Page 49 of Crown of Hearts
It was there that I spotted Elara. At first, she didn’t notice my presence and I watched in amusement while she scolded herself. After a moment, she let out a heavy sigh and took a seat on thewaist-high wall that formed part of the path. She leaned her bow against it and brushed her fingers through her hair.
“Enter the archery competition becausethatwill be a good idea,” she mumbled to herself.
“I didn’t think it was that bad.”
Elara’s cheeks coloured as she noticed my presence.
“How long have you been standing there?” she asked as I walked over.
“Long enough.” I chuckled while she attempted not to blush further and failed miserably.
“Well, I hope you enjoyed having me join in on the archery.” She straightened her dress, trying to regain some composure. “As it is unlikely to occur again.”
“Do you want to go for a walk?”
She looked up at me with pleasant surprise.
“Very well.”
We walked slowly and in somewhat of an awkward silence. I could see her forming sentences in her head and tensing herself to say something before thinking better of it. I was equally unsure of how to begin the conversation.
“As you can clearly see, I have not improved at archery.” Elara finally broke through the quiet.
“You weren’t that bad,” I replied too quickly, not sounding quite sincere, though I was only trying to make her feel better.
“Not that bad?” she exclaimed. “You’re such a terrible liar.”
“And here I thought you were letting me win for my ego’s sake.”
Her lip twitched as she attempted to hide a smile.
“I appreciate you trying to lift my spirits, but we’ll just have to accept that I’m a lost cause when it comes to a bow and arrow.” She crossed her arms. We’d stopped walking.
“Such a shame.” I shook my head in a teasing manner.
She moved to lean back against one of the walls overgrown with ivy. It had been like that for as long as I could remember, but my grandmother always insisted we keep it that way.
I’d opened my mouth to speak when Elara suddenly fell backwards, through the wall, head disappearing in the ivy. I hurried over to help her up.
“There’s a door there.” She stood up, dusting off her skirts. I took out a twig that had got caught in her hair. Her eyes followed my hand and then she looked back to meet my gaze. She stared for a moment before looking away somewhat self-consciously.
“Yes, it would appear so,” I stated rather obviously, with a smile on my face, taking too long to look away from her eyes and mouth.
“It’s a private garden,” Elara mused.
I recognised it as one of the places where I used to play and hide as a child. I hadn’t been there in so many years, and I’d practically forgotten where the door was. I was so focused on Elara, I didn’t even realise we were in that part of the garden.
“Why do you think it’s sectioned off from the rest of the gardens?”
“It was done during my grandfather’s reign.” It was clear that no one had been here in a very long time and nature had taken its toll. “He made many changes to the palace and this part of the garden was cut off.”
“You can tell it was pretty at some point, though.”
The garden was like a small courtyard, containing broken water features, and the remains of what had once been flower beds with trees creating a canopy above. There were weeds everywhere, the grass almost reaching my knees. But yes, at some stage, before I was born, it must have been beautiful. It was a shame, really, that everything was now in such disarray and that the garden was no longer in use. Perhaps I needed to speak with my mother about getting someone to clean it up.
“It’s the kind of place one can go to be alone with one’s thoughts.”
“I don’t know if that’s such a good thing,” Elara admitted earnestly. She stepped further into the garden, picking at one of the weed flowers.
