AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You leave tonight,” Alastair announces. “Dwarves are hearty and strong. We can travel for days without sleep. Which is necessary when you live in mountains with only cliffs to rest on.”
“We travel straight through,” Lacrae agrees. “Not stopping until we find her.”
I nod first at the dwarven king then the elf. And finally, I meet Bowman’s gaze.
“Straight through the night,” Bowman agrees.
“Ready the soldiers,” I order Lacrae. “We leave in an hour.”
Chapter 33
Carleah
Insects chirp happily around us as we make our way through the trees and toward William’s cabin. Or, at least where I think it is. We’ve been walking all day, only stopping when absolutely necessary, and I can tell that Anderson is about out of energy.
Andy is in his arms, sleeping soundly against his chest, while he walks, scraping his feet across the soft dirt. Neither child has complained even once. Not about the grub we’d been forced to eat out of a rotting trunk, nor the exhaustion.
The clearing parts, and more hope than I know what to do with floods me at once. The cabin sits straight ahead, its inviting porch a beacon calling us to safety. Smoke billows from the chimney, and the closer we get, the better I can smell food cooking.
“Is that it?” he asks.
“That’s it.” I smile and touch his shoulder gently then cross the clearing toward the small cabin. By the time I’ve stepped onto the porch, William is rushing out, a sword in his hand. “Who the he—Carleah?”
“Hi, William.”
“Your Highness.” He lowers his head in a bow, and Anderson turns to me with shock in his gaze.
“Your Highness?”
“Boy, do you not know who you travel with?” William demands. “That is the Queen of the Third Realm. The Princess of Navalis.”
“Queen?” Anderson screeches.
Andy wakes with a yawn.
“Who is it?” Kira steps out, her expression turning joyful when she sees me but saddening when she spots the children. “Come inside. Now. You all need to bathe and eat.” She reaches out, and I gently push Anderson toward the door.
We step into the warmth of their cabin, and this overwhelming feeling of home settles over me. My lungs fill with the aroma of food, and for the first time in over a week, I feel at least a bit relaxed, despite all that is weighing on me.
All that I’ve lost.
“You poor, sweet babies.” Kira goes into instant mother mode, plucking Andy from her brother’s arms and carrying the girl through the cottage while he follows, flustered. “Water!” she calls out to William.
“On it, mum!” he yells back. After grabbing a bucket, though, he turns to me. “It is good to see you.”
“You as well. Thank you for taking us in.”
“You are always welcome,” he replies.
As William gathers buckets and buckets of water, I stand in the living room, studying a wall full of paintings. He moves past me near silently, aside from muttering the occasional complaint, leaving me to study each individual painting that makes up the entirety of the wall. A parchment tapestry of memories.
And then I find one that has been partially hidden by another. I stop, breath catching, and lift the corner covering to reveal the one and only human portrait on the wall. Fort stares down at me smiling, his amber gaze so full of life and love. I am looking up at him, cheeks pink as though I, too, have been laughing.
A breeze plays with strands of my hair, and wildflowers surround us.
It’s such a lovely picture. A painted reminder of what could have been.
“Where is he?”
