led her to the bed and pulled the covers over her. Wren lay on her side, staring at the large window as if she could see beyond it. Then there was rustling in the bed, and she realized Sophie had climbed in with her.
“Wren?” She whispered. “Can I hold you?”
When Wren only nodded, Sophie came closer and wrapped her arms around her.
After they lay like that for a time and Wren’s breathing became steady. Wren felt Sophie let go of her, and closed her eyes, not wanting Sophie to feel like she needed to stay with her. She heard Sophie’s footsteps move towards the door to Malaki’s room where she opened it quietly.
Wren opened her eyes and saw that Malaki had his head against the door frame, but when he realized Sophie had opened it, his gaze shot past Sophie to where she was sleeping. Wren quickly closed her eyes, hoping he hadn’t seen her watching in the dark of the room.
“She’s asleep now. I’ll stay with her.” Malaki looked to say something in protest, but Sophie put her hand around his arm and said, “Get some sleep, Kai.”
Malaki murmured something with a bitter laugh. Most likely lamenting his interrupted sleep from her episode. Wren felt hollow inside, and when the door closed again, she closed her eyes and let herself become nothing.
Chapter 14
Wrenawoketolightstreaming into her rooms through the large window, curtains pulled back. She sat up, trying to figure out why she felt so exhausted.
“Ah, the princess has deigned to grace me with her presence.” Wren looked to where Sophie was standing by the entrance to the sitting room. She noted that Sophie seemed tense, though she was pretending to not be.
“I haven’t seen you here in the morning like this in a while.”
Sophie narrowed her eyes at Wren slightly, but didn’t say anything. She put her hand on Wren’s. “Let’s get dressed, I want to show you something.”
Wren picked out a deep gray dress and left her hair undone to fall in curls down her shoulders. When she came into the drawing room, Sophie was there waiting for her. Wren frowned as she scanned her, but did not say anything. She only handed her a jade coat that went all the way to the floor, covering her dress.
Wren wondered why her friend was acting so strangely, but didn’t want to pry. They walked together until Wren realized Sophie was taking her through the door that led to the path by her room. She smiled at her friend who gave a tentative smile back. She didn’t care how she was getting to explore it, only that she was.
They followed the path that grew smaller with each turn until the trees became sparser and a strange roaring filled her ears. Sophie gave her a reassuring nod as Wren’s steps slowed. As they walked, the air felt crisper and there was a chill in the air that she hadn’t noticed as if the breeze thrived the farther they got from the castle.
Instead of making her uncomfortable, she welcomed the chill, feeling at home in it. The roaring intensified, and that’s when Wren saw it. A waterfall like she had only read about in books flowed in front of her, pooling into a large body of water with a rocky beach surrounding it.
Endless water surrounded her, taking her breath away with its beauty and infiniteness.
Sophie studied her. “This is the edge of our kingdom. If you followed that water, you would travel to other kingdoms and likely places we don’t even know exist.”
Wren was in awe at it, and relished the feel of the breeze wrapping around her, never to be contained, always free. Wren longed to be with it and to know the freedom it whispered all around her. She didn’t realize she had walked to the cliff until Sophie grabbed her arm and pulled her back, shouting her name. Her friend looked at her as if she had never seen her before.
“What is happening to you, Wren?” Her eyes were filled with worry.
“There’s nothing wrong with me. I am the same as always.” She felt the lie in her bones as she said it. There was something fundamentally different about her, but she couldn’t say what it was.
Sophie only stared at her, not accepting the lie. “Fine. What happened last night, Wren?”
She was about to explain that she went to bed and when she woke up Sophie was there, when Sophie shook her head.
“Wren, why did Kai bang on my door in the middle of the night looking like he was terrified? Why did I find you on the floor, staring at nothing? What happened, Wren?”
Nothing Sophie was saying made sense. She remembered none of that. She vaguely remembered a dream, something lost. “Sophie, I don’t remember any of that.” Wren moved to push the hair from her face the wind had blown into it and Sophie grabbed her wrist.
“What is that?” Her voice shook with suspicion.
Wren followed her gaze to the inside of her wrist where a black string of ivy wrapped around her wrist, embedded into her skin. She pulled her arm from Sophie and tried to scratch it off, but it would not come off. Panic started to claw at Wren and Sophie grabbed her hands preventing her from scratching at the reddened skin further.
“Something is happening, Wren. There’s a reason they brought you here, and I would bet my life it has to do with this. If this is why they brought you here, then there is one thing I am sure of. The king, the Bishop, no one can know about this.”
Wren realized then that she loved her friend. This girl who barely knew her, but would protect her from powerful men. This friend who stayed with her in the middle of the night after everything was taken from her. The friend who held her hand and promised to take on the world with her. Something pulled apart farther in Wren’s chest, but she ignored the pain.
Sophie had insisted they find Malaki. That he must be going out of his mind after last night, and Wren couldn’t help but snort at the idea. Sophie’s image of him always acted as a mirage to the rest of him. Sophie led her to a part of the castle she hadn’t been to yet, where an archway opened to the outside leading to a massive training arena.
