Heiress of the Sea

Chapter 26

Bright light tickled my face. However, it wasn't what woke me.

My eyes fluttered open, and I immediately remembered the previous night's encounter; falling asleep talking to Soren in his study, before he awoke and flew me back to my chambers in the middle of the night.

The memory was mirthful, but the sounds that had brought me out of my state of slumber were enough to make me gag. Screams, shrieks and sounds of blades hitting one another were audible from my chambers.

The sun had already risen in the sky, and I realized it was hours past dawn. Evidently, there was war going on outside...how had the palace—my chambers—remained so peaceful for my night sleep?

As I wondered, I eyed a sheet of paper across the room, taped to my door, which had a note lazily scribbled onto it.

Sea girl,

I sealed this room off of the rest of the palace with a spell. It cannot be opened from the outside, because the door is now invisible (and locked, just in case any enemies can see invisible doors). Leave if you'd like, but please bear arms. I write this at dawn, as I am about to join my army in avenging the overthrower of your kingdom. I'll holler if I actually see the bastard. He might be too cowardly to face me...I suppose we'll see.

Stay safe, and I'll see you later, my love—

Soren

I blinked. Read the letter twice.

My love. He'd never written that before. Actually, he'd never actually written me a letter before, but the fact that he'd said that for the first time on paper...made me realize he'd been thinking it. The idea was in his head; the words touched his lips before he wrote it down for me to see.

I smiled.

Dressing in my slacks and tunic, I laced up my leather boots. I'd put on some of the armor Caspian had given me to practice with during training (I couldn't manage to stand up straight with all of it on), and sheathed a lithe sword across my back, keeping it tightly strapped to my being.

And with that, I left.

I could tell the palace was in somewhat of an uproar. It was funny, to me, how Soren had secured my bedroom, but not the entirety of his palace. I snickered internally, thinking how Soren might tell me, "Well, I suppose our enemies might grow a little suspicious if, all of a sudden, my palace disappeared into thin air."

I surveyed my surroundings, noting the fact that the majority of the battle was happening outside in the fields, near the seashore. I could see warriors I'd known from the orphanage fighting out there; warriors I'd seen in the Sea Kingdom all my life. Never had I known that we would end up forced against each other in a war.

I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath. It was time.

~

Stalking out onto the green fields, I stayed hidden in the meadows, moving swiftly and quietly through the tall grasses. I wanted to fight at Soren's side, and Caspian's. I wanted to be at the front line, so that when and if Goridian came to Land, I would be waiting for him.

The corner of my lips seemed to want to tug upwards at the idea of slaying him, even as I breathed slowly, combatting the nerves tumbling around in my stomach.