Page 119 of Once Upon a Crown
“What amIdoing here? What areyoudoing here?”
Her bow continued to hang loosely at her side, but her posture looked defeated.
“Look, I’m sorry, but I told you. I couldn’t just sit there and wait. Not while the people I care about are out here fighting for their lives.”
“And what about me?” I cried out with a tone of desperation. “What if I need you alive and safe?”
She slowly seemed to register the importance that she held. “My brother,” she said with a whimper. “I just felt like if I was here, then maybe...” She trailed off, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
I took her face in my hands, wiping the tear away with my thumb. “Gwen, you don’t have to atone for your brother. He made his choices. Now I’m asking you to make yours.”
I pressed my forehead to hers, the world around us momentarily forgotten. “Come with me.”
Don’t ever leave me againwas what I didn’t say out loud.
I pulled back a little, looking towards the valley below, to all the bloodshed taking place.
“Come back with me, and whatever happens out here today, we will find a way to face it.”
Gwen didn’t see the archer on the side of the battlefield, bowstring taut, arrow aimed directly at her. Before she could answer, I pulled her into me, turning us so that I could cover my body with hers. I looked down at her, my breathing ragged.
Gwen turned pale instantly, sucking in a breath. We both let our eyes slowly fall to the arrow now in my lower side.
Pain sliced through me a moment later, as if it took my body a few seconds to register what had happened.
“Lance,” Gwen said, with panic in her voice. She grabbed me as the world began to sway. I didn’t remember falling to the ground but suddenly I was there, looking up at Gwen and the dark winter clouds above her.
“No, no no.”
Blood soaked my jacket, and she pressed her hand to the wound.Bleeding out from an arrow, I thought.What a crappy way to die.
“Stay with me, Lance. You’re going to be fine.”
Dark spots filled my vision, and I felt Gwen grab my chin, blood transferring from her hands to my face. “Look at me,” she ordered. Were those tears in her eyes? “Stay with me.”
Yes, I wanted to say, but I felt so heavy, it was too difficult to form words.
“Please, Lance.”
My eyelids grew heavier.
Gwen continued to press her hand to the wound, trying to stop the blood. “Please stay with me.” It was the last thing I heard before the world went completely dark.
Chapter 48
Elara
The world around me had erupted into chaos.
Everywhere I looked, men lay dying, crying for mercy, most of them Norrandish.
But Cai was here, and he was still alive, and so I did as he asked and stayed put in Aries’ tent, the dagger he’d given me buried in the pocket of my dress.
I tried to search for him among the faces but there were so many soldiers that they practically merged together.
After what felt like hours but must have been only minutes, I saw Aries emerge from the fighting. His face was coated in blood, the morning light reflecting off his armour.
Aries made his way up to the tent where I sat, careful to keep my expression neutral.
