Chapter 49
Lance
One thing I could be certain about was that getting shot with an arrow was a pain in the arse.
Or a pain in the lower side, in my case. I didn’t remember the arrow being removed or the wound being stitched up.
All I remembered was waking up in the new infirmary with Elara sitting next to my cot.
Everything hurt. My body felt as though it had been trampled by a herd of horses.
“Look who’s still alive,” she joked.
“Barely,” I croaked out with a groan. I tried to sit up, but a pain shot through my side, rendering me immobile.
“I wouldn’t move too much, if I were you. Physician said you’re lucky to be alive. You lost a lot of blood.”
“Where’s Gwen?” She’d kneeled by my side when it happened. She’d begged me not to leave her. I’d heard her cry, fearing that I would die in front of her.
“I told her to go and get some rest. She hasn’t left your side since it happened, though I don’t know what the two of you were doing there in the first place.”
“It’s a long story.” Something I didn’t have the energy to go into at that moment. Despite just waking up, I felt tired. I could have used a drink, but I suspected I wasn’t going to get one anytime soon.
Elara leaned a little closer, her expression curious. “What exactly is going on between the two of you anyway?”
“When did we become the kind of siblings to discuss this sort of thing?” Elara and I had never been close, probably never would be, and reasonably so. The fact that we got along at all was more than enough.
“Way to evade the question.” But she didn’t press me further.
I looked around the infirmary at the wounded soldiers that surrounded me. Some asleep, some reading, some still moaning in pain.
“So, when can I be moved to my rooms?”
“Soon. We’re a little understaffed, with most of the servants helping here in the infirmary.” Elara crossed her legs, sitting on a chair next to me. She wasn’t wearing a dress, looking quite comfortable in her riding breeches and a white shirt, the cut of it slightly feminine.
“Are you going to tell me how the hell you managed to defeat Aries and the entire Argonian army?”
She was here, making idle conversation, so I had to assume that Cai was still alive. That while there were probably many casualties, somehow, for some reason and by some miracle, we had come out victorious.
“It’s a long story.” Elara threw my own words back at me. It was hard to argue with that kind of logic.
She reached into the pocket of her breeches and pulled out something small before holding it out to me.
“Is that what I think it is?”
“Before you get too excited, it doesn’t possess any magical powers, and it never will. It’s a pretty little gemstone and that’s it.”
I turned the small Myrgonite stone in my hand, inspecting it. It appeared very delicate, with a rosy hue, though not quite conforming to one colour. But like Elara said, it didn’t feel special or magical in any way.
“It’s not what you were hoping for, I know. But I kept my promise in a way.”
“I can’t believe you actually destroyed the Myrgonite objects.”
“I didn’t actually.” A look of sadness crossed her face. “Rhen did.”
“Rhen?”
She nodded, her expression saying enough about what the price of destroying those objects was.
I cleared my throat. “Rhen was a good soldier.” Despite the fact that he’d betrayed me. He’d always been loyal to Elara. I had to respect that.
I clutched the stone in my fist. “Thank you.” I knew that, to her, it meant something. An extension of her trust and the hope that perhaps we could move forward. She gave me a small smile in return.
* * *
Gwen looked pleased when she entered my room a few days later.
I was still on bedrest, but this didn’t stop her from visiting me every day, bringing me updates and gossip on everything that was going on in the palace.
About the Argonians who were still alive being captured and locked up in the Mistwood prison.
About Cai and Elara’s plans for Argon and the international relations of their two kingdoms with the kingdoms on the continent.
I didn’t really care to hear any of it, but for her I would sit and listen patiently.
We hadn’t talked about what happened on the battlefield, mostly because Gwen kept the conversation light. I wasn’t sure if it was because she was trying to distract herself after all the loss and horror she’d experienced or if she was trying to avoid the topic altogether.
She pulled open one of the curtains allowing the morning sun to illuminate the room.
“I never thanked you.”
She turned to face me. “Thank me for what?”
“For trying to keep me from bleeding to death out there.” Silence fell over the room and Gwen froze, curtains still in hand.
She pressed her mouth into a line, choosing her next words. “You know there’s a time I would’ve probably let you bleed out.”
“I don’t doubt it.”
“You shouldn’t have come after me.” She strode over and took a seat on the bed.
“You shouldn’t have been there in the first place,” I reminded her. She’d broken her promise that she would stay behind. But after everything that had happened, it didn’t feel worth it to bring it up anymore.
Without looking at me, Gwen placed her hand on top of mine. Her skin was soft, and I suddenly craved holding so much more than just her hand. “Thanks for coming after me.”
“Thanks for saving my life.”
She looked up then, wilful eyes gazing into mine. “Technically you saved mine.”
I gave her a wink, settling back against my pillow. “We’ll call it even, then.”
Gwen shook her head, but she was wearing a smile. I realised that I longed to see that smile when it wasn’t there.
“I have a gift for you.”
“It’s not my birthday.”
“It’s not a birthday present,” I countered, pointing to the drawer next to my bed. “But I need you to help me get it out.” I was still too weak to reach that far.
Gwen opened the drawer. I could tell she was at least a little curious, maybe even excited.
“It’s in the little box.”
She picked up the small wooden box, removing the lid. Her eyes widened at the sight of the small ring with a mariposa lily made of silver..
“Before you get excited, it’s not that kind of a ring.”
She looked at me with a raised eyebrow. “You expected me to say yes if it were?”
I wasn’t sure what to reply, so I took the box from her and pulled out the little silver ring with the rosy gemstone placed in the centre of her favourite flower.
“This stone has a very special history,” I said, taking her hand and sliding the ring onto her finger. Realisation seemed to set in, and she looked at me with surprise.
“Lance, where did you get this?”
“I have my ways.” It was too soon to make any kind of serious vows or commitments.
We needed to get to know each other without the threat of war looming over our heads, without the intervention of our families and our past. We needed a clean slate.
I wanted to get to know her more, to spend time with her.
I knew there was more to her than she let most people see.
I’d caught glimpses of it in the past few months.
“I’m going back to Everness once I’m recovered.”
Gwen looked disappointed, and I wondered if she thought this was some kind of parting gift.
“I want you to come with me,” I added quickly. I wasn’t sure what she would say, but I’d thought about it for days, and I knew it would kill me if I didn’t at least ask her.
The corner of her mouth tugged up. “You mean you’re not just leaving without a word this time?”
“Well, we can’t have you holding a grudge for another few years. It seems like an awful waste of time.”
She admired the ring on her finger. The Myrgonite stone, something that was once the only thing I truly cared about, the only thing I wanted.
And now, it had been replaced.
“I’ll come on one condition.”
“Is that condition that I kiss you again, on the hidden balcony of the ballroom?” I couldn’t help but tease her. She swatted my arm and I grabbed her hand.
“I’m listening.”
“You set up a shooting range at the Levernian palace.” The fact that this was her only request made me chuckle.
“As you wish.”