CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

W e went back to the StarMoon Inn first, to return the room key to Sam and to say goodbye.

“Don’t be strangers!” he said to us while hugging me tightly. “If you ever need a place to stay in Monuvia, you know where to find me! And if the rooms are all occupied, don’t worry. I don’t mind kicking old Gerdy out on the streets.” He whispered loudly, while pointing his thumb at the elderly woman who sat at the fireplace. She glanced over her shoulder and flipped him off with her bony middle finger. I stifled a giggle while Sam’s belly laugh filled the entire room. He offered Elias a handshake, likely sensing that Elias wouldn’t exactly welcome a hug, then we walked out the door.

Within half an hour, we were at the door of the Flaming Point. We stepped in, and Trybe immediately poked her head around the corner.

“Elias! Aura! Thank the gods. I was wondering when you would return.” She walked over and planted a kiss on each of our cheeks.

“Is now a good time to talk?” Elias asked her, glancing around for any customers that might be hidden around the corner.

“It’s perfect timing, actually. I was just about to close the shop for lunch.” She walked past us and locked the shop’s front door, then came back over and gently took me by the arm. “Come, sit. Did everything go okay with Prince Maksym?” she asked as she led me to a back room. “I’m so sorry, I should have been more mindful of the time.”

As we entered, I became too distracted to answer. The room was hot, with a large furnace in the corner of the room filled with hot coals. Tools were laid out on the stone table by the furnace, along with a half-finished sword. By the looks of her soot-covered apron, I would have guessed that Trybe had been working on that sword before we walked in. Shelves were lined with tools of all shapes and sizes, most of which I had never seen, and a large barrel of water sat on the floor by the stone table.

Trybe sat me down on a bench on the opposite side of the room, away from the heat, and made herself comfortable next to me. Elias stood in the doorway and leaned against its frame, arms crossed.

Looking at all the tools and half-finished weapons in the room made me realize how hard Trybe must work on a daily basis. “Did you make all the weapons in the shop yourself?” I asked, not meaning to ignore her earlier question.

She shrugged. “Most of them. Some of them are imported, and I sell them here for a profit. The really good ones are mine though.” She gave me a wink, and I replied with a genuine smile. “So how’d it go?” she repeated, glancing between me and Elias.

“Not well,” I admitted. “Princess Nevaria found us.”

Trybe’s eyes widened. “Oh no. What happened?”

I explained everything to Trybe while Elias stood silent in the doorway. When I finished, Trybe let out a sharp breath.

“Wow. I guess that doesn’t surprise me too much. I have briefly asked the prince in our archery lessons what he thinks being King of Monuvia would be like. He usually avoids the question.”

I nodded. “Nevaria wants us out of Monuvia by sunset, or she will tell her mother that we’re here. We came to say goodbye.”

Trybe frowned. “That’s a shame. I would have loved to spend more time with the both of you.” She gently placed her hand on mine. “Maybe someday I’ll get to know you better. You’re special, Aura. I can tell.” I began to blush. “In fact, I have something for you.” I noticed her glance over at Elias for a moment before reaching into the pocket of her dirty apron.

She pulled out a necklace and handed it to me. When it was placed in my hand, I immediately began to observe every detail. The gold chain was intricately woven. It appeared delicate, but I could tell it was sturdy. In the middle of the chain, where a pendant or jewel would normally sit, there was a beautiful stone about the size of a large marble, but more of an oval shape. The stone was held in place by an array of small gold strings wrapped around it. The stone itself was light gray colored, but translucent, with little black lines all over the inside, like a spiderweb existed inside of the crystal. I had never seen anything like it.

“It’s tourmalinated quartz,” Trybe’s voice broke my concentration. “It’s a mixture of black tourmaline and smoky quartz. It’s quite rare around here.”

“It’s beautiful,” I found myself speaking gently, unable to take my eyes off the crystal.

“Black tourmaline and smoky quartz are both protection stones,” she said. “That makes this one a little extra potent.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant. She laughed as I looked up at her in confusion .

“If you ever find yourself in trouble, Aura, I want you to do something for me.” My confused expression did not change as I watched Trybe glance at Elias again, then back at me. “I want you to squeeze the stone on your necklace in the palm of your hand and think of something that makes you feel safe.”

I raised my brow. “Okay?” I said questionably.

“Just know that it will only work once, and only temporarily,” Trybe continued.

“What will?”

“The stone.”

I stared at her, dumbfounded. “I’m sorry, but I don’t understand.”

She smiled. “Just humor me.”

I sat for a moment, and fiddled with the necklace. The stone really was beautiful. “Alright,” I muttered my reply, even though I really didn’t understand what she wanted of me.

Trybe clasped her hands together. “Excellent,” she smiled. She stood and put her hand out. “Can I put it on you?”

I nodded and handed the necklace back to her. Trybe took it and stepped behind me. I felt her move my long hair to the side and place my new gift around my neck. For a moment, I thought I heard her whispering something, but Elias’s deep voice pulled my attention to him.

“It looks great on you,” he said from his position in the doorway.

“Thanks,” I muttered.

“There. All finished.” Trybe patted me on the shoulder. I stood and turned around so she could see. “Oh, it’s perfect, Aura.”

I smiled. “Thank you so much, Trybe. I only wish I had something to give you.”

She put up her hand and shook her head. “No, no. Just meeting you has been a gift.”

I laughed shyly, and gave my new friend a hug. I felt bad for the bitter feelings I originally had towards her, simply because she was close to Elias. She didn’t deserve them at all.

Trybe stepped out of the room for a moment and came back with my bow, as well as the quiver and arrows I purchased. “Can’t forget this,” she grinned.

I accepted them graciously, and looked towards Elias. “We should get moving,” I said. Elias nodded and I watched as Trybe came up and they embraced each other for a long moment. I twiddled the new stone around my neck between my fingers and waited.

They finally separated, and Trybe wiped her eyes. “Take care of each other,” she said with a hint of sadness in her voice. I found her words interesting, as everyone else we had run into had only told Elias to keep me safe, Horus and Max included. This was the first time someone bade us to protect each other .

Trybe led us out the door and blew us each a kiss with her hand as we exited. Elias and I walked away and made our way to the front gate of the kingdom in silence. I put the cloak of my hood up as we reached the gates and waited for the guards to lower the drawbridge.

“Come back soon, travelers,” the guard waved to us as we left. He was a different guard to the one we met on the night we arrived. I figured all of their guards must be nice, like most Monuvians. I also presumed that their scouts could be ruthless, if needed, based on the amount of weapons they each had attached to their belts. This made me nervous, as there were probably dozens of them scouting the forest for me, and my father very well may have requested that anyone aiding me be killed on sight.

We waved the guard a goodbye and headed into the vast woods once again. Keeping in mind what Max had told us about Queen Janness sending scouts to search the area for us, we made sure to keep off the beaten path and avoid any areas that showed any signs of fresh tracks.

Elias appeared to be an excellent tracker. While I saw no signs of anyone’s presence, he would assure me that someone had been there recently, and would lead us on a different path. With my undoubted trust in him, I followed without question.

We hiked like this for hours without rest, hoping to distance ourselves from Monuvia as much as we could before nightfall. As the sky began to darken, rain started to lightly drizzle overhead. We took that as a sign to find shelter and make camp for the night. In a short time, we found a tree with dense enough foliage that it blocked most of the drizzle. Luckily, it wasn’t a full rainstorm and the tree provided enough coverage to keep us mostly dry.

Like our first few days outside of Rimor, we knew better than to make a fire. Instead, I wrapped my small blanket around me like a robe as we sat and ate some of our newly purchased rations. We ate in silence before I could no longer hold back something that had been bothering me.

“I need to ask you something,” I said to Elias as we finished our final bites. “And I want you to be honest.”

Elias, who sat on the ground next to me, leaned his back against the tree that provided our cover. “What is it?”

I swallowed, even though my mouth was empty, my throat suddenly feeling dry. The night he asked us to go to Monuvia, I felt like he hid his true intentions. The way he snuck around and talked to himself… maybe he was preparing what he’d say when he saw her.

“Is Trybe the whole reason you wanted to come to Monuvia?” I watched Elias with trepidation.

“No,” he answered simply. “I didn’t even know she was there.”

That’s what he told her, but I questioned his honesty now.

“The true reason was so we could get supplies?”

He hesitated this time before answering, just enough for it to be noticeable. “Yes,” he said .

My eyes narrowed, and he avoided my gaze. Instead of pressing further just yet, I had other questions I wanted to ask. “Well,” I began again. “How do you know Trybe?”

Elias met my eyes once again. “She is a very old friend.”

“From childhood?”

“Something like that.” He ran his hand through his dark hair.

“Did you ever…have relations with her?” The question seemed to just come out of me. It was too late to take it back, whether I wanted to know the answer or not.

Elias watched me with suspicion as he considered my question. “You mean sex?”

I swallowed the lump in my throat and tried to relax my stiff muscles before nodding slightly.

He continued to eye me with curiosity before answering. “Yes.”

I think I stopped breathing.

“But that was a very, very long time ago,” he added.

Seeing as he was maybe only in his mid-twenties, it couldn’t have been that long ago.

“I see.” My response came out more hoarsely than I was expecting. I cleared my throat. “And…did seeing her again rekindle anything?”

Elias raised a brow. “Why do you ask?”

“I’m allowed to be curious,” I nearly snapped back.

Elias observed me for a moment before responding. “No, nothing was rekindled. It’s not like that at all.”

I tried to let my body relax, but something still unsettled me. “And you’re sure there wasn’t an underlying reason to go to Monuvia, whether it was for Trybe or something else?”

He crossed his arms. “Why the sudden interrogation, Princess? You don’t trust me?”

There he went again, avoiding a question and being elusive. “Maybe,” I said with a shrug. “Maybe I’m not sure what to think of you anymore.”

Elias cocked his head slightly, his brows pinching together. “What does that mean?”

“I don’t know, Elias. You’re more difficult to understand than this fucking book,” I gestured at my pack.

He continued to stare at me, his gaze unwavering. “You can trust me. I’m not sure what I did to make you feel otherwise.”

I scoffed and threw my hands up in anger, my temper growing with every word out of his mouth. I stood and dropped my blanket to the ground, suddenly feeling restless. Elias watched curiously, but remained seated.

“One minute, you say you won’t abandon me. You say I don’t owe you anything. Then the next minute, you say you’re only continuing for the money.”

Elias’s body tensed.

“Which is it, Elias?” I demanded. When he didn’t reply, I continued. “What is it that you want? Do you just want me to pay you now so you can leave?”

“No, I—”

“I thought we were at least becoming friends,” I interrupted, my eyesight becoming blurred by angry tears. “Then you tell Max I’m just a business deal .”

Elias finally stood and took a step towards me. He reached his hand up, as if to comfort me, but stopped. “Aura, I…” he trailed off, lowering his hand.

I blinked away a tear. He stood there, not continuing whatever it was he was going to say. In a fit of anger, I bent down and reached into my pack, pulling out the last two pouches, each filled with one hundred gold pieces. “Here,” I hissed, shoving the leather pouches one by one into his chest. “This is what you want, right?”

“No!” He dropped the pouches to the ground. “No, I want…I want…” he trailed off again, unable to form the words.

“What??” I snapped impatiently.

Elias’s eyes met mine, and I noticed the sadness behind them. I froze, the rage subsiding.

“It doesn’t matter what I want,” he said, barely above a whisper. His head lowered, and I had never seen him look so…broken.

Guilt ripped at me from the inside out. “I just thought…maybe we wanted the same thing,” I whispered. I folded my arms over my chest, trying to make myself small, as if it would shrink the emotions I was feeling.

“And what would that be?” Elias’s tone was gentle and calm, but there still existed a hint of sadness. I looked up to see his honey eyes staring into me once again.

Neither of us moved or spoke for what felt like minutes, but was probably only seconds. “I’m…” I stopped, not sure if I had the courage to continue. “I think…”

The jumbled thoughts tried to mold themselves into one coherent truth. Elias stood, body tense, waiting for me to finish. I let out a sharp breath. “I think I might be falling in love with you.” The words finally escaped, and I sucked in a breath while my heart pounded in my chest.

I stared at Elias, who stood so still he could pass for a statue. I waited, patiently at first, but when he didn’t answer, didn’t move, I felt a panic set in. “Elias?” I whispered. “Please say something.”

He remained in his trance-like state for a moment longer. Feeling worried, I reached my hand towards his, our fingers brushing. Tingling energy responded to the touch. Elias pulled his hand back as if I had burnt him, and stared at it. I watched him timidly, regretting my confession more with each passing second.

“Please say something,” I begged again.

His eyes peeled away from his hand, and he looked at me. “I don’t know, Aura,” he said finally, as if responding to a question. “I think we both need to get some rest.”

A lump formed in my throat – my body’s response to the rejection. Was it rejection? Or was it just uncertainty? I looked down at my blanket on the ground. Maybe he was right. Maybe we both needed to sleep on our thoughts before we said something we’d regret, although it was already too late for me.

“I can take the first watch,” I muttered.

“No,” he responded quickly. “I will cover the first watch. You get some sleep.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat, and slowly lowered myself to the ground. I had no idea what to say. The air was so thick with tension, I could barely breathe. I thought the admittance of my feelings would be a weight off my shoulders. Instead, it had only added more, making me feel heavy and languid.

Fuck. Did I just ruin everything? What was the rest of our journey going to look like, now that such a heavy secret was dropped on him?

“I’m sorry,” I muttered shyly, not sure what else to say.

“Don’t be,” Elias put his hand up. “Just get some rest. We can talk tomorrow, with clear heads.”

His words brought me a small sense of comfort. I nodded, although I still felt unsure. “Alright. Goodnight, then.” I waited for his soothing goodnight, Princess reply, but it never came. I ended up tossing and turning for the longest time, feeling awkward and insecure and defeated. Eventually, exhaustion overpowered my endless emotions, and I was able to fall asleep.

When I awoke, the sun was already rising. I blinked in the light, and slowly sat up. I was about to scold Elias for letting me sleep through the night again, but was surprised to find that he wasn’t there. I looked around, trying to see where he wandered off to. But then I noticed something .

His pack was gone.

Elias had completely vanished, along with his things. The two pouches I had shoved into his chest the night before were all that remained on the ground. And I was completely alone.