Page 80 of A Kingdom's Heart
Something slipped from her hand and hit the floor. A silver pendant rolled toward me, catching the light. I bent down to pick it up at the same time she did. Our hands brushed.
Her skin was warm, softer than I remembered.
She drew back quickly, a quiet breath catching in her throat. I straightened and held out the pendant. “Here.”
She took it without meeting my eyes. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Her head tilted slightly. “That’s the most you’ve said to me today.”
I let out a slow breath. “There hasn’t been much to say.”
She looked at me then, the faintest crease forming between her brows. “You could at least try not to sound like you don’t know me.”
“I’m doing my duty.”
Her voice softened, though it carried an edge. “Is that all I am to you now? Duty?”
I met her gaze for the first time in what felt like hours. “What
else should you be?”
The words landed sharper than I meant. Something flickered across her face. Hurt. I felt it like a blade twisting in my chest.
I shouldn’t have said it. I knew that. But it was the only truth I had left. Whatever I felt for her didn’t matter. She was the king’s daughter. And I was the knight meant to guard her, nothing more.
Still, when I looked at her standing there, the light catching in her hair, her eyes searching mine as if for something that had been lost, I didn’t see a princess at all.
I saw her again.
Elara.
The healer.
And it made everything harder.
She straightened, her eyes glinting with something between anger and sorrow. “I need a moment,” she said quietly. “Don’t follow me.”
Before I could speak, she turned and walked toward the door. The silk of her gown brushed softly against the floor, the sound fading as she slipped into the corridor.
When the door closed, the room fell silent again.
I stood where I was, staring at the empty space she’d left behind.
I told myself to move. To breathe. To remember what I was here for.
But all I could see was her face, all I could hear was her voice,
all I could feel was that brief touch of her hand against mine.
And for a moment, I forgot everything else.
Because no matter what name she bore, or what crown waited on her head, she would always be Elara to me.
CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
IRIS
