Chapter 36
A few hours later, when the heat had reached its peak, the horses wandered down to a nearby stream and drank water in the shade, while Lysande and I lay on our stomachs beside each other.
He had taken off his uniform due to the heat and was now wearing only a thin shirt. We were close enough that our shoulders touched, and he was playing with a strand of my hair between his fingers.
I took a lemon cookie and put it into my mouth just as he decided to finish his story.
"...and then I waited for him in the bushes and scared him, and he fell into the lake." I choked on the cookie, fighting for my life between laughter and actually dying, while he only laughed harder.
He pressed his face into the blanket, trapping my strand of hair against the front of his head along with it. Somehow, I managed to save my life and pull the strand free from his fingers.
"You don't deserve this," I said, tossing the strand, now straightened by his fingers, to the other side of my head.
He only laughed harder. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, but I couldn't stop myself from leaning toward him and giggling.
Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed something strange on his neck. I could only see it because his shirt had slipped slightly toward his back. I hooked my finger beneath the edge of his shirt and gently pulled it down. I gasped.
He stopped laughing the moment he felt me touch him.
"What is this, Lys?" I asked, not understanding exactly what I was looking at. It was a deep wound, or something resembling an open blister, stretching all the way around his neck. He sat up and placed a hand around his neck, running his fingers over the spot.
"It's nothing, Princess. Just from the uniform." He chuckled. "Don't worry about it."
"How am I supposed not to worry when it has wounded you?" I asked, horrified. "Is the chest plate broken or something?" He shrugged and glanced toward his uniform.
"It fit perfectly when I first got it, but I guess my muscles have grown a little, and now it's rubbing against my skin. But really, it's fine. Don't worry about it. It looks worse than it is." I shook my head.
"Why didn't you say anything, Lys?"
"Isolde, it's really fine."
We both froze when he said my name aloud.
His eyes widened in surprise, probably not expecting the name to slip from his mouth, while my skin began to burn.
My name on his lips was music I wanted to hear for the rest of my life.
The most beautiful melody and the sweetest verse.
"Again. Say my name again," I said without thinking.
His gentle brown eyes, hiding so much sadness, met mine.
"Do not spend your time worrying for me, Isolde. It's truly all right."
Isolde.
Isolde.
Isolde.
I only shook my head in return.
"My knight, you are only mine to worry about."
Before he could say anything to that, or before I could comment on the way his eyes widened and the color in his cheeks changed, we heard the sound of horse hooves from outside.
"Princess?"
Someone called out, and their footsteps struck the ground as they jumped down from their horse.
Lys stood up from the blanket and took his sword into his hands while I grabbed a chocolate cake and took a bite.
"Princess?"
I nodded toward Lysande, telling him to answer.
"Yes?" he called back as he stepped out of our little hiding place.
I heard them speaking for a moment, and soon the sound of reins being pulled and a horse galloping away reached us.
Lysande returned, holding a scroll bearing a seal.
"A servant brought this for you. He says it's from Princess Yan."
He held the scroll out to me, but since my hands were covered in cake, I waved for him to keep holding it. I sat down on the blanket and crossed my legs, taking another bite while he stood there holding the scroll.
"Princess Yan is the princess of the Thorny Ridge Kingdom. I believe it's about the ball. Sit down, Lys, and please read what it says."
He obeyed and sat across from me, crossing his legs as well.
Somewhat awkwardly, he broke the seal and unfolded the letter across his lap, but there was a strange expression sitting on his handsome face.
As though he was ashamed of something. I waited several moments for him to say anything, but then he lifted his head and looked at my face before averting his gaze again.
His jaw tightened, and one hand clenched the fabric of his trousers.
"I don't know how to read, Princess," he managed to say. There was so much shame and humiliation in his voice that my heart broke.
"Oh." That was all I said before placing the cake back onto the plate and wiping my hands on a cloth lying nearby.
I took the letter and placed it on the ground beside us before gently touching the side of his jaw.
"Look at me, Lys." I guided his face until he was looking at me.
I slipped my hands beneath his and took them into my own.
"You have nothing to be ashamed of. Not with me. If you want, I will teach you how to read and write."
His eyebrows lifted, and the shame that had been written across his face disappeared. "I don't want to take up your time, to make you waste—"
"Lys, do you want me to teach you?" I asked him.
"Yes," he answered.
"I didn't want to embarrass you with my ignorance. Please, I—"
"Lys, you didn't embarrass me. It's alright."
I stood and sat down right beside him, opened the letter, and quickly read through the short message.
Just as I expected, it was about the ball and how excited she was, but that was the last thing on my mind at the moment.
I rolled the scroll back up and got to my feet.
"I don't have a quill and ink with me right now, but starting tomorrow. Okay?"
He placed a hand against the side of his face and smiled shyly.
"Thank you, Princess. You have no idea how much this means to me."
He stood as well.
"You know, I wasn't lying when I said that to the Prince a few days ago."
I tilted my head to look at him.
"What?"
"About not being able to wish for a better princess, even in my dreams."
Now it was my turn for my cheeks to turn red as I lowered my face shyly.
Three days later, a new uniform was waiting for Lys on his bed. It had been forged by all the royal blacksmiths of the castle at their princess's command.
Perhaps I couldn't steal Meera's idea for a cloak, but I had one of my own.
Now, across the chest of Lys's uniform and along the edges around his neck, gilded Nuso shells had been embossed into the metal.
And by the time he put on his new uniform for the first time, Lys already knew how to write both his own name and mine.