The Jewel of the Five Kingdoms

James Raymond Elliot

Marygold's intense violet eyes never left my gaze as she made her away around the bed, sitting down on the stool beside me. "Why do your people think you are dead?" She asks softly, and I was surprised to see genuine concern in her eyes. Or maybe that was because she rather have me in my kingdom then causing her trouble.

The siblings prying eyes made a nervous sweat dot my brow, or maybe that is just my fever finally breaking. "When your General was fighting me I backed off the edge of a cliff and fell into the river." My voice was hoarse and weak, and thinking back on the details of the fight made my heart hurt. It all felt like some terrible dream, but looking down at my foot reminded me it was simply a horrible reality.

Nella watched me with her thoughtful guarded expression. I wish I could read her mind, or at least somewhat understand what she might be thinking. She stood at the foot of the bed, distancing herself from me. Her hands were on either side of Dylan's shoulders as if she wanted him to stay away from me as well.

"Look," I say, sitting up as best I can with a wince of pain. I curse in frustration. "I don't want to be here just as much you don't want me here. Please, help me get back to my kingdom. I will give you anything. I just need to get to my family," I say desperately. My voice sounded pathetic even to my own ears, but I needed their help more than anything in the world.

I expected Nella to look away and refuse to meet my eyes. She has no reason to respond to my plea for help. No reason to feel even the slightest bit or remorse. Yet, she was never obligated to pull me from that river and save my life. And after these many weeks that I have come to know her, I have begun to feel quite fond of her presence. Her beautiful violet eyes stare hardly into mine, and I wonder yet again what flickers through them when she glances over my face.

She sighs, her hands dropping off of Dylan's shoulders. Slowly, she sits onto the end of the bed by my foot. Dylan follows, happily jumping up beside me to lean against the headrest. "Why didn't you tell me from the beginning who you were?" She asks softly, and I felt the shame rise in me at the sadness in her eyes. She wasn't angry anymore, just confused.

I don't break eye contact with her. I wanted to, but I couldn't allow myself. She deserves to know this. "I was afraid," I say suddenly.

I don't know where the words came from, but I know they are the truth. Yet, I have never once said those words in my life.

Even when I first marched into battle, a league of men looking to my commands to get them out alive, I never admitted I could feel the emotion called fear. It seemed weak, and I have never been weak. My soldiers are allowed fear, but their leader? No. I don't have room to show fear.

Even as I watched General Franny of the Waterwalkers stab his sword into the heart of best friend Hector, the words were stuck deep in my throat.

Now, staring at the girl who should be my enemy but has become my savior, I say the words I have always refused to admit to myself.

When she doesn't respond, I continue. "One time I told my little sister that there are two types of fear- the fear that controls you and the fear that feeds your fire." I take a deep breath. I haven't thought about my own words in quite some time, and I realize how hypocritical I have been. "I'm done letting it control me. I have been locked in the chains of my fear for too long," I say. Even though I was weak and could barely sit up, I kept my head high and my shoulders back.

I learned at a young age that if you look fearless then you can become fearless. Nella's eyes had changed in a way I couldn't describe. She looked at me differently than before.

Not like how she had looked at me when we first met, and not like how she looked at me when she discovered I was the prince. No, this was a whole new look in itself, and I could almost see a similarity in her eyes that connected to me.