The Lost Knight (Volume III) The Lost World

Chapter 3: The End

When Jonah asks me to go to dinner with him, I'm relieved I'm allowed to leave the room. I wasn't confident Sarpedon would let me, and I've been afraid to ask. Reading the Orb is so crucial, I feared I'd be held prisoner until I told them everything.

We don't speak on our way to the Brewer's Daft. I'm grateful for the quiet. I've spent most of the night and all of the day in silence, but that false tranquility had pressure attached to it. An unspoken expectation and anticipation that is both demanding and impatient. With him, the quiet is reassuring and calming.

Holding his hand reminds me that someone cares for me. An odd thought since everyone in Cromsmead is charged with my wellbeing. But Jonah's different. He's my guardian, and he loves me. If I told him I want to leave right now, we'd walk right out the gate. Unconditional love is what people call what we have. I've never had it in my life before, but I recognize it, and I'm terrified something will happen to end it.

By the way the villagers are whispering around me, it's obviously no secret that the Orb is glowing. I'm normally a self-conscious person, but this level of scrutiny makes me want to scamper back to my room. It just plain hurts when shopkeeper Korpa won't even look at me. I speak to this man every day.

"Lykke tilmór," he mumbles before shuffling into his store.

The elves have a plethora of greetings to choose from, so it's weird he chose that one. It loosely translates to Good luck and fortune in your endeavor. It's usually used when someone is leaving, and it only confirms what I already know.

I grasp Jonah tighter and increase our pace. I ignore the side-glances and the way everyone stops talking when I pass by, only to whisper as soon as they think I'm out of earshot.

When we enter the Brewer's Daft, the few patrons still lingering from their late dinner glance my way and then down at their food. Am I paranoid, or am I really the center of everyone's conversations?

Jonah pulls a table into the corner and arranges the chairs before holding out one for me. "I'm so happy to see you," he says once we sit down.

With our silence ended, I take my mind off the strange reactions from the people I've known for at least two years, if not longer, and focus on Jonah.

"Where were you?" I ask, demanding the answer to the question he's been so unwilling to answer.

"You don't need to sound so hurt," he says. "I have answered this very question every time you ask it. You're just not inclined to believe me."

I bite my lower lip and pull it out painfully between my teeth. I don't want to fight with him. I've missed him. I know he was training, and then he went back to Earth for a while, and then he went to someplace that's impossible to pronounce, but he wasn't here. I want to know why he wasn't here. He's been gone for so long, and now that he's finally returned, I'm mad he left me in the first place.

"Don't leave me again," I whisper.

He smiles and reaches across the table to cover my hand. "You're stuck with me now. We're together 'til the end."

"What happens after the end?" I ask before I can stop myself. I don't like to think about what I will do after I read the Orb and fetch the key, but I need to know.

He wiggles my arm to get me to look up. "Until the end," he repeats. "I will not leave you again. Ever." I stare into his safe red eyes; even if the elves throw me out, I have Jonah.

He orders our food, and we chat comfortably for a long time, comparing training exercises. We're halfway through our meal when a voice above us asks, "You started without me?"