Ever After

☾Chapter Twenty Three☽

The rest of the week passed by quickly. Ever had not seen any other strange circumstances nor was she thrown in the dungeon again (thankfully). Everything seemed quiet, which was still a bit strange and ominous to her.

She had found the last artifact and Hex might have confirmed what she thought about Haven.

Ever watched the ocean pass by in brilliant shades of blue. Wyll and her were on the airship back home.

"Is everything okay?" Wyll nudged her and Ever looked down at their entangled hands.

"I'm thinking about how much I don't want to go back to Thouria." Ever laughed.

Wyll chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yah, that wasn't how I imagined the week going."

"Does anything ever go right at this point?" Ever laughed. "First thing I need to do when I get back is talk to Haven." Ever mumbled with a sigh.

"Why so?"

"The...artifact." Ever hesitated.

In reality, she wanted to know the truth. Who was Haven?

"Ah I almost forgot." Wyll chuckled. "That was the only good thing to happen this week. How did you get it? You never told me."

"I told you that it wasn't legal, and that's all you need to know of it." Ever tapped Wyll's nose with her finger.

Wyll shook his head and laughed. He then brought the back of Ever's hand up to his lips and grazed them with a kiss.

"I guess some things are better left a mystery."

"Exactly." Ever smiled.

Ever noticed as the ship pulled into port, the crowd of people watching with eager anticipation.

"What's going on?" Ever whispered, clinging to Wyll's arm as they waited for the tram to connect to the dock.

"This is usually how it is if royalty leaves the kingdom for a while." Wyll said calmly, reassuring her. Ever glanced up at him and took notice of how he suddenly carried himself.

In the eye of the people, he has always been the perfect prince. Ever remembered always watching his speeches and appearances on her holo-projector while she worked on her remedies. She thought all of the royalty in Ethelia were shrewd and spoiled. Some of them are, yes, but there is a lot more depth to them than she realized.

Ever and Wyll stepped out into the cool air.

The atmosphere around them was different than Ever was used to. It resembled a heart that had skipped a beat, taking someone's breath away for a momentary lapse.

Everyone looked at them with sheer awe, and as they passed, Ever wondered what they thought of her. She must have been a mystery to them, hell, she was a mystery to herself. At the moment she couldn't recall what brought her to this point.

A letter? A monster? Was everything a distraction from the reality? No. Until now, everything had led up to her finding the artifacts. She had done what she remembered as being vaguely impossible.

A voice in the back of her head echoed the same phrase over and over. "Ev, you'll never be on their level, so why bother?" Ever wondered if he was around now, what he'd think of her. She was young then, and naive. She had actually believed him.

Ever chuckled. How silly a sight she must have been back then.

"What?" Wyll questioned.

Ever glanced sideways at him, "Nothing." She then raised her chin higher towards the sky and silenced the repeated phrase's trace in the back of her mind.