Page 69 of Crown of Hearts
“I believe it was almost thirty years before my grandfather passed away.”
“I’m sorry I never got to meet him.”
“I think he would have liked you very much.” I gently bumped her shoulder with my own. The truth was I could hardly remember my grandfather. But it seemed like the right thing to say.
“Your grandmother is quite a treat, though.”
“Ahh.” I let out a chuckle. “I heard you got cornered by her the other day.”
“I did and I’ll admit I was quite intimidated. But she was actually very kind to me.”
“She’s been through a lot, having lost her husband and now her son.” I often had to remind myself that I was not the only one grieving my father.
“She must have been a great queen.” Elara looked back to the painting with a long sigh.
“You have something on your mind?” It was more of a statement than a question.
“There have been no arrangements for my meeting with the council to discuss the marital agreement.”
I sucked in a breath. “Yes, the council has been focused on the current situation with Argon.” I didn’t want to tell her about the uncertainty among the council about the alliance. Much less did I want to tell her that I was behind most of it. That I knew I felt affection towards Elara, but at the same time, I was afraid of what an alliance could do to the both of us. And like Lord Burrow said, it might just give Aries the push he needed not only to come after my kingdom, but after Elara too. I could never forgive myself if something happened to her.
She hesitated for a moment before placing her hands on her hips. “Look, Cai, if you don’t want to marry me, then why don’t you simply tell me so I can leave?”
“I didn’t say that I don’t want to marry you, Elara.”
“Well, you certainly didn’t say that you do.”
“It’s not that simple.” I shook my head. There were so many things she didn’t know. So many secrets I was keeping from her.
“It used to be.” Her jaw clenched as she tried to keep her voice from cracking, and a pain grew inside me. “There was a time, not too long ago, when we were just two kids in a forest. When you told me that my past didn’t matter. And I came back for you. I came back for you that day despite my cowardice, my fears, despite all my better judgements. I came back because you begged me to give you a chance. And now I’m asking you to do the same. And I’m sorry if that’s too much—”
“Elara.” I gently took her hands, willing her eyes to meet mine. “That time has since passed. We are no longer two kids in the woods who get to run away from responsibility. And believe me, some days I want nothing more than to go back to that time. But the things we do affect everyone around us.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
“A lot has happened in the past few months. Things have changed.”
“Well, how am I supposed to trust you, or help you or confide in you, when you don’t share things with me? You don’t tell me anything, Cai. I don’t understand what you’re so afraid of,” she confessed, and it broke my heart.
“What do you want to know?”
She pressed her lips together. She’d been thinking about this. Her questions were formed long before I asked.
“The Myrgonite stone.” She hesitated. “Is it real?”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“The jewel stone in your grandmother’s necklace, it’s the same as the one in the dagger you gave me.”
“Is it?”
“I held the dagger between our hands when you were dying,” she let out a breath. “I told you to come back.”
In the darkness of my mind that night, I had heard her calling out to me. It was as if she’d pulled me out of a deep sleep.
“I was trying to remind you,” she said. “By reminiscing about the stories we shared with the dagger. I was trying to remind you what you had to fight for.”
I clenched my jaw. “Elara, I’m grateful that you stayed with me that night, but I don’t see where you are going with this.”
