The Princess's Servant

85. Do I Know You?

Huh, she thought. So this was how it ended. A voice inside her screamed to run from him but her pain was far too great for that. And so it was over. This was the end of the line. The man she'd so long hated was going to recognize her, berate her, cuss her out; maybe land a kick or two. And then she'd be consumed by whatever lethal poison was running through her veins, and her body would be left to rot. In the woods. In the very same place she told herself she should've left hours ago. Wonderful. And here she'd thought her luck had turned.

Holden approached her, his eyes bright and shining. "S-Stay right there!" he said, and he turned tail and ran off into the woods,

Sybil blinked at where he'd stood. Abandoning her wasn't quite what she'd expected, but she supposed it made more sense than him kicking her.

The princess listened to crashing and thrashing as the prince dug around in the bushes. After a moment, she heard a grunted "Hrgh!" and then the sound of wading through vines. The prince returned with an uprooted plant. Its broad silvery leaves were clutched in his fingers and its bulbous root hung with dirt. Holden neared the princess as he twisted the greenery off the root.

Sybil scooted back with what little energy she had, her face twisted in pain. "D-Don't come any closer," she said. She'd chosen to put her voice in the thick accent of the forest folk, in case he hadn't recognized her already.

"You don't have much time," he said, and he stepped closer to the princess. "I can cure you. I can help."

Sybil stopped her retreat and dared a glance at her throbbing palm. The grass and dirt behind it were visible clear through the center of it. That couldn't be good. Holden tried to approach her again, and this time, she didn't back away. She felt every muscle in her body tense as he stooped down to her side and reached out to her.

Sybil's heart pounded. He took her death-white fingers in his warm palm.

Holden crushed the leaves in one hand until they bled a milky sap. Giving her a sympathetic look, he muttered, "This might sting," and he pressed the poultice into her wound. Sybil seethed as the leaves made contact, but what started out as pain soon melted into a minty cool feeling that soothed her veins. Sybil's tight muscles relaxed and she felt herself breathe again.

"Better?" The prince asked, his words tilted with hope. Sybil stared into his hazel eyes through her half-lidded ones, and for the first time since they'd met, she felt like she actually saw him.

Holden sat up a little and tore a scrap of cloth from his brown tunic. He wrapped it around her hand and knotted the bandage. Sybil said nothing as he did, watching his downcast eyes. He didn't know. He had no idea who she was. Sybil's heart beat a little faster.

The prince let go of a breath. "Well that was horrifying," he said, and Sybil had to agree. "It's not everyday you get bitten by a deadly snake. I hope." He smiled. Sybil didn't smile back. She was still too busy processing that A) she wasn't dying and B) Holden, of all people, had saved her. "What's your name?" he asked.

"Uh..." Sybil had not been prepared for that question. She spat out the first name that came to mind. "C—Cara," she said. Shit. That sounded too close to 'Nara.' The princess tried to think of a way to change it without raising suspicion, but Holden cut in before she could.

"Cara..." Holden repeated as though the name had been a suggestion and he was thinking about it. "Cara, you say? It couldn't be—" He stopped himself. "Foreign sounding name, veiled face, uncanny resemblance to Nara..." He ticked the points off his fingers. "Are you by any chance..."

This was it. It was over.

"Related to her?"

Sybil let go of her breath. "To Nara? I—I am," she said, and it wasn't a lie. "She's my third cousin." That was, though.