The Curse of the Goblin Prince

Chapter eleven A Restlessness

Dahlia spent her days in one boring lesson after another. Her meals with the king were no longer tense and she actually started to look forward to eating with him. Her evenings were by far her happiest moments. She cherished the time she spent with Len.

There was just one thing that really bothered her. After all this time, there was still no sight of the prince and the king would change the subject anytime she tried to bring him up, so she stopped asking about the prince altogether.

Days had turned into weeks and before they knew it, Len was feeling better than he had in years. He had more energy lately. Although there were still times when she could tell that he was forcing himself.

Even though the winter months were long and cold, she didn't mind them as long as she could spend her time with Len.
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Then one morning, she awoke to the sound of something tapping on her window. When she drew back the curtains, she saw a small mountain bluebird. It chirped at her and she watched as it flew away. The trees in the distance had begun to bloom. She smiled. After a long winter together, spring finally came to the mountain kingdom.

She quickly dressed in lighter clothing. Grateful to shed her heavy winter layers. As Dahlia was stepping into her slippers, Clover entered the room.

"I see you're up early!" She was surprised to see Dahlia out of bed and dressed. Normally, she had to practically drag Dahlia out from under the covers. "Come sit down." She brushed and plaited Dalia's hair into two simple braids with soft pink ribbons woven through. Then tied them at the ends.

Dahlia sighed as she stared out the window. "Isn't this weather lovely? Even the birds are out enjoying it!"

"Well, I am glad to see you are so chipper this morning. If we head out now, we may run into a handsome knight."

Dahlia giggled. "You mean Sir Caelum?"

"You think he's handsome as well?"

"I think you think he is handsome," Dahlia replied as she headed to the door. "Let's hope he's as excited about the weather as we are."

When she opened the door, she was almost knocked over by a group of maids rushing by. Their hands are full of fresh linens. They bowed to her. "Pardon us, princess, we didn't expect to see you here at this time. You are usually not up this early."

She straightened her dress. "I'm not hurt, so everything is fine." She flashed them one of her sweet smiles.

"Thank you, miss. Have a pleasant day." Then they scurried off.

As they approached the stairs, Dahlia could hear bits of a conversation between two men.

"With the arrival of Spring, the pass has finally opened." His boisterous voice boomed with excitement.

The other man laughed. "Have you seen the amount of mail that came through this morning? It will probably take twice as many people to sort it before the end of breakfast!"

The first man joined in the laughter. Then asked, "Wait, weren't you supposed to be helping with that?"

He laughed nervously. "Yeah. I better get going. See you later."

"Good luck."

Dahlia looked at Clover confused. "What did he mean? What pass?"

"This past winter, we had a lot of snow. So much that it blocked the passageway in and out of our kingdom. We haven't had any news from the outside for most of the winter."

"So my father didn't receive any of my letters?"

Clover shook her head. He should be getting them any day now that the mail is coming through. Chin up. Everything will be fine."

Dahlia couldn't help but worry. After all, she had promised that she would write to her father every day. Now he would think that she had broken her promise.

Dahlia was in a sour mood after overhearing the news. When they reached the dining hall, Sir Atlas informed her that the king would be busy all day so she would have to take her meals alone.

When she first arrived, she couldn't enjoy eating without the king's watchful eyes, but now she had grown accustomed to his witty banter and kind eyes. As the hour slowly passed, she began to notice just how quiet it was without someone else to talk to and she missed his company.

She trudged through the rest of the day. It seemed nothing could brighten her spirits. Even Sir Atlas was not up for entertaining her whims. A restlessness settled inside her and she counted the hours that slowly ticked by.

The castle was busy with the arrival of spring. Like a sleeping giant that had been awoken. A gentle breeze blew through the open windows. Even though birds chirped their happy songs outside; it did nothing to cheer Dahlia's mood.